I'm learning to be a DM and looking to learn official lore on the different campaign settings, history, etc. I've currently got the legendary bundle, DM subscription, and new content preordered, but looking to learn and understand the history of worlds and cultures in canon works to have a proper foundation to work from. Please share any suggested readings, books/websites to help me be fluent in D&D canon materials.
First note, you do not need to have an exhaustive memorization of its history and characters. As a DM, you are free to ignore, change, and do whatever you want to the history for your story.
The most supported setting in 5e is Forgotten Realms, as that is where most of the published 5e adventures take place. A good primer for the areas people are most familiar with (from the video games) is the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. It is a regular sword and sorcery setting.
Other settings with significant 5e support (settings are fully detailed in a source book dedicated to the setting):
Ravnica (Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica) The entire plane is one huge city with 10 rival factions. * note this is not originally a D&D setting but one for Magic The Gathering.
Other settings with minor 5e support (settings are detailed as needed for an adventure set in them):
For learning the lore of places without having to buy lots of books and adventure modules from past editions of D&D, you could check out fandom wikis that abridge the information to some highlights. One that I use quite often when I research some Forgotten Realms material (world of Toril or Abeir-Toril depending on what date you are looking at) is https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page but that probably has books of information. Instead of trying to read everything, I'd probably start by trying to read things that are going to be important on your next D&D session. If a PC has a god, you might look up some basics of their god. Or if the PCs are going to fight in a particular area, then look up some of the recent history of that area. Since there are many books on some of these campaign settings, it could be a never-ending quest to try and learn all of it.
Just from my own mind, I'd say a good bit of advice would be to learn how to adapt rules and some lore on the fly. Sort of, "I don't know if there is something to handle this situation, but I know this rule/lore and will adapt it to work in the moment instead of spending 10+ minutes looking up something and pausing the action."
Good luck, and if you have questions about a particular piece of lore then you can ask around to get more info on it for the next session. Particularly, I love doing some research if it helps someone out on something.
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I'm learning to be a DM and looking to learn official lore on the different campaign settings, history, etc. I've currently got the legendary bundle, DM subscription, and new content preordered, but looking to learn and understand the history of worlds and cultures in canon works to have a proper foundation to work from. Please share any suggested readings, books/websites to help me be fluent in D&D canon materials.
Thank you in advance.
These forum threads should have a bunch of info:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/tips-tactics/2757-is-there-a-primer-for-d-d-lore-for-the-forgotten
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/30899-new-to-d-d-and-wanting-to-deep-dive-into-lore
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/16691-new-to-d-d-lore-wheres-the-best-place-to-catch-up
edit: there was a thread somewhere on the different settings, but I can't find it. There is a wiki page that describes them though.
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First note, you do not need to have an exhaustive memorization of its history and characters. As a DM, you are free to ignore, change, and do whatever you want to the history for your story.
The most supported setting in 5e is Forgotten Realms, as that is where most of the published 5e adventures take place. A good primer for the areas people are most familiar with (from the video games) is the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. It is a regular sword and sorcery setting.
Other settings with significant 5e support (settings are fully detailed in a source book dedicated to the setting):
Other settings with minor 5e support (settings are detailed as needed for an adventure set in them):
Non-Wizards Settings with 5e Support
Other popular Wizards settings without 5e support
Note that for the last two (planescape and spelljammer) they are often used as a method to travel between the other settings.
edit: forgot Tal'Dorei
Site Info: Wizard's ToS | Fan Content Policy | Forum Rules | Physical Books | Content Not Working | Contact Support
How To: Homebrew Rules | Create Homebrew | Snippet Codes | Tool Tips (Custom) | Rollables (Generator)
My Homebrew: Races | Subclasses | Backgrounds | Feats | Spells | Magic Items
Other: Beyond20 | Page References | Other Guides | Entitlements | Dice Randomization | Images Fix | FAQ
For learning the lore of places without having to buy lots of books and adventure modules from past editions of D&D, you could check out fandom wikis that abridge the information to some highlights.
One that I use quite often when I research some Forgotten Realms material (world of Toril or Abeir-Toril depending on what date you are looking at) is https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page but that probably has books of information.
Instead of trying to read everything, I'd probably start by trying to read things that are going to be important on your next D&D session. If a PC has a god, you might look up some basics of their god. Or if the PCs are going to fight in a particular area, then look up some of the recent history of that area. Since there are many books on some of these campaign settings, it could be a never-ending quest to try and learn all of it.
Just from my own mind, I'd say a good bit of advice would be to learn how to adapt rules and some lore on the fly. Sort of, "I don't know if there is something to handle this situation, but I know this rule/lore and will adapt it to work in the moment instead of spending 10+ minutes looking up something and pausing the action."
Good luck, and if you have questions about a particular piece of lore then you can ask around to get more info on it for the next session. Particularly, I love doing some research if it helps someone out on something.
Good luck and may you roll 20's when you need them and 1's when you need a laugh. - myself