D&D General Watch the Baldur's Gate 3 Cast Play 'What We Do In The Shadow-Cursed Lands'

At MGM Comic Con in London (where the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide made its world debut), WotC's Jeremy Crawford ran a live Dungeons & Dragons adventure on stage for the cast of Baldur's Gate 3.

Neil Newbon played Astarion, the Elf Arcane Trickster Rogue; Samantha Béart played Karlach, the Tiefling Barbarian; Theo Solomon played Wyll, the Fiendish Warlock; and Devora Wilde played Lae'zel, the Githyanki Fighter.

The adventure was called What We Do in The Shadow-Cursed Lands, and features the 2024 D&D rules.

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[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Dungeons & Dragons Novels, Video Games, and Other Spin-Offs Are Not Canonical to D&D Roleplaying Game

Wizards of the Coast has provided some clarity on the canon of Dungeons & Dragons in regards to what it considers canon for the core roleplaying game. Over the past 45 years, Wizards of the Coast and its predecessors have published hundreds of Dungeons & Dragons adventures and supplements, as...

comicbook.com

In other words, it's a different parallel universe multiverse. Which is great, actually, because people who want to use the old canon are explicitly free to do so, and ignore what's happening in the 5E timeline.

 

[Scribe]

In other words, it's a different parallel universe multiverse.

I dont need 'other words'.

Anything not 5e is not canon. Thats all I need to know, and that gives them the out they need to retcon settings like Dragonlance and Greyhawk.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wizards has open said that anything not 5e, and I believe its even 'not recent 5e' is no longer canon. Its been disavowed.

No, they have said “there is no canon”. I.e. there is no definitive version. That doesn’t mean new canon replaces old canon, because canon does not exist. Use whichever made up facts you like.

 

[Scribe]

No, they have said “there is no canon”. I.e. there is no definitive version. That doesn’t mean new canon replaces old canon, because canon does not exist. Use whichever made up facts you like.

Nope. The quote is right there.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Nope. The quote is right there.

“There is no canon” trumps that. What do you think WotC are going to do if you use something from the 1983 version of Greyhawk? Send the Pinkertons round?

 

[Scribe]

“There is no canon” trumps that. What do you think WotC are going to do if you use something from the 1983 version of Greyhawk? Send the Pinkertons round?

“If you’re looking for what’s official in the D&D roleplaying game, it’s what appears in the products for the roleplaying game,” Crawford said. “Basically, our stance is that if it has not appeared in a book since 2014 [the year that Dungeons & Dragons‘ Fifth Edition core rulebooks came out], we don’t consider it canonical for the games.”

There is a canon, its "..what appears in the products for the roleplaying game..."

I'm not concerned about what they are (or obviously are not) going to do with people's own games/tables. The question is, what is the official position of the company regarding canon?

And the answer is clear.

Its what appears in the 5e books, and anything else is no longer canon.

 

[Piperken]

Would be a crime not to get them doing a BG3 cartoon or movie or a side game. Something!

Like do something with this cast and characters.

But I know WotC is allergic to good ideas.

JUSTICE FOR BING-BONG!

There was a small adventure before this one that was put together and streamed, not terribly long after the game was released. It had the larger cast I believe (including Amelia Tyler, who voiced all the narrators and generously switched off in the adventure to narrate as DM)?

It was better (partially due to being in a studio), and content-wise was more entertaining also as it literally was Lae'zel and Will Ravenguard's 1st time playing D&D at a table.

All kinds of memes/jokes populated out of of that one adventure.

Something like that would absolutely do well if they could manage finding a good place and time that was convenient.

 

[Nightfly]

Do NOT get her wet, and do NOT feed her after midnight!

Those of us who reached a certain VERY memorable cut scene in BG3 have already done both those things.

 

[Queer Venger]

Dungeons & Dragons Novels, Video Games, and Other Spin-Offs Are Not Canonical to D&D Roleplaying Game

Wizards of the Coast has provided some clarity on the canon of Dungeons & Dragons in regards to what it considers canon for the core roleplaying game. Over the past 45 years, Wizards of the Coast and its predecessors have published hundreds of Dungeons & Dragons adventures and supplements, as...

comicbook.com

yes, I already knew this. I think we are talking about different things.

Ultimately, what happens at my table is canon in my campaign, if I want to take inspiration from a 2e book or a 3e book in terms of lore that is canon. What TSR and WotC have published in official campaign books is canon, even if Im playing 5e.

It makes sense that events in comics, novels and video games may not necessarily be canon since most is published by 3rd party creators.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

And the answer is clear.

Its what appears in the 5e books, and anything else is no longer canon.

The answer is clear, and it's not that. What appears in WotC 5e books exists for players to use (or not use) in their home games. It does not exist to define the One True History of a fictional world. It's not canon any more than any other version of a setting is canon. CANON DOES NOT EXIST.