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.

 

[Neonchameleon]

If it's not canon it just gets replaced by a reboot. By that content already on our shelf. It doesn't add new value to the books we own and instead replaces what we own
Because we still have those old books, we have ZERO reasons to buy the new ones

We're being told WizCo no longer gives a flip about us and cares about our money

No. You're being told that you and those like you are not providing enough money to make it worth creatively shackling their writers to long term and impenetrably dense continuities that are actively offputting for the new players that make up the majority of their market.

They'll put out as good books as they can. They don't not want your money. They just don't want to pander to you at the expense of people they consider more likely to give them money. You aren't somehow a chosen group.

We'll NEVER see what happens next. If the elves of Silvanesti could have taken back their homeland or what happens to Mina
The story is over
And now, according to WizCo, it never took place at all

It didn't never take place - just not in the reality they are publishing for.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

That's how the Forgotten Realms worked
And how every other WizCo campaign setting apart from the recent Ravenloft book, and Dark Sun (which didn't erase the novels and changes, but just took place earlier and allowed DMs to advance the timeline)

I don't think that's true re "every other".

Even in 5E, Eberron is basically a nigh-identical reboot from the same starting point, than a later version of the setting, isn't it?

In 3E/4E it's definitely not how it worked with every setting, not even arguably.

And yes it is how the FR worked. I actually expect the FR to continue to work this way, as it's part of the "style" of the FR. But what WotC are saying is that they don't intend to do that with all settings. By all means only buy the ones where you feel that they are.

If a property I like gets rebooted or reset, my first reaction would be more curiosity than anything else. I might be a bit sad, but I've got bigger things to worry about; I'll live.

Same here.

Depending on who is involved with it, I am typically either excited or apprehensive or a mixture of both, but rarely horrified. I mean, the only properties I could be described as an actual honest-to-god "fan" of are probably Mass Effect and Deep Space 9, and whilst I'd be a little vexed if ME was rebooted entirely, I'd also be interested, and want to know the details, and I'd kind of love a DS9 reboot - would I love a continuation too? Sure but I think that time has likely passed.

No. You're being told that you and those like you are not providing enough money to make it worth creatively shackling their writers to long term and impenetrably dense continuities that are actively offputting for the new players that make up the majority of their market.

Yup exactly.

As I've said, I think there's room in the market for properties that operate like that.

Expecting a hundreds-of-millions of dollars income, 50 million players corporation which is suddenly one of Hasbro's main profit drivers (if not THE profit driver) to operate like that, though, may be misguided. When Disney went "Get rid of the EU" for Star Wars, that wasn't some sort of thoughtless snap decision. It was cold-ass calculated decision which was looking at their long-term future and success for their IP.

I'd say stick to novels, if you want to know "how the story ends". And hope the author isn't GRRM, Scott Lynch, or Pat Rothfuss - OH YEAH I WENT THERE!!!! Still bitter!

 

[PsyzhranV2]

I do think there is a bit of a gap in the market, somewhat, for what you want, i.e. setting the owners commit to updating solely in a linear, additive way, which will continue for decades, but equally, that's kind of how all settings work, until it isn't.

Is there though? White Wolf tried that super metaplot heavy approach with the first iteration of the World of Darkness, and that was kind of a disaster. If another tabletop company were to try a similar approach now, in the age of social media, I wonder what sort of different technical challenges they'd face.

(I wonder if the arguments over the launch of Chronicles of Darkness were anything like this).

The living world approach does see use and success in live service video games (whether they be MMOs, MOBAs, FPS games, etc.). Wonder what the difference is, and what percentage of players are actually invesred in the lore as opposed to just wanting new content in general.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I'll explain it like this. Feel free to disagree.

You start reading novels. You enjoy say Star Wars. You want to know what happens to those characters and the universe they inhabit.

You do it over say 20 years. They have children those characters develop. You get attached to it. And then Disney pulls the legends thing. Well you were happy to take my money for 20 years F you.

Star Wars has always had a priority approach to continuity, ever since Splinter in the Mind's Eye was totally ignored in favour of The Empire Strikes Back and the Christmas Special was ignored in favour of pretending that it never happened. Meanwhile those of us who were there 20 years ago remember that the Prequel Trilogy really didn't fit very well with the books, and George Lucas considered himself entirely unbound by anything that happened in any of the books. And then there's the Clone Wars vs The Clone Wars issues.

If you expected the Legends Continuity to be given pride of place rather than the core continuity to be based on visual media that far more people engaged with you simply weren't paying attention. Swearing at Disney for continuing in the footsteps of George Lucas is ... ironic.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

I don't think that's true re "every other".

Even in 5E, Eberron is basically a nigh-identical reboot from the same starting point, than a later version of the setting, isn't it?

Yes
But they were also explicit about that from the very beginning. That the adventures and novels wouldn't advance the timeline. That was the promise for that system and what made it different

In 3E/4E it's definitely not how it worked with every setting, not even arguably.

Not every system
Just the three published by WizCo that didn't explicitly promise not to update the timeline

And Dark Sun for 4th Ed, that didn't erase the timeline but was simply set in an earlier era, giving people the CHOICE of keeping the old lore or scrapping it

And yes it is how the FR worked. I actually expect the FR to continue to work this way, as it's part of the "style" of the FR. But what WotC are saying is that they don't intend to do that with all settings. By all means only buy the ones where you feel that they are.

Too bad
Because it's not how FR works anymore. The FR novels aren't canon anymore either and the upcoming FR book in 2022 or 2023 is free to make whatever changes they want to the history and lore the book's author's want

Eberron never did that. Nothing but the RPG books ever counted. And even the adventures weren't canon.

But Eberron made a point of saying that from the beginning

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Meanwhile those of us who were there 20 years ago remember that the Prequel Trilogy really didn't fit very well with the books, and George Lucas considered himself entirely unbound by anything that happened in any of the books.

The prequel trilogy didn't fit very well with the original trilogy!

 

[Bolares]

But Eberron made a point of saying that from the beginning

Sure, I just interjected because you said no other setting did it. Well, Eberron did it.

 

[Remathilis]

I'll explain it like this. Feel free to disagree.

You start reading novels. You enjoy say Star Wars. You want to know what happens to those characters and the universe they inhabit.

You do it over say 20 years. They have children those characters develop. You get attached to it. And then Disney pulls the legends thing. Well you were happy to take my money for 20 years F you.

Counter point.

You watched Doctor Who as a child in the 80s. You are happy with the show, but the BBC cancels it. All you have now is Target novels and DWM comic strips. Later, you get a failed TV reboot with a new Doctor and then more novels, comics and audiodramas. But that's ok, since you get some great stories from it: Human Nature, Spare Parts, Jubilee, etc. You get to explore the Cartmel Master plan and why the Doctor is "so much more than just a Time Lord".

Then 2005 happens and a new Doctor Who show comes up, and almost all of the Wilderness years becomes non-cannon.

You get some nods here and there; Easter Eggs and name drops. They don't remove the 8th Doctor, though they utterly ignore the "half-human" plot point. Instead, it's mined for ideas. Human Nature is redone as a 10th Doctor story. Spare Parts becomes the basis for Rise of the Cybermen. Jubilee becomes Dalek. The Cartmel Master plan becomes the Timeless Child. The old books and comics you read are now gone, but the best lives on in the new continuity, though not always in the way you remembered them.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Guess I'm done with DnD then

OK.

That's how the Forgotten Realms worked

Yes, of course. I mean that the Avatar Trilogy and pulling the Gods out of the heavens to justify an edition change wasn't the excuse for a soft reboot and literally removing all the assassins from the Realms or anything. And I've no idea what the excuse for changing the Great Wheel into the World Tree was.

 

[Neonchameleon]

The prequel trilogy didn't fit very well with the original trilogy!

It did from a certain point of view.