The Realms WILL Be Updated!

WotC's Chris Perkins and Mike Mearls both mentioned the possibility of Forgotten Realms updates on Twitter today. A chap called Montgomery Headstrom tweeted at both of them - to Perkins he said "I don't understand why you guys did the Sundering if you weren't going to update the Realms. Can you clarify that for me?" and the Mearls he said "if WOTC isn't interested in updating the realms would corporate allow kickstarter drive to let Ed Greenwood do it?" Both replied to his his comments, confirming that they do, in fact, intend to update the Realms. Thanks to Adrian for the scoop.

Montgomery: if WOTC isn't interested in updating the realms would corporate allow kickstarter drive to let Ed Greenwood do it?
Mike Mearls: who sez we aren't interested in updating it?

Montgomery: I don't understand why you guys did the Sundering if you weren't going to update the Realms. Can you clarify that for me?
Chris Perkins: The Sundering allowed us to bring back things that the setting had lost over the years. We ARE updating the Realms.

 

[Targan]

Hi guys. Newbie here. I've recently started running a 5e campaign set in the Realms. I last played D&D early in the 3e days. My FR knowledge is from back then. I'm trying really hard to school myself up on what happened in the Forgotten Realms during 4e, and what has happened between 4e and 5e. A new, updated Forgotten Realms campaign setting, maybe a boxed set, would be excellent, because at the moment I'm guessing for alot of things and doing a whole lot of internet searching.

 

[Henry]

Welcome to the forums, Targan!

In response to your comment, I think the wish for a "grey box" or FR book for 5e is shared by a lot of people, but it doesnt seem to be likely anytime this year. I will say the Candlekeep forums are a good place where various megafans have put together timelines from the 2E and 3E resources up to "current day", so ot is a good resource.

 

[Targan]

Thanks for that. Actually I have the Candlekeep Forums open on my browser at the moment. Trying to cram as much information into my brain as possible.

 

[DM Howard]

"We ARE updating the Realms."

Great! Then get on with it and stop dilly dallying. I DON'T want grand adventures set in the Realms (well it could be the Realms, but new players wouldn't know) I DO want the Realms in setting book form.

 

[Mistwell]

Perkins' tweet is in the present tense. It comes in way under 144 characters. If he wanted to add a "going to," he absolutely could have. He's not saying they /will/ update the Forgotten Realms, he's saying they already have, in the published storylines and tie-in Adventurers League content.

No, he's saying they ARE updating them, which in this context (with "updating" referring to what they are doing behind the scenes) is a future tense in terms of products, and definitely not an "already have" which would be a past tense.

But really, when Internet board posting fans parse what they say this horribly like it's a Presidential candidate and they're the opposition party looking for any crumb to spin against them, it's no wonder WOTC says nothing most of the time. I wouldn't either.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I keep hearing that the APs are light on Realmslore, so I made a request on the WotC forums and twitter for something everyone could like: an AP set in Halruaa and/or Lantan, with background provided by Ed.

 

[pming]

Hiya.

"We ARE updating the Realms."

Great! Then get on with it and stop dilly dallying. I DON'T want grand adventures set in the Realms (well it could be the Realms, but new players wouldn't know) I DO want the Realms in setting book form.

[RANT]
While I'm no Realms fan (basically, the grey-box set for 1e is where I draw the line...everything after that I find to be...lets just say "not to my liking"), from what I gather you are NOT going to get it. Period. Not in setting book form. You see, D&D isn't a table top game anymore...it's a "cash-cow IP brand name". They don't seem to want to sell you (or me, or anyone else) RPG books. If you want an updated realms, you'll have to subscribe to a monthly Realms-Podcast, buy the 2 or 3 children's board games, buy the half-dozen (disgusting tasting) different cereal boxes with key NPC stats printed on the back, and watch the 3-part animated mini-series that will air only on 4 obscure TV networks at 2:30am Tuesday mornings. Oh, and don't forget the downloadable content expansions for a video game you may never play...which will probably be the "Limited Edition Collectors Campaign Pre-Order Pack" from WotC for the low low price of $350! ( https://swordcoast.com/preorder ).

Oh yeah, don't forget you'll have to keep buying all this 'other product' if you want to remain current and up to date or find out about other locations in the realms other than the sword coast.

[/RANT]

No. I don't have any great hopes for the future products of 5e.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Parmandur]

Since they asked in one of the recent surveys if we wanted to see box sets...they may very well give us a box set. They were skeptical about the idea of a hardback book, but they said they wanted to productize it. Given the succes of the starter box, why not a campaign setting marketed as an Expert Box?

 

[Parmandur]

Hiya.







[RANT]

While I'm no Realms fan (basically, the grey-box set for 1e is where I draw the line...everything after that I find to be...lets just say "not to my liking"), from what I gather you are NOT going to get it. Period. Not in setting book form. You see, D&D isn't a table top game anymore...it's a "cash-cow IP brand name". They don't seem to want to sell you (or me, or anyone else) RPG books. If you want an updated realms, you'll have to subscribe to a monthly Realms-Podcast, buy the 2 or 3 children's board games, buy the half-dozen (disgusting tasting) different cereal boxes with key NPC stats printed on the back, and watch the 3-part animated mini-series that will air only on 4 obscure TV networks at 2:30am Tuesday mornings. Oh, and don't forget the downloadable content expansions for a video game you may never play...which will probably be the "Limited Edition Collectors Campaign Pre-Order Pack" from WotC for the low low price of $350! ( https://swordcoast.com/preorder ).



Oh yeah, don't forget you'll have to keep buying all this 'other product' if you want to remain current and up to date or find out about other locations in the realms other than the sword coast.



[/RANT]



No. I don't have any great hopes for the future products of 5e.



^_^



Paul L. Ming

Since I want, literally, all of those things, I read this post as highly optimistic.

 

[Xavian Starsider]

The title of this post is misleading and inaccurate. It should not say The Realms WILL Be Updated. It should read The Realms ARE Being Updated. As in presently. Not the future. Nowhere in those tweets are they promising a book or supplement. They're clearly stating the truth. The Realms are updating. Have been updating. We're already seeing it. I would love to see a full campaign guide too, but this is not proof we're going to get one. Nor is it proof we're not. We know nothing more than we did before. But here's what we do know.

1) Ao has rewritten the tablets of fate.
2) The dead gods (including Bhaal, Waukeen and more) are back. It's safe to assume that all FR deities listed in the DMG have returned.
3) The spellplague has ended.
4) Magic and the weave have reverted to what they once were.
5) Abeir and Toril have once again been separated. The geography is more in lines with what it was in 2nd edition now.
6) The city of Shade is gone.

So yes. There's definitely updates. Those are some major changes. Mainly in the interest of reverting the campaign to a more familiar form. Which is why I have to now play Asmodeus' advocate. If they're returning the world to a familiar recognizable one, why do we need a new campaign setting? We already have some excellent campaign settings giving us a wealth of rich information about the Realms. Far more than any DM could ever use. Some of the books are even pretty recent. The 4th edition information was well laid out and not hard to find.

The simple facts as I've laid them out above already tell me a great deal about what I really need to know. Sure, there's things I don't know. Why's Bhaal back? But ultimately, does it matter? The players aren't going to know why Bhaal is back from the dead. Let them ask him personally. He probably won't tell them. Or they can ask Ao. He DEFINITELY won't tell them. (Though if it were important to my campaign, I would certainly have it tied into his attempts to return to life already extensively explored in the Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II games and expansions. Question answered satisfactorily for me.)

So while I'm not against the idea of the book, I raise this thought. Before you ask "When is the book coming?", ask "What is it I need from the book that I don't already have?"