Doomed Forgotten Realms is the darkest possible Dungeons & Dragons timeline

Wizards of the Coast launched the fifth version of Dungeons & Dragons in 2014 with the journey Tyranny of Dragons, the place gamers should cease a cult from summoning the evil dragon goddess Tiamat into the Forgotten Realms. Doomed Forgotten Realms: Sword Coast Gazetteer, a brand new setting e book from Quill & Cauldron, imagines what D&D’s major marketing campaign location would seem like if gamers of that journey failed. Then they went even additional, imagining failure for each different main journey Wizards has launched since. The outcome? The darkest of all doable D&D timelines.

In Doomed Forgotten Realms: Sword Coast Gazetteer the town of Baldur’s Gate has been plunged into the 9 Hells because of the occasions of Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus. On the identical time, the land has been ravaged by the highly effective evil elementals launched in Princes of the Apocalypse, whereas demon lords occupy the subterranean realm of the Underdark after rising from portals opened in Out of the Abyss. However the biggest risk comes from Vecna, the evil god of secrets and techniques, who Doomed Forgotten Realms designer Matthew Whitby made the true mastermind behind the world’s downfall.

“I had the thought of all these occasions all through all of the hardcover books slowly going unsuitable, however it’s not till the ultimate shoe drops that everybody can see that there was somebody pulling the strings from the background this whole time,” Whitby stated. “Vecna’s such an iconic character. There’s probably not some other evil character within the Realms who can fairly attain that very same pinnacle.”

Sword Coast Gazetteer is a companion to the Quill & Cauldron journey Doomed Forgotten Realms: Rise of Vecna, which Whitby labored on alongside lead designer Scott McClintock. It imagines the god referred to as the Whispered One as a secret additional boss in 2017’s Tomb of Annihilation, summoned to the realms by means of the machinations of the lich Acererak and the necromantic artifact the Soulmonger, which drained the lifetime of everybody who’d ever been raised from the lifeless. One of many victims of the dying curse is Volothamp “Volo” Geddarm, the pretentious wizard who authored Volo’s Information to Monsters. Now a ghost, he supplies coloration commentary all through the Doomed Forgotten Realms: Sword Coast Gazetteer.

“One of many first tasks I ever did was Volo’s Information to Getting Murdered, which is a homicide thriller wherein Volo is the one who will get murdered,” Whitby stated. “I like writing in his voice as a result of he’s so confident that nothing may go unsuitable, however one thing has gone unsuitable as a result of he’s now lifeless.

“I kill Volo usually,” he added. “I’ll do it each likelihood I get.”

Picture: Quill & Cauldron

Volo helps lighten the temper of the in any other case bleak e book, which is crammed with fallen cities dominated by devils, the undead, and people cruel sufficient to pledge their loyalty to darkish powers.

Vecna has managed to chop off different gods from Faerûn, plunging the world additional into darkness and despair.

“It’s type of fixing the issue of all these good-aligned deities who most likely would have an issue with Faerûn being managed by Vecna or Tiamat,” Whitby stated. “Vecna’s managed to drag the wool over everybody’s eyes, and with out the connection to the gods, religion is dwindling. It additional proves how malicious and evil Vecna is, as if individuals wanted extra proof.”

The setting additionally helps clear up what Whitby dubs “the wizard drawback,” a scenario not not like the Jedi drawback in Star Wars video video games. The very fact is that Faerûn is overpopulated by extraordinarily highly effective spellcasters, like Elminster, whose world-shaping powers are for some purpose by no means used to affect what the gamers are doing. Seeing the writing on the wall, Whitby imagines that lots of the strongest denizens of the Sword Coast have fled, leaving the gamers to struggle for change with few allies.

“The neatest factor for these iconic heroes to do is simply escape as a result of they’re in opposition to overwhelming odds,” Whitby stated. “A few of these heroes, even Elminster, are selecting to bide their time and hope that perhaps there’s an adventuring occasion who can get robust sufficient to lastly overthrow one of many two evil gods that now declare the world.”

Fortunate for the gamers, the forces of evil are removed from unified. Tiamat and Vecna have reached one thing of a stalemate since neither deity is certain who would win in a struggle. The demons and devils stay locked of their infinite warfare, whereas Tiamat battles the frost giants who’ve locked the northern area of Icewind Dale in everlasting winter by means of the occasions of Storm King’s Thunder and Rime of the Frostmaiden. The darkish wizard Manshoon has sworn loyalty to Vecna however goals of controlling Faerûn himself.

Picture: Quill & Cauldron

“When the participant characters enter the world, they will start to tip the steadiness,” Whitby stated. “There are factions which might be against Vecna, however they’re being blackmailed or held ransom. The gamers can perform quests and attempt to do small little acts of fine and as they get highly effective they’ve extra company to influence the world.”

Doomed Forgotten Realms: Sword Coast Gazetteer provides plot hooks for each degree and for events who wish to facet with any of the conflicting teams. Basic heroic factions just like the Harpers and the Order of the Gauntlet have been devastated, however gamers can discover their final remnants taking refuge on a fleet of ships led by the swashbuckler Jarlaxle. They might have their may examined within the infamous dungeon of Undermountain, which has been pulled into its personal airplane of existence by the Mad Mage Halaster Blackcloak, or struggle fungus folks corrupted by Jubilex, the demon lord of oozes, who has merged with a sentient fungus within the Underdark.

“In a world dominated by evil, there’s no finish of battle,” Whitby stated. “The villains have gained however they need extra — there’s by no means sufficient. There’ll at all times be an opportunity for good to prevail.”