WotC's Chris Perkins Talks Realms & Sundering

Den of Geek has a lengthy interview with Chris Perkins about the Forgotten Realms and The Sundering. He also very briefly touches on other settings, indicating that WotC hopes that other worlds will be covered in the future if the right story comes along. On past controversial changes to settings, he says "Our guiding principle is to embrace the past and not pass judgment or rewrite history. We’d rather let the fans tell us what they like about the Realms and focus on those elements going forward." (thanks to MerricB for the scoop!)

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

tl;dr:

There wont be a reboot.

A Realmslore consultant, unless he or she works in-house at WotC, isn't getting paid.

AFAICT, Forgotten Realms was a TSR project from the get go.

Ed Greenwood started working on the Realms when he was six years old--well before D&D came along.

TSR purchased the Realms from Greenwood, with strings attached.

The final authority on matters of Realmslore is and always has been Greenwood, notwithstanding WotC's effort to "break away" in 4E.

If you're not going to make settings separate things with their own identities, might as well not care about different settings at all. They could drop the Forgotten Realms name, call it "The World of Dungeons & Dragons" and shoehorn in everything they think is cool enough to stay under the D&D umbrella.

TSR tried this once. It was called 2nd Edition D&D and the setting was called the Forgotten Realms. The moto was, "If it's in D&D, it's in the Realms."

And that's what they did: every rule, monster, magic item, etc., made it into the Realms and the Realms was chock full of portals (gates, for you old timers) and other means of travel to alternate worlds and dimensions, so everything could make its way to the Realms.

3E saw that come to an end (mostly).

Once again the wheel turns with 5E.

DL fans like me get screwed again. Well, I've bought my 3 rule books for 5e. No more. Not another penny to WotC. I know it won't make a difference to them, but it's important to me to quit supporting a company that doesn't care about a segment of its customer base.

Unless or until WotC says they don't care about you, all you're doing is helping to make sure a DL release doesn't happen.

Well I can tell you that it won't happen. Most FR fans would not be happy with anything short of a reboot. Go and check out the Candlekeep forums and you will see what I'm talking about.

Candlekeep isn't representative of the Realms fan base.

Then most FR fans can run their campaigns before/during/after the Time of Troubles, using the material they already own. They don't have to buy new books; new players don't have to pay hardcover prices for 30-year-old setting fluff; interested players can buy the new stuff; everybody wins.

Give this man a gold star.

It's about levels of immersion.

Consider: If you're a casual gamer or new to D&D, most of what you need to know about the Realms is already in the core rulebooks. You can purchase new adventures and you don't have to worry about 28+ years of Realmslore, because the adventure paths tell you what you need to know.

 

[Parmandur]

WOTC seems pretty clued in to people wanting different things for their table's Forgotten Realms; they are actively selling 3E, 4e, 2E and 1E setting material now.

The cafeteria is open.

 

[HobbitFan]

What about new fans? Or lapsed fans wanting to come back to the Realms?

The issue isn't old material. Players and Dungeon Masters have that available to them, or course.

What about the 5E Realms?

The 5E Realms exists right now as a Pantheon in the Player's Handbook and some setting "backdrop" information in the Starter Phandelver box and the two hardback adventure books. There is probably enough information there to run some stuff on the Sword Coast, but that's it.

 

[Irennan]

The 5E Realms exists right now as a Pantheon in the Player's Handbook

And not even the full one...

and some setting "backdrop" information in the Starter Phandelver box and the two hardback adventure books. There is probably enough information there to run some stuff on the Sword Coast, but that's it.

Yes, this. It's not merely a matter of ''but you can use old material''... you don't say? It's what people have been doing for years.
There are many fans who would like to know how 5e FR look like and that would like to see more stories and lore about their favorite and returned locales/npcs/gods going into the future and starting anew after this so heavily hyped ''Sundering''.

 

[Selvarin]

And not even the full one...



Yes, this. It's not merely a matter of ''but you can use old material''... you don't say? It's what people have been doing for years.
There are many fans who would like to know how 5e FR look like and that would like to see more stories and lore about their favorite and returned locales/npcs/gods going into the future and starting anew after this so heavily hyped ''Sundering''.

Agreed. Perhaps a book providing a post-Sundering update on the Realms--a 'light update' version--would at least be welcomed. Lord knows I'd pay for newer maps if they got rid of most of the dodgy 4e havoc wrought upon Faerun.

As with anything else it comes down to having another story to tell. I can see where WotC is coming from.


I don't see anything happening with Dragonlance. I feel it's even more tied to novels and story arcs than the Forgotten Realms.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

The 5E reset means those DMs running a post-1489DR game can use the old maps. Honestly, though, for those hated the 4E Realms why not reset to the 3.xE era and use all the old material rather than waiting another year or so to see if WotC makes a decision as to how to handle this new Salvatorean version of FR?

That gives you everything: great maps, a tonne of published material that no human being will ever live long enough to properly use, Ed's answers at Candlekeep, and you're off the novels/RSE roundabout.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Every time I visit Candlekeep it seems like The Hooded One is hinting that Ed is neck-deep in Realms writing and planning.

I share everyone's frustration with no news on the future of the Realms from WotC, but it appears work is continuing. So instead of wringing our hands over the paucity of information, let's treat it as a slow build up and enjoy it accordingly.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Every time I visit Candlekeep it seems like The Hooded One is hinting that Ed is neck-deep in Realms writing and planning.

I share everyone's frustration with no news on the future of the Realms from WotC, but it appears work is continuing. So instead of wringing our hands over the paucity of information, let's treat it as a slow build up and enjoy it accordingly.

It also wouldn't be the first time a tonne of work had been shelved for "strategic" reasons, he types a few days after discovering what WotC's plans for 2013 for Realms were going to be before the new edition and the fourth iteration of a Tiamat-focussed adventure path became the priority....

 

[Sailor Moon]

I want to know how they plan on bringing back places like Halruaa and Maztica?

I hope to god they don't do the old "abracadabra" poof there she is thing.

 

[Sailor Moon]

I also don't want a Realms purely designed to sell novels.