Basically what Crawford is stating is that 2014 was a stealth reboot of the entire continuity of all D&D worlds, in all facets big and small. The early 5E products may've appeared to be a direct continuation of the previous D&D continuity (4E and prior editions). But even from the start, the 5E continuity was actually a total reboot, in a different continuity (different timeline, different multiverse, different reality, like the Abramsverse). Only those facets (people, places, events, dates) which appear in a 5E RPG product actually happened in this new timeline. The pre-5E stuff simply does not exist as far as the 5E Reality is concerned. Even the "past" in the 5E timeline is not the same as the previous editions' lore, unless a 5E happens to say so.
This is essentially like the Story Group Universe of Star Wars. Versus the Legends Universe (=D&D Classics PDFs). (Actually, there are bunch of different Star Wars Legends Universes, since there are various 'what-if' or spoof timelines.)
Not as similar to Star Trek, since Star Trek consciously supports two Realities: the Kelvin Timeline (aka the Alternate Reality or Abramsverse) and also the Prime Timeline (aka Prime Reality).
Generally, at a surficial level, I have no problem with this. Well done. From a practical perspective, besides the reasons others have stated, it also sidesteps the uncomfortable legacy of slanted gender- and ethno-national-depictions from decades past. Like:
"We're only responsible for amending mis-steps our team has made since 2014. For example, we are amending our early 5E-depiction of the Vistani Romani-inspired culture, or how we are beginning to amend the approach to how, even in 5E, race was tied to ability scores and alignment."
What I'd like though, is Crawford and team to take it several steps further, to bring this to state of affairs into full consciousness, in these ways:
1) Ditch the word "canonical." It smacks of hierarchical rectitude. (In accordance with Crawford's usage, it could be re-purposed as a term for different "canons": not only the RPG Studio Canon, but also other canons: the 5E Novel Canon, various license 5E Video Game Canons. But the word is so loaded, it's best to almost entirely drop it. Because the word inherently implies uniform rectitude...there's only ONE CANON. And everything else is of less worth.
I mean, Disney didn't call it the "Legends Canon." It only used the word "Canon" for its "best" universe: the Story Group Canon. Which is hierarchical, and invalidates other facets of fandom. Disney has experienced some blowback from this unilateral, one-sided approach. In contrast to the Star Trek approach.
2) Redefine the word "official" to include all products which have ever been published by WotC and TSR. They're all Official. It's true. I mean, even the Classic PDFs are Official WotC products, since WotC is selling them on the marketplace. Novels and videogames are Official too. Only bootleg products and aficionado-crafted works (fan publications, such as on DMsGuild) are Unofficial.
3) "Canonical" and "official" then have little to no use in regards to naming continuities/timelines. Instead, use IN WORLD designations. In a similar way that the Kelvin Reality and the Prime Reality are in-world terms. I mean, Spock could actually call them "the Kelvin Reality" and "the Prime Reality." But Spock wouldn't call them "canonical" or "official"--those are Out of Character terms.
4) Name this new post-2014 timeline the "Fifth Reality" (aka "Fifth Multiverse" and "Fifth Timeline"). In out-of-character terms: "the D&D 5E RPG Studio Timeline."
5) However, apparently there are more than one Official 5E Timeline: the RPG Studio Timeline, the 5E Novel Timeline, the 5E Video Game Timeline (or actually there are probably more than one Video Game Timeline, if there are different licensees), and the Adventurers Guild Timeline. Probably also various Boardgame Timelines depicted by various licensees. These are all Official.
Give these
in-world designations too. Something like:
-RPG Studio Timeline = (maybe) Reality 5-R (for "RPG") or Reality 5-S (for "Studio") or Reality 5-Prime (since it's the main 5E Timeline)
-Novel / Fiction Timeline = Reality 5-N (nicely evokes "Appendix N.") [Edit: really, the Novel Timeline is 'editionless'; so it'd just be simply Reality N; and would include all the D&D novels and fictions ever made, except for books or passages which are contradictory, in which case those would be alternate N Timelines.]
-Videogame Timeline(s) = Reality 5-V, with another code letter added for each licensee, if their depictions diverge.
-Boardgame Timelines(s) = Reality 5-B, with a different code for each licensee, if necessary.
-M:tG Timeline = Reality 5-M. The D&D Multiverse as depicted seen in the new M:tG FR set.
-Adventurers Guild Timeline = Reality 5-A
These different timelines palpably co-exist, and could actually be visited in-world. When this is done consciously, Drizzt-Prime could actually visit Drizzt-N. They're going to be a little different.
Yes, the RPG Studio Timeline is prime, but the others are just as Official and "Canonical" in their own way. They're all Official Expressions of the D&D archetype.
5) Though of course all new products are going to be focused on the Fifth Reality, make it clear that the other (previous) Realities do continue to co-exist "off screen." It's just that WotC is no longer publishing new windows into those Realities. Those Realities are only viewed through Classic PDFs. If this co-existence is widely known by D&D fandom, in the way that Star Trek aficionados know that the Kelvin Reality and Prime Reality continue to coexist, then both fandoms can happily co-exist. (In constrast, Crawford's formulation is dry, abstract, and not presented in a storied, colorful way which will be widely known by D&D fandoms.)
6) However, on rare occasions, have scenes where sagacious key characters in the story are actually aware of the existence of those other Realities: such as the Wizards Three (Elminster, Mordenkeinen, and Dalamar), or certain deities (Fizban), or at least the Overdeities (such as Lord Ao, the Lady of Pain, and the High God of Krynn).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did exactly this: there was a video made which involved all different versions of TMNTs (from comics, tv, and film) meeting each other for an adventure! Transformers also does this, by giving official in-world designations for every variant story or depiction: these hundreds of "universal streams" are codified, and certain characters are aware of them, and can be visited for cross-over adventures!
In contrast, Disney hasn't published a cross-over between the Story Group Universe and the Legends Universe, which I think is a big mistake. It's just trying to sweep the Legends under the rug (except for allowing the Legends label to bring in a bit of a continuing revenue stream for those "Legends" novels which still sell), but otherwise pushes and shoves everyone into the Story Group Canon. So far, WotC is going down this unilateral path.
7) The other main Realities (aka Timelines, Multiverses, Continuities) are:
-The Fourth Reality (aka Fourth Multiverse, Fourth Timeline)
-The Third Reality (aka Third Multiverse, Third Timeline)
-The Saga Reality (aka Saga Multiverse, Saga Timeline; A window through which Krynn was seen for a time.)
-The Second Reality (aka Second Multiverse, Second Timeline)
-The First Reality (aka First Multiverse, First Timeline)
-The Classic Reality (aka Classic Multiverse, Classic Timeline; in other words, BD&D, B/X D&D, BECMI D&D, and BB/RC/WotI D&D)
-The Original Reality (aka Original Multiverse, Original Timeline)
[Edit: Point of clarity. Despite what looks to be a numbered sequence, all these realities continue to exist, and will always exist; and furthermore, their timeline continued to advance "off-stage", in exact synchronization. And the same "Multiverse Shattering Events" happened in all these Realities...it's just that the rules lens didn't shift. For example, in the First Reality, the Time of Troubles, Spellplague, and the Second Sundering all happened, it's just that these events were depicted through a 1E rules lens, resulting in the appearance of 1E Dragonborn, 1E Sorcerer and Warlock subclasses of Magic-User, etc. That's not to say there couldn't also be 'what-if' stories where the MSEs didn't happen, but the baseline is for the "rules-lens-based realities" to follow the published events as closely as feasible, given the different rules lenses).]
There are of course variant timelines within each clustered Reality, such as the subtle differences between how characters were statted for 3.0 vs. 3.5. Or the difference between BECMI D&D and BB/RC/WotI D&D (Black Box/Rules Cyclopedia/Wrath of the Immortals).
Note: in these Realities, they were always depicted in that particular "rules lens" and always will be. They extend forever into the past and future. I mean, the BD&D, 1e, 2e, 3e, and 4e books still exist. They're still for sale as PDFs, and will be "forever." Note: We specifically see the "eternally Second Reality" in those Arcane Age 2e modules which depict ancient Toril using 2e rules, when "actually" they "should've" used 1e rules, since that was before the Time of Troubles. [Edit: And also in the 2E conversion of War of the Lance adventures, since events before the Chaos War "should've" been depicted in 1E rules, as the Chaos War specifically converted 1E Krynn to SAGA Krynn. So we're seeing the "eternal Second Reality" there.]
So, this means that there's another Official Reality which actually shifted from lens to lens. In fact, it's the main legacy timeline. Maybe call it the Multi-Reality or "Multiverse Shaking Events" Reality or Legacy Reality (since this is the main legacy timeline). In this Reality, the various "Multiverse Shaking Events" (Time of Troubles, Fate of Istus, Wrath of the Immortals, Die, Vecna, Die!, Chaos War, War of Souls, Spellplague, Second Sundering) actually shifted the Multiverse to a different lens each time. There are indications (e.g. in Die, Vecna, Die!) that all the worlds of the Great Wheel were effected by those waves of crisis; it's just that we didn't always see what happened to, say Mystara or Athas or Aebrynis or Oerth during the Spellplague or Second Sundering.
Note: Mystara always also existed in this Legacy Reality (besides its main depiction in the Classic Reality), it just wasn't seen by consumers until 2E Mystara came out.
These are the crises I know of:
- Time of Troubles (1e Abeir-Toril to 2e Abeir-Toril)
- Fate of Istus (1e Oerth to 2e Oerth)
- Wrath of the Immortals (BECMI Mystara to Rules Cyclopedia/WotI Mystara, including changed Immortals-level rules)
- Die, Vecna, Die! (2e Great Wheel Multiverse to world-specific 3e Cosmologies)
"Even with Vecna's removal, his time in the crux effected change in superspace. Though the Lady of Pain attempts to heal the damage, the turmoil spawned by Vecna's time in Sigil cannot be entirely erased. Some Outer Planes drift off and are forever lost, others collide and merge, while at least one Inner Plane runs "aground" on a distant world of the Prime. Moreover, the very nature of the Prime Material Plane itself is altered. Half-worlds like those attached to Tovag Baragu multiply a millionfold, taking on parallel realism in what was before a unified Prime Material Plane. The concept of alternate dimensions rears its metaphorical head, but doesn't yet solidify, and perhaps it never will. New realms, both near and far, are revealed and realms never previously imagined make themselves known. Entities long thought lost emerge once more, while other creatures, both great and small, are inexplicably eradicated. Some common spells begin to work differently. The changes do not occur immediately, but instead are revealed during the subsequent months. However, one thing remains clear: Nothing will ever be the same again."
- The Apocalypse Stone (An epic-level adventure for wrapping up a 2e campaign before beginning a 3e campaign)
- Chaos War (1e Krynn to SAGA Krynn)
- War of Souls (SAGA Krynn to 3e Krynn)
- Spellplague (3e Toril to 4e Toril and Abeir)
- Dragon #327 "Winning Races: Diaboli--Bringing Diaboli into 3.5E" (describes changes in the Far Realm and Plane of Dreams)
- Sundering (4e Toril & Abeir to 5e)
This Legacy Reality wasn't officially dropped until 2014, as indicated in Crawford's statement.
Also note: these Multiverse Shaking Events happened in the "eternally one-edition Realities" too; it's just that they were still depicted using that one lens. For example, IIRC an Arcane Age product gave an example of how to model pre-Time of Troubles 1st edition character options using 2E! Presumably, this "eternally 2E Toril" went through the Spellplague and the Second Sundering too, but remained 2E (while depicting new in-story character options using a 2E lens, such as a 2E warlock class).
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This Realities framework isn't just abstract. It provides a way for all the different D&D fandoms to happily coexist in a shared, validating framework, While of course still focusing on the Fifth Reality.
And furthermore...this framework is Official. It comes from a D&D Brand Manager, Bruce Heard! See this DRAGON mag article:
Up, Away, and Beyond
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Note: the co-existence of these various legacy Realities doesn't negate the good approach which 5E is making toward inclusiveness. Besides the disclaimer which is seen on Classic PDFs, if characters from the Fifth Reality visit those other Realities, they can amend and make in-world changes, which rectify backwards stuff in those Realities. It could be a really "meta" story!
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So, that's what I'd like to see. Hey, if WotC would give me a penny and attribution, they can use my ideas.
For a fuller treatment see:
D&D Tangents and Realities - Free Culture & Tabletop Roleplay
