Like Corvacks says, one of the best parts of D&D is that it's not just a set of stories like "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars" that have lots of background lore, but D&D is also a set of tools for creating your own stories!
But D&D does have some common stories and background that many people refer to that can be confusing if you don't have that knowledge. However, "D&D lore" is actually decades of different lores all over the place under one brand. So it's like asking where to start to learn about "Earth lore" in a way. :) So, really, a better approach would be *which* lore or part of D&D are you interested in learning about? But if you really are starting at square one, you probably don't even know that. So, I would suggest two main things to explore to really start out.
1) The Forgotten Realms is the primary world most of the current published D&D take place in. (There's plenty of other awesome worlds, but you can work up to those later.) An incredible resource for learning about the Forgotten Realms is the fan-made Forgotten Realms Wiki. It is massive and actually has information on many other parts of D&D than the Forgotten Realms. Honestly, I'm not sure where to start in there, so maybe just randomly dive in and start exploring what looks interesting.
2) A lot of the classic lore (especially from the 1970's and 80's) is really in the adventures. So another great place to start is to look up one of the many "Best X D&D Adventures of All Time" lists. I know Dungeon magazine had one years ago with their Top 30. EN World (a major D&D fan and news site) had a Top 15 list. Nerdist has their Top 10 with some commentary. And there are many more out there, but you will see a lot of overlap with several of the adventures on most of the lists. Look those over and see which adventures sound most interesting. Then either research those particular adventures just by googling their names or summaries or even see if the adventure itself is available on DMs Guild. All of the monster and NPC stats will be for the wrong edition, but they can still be really interesting to read for the lore. Also Wikipedia has summaries of the most famous/classic adventures that can be incredibly informative.
There are literally hundreds of other websites out there that could give you good information, but I think these two approaches might be best for really starting from no real background.
P.S. Also, just to push my personal project, I have a website/blog called Rule of 3 that is (slowly) working on being an introduction to the Planescape campaign setting. It was focused on adventures in the various other planes of existence. It's certainly not a necessary aspect of D&D lore, and many don't like it, but I'm at least trying to aim it towards an audience that does not know anything about the setting and explain the basics. I should have more to post this week.
There's also the podcasts that occasionally do something called "Lore You Should Know," which is great for random tidbits about things. You can find it here. For more Forgotten Realms stuff beyond the wiki mentioned above? There's also the Candlekeep Forums, where authors and developers have been known to answer lore questions. There's even some lore p)osts on DNDBeyond's main page (usually posted by Todd Kenreck, which is basically just commentary and mini-interviews with Mike or Chris, the guys in charge of 5e).
Honestly, though? While there's some good resources for Forgotten Realms, I find that the rest of the settings tend to be... everywhere. The old Dragon magazines (both print and the 4e pdfs). Source books. Adventures. Novels... the list goes on.
P.S. Also, just to push my personal project, I have a website/blog called Rule of 3 that is (slowly) working on being an introduction to the Planescape campaign setting. It was focused on adventures in the various other planes of existence. It's certainly not a necessary aspect of D&D lore, and many don't like it, but I'm at least trying to aim it towards an audience that does not know anything about the setting and explain the basics. I should have more to post this week.
Curious minds inquiring - are you focusing on pre-Faction War, or after? The setting is pretty different depending on when you play.
P.S. Also, just to push my personal project, I have a website/blog called Rule of 3 that is (slowly) working on being an introduction to the Planescape campaign setting. It was focused on adventures in the various other planes of existence. It's certainly not a necessary aspect of D&D lore, and many don't like it, but I'm at least trying to aim it towards an audience that does not know anything about the setting and explain the basics. I should have more to post this week.
Curious minds inquiring - are you focusing on pre-Faction War, or after? The setting is pretty different depending on when you play.
Quick answer - I'm planning on both, but earlier maybe skewing more towards pre-Faction War.
Long answer - A lot of my initial stuff is actually aiming at the new gamers who have very little background in Planescape at all. So, the early stuff is very much "How is Planescape different than just adventures in the Planes?," "What are the planes?," and "What are the Factions?" where post-FW stuff might be mentioned, but it's really at a high level of detail that could apply to either pre- or post-FW. However, it's not all intro stuff since I do try to work in fun bits for those familiar with Planescape, like my pet theory that the entire Great Wheel cosmology layout is because of the modrons.
Also, since so many of the original Planescape books were heavier on flavor than mechanics, I'm hoping to provide some guidance on using those in 5e campaigns to make them more interesting as options for gamers new to D&D with 5e, so that obviously emphasizes pre-Faction War.
(Either way, I have to finish up some of the posts I have half-written and get them up there this week!)
However, if WotC opens up the DMs Guild to Planescape (or I might discuss some in Rule of 3 as time goes on if DMs Guild doesn't expand this year), I have Plans. :) I'm compiling my ideas into 3 campaign guides:
Planescape: Classic - Basically a guide to using all of the original Planescape products in 5e. But not just conversion notes, but also ways to tie them into larger campaigns, like "Great Modron March" and "Tales from the Infinite Staircase" have some really fascinating thematic links dealing with chaos infecting law and vice versa that could be tied closer together (for example, what if the Iron Shadow is a cast off remnant/echo/fracture from what happened to Primus in the prologue of Modron March?).
Planescape: Exile - Monte Cook said TSR's original post-FW plan was to get the factions more involved outside of Sigil, and this guide focuses on that. It advances the timeline the 130ish years the FR has advanced since 2e and focuses on exploring all of the planes (Outer, Inner, and Transitive) with heavy emphasis on the Factions and Sects. In the original books, the Factions were often used more for their political role in Sigil than their beliefs, so it is interesting to explore them with that political role removed, and all they have left is the beliefs. Some embrace life outside of Sigil, others scheme to get back in. It's fun.
Planescape: New Sigil - The flipside of PS:Exile, this explores a timeline advanced Sigil without the Factions in power. I'm still working through ideas for this one, but it is interesting exploring a Sigil with entirely different power structures and all of the subtle and not-so-subtle power plays going on after Faction War left such a massive power vacuum.
Im mainly interesed in the forgotten relms and the underdark
That Forgotten Realms wiki and Candlekeep Forums as Mephista mentioned are great sites to look for information. If you are willing to spend a little money, I would highly recommend the following as the best resources to learn about the Forgotten Realms and Underdark (plus I found them enjoyable enough on their own!)
For the Forgotten Realms either the original 1e boxed set or the 3e hardcover campaign setting book are extremely thorough and great resources for getting an overview of the Forgotten Realms. Both are available at DMs Guild at decent prices. The 3e one has some outdated mechanics but also very expansive guides to the history, nations, and main NPCs of the Realms. I'm not sure if the 1e boxed set has much of any mechanics at all in it - it might be entirely lore, which would make it a great place to start since it was the original beginning of the published Realms!
For the Underdark, there was a book published during 3e called "Underdark", of course, that made me want to run all sorts of campaigns in the Underdark. Again, a big chunk is outdated mechanics, but there are 85 pages or so detailing many regions, cities, etc. of the entire Underdark and is easily usable for any edition.
Also, shifting to novels, R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf trilogy that details Drizzt Do'Urden's origin played a giant role in detailing what the drow elves and the Underdark were like. The third book of the trilogy left the Underdark, but the first is a deep look at a (now widely used in D&D) drow city, and the second explores a lot of the Underdark.
Another possibility is just to snag the Sword Coast Adventure's Guide, and perhaps the Out of the Abyss story guide, if you want to look at something more recent as well, in terms of how things look in 5e in the Sword Coast and the Underdark, respectively.
I've found some old weird history catch up books in odd book stores and game shops. But I'd agree with listening to the Dragon Talk podcast, the lore you should know has some cool topics of cities, monsters, wars, etc.
I was also going to cite Jorphdan; he does really great work. Another one that posts less frequently but has done some gorgeous work is Faerûn History.
So, for the Forgotten Realms lore, there are 2 main good books, the 4e campaign guide, and the 3e campaign setting. What book is better for a 5e campaign in terms of the lore, and why?
So, for the Forgotten Realms lore, there are 2 main good books, the 4e campaign guide, and the 3e campaign setting. What book is better for a 5e campaign in terms of the lore, and why?
Not the D&D4 book. D&D4 changed the Forgotten Realms setting substantially, and it wasn't well received by the fans, so D&D5 walked most of the changes back. There's no official word on this that I am aware of, but current wisdom seems to be that the D&D3 FR books are 'accurate enough,' along with whatever elements from the D&D4 books an individual dungeon master wishes to include.
The SCAG is the most recent update to the setting, but it is very limited in scope, compared to earlier editions.
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J Great Wyrm Moonstone Dungeon Master
The time of the ORC has come. No OGL without irrevocability; no OGL with 'authorized version' language. #openDND
Practice, practice, practice • Respect the rules; don't memorize them • Be merciless, not cruel • Don't let the dice run the game for you
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where or what cite is the best place to catch up on the lore of D&D
There is no real place to catch up since each group makes their own lore, what is in the books you can pick and choose from or ignore entirely.
Like Corvacks says, one of the best parts of D&D is that it's not just a set of stories like "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars" that have lots of background lore, but D&D is also a set of tools for creating your own stories!
But D&D does have some common stories and background that many people refer to that can be confusing if you don't have that knowledge. However, "D&D lore" is actually decades of different lores all over the place under one brand. So it's like asking where to start to learn about "Earth lore" in a way. :) So, really, a better approach would be *which* lore or part of D&D are you interested in learning about? But if you really are starting at square one, you probably don't even know that. So, I would suggest two main things to explore to really start out.
1) The Forgotten Realms is the primary world most of the current published D&D take place in. (There's plenty of other awesome worlds, but you can work up to those later.) An incredible resource for learning about the Forgotten Realms is the fan-made Forgotten Realms Wiki. It is massive and actually has information on many other parts of D&D than the Forgotten Realms. Honestly, I'm not sure where to start in there, so maybe just randomly dive in and start exploring what looks interesting.
2) A lot of the classic lore (especially from the 1970's and 80's) is really in the adventures. So another great place to start is to look up one of the many "Best X D&D Adventures of All Time" lists. I know Dungeon magazine had one years ago with their Top 30. EN World (a major D&D fan and news site) had a Top 15 list. Nerdist has their Top 10 with some commentary. And there are many more out there, but you will see a lot of overlap with several of the adventures on most of the lists. Look those over and see which adventures sound most interesting. Then either research those particular adventures just by googling their names or summaries or even see if the adventure itself is available on DMs Guild. All of the monster and NPC stats will be for the wrong edition, but they can still be really interesting to read for the lore. Also Wikipedia has summaries of the most famous/classic adventures that can be incredibly informative.
There are literally hundreds of other websites out there that could give you good information, but I think these two approaches might be best for really starting from no real background.
P.S. Also, just to push my personal project, I have a website/blog called Rule of 3 that is (slowly) working on being an introduction to the Planescape campaign setting. It was focused on adventures in the various other planes of existence. It's certainly not a necessary aspect of D&D lore, and many don't like it, but I'm at least trying to aim it towards an audience that does not know anything about the setting and explain the basics. I should have more to post this week.
There's also the podcasts that occasionally do something called "Lore You Should Know," which is great for random tidbits about things. You can find it here. For more Forgotten Realms stuff beyond the wiki mentioned above? There's also the Candlekeep Forums, where authors and developers have been known to answer lore questions. There's even some lore p)osts on DNDBeyond's main page (usually posted by Todd Kenreck, which is basically just commentary and mini-interviews with Mike or Chris, the guys in charge of 5e).
Honestly, though? While there's some good resources for Forgotten Realms, I find that the rest of the settings tend to be... everywhere. The old Dragon magazines (both print and the 4e pdfs). Source books. Adventures. Novels... the list goes on.
Im mainly interesed in the forgotten relms and the underdark
For the Forgotten Realms either the original 1e boxed set or the 3e hardcover campaign setting book are extremely thorough and great resources for getting an overview of the Forgotten Realms. Both are available at DMs Guild at decent prices. The 3e one has some outdated mechanics but also very expansive guides to the history, nations, and main NPCs of the Realms. I'm not sure if the 1e boxed set has much of any mechanics at all in it - it might be entirely lore, which would make it a great place to start since it was the original beginning of the published Realms!
For the Underdark, there was a book published during 3e called "Underdark", of course, that made me want to run all sorts of campaigns in the Underdark. Again, a big chunk is outdated mechanics, but there are 85 pages or so detailing many regions, cities, etc. of the entire Underdark and is easily usable for any edition.
Also, shifting to novels, R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf trilogy that details Drizzt Do'Urden's origin played a giant role in detailing what the drow elves and the Underdark were like. The third book of the trilogy left the Underdark, but the first is a deep look at a (now widely used in D&D) drow city, and the second explores a lot of the Underdark.
Another possibility is just to snag the Sword Coast Adventure's Guide, and perhaps the Out of the Abyss story guide, if you want to look at something more recent as well, in terms of how things look in 5e in the Sword Coast and the Underdark, respectively.
This guy.
Seriously, you want a "fast" catch up, or a video on a specific event dealing with the Forgotten Realms? Jorphdan probably made one already.
I've found some old weird history catch up books in odd book stores and game shops. But I'd agree with listening to the Dragon Talk podcast, the lore you should know has some cool topics of cities, monsters, wars, etc.
Interplanetary Camo! Grow Metal!
I was also going to cite Jorphdan; he does really great work. Another one that posts less frequently but has done some gorgeous work is Faerûn History.
So, for the Forgotten Realms lore, there are 2 main good books, the 4e campaign guide, and the 3e campaign setting. What book is better for a 5e campaign in terms of the lore, and why?
I’ve never read either of those, but I heard that the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide is the best source for 5e Forgotten Realms lore.
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
Not the D&D4 book. D&D4 changed the Forgotten Realms setting substantially, and it wasn't well received by the fans, so D&D5 walked most of the changes back. There's no official word on this that I am aware of, but current wisdom seems to be that the D&D3 FR books are 'accurate enough,' along with whatever elements from the D&D4 books an individual dungeon master wishes to include.
The SCAG is the most recent update to the setting, but it is very limited in scope, compared to earlier editions.
J
Great Wyrm Moonstone Dungeon Master
The time of the ORC has come. No OGL without irrevocability; no OGL with 'authorized version' language. #openDND
Practice, practice, practice • Respect the rules; don't memorize them • Be merciless, not cruel • Don't let the dice run the game for you