JeffB
Legend
Can I ask what the advantage of call either of those setting "Forgotten Realms" or "Nentir Vale" is then?
I mean, your pretty much home-brewing a setting, but stealing proper-nouns and perhaps a few maps. Why not go the extra mile and make it your own with your own names and places? At least nobody playing would have an expectation of cannon or setting knowledge.
I mean, if I tell you I'm going to run a STAR-TREK game, but I'm replacing Romulans with the Galactic Empire (complete with Sith and Death Star), weakening the Federation so that is a collection of infighting planetary states, making Cylons a playable race, and having them face Reapers from Firefly as primary antagonists, can I really say I'm playing STAR TREK anymore?
Like the new Star Trek, I look at it as an alternate timeline.
I am not replacing things from one setting with another setting ...e.g. The Circle of Eight with The Seven Sisters, or the Zhentarim trading places with The Slave Lords, or the Church of Bane with the Church of Hextor (though I very well might prefer some details of the Church of Bane and use those details for thr Church of Hextor in my Greyhawk game.
I grew up in the 70s when settings were a mish-mash of earth mythology and folklore mixed with the literary influences of the game. Where a Paladin of Odin battled minions of Set in heir hidden temple somewhere deep in the wastes of Barsoom
I find this a feature of RPGs, not a bug.
Edit- to answer "why"? Its much easier to pick and choose from extensive works like FR or GH than create from whole cloth. I barely have time to prep/write adventures these days let alone spend hours creating lots of detail about a setting. Instead I use the Nentir Vale (for example) as a framework and build off of it as I see fit.
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