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, but they are not canonical for the D&D roleplaying game."

"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. Basically, our stance is that if it has not appeared in a book since 2014, we don’t consider it canonical for the games."

2014 is the year that D&D 5th Edition launched.

He goes on to say that WotC takes inspiration from past lore and sometimes adds them into official lore.

Over the past five decades of D&D, there have been hundreds of novels, more than five editions of the game, about a hundred video games, and various other items such as comic books, and more. None of this is canon. Crawford explains that this is because they "don’t want DMs to feel that in order to run the game, they need to read a certain set of novels."

He cites the Dragonlance adventures, specifically.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Of course, I'm an exception. For example, I was once in a Forgotten Realms game where I extensively researched the nation where my Oath of the Crown Paladin was from only to discover another player made a PC heavily inspired by a character from the anime One Piece.

 

[Umbran]

But again, Umbran not caring about the child abuse chatter, only the naughty words. What a naughty word.

Mod Note:
While it is true that some posters in here need to learn that, "Well actually it is legal in some places...," and, "Well actually, historically...," are not good justifications for ugly things....

Commenting on, or arguing with, moderation in thread is not allowed. And while we have pretty thick skins, Morrus takes a very dim view of abusive, foul language being directed at moderators. This kind of behavior can, will, and in this case did, lead to a permanent ban from the site.

We get that folks can be passionate on various topics. But we require people keep the discussion within certain bounds.

 

[Umbran]

I'm still at a loss as to what, when the sun rises tomorrow, you actually tangibly lose?

A loss does not have to be "tangible" to have an impact. So, your question here is kind of bogus.

While I've repeatedly noted that being fans doesn't entitle us to anything, I also think we need to make a bit of room for people to actually, you know, feel stuff. It is legitimate to feel bummed out when a thing you like goes away, and it is okay to say, "Well this bums me out something fierce."

Saying, "WotC hates us!" is a bit overboard. But neither should we make it that folks need to justify their feelings to strangers on the internet.

 

[Weiley31]

That was bound to be a problem for as long as D&D was a human game played by human players, with a significant portion of those players being into neither method acting or speculative xenopsychology. I don't see how FR's lore changes and retcons have any bearing on the Halloween Mask issue (if it's even an issue in and of itself all).

It was later revealed Drizzt was wearing make up all this time.

 

[Seramus]

But, what is the impact here? That's what everyone seems to ignore. You know what's changed for Forgotten Realms from last week to this week?

So, what's the problem here?

After 47 years the shared experiences of this IP have created a Culture. For many people, this culture is real and meaningful (sometimes even saving their lives). Cultures shift and change all the time. Some elements die off, new ones spring up, etc.

But it's generally not okay to tell someone their culture is less valid than another. If it fades away naturally? Sure. But to actually say it? To make it your official stance? No.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

double post please ignore: stupid laptop. I don't know how to delete accidently reposts.*

Got ya covered.

 

[TheSword]

Neither one of us really gets to tell someone else how or why the fiction should matter to them. But I'm not asking anyone here to agree or disagree with their point of view, I was simply pointing out why they might be upset that the fiction they've invested 20-30 years of their life in is suddenly non-canon.

I think the issue is that the things you gave in your example aren’t the things being suggested by WOC. No one is saying earlier works ‘don’t matter’ or invalid. They stand as individual works of art, and are enjoyable or not on their own merits. WOC obviously take this into consideration in their work when they decide what’s going on… which is why Learl is the open lord of Waterdeep and Icewind Dale still has 10 towns, and why Artus Cimbar is in Tomb of Annihilation.

Can you give examples where something WOC did in the 5e Forgotten Realms that has done what you or others are afraid of? Because if the best answer is that Daggerford has changed which side of the river it’s on, or Elturel is 10 miles north of where it was before, I really don’t have any sympathy.

 

[Weiley31]

Got ya covered.

Much obliged kind guitar: the double post was still in the "write your reply section" and I thought I forgot to hit the post reply prior.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It happens to all of us.

 

[Bolares]

Why do new players need to be prioritized over long term loyal players and readers. Use a setting like Eberron instead for new players, that prefer less depth of lore.

Gatekeeeping much?