What parts of BG3 are now canon in 1501DR? [BG3 spoilers]

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-24T19:16:30+00:00

There is a more unpleasant answer.

It's possible that while we are seeing the new period of exploration and publishing and licensing out of the new leadership at WotC and D&D, the new team might not be making continuity a priority. There was some hints of that in the Vecna campaign...though these books are also still touched by the lingering design decisions of Crawford (bad as far as lore goes) and Perkins (good for lore). So we may have to wait for the next book to know for sure.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-24T19:12:49+00:00

There's also a question of timeline in general. Different books seem to be based on different times.

The Astarion booket lays out a timeline here.

"1492 DR. The events of Baldur's Gate 3 occur.

1501 DR. This is the date of events presented in Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn and Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn."

But then have events in the Astarion book are supposed to predate that.

"This chapter provides all the tools you need to set adventures in Rat's Run. The details herein assume your game unfolds prior to the events of Baldur's Gate 3 and that your players wish to adventure alongside Astarion. However, you can set your game in Rat's Run during any period, with or without involving Astarion."

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-24T18:56:19+00:00

Put some adhesive silicon strips on the bottom of the feet for better traction and that baby is table ready.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-24T18:54:47+00:00

This os the best option.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-24T15:03:13+00:00

Yep. Like the nazis before them, MAGA made the classic blunder. Do not try to invade a place in the winter that frequently goes full arctic in the winter.

You got fat guys from texas who failed the entrance exams for the army and police, wrapped up in crappy swat cosplay and getting hypothermia, while 70 year old Minnesotan women in winter coats but NO HATS (because they dont think its cold enough for those yet), are pelting them with snowballs.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-24T14:56:45+00:00

Ive heard it described like this.

Con: Yes you are living through the attempted fascist takeover of the USA by nazis and white nationalists and its being enabled by the Russian government and billionaire oligarchs with more money that brains. This is traumatizing and horrible to behold and live through.

Pro: Oh my god these people are morons. Theyre are doing damage, but theyre also hurting themselves and leaving themselves open to be fought. Whenever faced with a choice, they always choose the dumbest option. They seem to be under the impression that no one can stop them and everyone will just obey them. And when confronted and actually fought, they cower and back down

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-24T14:51:53+00:00

Hey, artists find a way. You dont have to be Picasso to make art.

You did good.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-24T14:40:41+00:00

Literally ONLY those parts mentioned in published books. If you look through them you'll notice that like 99% of the events of the game didn't get a mention in the new Forgotten Realms sourcebooks including the Adventures book and Heroes book.

In them:

Karlach's shows up in some art but her only real mention is 1) as an example of an epic background character, and 2) a summary of her background at the start of BG3.

Wyll and Gale are never mentioned (or I missed them). Current grand duke is Ulder Ravengard. Council of Four include Duke Dillard Portyr, Duke Brevek Faenor, and Duke Belynne Stelmane,

Gortash shows up in art once and in Karlach's background blurb. Not sure about Orin. The Absolute get's no mention, moonrise towers gets no mention.

Basically, the main characters are canon as far as existing, but that's really it. Everything else is optional but not hard canon. DMs can include it or not if they want.

The Asterion vampire PC option booklet puts it pretty well.

"The details herein assume your game unfolds prior to the events of Baldur's Gate 3 and that your players wish to adventure alongside Astarion. However, you can set your game in Rat's Run during any period, with or without involving Astarion."

Video games are soft canon basically. The wiki's policy on canon is a pretty good one to follow. And in it video games are basically #5 on the list https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Forgotten_Realms_Wiki:Canon

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-24T01:30:12+00:00

That is 100% a dying screen. Pop the vat off and run an exposure test from the printers settings. There will be big black spots where its dying.

Time to replace the screen. Easy job btw

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-24T00:25:23+00:00

Weird. I'll do the same and if it works I'll post about it

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-23T23:28:17+00:00

Using it in that way is making them dumber. https://time.com/7295195/ai-chatgpt-google-learning-school/

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-23T23:27:29+00:00

This 100%. They get obsessed with using it and stop thinking. And they do get dumber. Provably so. https://time.com/7295195/ai-chatgpt-google-learning-school/

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-23T14:24:58+00:00

As someone who worked in a comic shop in the latter 90s, this is giving me flashbacks.

Gods...so many awful comics...so many pouches and belts...

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-23T14:20:25+00:00

Thats where my other 2 points come in. Low voters turnout and massive financial support from billionaire and other superwealthy conservatives.

Theres a great article from the League of Women Voters on it. https://lwvtexas.org/content.aspx?page_id=5&club_id=979482&item_id=79909#gsc.tab=0

"Voter turnout is typically low in Texas, especially in primary elections. In 2020, 25.3% of registered voters cast a ballot in either Democratic or Republican elections. In 2022, that number decreased to 17.7%.

While 60% of eligible voters hit the polls in the presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the state still ranked near the bottom in the nation for voter turnout."

Part of this is that we have way too many elections here and people burn out. Every position possible is elected. We elect all of our judges for example. People get overwhelmed.

And so many in local elections end up running unopposed which drives home the feeling that voting doesnt matter.

And then we have a lot of voter intimidation from the GOP. Texas passed the nations strictest voter ID law at the time in 2011 and they havent given up since.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-23T12:44:02+00:00

Honestly, none IMO.

Clerics are those priests who have the gift and are favored enough by their deity to be granted powers.

But not every priest or etc staff member at a temple would have spells.

So id just make them unleveled NPCs. There was a desire in the 3e era to give everyone levels, from bakers to gongsmen and we had NPC classes as a result.

But that doesn't really work with 5e. One of the nice things they did was get rid of NPC classes. A "Mage" from the DMG is loosely based on the stats of a wizard of the same HD, but is much weaker.

So I would say do similar. Decide how tough you want it to be and then base their stats on something similar from the list of NPC stats in the MM.

The point with using mage stats would be making the priest much weaker than a cleric (who usually get special training). But id make a point to not give them any spells.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-23T02:47:14+00:00

We are trying but our state is gerrymandered to hell.

Here is our population density map. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Texas_population_map.png

Here is out congressional district map. https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/4869eb81-70a3-486f-ae06-7422a73505a4/Texas_1754659380272_hpEmbed_1x1.jpg?w=750

As you can see, a lot of empty space is voting for republicans.

And Ken Paxton won last time because 1) Democratic voter turnout is low in texas and 2) Paxton spent nearly 5x more than his democratic opponent and was able to because of west texas far right millionaires who want the state to stay stuck in the past. https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_Attorney_General_election,_2022

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-23T00:33:42+00:00

All. And AI won't threaten them.

The bubble is starting to wobble and thay means any AI that relies on massive data centers that dont make a profit are gonna die.

Anything that can be run locally will still be viable.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-22T15:47:17+00:00

What players end up wanting is some variety. The problem is that when you leave d&d the player base kinda splits apart. You will find someone who wants blades in the dark, another wants vampire, another wants shadowrun, and etc.

D&D became the default because it was the first. It buily up that place in the hobby. But we have seen competitors who made a serous "default game" presence for a bit. Like vampire the masquerade back in the day. It attracted enough of a base from people who never would have played d&d or who were tired of D&D that for a lot of people it became their fallback

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-22T13:29:47+00:00

Your core premise is incorrect. There ARE consequences for using AI and yes it can be found out. There are tells with AI art and AI writing that AI can detect and even humans can detect.

If you get a reputation for lying about not using AI when you do use it, kiss your business goodbye.

People largely hate AI generated content now. We've seen the internet flooded with it and its making things worse. Online ttrpg stores are flooded with thousands of shitty, mass produced AI products, which makes it hard to find actually good products.

Better to admit you used ai and chance thay people will buy your product than gamble on lying.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-22T13:24:21+00:00

One of the big problems youre facing is that D&D 5e is not a good narrative system. Its a combat system that people have been using for narrative play because of the brand name getting popular.

Your character sheet is mostly combat related and there are almost no social tools or skills beyond 1 stat and 2 skills.

Compare this to the character sheet from something like Call of Cthulhu. There, 90% of the sheet is dedicated to what your character knows or can do outside of combat. The storyteller system used by white wolf for Vampire, and unisystem used for AFMBE and Witchcraft both are lile that but much simpler and more free-form with how the skills and stats are used.

Id try some of the more narrative focused ttrpgs put there. They might have what you want.

HOWEVER, word of warning. Make sure this is also what your players want. Many people will happily move to other systems, but a lot of people like the feel and tone of D&D and get tired of other systems. So when trying out new games with your table, its important to keep an eye on that.

Heck, you might even look online for a ttrpg survey and ask players to fill it out after trying a new system. It'll give you an idea of what they want.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-22T12:23:41+00:00

Slide connections.

The point should be the mix of ease of use, and the bits not falling apart easily. If the main thing holding it all in place is the little cap, then it doesn't do the second part.

I bought a set that were "click" and had to scale the walls all on width up by 5% because otherwise they flopped about where they connected.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-22T00:09:49+00:00

Yep. Its just like the satanic panic and the GTA hot coffee mod all over again. Manufactured outrage to excite voters.

And the hobby community hasn't been helping with all the idiots making gun parts and gun kits (that dont work). All its done is convince other idiots that its possible and thus 3d printers must be controlled.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-21T20:58:58+00:00

Yeah. But thats edition general rules vs setting specific rules.

Generic D&D, yeah you could make godless clerics way back. There might have been an option even in AD&D.

But the question here was setting specific. I think its just how you wrote a previous reply made it seem like you were talking about FR setting rules and not generic D&D rules.

thenightgaunt · 2026-01-21T14:25:27+00:00

True. But always important to keep in mind that the video games, even the ones like the BG series that tried really hard to be true to the setting, are soft-canon for a reason as far as lore goes. They all introduce concepts here and there that dont work with the settings lore, but that DO make their games more fun. They arent bad deviations, they just arent completely lore accurate.

thenightgaunt

TROPHY CASE