taz and critical role are established stories recorded and shared. d&d novels are the same thing. somebody's oc they wrote in a canon they didn't make up is not the same thing as that.
the worldbuilding is a canon. it doesn't necessarily need a central narrative with a canon cast of protagonists for it to be a canon. you can find d&d fans who love the forgotten realms or eberron or any of these other worlds and play campaigns in them, but those campaigns are still fan work even if they're the draw of the hobby.
taz even had to change the names of d&d canon pieces in its published graphic novel because it's technically publishing fanwork and could've hit ip snags. critical role gets away with things through licensing from wizards of the coast iirc.
this all doesn't matter anyway about this game because the mods have made a decision, but i still really don't see how somebody's tabletop character from a borrowed setting is so extremely different from playing a fandom oc that borrows the setting of a non-tabletop canon.
Re: da
the worldbuilding is a canon. it doesn't necessarily need a central narrative with a canon cast of protagonists for it to be a canon. you can find d&d fans who love the forgotten realms or eberron or any of these other worlds and play campaigns in them, but those campaigns are still fan work even if they're the draw of the hobby.
taz even had to change the names of d&d canon pieces in its published graphic novel because it's technically publishing fanwork and could've hit ip snags. critical role gets away with things through licensing from wizards of the coast iirc.
this all doesn't matter anyway about this game because the mods have made a decision, but i still really don't see how somebody's tabletop character from a borrowed setting is so extremely different from playing a fandom oc that borrows the setting of a non-tabletop canon.