D&D General Forgotten Realms geographic changes.

[mamba]

Can anyone point out the size changes and when they happened?

I assume you got that from this thread, which by now also goes into some detail

It literally says in SCAG, page 18:

"Early in 1487, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions abounded for months, as if the whole world was convulsing. Rumors spread of the chasms caused by the Spellplague suddenly vanishing, and stories circulated of known destinations being further away, as if the world had quietly added miles of wilderness between them."

So, no, it didn't occur outside the story in game design - the world, in-universe, did shrink and expand. As ridiculous as you might think it to be, the world, canonically and literally, did resize itself 1487 DR.

For juat the Sword Coast region, leaving off the rest of Faerun:

In the 3E/4E material the Sword Coast region as defined in SCAG is 2.2 million square miles (approximately twice as large as India)

In the 1E/2E/5E material, the Sword Coast region is over 5 million square miles (just shy of Antarctica, the only country on Earth bigger than the Sword Coast region is Russia).

That means the land that disappears and comes back is about the size of Australia. Just for the Sword Coast.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Thank you, one I own in PDF. I got it long after the fact though and had not read that article.

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Is "The Sundering" the term used in 4e for the two worlds thing?
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Yep, those are the pictures I was referencing (scissors included!) that caused a bit of an uproar in FR fandom.

I forgot that the excuse was "the curvature of the planet", which is really just a cop-out. I don't think Ed's original map and the Gray Box maps based upon it had a projection mentioned. And the way they adjusted things doesn't conform to what corrections would be like due to a change in projection. They were just cutting out empty areas to better fit the map onto a single poster.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Its fiction. The fiction got changed with new editions. It is like complaining that Godzilla is different size in different Godzilla movies.

 

[Parmandur]

Thank you, one I own in PDF. I got it long after the fact though and had not read that article.

View attachment 348926
Is "The Sundering" the term used in 4e for the two worlds thing?
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Well, that's terrible. Explains why the Coast changed shape the way thst it did.

 

[Parmandur]

For comparison, Eberron changed its map scale for Khorvaire by about 40% from 3e to 4e; that means it lost over 60% of its land area.

Keith Baker has said his intention was for Khorvaire to be roughly Europe-sized, the initial scale of Eberron as presented in 3.5 made Khorvaire larger than Asia. (IIRC)

Eberron avoids the problem by having zero metaplot, however. There is no attempt to explain the change, or pretend it didn't happen while advancing a larger multi-bovel story or something.

 

[Parmandur]

Yep, those are the pictures I was referencing (scissors included!) that caused a bit of an uproar in FR fandom.

I forgot that the excuse was "the curvature of the planet", which is really just a cop-out. I don't think Ed's original map and the Gray Box maps based upon it had a projection mentioned. And the way they adjusted things doesn't conform to what corrections would be like due to a change in projection. They were just cutting out empty areas to better fit the map onto a single poster.

That's why aome people don't think of the Forgotten Realms as a Points of Light Setting, which it is in theb1E/2E presentation and 5E again.

 

[Parmandur]

Its fiction. The fiction got changed with new editions. It is like complaining that Godzilla is different size in different Godzilla movies.

Well, yes, sure. Bit that applies to any story element of the Forgotten Realms, if it does to the size of the continent.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Well, yes, sure. Bit that applies to any story element of the Forgotten Realms, if it does to the size of the continent.

Sure. But what you said about the different way Eberron and FF handled this was a good point. I think the Eberron approach is better.

 

[Parmandur]

Sure. But what you said about the different way Eberron and FF handled this was a good point. I think the Eberron approach is better.

Oh, much. It's sustainable, and can handle big changes.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Don't forget how much Kara Tur shrunk between Oriental Adventures and Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms. Basically it had to be resized to connect to Faerun.

The biggest issue for me is how huge and cut-off Zakhara is. If you're going to have a fantasy-Arabia it needs to be heavily tied in to your fantasy-Europe and fantasy-Asia - it was literally the thing connecting the two!