D&D 5E What should be the 5E default setting?

Kinak · Sep 27, 2012

slobster said:
Man I love Eberron, but I don't think it should be the default setting. For one, there is a lot of stuff unique or endemic to the setting (warforged, dragonmarks, artificers, psionics etc.) that would pretty much need to be included to run it, and the PHB looks like it's going to be crowded already. It's also more of a niche setting, and not the best intro (IMO) to the shared D&D gamer culture they seem to be chasing after with DDN.

Yeah, you're probably right. It's a pretty bad intro, even though it really captures (in my opinion) the D&D "implied setting" better than any other option.

But, for me, anything other than Eberron, Spelljammer, Birthright, or Planescape is wasted pagecount. I'm just going for the least crazy

Cheers!
Kinak

the Jester · Sep 27, 2012

There absolutely SHOULD NOT BE a default setting.

Why? Because no matter what it is, it will alienate some players.

If there must be a default setting, it absolutely SHOULD NOT BE the Forgotten Realms.

Why? Because the FR is highly polarizing... and will alienate some players. Meanwhile, I don't think it will attract (m)any new players- FR players are already in the game.

And personally, FR as the default setting- if done in a way that is even half as intrusive as Greyhawk was in the 3e books- would be a serious strike against 5e for me. Maybe two strikes.

AntiStateQuixote · Sep 27, 2012

I voted Points of Light, but probably would prefer a Greyhawk/PoL mashup.

The plurality of folks voting "No default setting at all" are going to be disappointed. There will be a semblance of a default setting at the very least in monster descriptions and such, but I suspect it will be bigger than that.

Love them or hate them, the default settings in 3rd edition and in 4th edition provided a common ground from which games can begin and provides a cohesive base around which the rules, backgrounds, and everything else can cling to make for better games.

Mattachine · Sep 27, 2012

I like no default setting, instead having the rule books make passing references to many settings.

ZombieRoboNinja · Sep 27, 2012

I said Dark Sun, despite not having played it, because from what I do know it seems like it'd work well to highlight the "grim and gritty" aspects of 5e. (But of course Dark Sun has psionics and bug-men so maybe it wasn't the awesomest choice.) But ANYWAY.

This edition, probably more than most editions, seems like it will have an implied setting. Warlock pacts, sorcerous origins, and arcane traditions ALL look like they'll come with a lot of implied story. And last I heard, each god will get its own cleric domain, rather than a list of options like in 3e - and since they pretty much need to include a list of gods for new players, this means that those gods will be fairly intimately tied into the "default" playstyle.

And that's not even getting into the classes we haven't seen yet - which, from everything we've heard, will be even MORE specific than the core classes. I expect paladins and monks to be associating with specific orders that have specific rules, charters, and benefits. I would even expect barbarians to choose from particular tribes.

Personally I dig this a lot. Don't just give me a wishy-washy pact that says "star-pact warlocks make pacts with creepy star-related things." Tell me exactly how and why Shub-Niggurath is subverting my lust for knowledge to turn my mind inside out, or whatever. Ambitious home-brewers and roleplayers will come up with their own stuff regardless, likely inspired by the cool fluff WOTC adds. But it does mean that the "default setting" will probably mean more in 5e than it did in, say, 3e, where you could pretty much only tell it was Greyhawk if you were reading the religion section.

Ratskinner · Sep 27, 2012

none of the above

The correct answer is "Whatever your group is running."

I voted "no default setting", but really, it goes way deeper than that.

The rules and advice, especially for DMs, should always be written and developed with the idea that you will be creating your own settings. Advice on how to make it interesting in a variety of ways is far more welcome than any unwanted "default" setting information.

...and, no. I don't think it makes the DMs job any easier to have "default" examples lying around. If you are a DM without the time/experience/desire to make up a setting from whole cloth, its easier and better (IME) to start with a very simple "world" and grow from there while meeting the needs of the group and story as it develops. (A DMG advice chapter on such extemporaneous world-building would be peachy.) Secondly, if you are the type of DM that has such a world in mind, disentangling the "default" stuff from the rules is nothing but a hassle.

Ratskinner · Sep 27, 2012

Brent_Nall said:
I voted Points of Light, but probably would prefer a Greyhawk/PoL mashup.

The plurality of folks voting "No default setting at all" are going to be disappointed. There will be a semblance of a default setting at the very least in monster descriptions and such, but I suspect it will be bigger than that.

Love them or hate them, the default settings in 3rd edition and in 4th edition provided a common ground from which games can begin and provides a cohesive base around which the rules, backgrounds, and everything else can cling to make for better games.

For me, D&D's sort of self-made generic Europeanoid fantasy doesn't really count as a setting. I feel like 3rd and 4th were far too strongly and narrowly defined by the default preconceptions of their default settings. D&D needs to open up again, having a default setting works against that.

Jester David · Sep 27, 2012

As much as I'm apathetic regarding the Realms it seems like the best choice.

We've seen the "default setting in name only" with Greyhawk in 3e.
Where we get some prestige classes and god information that isn't useful for most games, and a whole bunch of content that just doesn't fit with Greyhawk as WotC and the writers are doing their own thing. It's there but we get very, very little that's actually specific to the setting and no published material (other than the book the RPGA put out).

We've seen the generifiic "Points of Light" world from 4e, where we get a whole lot of made-up-on-the-spot flavour by authors that aren't keeping track of what's been written and the only compiled information is being done by the fans.
It's incohesive and unsatisfying as setting. While it's good in a modular respect, with people able to drop it into the world or take the default information and make it their own, it's not great for inspiriting ideas or people who want a more complete setting.

We've also seen what Paizo has done with a dedicated single world, where every book supports both the product line and the campaign setting.
Everything works with their world and is supported somewhere. Nothing feels superfluous or tacked on. It is a product of the game while also inspiriting and influencing the game and products themselves.

It's hard to write fluff and flavour for races and classes without thinking of the role of those options in the world. When you describe what an "elf" is you have to be generic yet broad, and there are bound to be preconceived notions in the mind of the author. It's hard to describe a "dwarf" in a way that uniformly works for every setting and world, even just the official published one.
With that in mind, having the Forgotten Realms be the default setting makes a lot of sense. It's generic enough that most of the content can be used in other worlds. But it has enough unique elements that can be worked with and inspire game design. Instead of free rein of imagination, the designers will need to ask "does this really and truly fit the Realms? Can we add this class/race/option without a major retcon?" Because those are the options other DMs will need to answer regarding that same content. It adds a uniform and consistent feel to the material and the game.

MoonSong · Sep 28, 2012

I hope it is Greyhawk. But I'm almost sure it is going to be FR.

However I really wish for a 5e update of greyhawk. There are lots of interesting stuff on the setting.

Shemeska · Sep 28, 2012

I largely don't care about what default world there is, if any, so long as there's an assumption of the Great Wheel / classic 1e/2e/3e cosmology when it comes to background flavor and certain monsters (Archons as LG celestials, not evil elementals as in 4e, etc).

In a sense I'd prefer Greyhawk or faux-Greyhawk as a default base setting, but it seems more likely that WotC will go with FR. I used to love FR. Note the 'used to' part. I barely recognize 4e FR as being the same setting, given how heavily altered it was, over a century of a timejump, 4e PoL cosmology pushed onto it along with 4e tieflings, 4e genasi, dragonborn, etc. If 5e FR is considered as a base, it really depends on how much (if at all) they'll be willing to take a mulligan, so to speak, because if those 4e FR changes (as predicated by PoL changes) remain in place, I'm really not interested at all. I'm sure that the 5e team will do their best, but without a rollback, I'm not sure if it's going to be palatable to much of the former fanbase (and as a result I'm not sure about the wisdom of using it as a default, as opposed to just a supported campaign setting alongside the core default).