D&D 5E The Forgotten Realms and current AP's.

[Gundan Shadeslinger]

I'm a bit confused about a few things so I would like to share them with you and if you have any input on the matter then please let it be known.

According to news I've heard, the Forgotten Realms is supposed to get a bit of a make over in order to give it that "old Realms" feeling in the form of the Sundering. We have learned that the Weave is back, kingdoms thought destroyed are alive and well (Halruaa for example), and gods we thought were destroyed are being resurrected as well. I see tons of opportunity here.

I then take a look at the current AP's we have and none of them really focus on the Sundering. They focus on very minor aspects of the Realms that have never really been in the spotlight of the Realms. Tiamat, Tharizdun, and The Elemental Princes have all been mentioned in the Realms but have never been really more than that. I don't see Wizards didn't take these and make them into small adventures while using the large AP's to get PC's involved in the Sundering directly. You could have the PC's interact with the events and make PC's feel like they had a hand in resurrecting a bit of the old Realms. I mean there are gods that have returned such as Mask and Lathander. I could see AP's based around this type of stuff but instead they focus on events involving entities that really weren't that popular in the Realms.

Just my two coppers.

 

[JeffB]

I suspect with the amount of flack TSR got for the Time of Troubles novels and the horrendous modules, along with a significant number of people who hate the similar situation with DragonLance, WOTC was wise in not trying to let people "play through" the Sundering novels.

That said, I agree the subject material for TOD (weak DragonLance influence) and POTA (weak ToEE influence) is weird. I reckon they are trying to stick with the setting the majority of tabletop players know of , while also making sure they use- and this is a big one- the setting all the Computer/App/Console Gamers and Novel readers know. Its their IP cash cow.

Branding Iron. Throw it around.

 

[pukunui]

I don't see Wizards didn't take these and make them into small adventures while using the large AP's to get PC's involved in the Sundering directly. You could have the PC's interact with the events and make PC's feel like they had a hand in resurrecting a bit of the old Realms. I mean there are gods that have returned such as Mask and Lathander.

They did do that. There was a whole series of D&D Next playtest adventures that took place during the Sundering (Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, Murder in Baldur's Gate, Legacy of the Crystal Shard, Scourge of the Sword Coast, and Dead in Thay). With the exception of Ghosts, these were all official D&D Encounters organized play adventures, and groups could record the outcomes of their adventures to help shape the progress of the Sundering. Unfortunately, WotC is being coy about what those results were. It'd be nice if they'd put out a campaign guide giving us a snapshot of the post-Sundering Realms.

For the record, the Tyranny of Dragons adventures and Princes of the Apocalypse take place after the Sundering has finished. So does Lost Mine of Phandelver.

 

[ppaladin123]

They did do that. There was a whole series of D&D Next playtest adventures that took place during the Sundering (Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, Murder in Baldur's Gate, Legacy of the Crystal Shard, Scourge of the Sword Coast, and Dead in Thay). With the exception of Ghosts, these were all official D&D Encounters organized play adventures, and groups could record the outcomes of their adventures to help shape the progress of the Sundering. Unfortunately, WotC is being coy about what those results were. It'd be nice if they'd put out a campaign guide giving us a snapshot of the post-Sundering Realms.

For the record, the Tyranny of Dragons adventures and Princes of the Apocalypse take place after the Sundering has finished. So does Lost Mine of Phandelver.

You'd expect though that these would be topics of conversation among NPCs at taverns/public squares, etc. Saw some priest proclaiming the return of Myrkul the god of death. MY grandpa told me stories about him....very scary. Folks say that those earth motes started falling out of the sky a few months ago! I even hear a whole country disappeared over night! The wizards seem to be busy with something too...heard them muttering about a weave or something. The events are too huge not to be the talk of the town even if the medieval game of telephone has led to inaccurate rumors spreading.

 

[pukunui]

You'd expect though that these would be topics of conversation among NPCs at taverns/public squares, etc. Saw some priest proclaiming the return of Myrkul the god of death. MY grandpa told me stories about him....very scary. Folks say that those earth motes started falling out of the sky a few months ago! I even hear a whole country disappeared over night! The wizards seem to be busy with something too...heard them muttering about a weave or something. The events are too huge not to be the talk of the town even if the medieval game of telephone has led to inaccurate rumors spreading.

The absence of any mention of the Sundering in Lost Mine of Phandelver, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, and The Rise of Tiamat is most likely deliberate. The devs have gone on record as saying that they left the dates for those adventures vague on purpose so they could be adapted for any era.

That being said, it's easy enough to figure out their default dates. Mt Hotenow, a volcano near Neverwinter, erupted in 1451 DR. Lost Mine indicates that it takes place thirty years later, which would put it somewhere around 1481 DR. This could theoretically make it a pre-Sundering adventure, as that RSE didn't start until 1485 DR. I personally think it's meant to be closer to forty years, with LMoP taking place in 1488 DR or so.

As for HotDQ & RoT, the Adventurers League set its Tyranny of Dragons storyline in 1489 DR. Also, RoT makes a reference to the end of the Sundering having put a crimp on the meddling of the gods in the Realms. (Hence why Tiamat is having to go to such great lengths to break into the Realms.)

Princes of the Apocalypse, meanwhile, does have a specific date: 1491 DR. I haven't got PotA yet, so I can't say if it makes any mention of the Sundering or not, but since it's been a few years in-universe (the Sundering ended in 1487 DR), you could argue that that sort of pub talk has died down as folks have moved on to talk about current affairs.

 

[Ilbranteloth]

The Adventurer's League places Tyranny of Dragons in 1489.

I think they are deliberately downplaying the pub talk and such right now because I don't think they've finalized all of the changes yet. It seems pretty clear that they will be releasing a campaign guide (I'm guessing next year, but it could be late this year). But I think they will be be going through the D&D Next results, the results from these two Adventure Paths, plus the work from Greenwood, Salvatore and others.

Of course, there are other factors. Ed Greenwood mentioned in an interview that although The Herald was largely supposed to wrap things up and pull things together, the deadlines meant that the prior novels in the series weren't finished (not even drafts) early enough for him to get copies and read what was happening in them. Everything came out of a big brainstorming meeting with the developers and authors so they had a general idea of where things were going, but not specifics.

In addition, by downplaying the Sundering as something happening largely off screen it also allows those who are still playing 3.5 to move into the 5th ed Realms and effectively skip the 4th ed changes altogether. If you went from the 3.5 Ed to these adventures you largely wouldn't realize that the 4th ed happened.

Between the focus on factions, plus within the adventures themselves (including the AL ones) there is quite a bit of lore you can extrapolate.

Ilbranteloth