Satyrn
First Post
I'm picturing dire beavers warring against maple treants.
. . . And I have a place for that in my Borderlands dungeon. They're going into Three Horns Valley.
Wizards wanted to fire us, so can we fire them for setting laziness
. . . And I have a place for that in my Borderlands dungeon. They're going into Three Horns Valley.
TwoSix
Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
Finally, someone who understand what D&D is all aboot, eh?
Satyrn
First Post
Sword of Spirit
Legend
The Forgotten Realms is not the default setting of 5e. It is the default published adventure setting (with some exceptions), and the default Adventurer's League setting. The default 5e D&D setting, as stated by the designers and the core rulebooks, is the multiverse. For those of us who don't purchase many published adventures or play Adventurer's League (which by my guess includes the majority of D&D players) the idea of FR being the default setting makes no sense. It also misinforms new players.
The core books (PHB, DMG, and MM) neither state nor suggest that the Forgotten Realms is the default setting. Instead, they mention a variety of settings in their descriptions and examples, and speak of the "Many Worlds of D&D" and the multiverse that contains them.
Of the non-adventure supplements, only the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide focuses on the Forgotten Realms, which is explicitly intended, since the Sword Coast is a known Forgotten Realms locale.
The other non-adventure 5e products: Volo's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, follow the lead of the core books in focusing on the multiverse, with some examples from individual settings (not just the Forgotten Realms), rather than defaulting to any world as a setting.
Even Tales from the Yawning Portal, which is an adventure book with several smaller adventures rather than a single mega-adventure, has adventures from a variety of locations. One might argue that it is primarily a Greyhawk adventure book, since 6 of its 7 adventures were originally set in Greyhawk (the remaining 1 was set in the Forgotten Realms). Like some of the Forgotten Realms adventure books, Tales from the Yawning Portal provides suggestions for setting the adventures in other settings. Curse of Strahd is explicitly a Ravenloft adventure book.
As long as people keep making the factually incorrect claim that the Forgotten Realms is the default 5e setting, I'm going to keep correcting it.
The core books (PHB, DMG, and MM) neither state nor suggest that the Forgotten Realms is the default setting. Instead, they mention a variety of settings in their descriptions and examples, and speak of the "Many Worlds of D&D" and the multiverse that contains them.
Of the non-adventure supplements, only the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide focuses on the Forgotten Realms, which is explicitly intended, since the Sword Coast is a known Forgotten Realms locale.
The other non-adventure 5e products: Volo's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, follow the lead of the core books in focusing on the multiverse, with some examples from individual settings (not just the Forgotten Realms), rather than defaulting to any world as a setting.
Even Tales from the Yawning Portal, which is an adventure book with several smaller adventures rather than a single mega-adventure, has adventures from a variety of locations. One might argue that it is primarily a Greyhawk adventure book, since 6 of its 7 adventures were originally set in Greyhawk (the remaining 1 was set in the Forgotten Realms). Like some of the Forgotten Realms adventure books, Tales from the Yawning Portal provides suggestions for setting the adventures in other settings. Curse of Strahd is explicitly a Ravenloft adventure book.
As long as people keep making the factually incorrect claim that the Forgotten Realms is the default 5e setting, I'm going to keep correcting it.
Last edited:
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
And in said valley they'll also have to watch out for the killer moose, the pack of rabid polar bears, and the village of hockey goons.
Lan-"pass me a brew, eh - I gotta watch this!"-efan
I guess you're technically right, but FR is at least heavily favored.
One of the great services the popular streams like Critical Role provide is demonstrating that D&D can be played in worlds other than FR and, in particular, in worlds of your own design. Imagine if they just ran through the published adventures?! (Also it protects them somewhat from a bunch of Monday morning quarterbacking, but that's a separate issue.)In my late night fevered dreams I occasionally wish that WotC had ditched FR (and all its baggage) with 5e and started with a clean slate, a reboot so to speak. Our world-building skills are so much improved from back in the day. But when the cold light of day breaks I realize the good business sense it makes for them to stick with the familiar.
BookBarbarian
Expert Long Rester
Granted I have only played 5e, but I've yet to have a Mary Sue come in and ruin my game, unless it was a DMPC. Are DMPCs really baked into the setting or was that just my DM?
I can't really say any plain crap or very bad history has ruined my games either. But maybe they would have been better without plain crap or very bad history. I have no way of knowing.
I love the Backgrounds in the SCAG. Knight of the order, Mercenary Veteran, City Watch, Inheritor and so many others can be used in any setting.
Zardnaar
Legend
I used to be an FR fan but after they blew it up in 4E I'm not interested in it.
The Mary Sues are not baked in as such but they do exist and I remember an adventure in the 2E boxed set that had Elminster make a cameo walking a dog saying heel which triggered a wand or something. You would generally have to buy splat books to get the Mary Sues stats so not baked in as such but not that hard to use iof your DM was that way inclined. I never really used them much except maybe as a plot device, my players always joked about getting Elminster to jam for us (Spelljammer speed of ship is 1/3 or 1/2 the casters level in the chair).
I still like the 3.0 FRCS and earlier 2E/ late 1E Realms not a fan of the time of troubles though and actively dislike the spellplague.
Jester David
Hero
1st Edition AD&D was Greyhawk. The Forgotten Realms was not purchased until 1987, two years prior to 2e.
2e had no default setting and a myriad of non-FR settings were published.
3e was Greyhawk by default.
4e was the Nentir Vale by default.
Why would they get away from FR? The whole point is that it's generic so it's easier to file off the serial numbers to use it in a homebrew world.
Because if they make an actually generic world—like they did in 4e—they just end up slowly building a whole new setting piece by piece. And not having any details of the setting just means more work for DMs who don't homebrew.
Because... the multiversal threats that are the Elemental Princes of Evil are limited to one single world?
The reasons are pretty simple:
* The majority of DMs use homebrew
* The more non-generic the location, the harder it is to adapt to homebrew
* Of the minority that doesn't use a homebrew setting, the Realms is the most popular by a wide, wide margin. (IIRC something like 5x as popular as the next most popular setting.)
* As stated above, having completely generic locations is boring. (Who wants to adventure in the Ghost Tower of I_____???)
* Going brand new actually makes much more work for the writers, as they have to invent 100% of the location rather than pulling from previous book. I'd rather them spend that time on the adventure and plot
* If they don't publish Realms material each few year, the rights revert back to Ed Greenwood.
They're not doing 6e in a couple years. 5e is selling far to well. And they're likely not leaving the Realms any time soon, beyond small side books to Magic the Gathering settings and PDFs.
So... goodbye.
Jester David
Hero
Why is the onus on Wizards of the Coast for that new world?
Do they have some sort of magical powers that make their settings inherently better than every other campaign world in existence? Are you being compelled by a curse inflicted upon you by an evil fairy godmother that prevents you form using material from another publisher?
If not may I suggest:
Midgard by Kobold Press
Lots of expansion material and adventures. Big books of player crunch and monsters. And a big 460-page setting book.
Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting
Popular setting created by the staggeringly popular streaming campaign
Scarred Lands
Popular world that was one of the first 3rd Party campaign settings for 3e.
Primeval Thule
Written by Richard Baker, who has been associated with D&D since 2nd Edition and helped design 3.5e, 4e Gamma World and created Birthright.
Similar Threads
