D&D 5E WotC Explains 'Canon' In More Detail

Recently, WotC's Jeremy Crawford indicated that only the D&D 5th Edition books were canonical for the roleplaying game. In a new blog article, Chris Perkins goes into more detail about how that works, and why.

This boils down to a few points:

• Each edition of D&D has its own canon, as does each video game, novel series, or comic book line.
• The goal is to ensure players don't feel they have to do research of 50 years of canon in order to play.
• It's about remaining consistent.

If you’re not sure what else is canonical in fifth edition, let me give you a quick primer. Strahd von Zarovich canonically sleeps in a coffin (as vampires do), Menzoberranzan is canonically a subterranean drow city under Lolth’s sway (as it has always been), and Zariel is canonically the archduke of Avernus (at least for now). Conversely, anything that transpires during an Acquisitions Incorporated live game is not canonical in fifth edition because we treat it the same as any other home game (even when members of the D&D Studio are involved).

D&D Canon | D&D Studio Blog | Dungeons & Dragons

In this D&D Studio Blog, Chris Perkins describes the D&D Studio's position on canonicity.

dnd.wizards.com

D&D General - WotC: Novels & Non-5E Lore Are Officially Not Canon

At a media press briefing last week, WotC's Jeremey Crawford clarified what is and is not canon for D&D. "For many years, we in the Dungeons & Dragons RPG studio have considered things like D&D novels, D&D video games, D&D comic books, as wonderful expressions of D&D storytelling and D&D lore...

www.enworld.org

 

[Yaarel]

In name only. The core is rife with actual information about the other settings, not merely elements that are part of the Realms.

Where the core-three canon has sidebars that mention other settings, they are gratuitous. By contrast, the rules themselves are 5e Forgotten Realms. For example, in 5e, individuals like Mordenkainen are part of the 5e Forgotten Realms setting.

 

[Voadam]

The way I see it this makes it easier for people to get in to the lore, but still makes the game open for those who want a complex lore. The "old stuff" doesn't dissapear, it's just not the focus, Is it really that bad to make it "read if you want" instead of "this is a must read"?

This also means a lot of old lore can now not be relied upon. Van Richten's Guide is a big example of this with a bunch of lore that is just flat out contradictory to prior lore. Picking up older edition setting and adventure material and reading about Falkovnia is not providing a deeper extension of the lore about Falkovnia, it is reading about a specifically different Falkovnia that is incompatible in many ways.

We will see if Dragonlance gets a similar reboot that invalidates a bunch of prior lore.

 

[dave2008]

It clarifies what their position is. And that position is a huge mess. They've undermined all of their setting books. I mean why would I ever buy another setting book that they put out when it's just a bunch of words instead of canon? They could change anything or everything at the drop of a hat. And yes, I know that they could change canon as well, but companies tend to be much more reluctant to alter canon than a bunch of words with no solidity.

The same reason I buy the setting books: they are great inspiration and resources. I have SCAG, Eberron, Theros, Ravinca, & Ravenloft. I will (likely) never play a game in those settings, but the books are full of great material to use in my games. Good is good, whether it is "canon" or not.

 

[Maxperson]

Where the core-three canon has sidebars that mention other settings, they are gratuitous. By contrast, the rules themselves are 5e Forgotten Realms. For example, in 5e, individuals like Mordenkainen are part of the 5e Forgotten Realms setting.

There are entire sections dedicated to these other settings. Not just sidebars. Multiple pages are dedicated to the gods of these other settings. Advice in the DMG on how to run them.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Clarify?!?!? The blog post was none sensical, self contradictory, and incoherent, and a disaster. Clarity is something this blog post had none of.

It’s quite clear.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

The old lore is all over the internet in wikis and such. It has never been hard to get into it while the stuff was canon. Or to ignore it and just play current content. This move doesn't make it easier or harder. It just removes the stability of having canon to build off of as a foundation for your game.

How? How is it less stable? How has it been removed?

If you're all about the Forgotten Realms, you can still access the Forgotten Realms wiki. If you like Greyhawk, you can still use the '83 version. Or the GHA version. Or the 3e version.

Everything is out there, still. It's all accessible and useable.

If anything, it has made the home campaign more stable, because you don't need to worry about some kind of Spellsundering that plagues your campaign setting, or a total switch of the cosmology to a treeaxiswheel with any new vagaries of an advance of a quarter edition.

Besides, we all know that the only real canon is whatever Chris Pine does in the movie. He's dreamy.

 

[Bolares]

This also means a lot of old lore can now not be relied upon.

In my experience old lore could never be relied upon. D&D lore was never a tight bible without contradictions and inconcistancies as far as I could tell it.

 

[Bolares]

I will (likely) never play a game in those settings

You should play in Eberron, everyone should play in Eberron (just kidding... EXCEPT I'M NOT, GO PLAY EBERRON)

 

[Maxperson]

The same reason I buy the setting books: they are great inspiration and resources. I have SCAG, Eberron, Theros, Ravinca, & Ravenloft. I will (likely) never play a game in those settings, but the books are full of great material to use in my games. Good is good, whether it is "canon" or not.

I agree about cannibalizing settings you won't run for material. Heck, my new FR campaign has a Warforged in it. It didn't come from Eberron, but I used the race for the player. He now has the first Warforged Bard that I've ever heard of.

Taking from other settings for your game is very different from choosing a setting to play in, though. I run the Forgotten Realms and it's nice to have canon to build off of. As I said earlier, companies tend to be more hesitant to alter canon than to alter just a bunch of words. If they release stuff contradicting what I've built off of, it can cause confusion as now I have to decide what to keep and what to toss and the players won't know, either. The things that their PCs use to know, can no longer be relied upon as solid knowledge until I affirm it or say it has changed. Some of that is necessary, such as the change to the Vistani to remove the Romani connection, but in general changes should be few and far between.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I get that, but it is nice that they admit it is no more important than what KB or anyone else publishes.

I like their take on canon, don’t get me wrong. Canon is an abyss.