D&D 5E With the release of each new setting book, the SCAG looks worse and worse...

[Weiley31]

SCAG was an experiment. I think it helped WOTC figure out what they wanted to do, and what they didn't want to do.

I think it's still useful as a not-too-daunting introduction for a player or DM who's new to the Forgotten Realms to the location where most of the published FR campaigns take place.

And also for it's subclass offerings and stuff.

 

[Parmandur]

2 years, maybe. 6 months, unlikely. We know Chris Perkins and Kate Welch both have books slated for this year, and neither of those books sound like they will be set in Icewind Dale. I doubt we're getting 5 books this year.

Chris Perkins Adventure book is what I was referring to, yes: we don't know much about it yet, other than it is probably Mindflayers. But for two years straight they've done the low level portion set in an Iconic FR region with detailed Gazeeter, and there are only so many candidates left on the Sword Coast if they go that way again. The main two candidates are Icewind Dale and Neverwinter, both of which got featured in the latest box set alongside locations already used in previous Adventures.

Of note, too, are the new video game set in the Icewind Dale coming down the pipeline, and the history of Mindflayer activity in the far North nearby.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, there's very little official written information on Turmish, mostly a few pages in the various campaign settings, and a few more pages in the 2e Vilhon Reach accessory. Not a particularly good example for the previous poster to select...

But, outside of the Sword Coast and the Dalelands where Greenwood set his home campaigns, that's true across the Realms. Indeed, that's a selling feature as per Greenwood's DM advise in multiple products across the years such as the 3E FRCS: large swaths of territory with light hooks to start building a home campaign.

 

[noko]

Can you cite a source for this?

Hmm seems to be a Reddit post here which refers back to this place...weird. I seem to remember very more definite statements being around several years ago but danged if I can find them now.

 

[Parmandur]

Nothing after the Time of Troubles has hit my world other than what I and the players have done to it via gaming. Trying to add in the new bad stuff would just invalidate decades of gaming that my group has done in the Realms.

This right is here is the precise issue WotC has been dancing around all Edition: tons of people play in the FR, buuuut...many use the 1E timeline, many use the 2E timeline, many use the 4E timeline, many use the 5E timeline and many more are in a super divergent alternate timeline.

The 5E adventure and setting books have been very carefully trying to be useful to all of these groups and Homebrewers looking for material to repurpose.

They've done a great job with that balancing act, but it makes it difficult to commit to a firm canon again...

 

[Eyes of Nine]

This right is here is the precise issue WotC has been dancing around all Edition: tons of people play in the FR, buuuut...many use the 1E timeline, many use the 2E timeline, many use the 4E timeline, many use the 5E timeline and many more are in a super divergent alternate timeline.

The 5E adventure and setting books have been very carefully trying to be useful to all of these groups and Homebrewers looking for material to repurpose.

They've done a great job with that balancing act, but it makes it difficult to commit to a firm canon again...

That said, Aebir is off on its own, and we're all just playing in Toril (in canon).

 

[Maxperson]

This right is here is the precise issue WotC has been dancing around all Edition: tons of people play in the FR, buuuut...many use the 1E timeline, many use the 2E timeline, many use the 4E timeline, many use the 5E timeline and many more are in a super divergent alternate timeline.

Yep. I get it. What I would do were I WotC is do something like the SCAG for the new players, but with a bit more crunch for the old players. Setting specific feats, subclasses and such.

They've done a great job with that balancing act, but it makes it difficult to commit to a firm canon again...

I think they've been too light on the crunch. I'm not looking for anywhere near 3e and 4e amounts, but would like more than what we've seen.

 

[Demetrios1453]

But, outside of the Sword Coast and the Dalelands where Greenwood set his home campaigns, that's true across the Realms. Indeed, that's a selling feature as per Greenwood's DM advise in multiple products across the years such as the 3E FRCS: large swaths of territory with light hooks to start building a home campaign.

Not really, there has been multiple edition support in detail for Cormyr and the Moonsea, as well as the Lands of Intrigue (Amn, Tethyr, Calimshan) and the Unapproachable East (Thay, Aglarond, and Rashemen). Even the Shining South has had at least two accessories in two different editions. Sembia was in a weird position at the start since it was supposed to be "left blank" by the developers for players to use as a blank slate, but that got dropped and there was decent coverage afterwards.

It's really the lands along the southern shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars from Turmish through Mulhorand that have really had lack of coverage, outsise of the pretty short module-length paperback accessories back on 2e. There a couple of other areas here and there that also lack sustained coverage (the Bloodstone Lands come to mind), but the area I mentioned is the largest and most notable.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

It's really the lands along the southern shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars from Turmish through Mulhorand that have really had lack of coverage, outsise of the pretty short module-length paperback accessories back on 2e. There a couple of other areas here and there that also lack sustained coverage (the Bloodstone Lands come to mind), but the area I mentioned is the largest and most notable.

Yes. And the Sea of Fallen Stars (SoFS) itself as an area of intrigue and continuous strife seems ripe for potential adventure. I just think about all the history of the Mediterranean sea and the rivalries of the cultures through time - SoFS would be similar.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Yep. I get it. What I would do were I WotC is do something like the SCAG for the new players, but with a bit more crunch for the old players. Setting specific feats, subclasses and such.



I think they've been too light on the crunch. I'm not looking for anywhere near 3e and 4e amounts, but would like more than what we've seen.

I'd also like to see official updates for some FR-specific monsters like the phaerimm, sharn, and malaugrym, among others...