D&D 5E WotC Announces An Impending Announcement: New Setting, Storyline

Early this week, WotC announced on Twitter that today there would be some kind of announcement on their Twitch channel. Those who heard that announcement and tuned in were treated to an announcement that the new storyline will be announced at a live event in June.

The press release announcing the impending announcement also mentions a new setting, as well as the storyline, so it sounds like it might not be set in the Forgotten Realms (or maybe is in a new region - to 5E - of the Realms, such as Icewind Dale). The adventure and the setting might be the same thing, or they might be completely different things. Recently, WotC has released a bunch of settings: Eberron, Ravnica, Wildemount, and the upcoming Theros.

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline

The new storyline specifically will be revealed at 12pm PST (8pm GMT) on Thursday, June 18th.

The June event will raise money for Comic Relief, and will feature celebrities including Brandon Routh (Superman), and will preview the brand new storyline. It takes place June 18th-20th. Other names involved include Felicia Day, Deborah Ann Woll, Amy Acker, David Harbour, Matthew Lillard, and more.

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 PRESS RELEASE

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RENTON, WA – May 21, 2020 – People all over the world continue to stay safe by staying home, but that doesn’t mean the adventuring has to stop. Dungeons & Dragons is more popular than ever because it allows people to weave compelling stories together even when they’re physically apart through online videoconferencing. Now, Wizards of the Coast brings the stars to this virtual table with D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage. An amazing cast of characters led by expert storytellers preview the latest D&D storyline with live gaming sessions, all while raising money for Red Nose Day to help the most vulnerable children across the US and around the world, who have been so affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.The adventure begins 10:00am PT on June 18, 2020 and will run through June 20, 2020 at dungeonsanddragons.com.

D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage features big personalities playing elves, wizards and fighters to accomplish quests using their imaginations. Funny people like Brian Posehn, Kevin Sussman and Thomas Middleditch will work together to solve problems or, more likely, cause some hilarious new ones. WWE ® Superstars Xavier Woods ®, Tyler Breeze ®, Ember Moon ®, Alexa Bliss ® and Dio Maddin ® will contend with beefcake destroyer Jeremy Crawford, a.k.a. Principal Rules Designer for D&D. Deborah Ann Woll will lead a group of actors in improvising a way to help people in a fantasy world not that different from ours. And principal D&D writer Chris Perkins takes players

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline as well as accompanying new products plus tons of unique gameplay available on June 18, 2020. D&D Adventurers League has four new short adventures everyone can enjoy. By donating a small amount to Red Nose Day, fans will have access to sign up for D&D sessions with players around the world! During #DnDLive2020, fans will also be able to choose the character best suited to help the region through Reality RP, a mashup of fantasy storytelling, community engagement, and reality television.

 

[Parmandur]

@Paul Farquhar That map is from the 2e era FR Atlas.

Also,the ice cap looks like an upland plateau because it’s a thick layer of ice/glacier, and that one picture is an image of the cliff edge of the glacier (it’s not a wall).

Either way, sounds like something what needs exploring.

 

[Prakriti]

Anarouch is a weird desert, bordering straight onto sub-arctic regions.

The Anauroch Desert was created artificially through magic (by the phaerimm). In the time of Netheril, around -1000 DR, it was still a verdant grassland.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The Anauroch Desert was created artificially through magic (by the phaerimm). In the time of Netheril, around -1000 DR, it was still a verdant grassland.

Obviously Anauroch is magic - the Spine of the World mountains do not extend far enough south to create an area of rain shadow that large.

Accounts vary though, some don't blame the phaerimm directly - some hold that responsibility likes with the Netherese mage Karsus who damaged the weave trying to gain the power to stop the phaerimm.

The magical effect created by the phaerimm appears to resemble Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, but on a much larger scale. Alternatively, one might hypothesise that magic, like water, is required by living things, and thus damaging the weave created a similar effect to the absence of water. In that case, one might hypothesize that the changes to the weave that have occurred recently it might allow the Anauroch to start to return to life.

The phaerimm are very Lovecraftian enemies, and it would be cool to bring them back, mind controlling a colony of mind flayers into mind controlling* a lost city of degenerate netherese survivors in the frozen north into creating an army of Black Ice Scream Zombies to attack Icewind Dale.

*If you think that is silly try reading the Lensman novels.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Obviously Anauroch is magic - the Spine of the World mountains do not extend far enough south to create an area of rain shadow that large.

Accounts vary though, some don't blame the phaerimm directly - some hold that responsibility likes with the Netherese mage Karsus who damaged the weave trying to gain the power to stop the phaerimm.

The magical effect created by the phaerimm appears to resemble Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, but on a much larger scale. Alternatively, one might hypothesise that magic, like water, is required by living things, and thus damaging the weave created a similar effect to the absence of water. In that case, one might hypothesize that the changes to the weave that have occurred recently it might allow the Anauroch to start to return to life.

The phaerimm are very Lovecraftian enemies, and it would be cool to bring them back, mind controlling a colony of mind flayers into mind controlling* a lost city of degenerate netherese survivors in the frozen north into creating an army of Black Ice Scream Zombies to attack Icewind Dale.

*If you think that is silly try reading the Lensman novels.

Called out to be due to phaerimm. Casting permanent magic drain spells. Everywhere across Netheril in the year 3398. It drained life energies as well. Archwizards of Netheril in moving their flying cities around they helped establish the borders of Anauroch.
See Netheril Empire of Magic.

 

[dalisprime]

Called out to be due to phaerimm. Casting permanent magic drain spells. Everywhere across Netheril in the year 3398. It drained life energies as well. Archwizards of Netheril in moving their flying cities around they helped establish the borders of Anauroch.
See Netheril Empire of Magic.

There's also the fact that Shadovar did use their magic to restore sections of Anauroch to their pre-desert state by melting the glacier but with the fall of the city of Shade, the desert terraforming efforts have been reversed.

games seem to be considered canonical except when they are directly contradicted by a book, so...yeah, one Mindflayer compound historically in the region. And they can always show up anywhere. The frozen lands of Icewind Dale are well suited to a Mountains of Madness style story, at any rate.

There's no mention of any of the events from IWD games in the GHotR so I'm going to assume they aren't in fact canon, as they were significant enough to warrant a mention at least. By contrast BG is covered all the way to the siege of Saradush.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There's no mention of any of the events from IWD games in the GHotR so I'm going to assume they aren't in fact canon,

They don't need to be covered to be canon, just not contradicted.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Called out to be due to phaerimm. Casting permanent magic drain spells. Everywhere across Netheril in the year 3398. It drained life energies as well. Archwizards of Netheril in moving their flying cities around they helped establish the borders of Anauroch.
See Netheril Empire of Magic.

I'm not a fan of the "what actually happened" approach. History always sounds more authentic if there is some uncertainty.

 

[Xenonnonex]

I'm not a fan of the "what actually happened" approach. History always sounds more authentic if there is some uncertainty.

Okay. Great. Canon does not mean anything is fine in your home games.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Okay. Great. Canon does not mean anything is fine in your home games.

It's how you present it. In the real world no one is absolutely certain about what really happened during historical events. It's unrealistic to present historical information to players as indisputably true, irrespective of what the DM knows.

 

[Xenonnonex]

It's how you present it. In the real world no one is absolutely certain about what really happened during historical events. It's unrealistic to present historical information to players as indisputably true, irrespective of what the DM knows.

In D&D you have legend lore. And spells like it. But what does that know.