D&D 5E What happens in the sundering?

[Lalato]

That would be true of Greyhawk, Dark Sun and maybe even Planescape, but this is not the reason why people have chosen the Realms for some decades now. People like Forgotten Realms because it is highly detailed. If you won't bother to give lots of information, you'd be better not bothering with the Realms at all. As I said earlier, it's possible to play with older supplements, but saying "look, we have this earth-shaking event that is changing everything, but we're not describing it" is just stupid.

Oh... I agree with you that it's silly to not describe it. But since they aren't describing it, the best assumption to make is that it turns out exactly the way you want it. If this conflicts with some future campaign guide so be it. It's not like there haven't been other events that have put the canon material at odds with what is happening at each gaming table.

 

[JesterOC]

I am listening to the first book right now. I probably won't read any of the others, and from what I can tell, all you will see is how the sundering of the worlds changes the locations nearby to the heroes of those stories. I thought I would not like that, but actually I am enjoying this book very much (I had only read the first 3 or so RA Salvator books and skipped most everything else, and amazingly this worked out perfectly for me).

 

[Nivenus]

Three thoughts come to mind from reading this thread.

1) Like many I am fairly annoyed - as both a part-time editor on the FR Wiki and a DM who's running a FR campaign he plans to convert to 5e (which I am liking as a ruleset) - that WotC has been very tight-lipped about the specifics of the Sundering. I understand we're not likely to get the full details until the new FRCS (or whatever they decide to call it) is released but it does seem like a lot of very basic pieces of information are missing. Myrkul and Bhaal are back but we also still have Kelemvor (who I like better anyway, so yay)? Returned Abeir has been unreturned but no word on what's replaced them (especially in regards to whether Unther has re-replaced Tymanther)? Who's the new big bad if Netheril is gone? And so on.

2) My secret suspicion is that a large part of the mystery is because WotC and Greenwood themselves haven't decided what the Sundering did yet. Given that the entire ethos of 5th edition has been to reunite the splintered D&D fandom (hopefully without alienating too many 4e fans) I imagine they're keeping a close eye on what FR fans want from the Sundering, particularly what they'd like back to the way it was and what they'd like to keep from 4e. Bringing back Mystra and unreturning a big chunk of Abeir were easy targets, because both the Spellplague and Returned Abeir were widely unpopular with a lot of fans. Likewise with reviving some of the major deceased NPCs (even if it doesn't really make sense). But what about all the other little things? What do you do about dragonborn (who were reasonably popular with 4e players)? Or some of the subtler changes to the Realms? I think WotC is watching carefully to see what fans hope/fear will be changed, in order to act accordingly.

None of that really alleviates my annoyance at not knowing what is going on, but if it's true, I understand their motives.

3) Lastly, I really hope this is the last Realms-shaking event (TM) we have for awhile. I don't really mind time jumps but I think it's pretty ridiculous that 3 out of 4 rules changes has involved a major cataclysm. 2e's transition to 3e was a lot more sensible IMO and should be the norm for edition changes, even if the rules changes are pretty substantial. I honestly wouldn't have much problem assuming the change in the rules of magic changed between 4e and 5e was just a retcon, rather than an in-universe rewriting of the laws of physics. Indeed, that's the assumption I'm going to work with for the time being, seeing as my group intends to covert to 5e and I don't have enough information on the Sundering to leap my campaign forward.