Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Half Race Appreciation Society: Half Elf most popular race choice in BG3
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 9131546" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>From the Forgotten Realms setting, this map of the continent of Faerun (on the planet of Toril) helps get a sense of how big a "regional setting" is. If you look at the West Coast of Faerun (left), you see the northern Sword Coast as an exclave of the southern Sword Coast, with the independent region of the town of Waterdeep separating them. The northern Sword Coast is actually the region of the city of Neverwinter, and the southern Sword Coast is actually the region of the city Baldurs Gate. Each of these local regions − Neverwinter, Deepwater, and Baldurs Gate − is a useful size to determine an overall "culture" including all of the complexities within it.</p><p></p><p>I would love to see a Neverwinter Guide (adventurers setting guide), a Deepwater Guide, and a Baldurs Gate Guide covering each of these regional cultures. Each setting guide can be of a prominent city and its region, or a region of a comparable size. Probably, each region should come with an adventure for the DM.</p><p></p><p>Within a broader regional culture, it is also possible to refer to a specific site, such Candlekeep which is part of the Baldurs Gate region. Some regions like Ice Wind Dales to the north and High Forest inland to the east lack a major city. Ice Wind Dales is a harsh arctic environment with a few towns holding on. High Forest is the pristine forest of a Wood culture Elf-majority region, whose small tree-house towns are often hidden. The elders of local families govern each tree-house town, but they form traderoute networks with each other to unite the region. High Forest also has small communities of High Forest Drow culture Elves and small communities of Humans from neighboring regions, who now adapt into the ecology of the forest wilderness. Planar Fey communities, even Unicorn communities along one of its rivers, are also known in the High Forest. To its east by southeast, Everelsk is a High culture Elf-majority region. Between High Forest and Neverwinter is the socalled "Savage Frontier" where small farming and mining communities of Orc, Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Goblin, and Halfling, defy interference from foreign govenments. These socalled "Savages" subdivide into the regions of Dessarin, Delimbiyr, and Fallen Lands, to the west, south, and east of the High Forest respectively. Vast regions such as the Endless Wastes (top right) of The Hoards and Shaar (along bottom left) do well to subdivide into into smaller regions, since its remote indigenous communities will tend to be quite different from each other. Generally, there is no such thing as "unclaimed" territory, since obviously the indigenous who live there claim it. However, powerful governments sometimes form peace treaties that establish a "neutral" buffer zone between the two that neither will occupy, which tends to leave the indigenous populations in peace or to fend for themselves, since assistance would require both powerful governments to agree.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]295322[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p>I often complain about baking Forgotten Realms setting assumptions into the Players Handbook and other Core Rules. As long as it stays away from the Species descriptions and the Class descriptions (especially the Cleric class), I have to admit, I kinda like the Backgrounds doing a deep dive into the Forgotten Realms setting details. The Species themselves, such as Elf (without Wood, Drow, High cultures) and Classes such as Cleric (without specific religions or multiverse assumptions) are there to be used as-is for any setting. I am ok with each Species description being followed by a section with three Forgotten Realms cultures where the Species is notable.</p><p></p><p>The details of the Backgrounds are instructive examples for what a Background can look like, but it feels easier for the DM to ignore, while supplying different Backgrounds for a different setting instead. The DM and players are probably using a homebrew setting, and might be using an other official setting that is unrelated to Forgotten Realms, such as Eberron or one of the Magic The Gathering settings.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 9131546, member: 58172"] From the Forgotten Realms setting, this map of the continent of Faerun (on the planet of Toril) helps get a sense of how big a "regional setting" is. If you look at the West Coast of Faerun (left), you see the northern Sword Coast as an exclave of the southern Sword Coast, with the independent region of the town of Waterdeep separating them. The northern Sword Coast is actually the region of the city of Neverwinter, and the southern Sword Coast is actually the region of the city Baldurs Gate. Each of these local regions − Neverwinter, Deepwater, and Baldurs Gate − is a useful size to determine an overall "culture" including all of the complexities within it. I would love to see a Neverwinter Guide (adventurers setting guide), a Deepwater Guide, and a Baldurs Gate Guide covering each of these regional cultures. Each setting guide can be of a prominent city and its region, or a region of a comparable size. Probably, each region should come with an adventure for the DM. Within a broader regional culture, it is also possible to refer to a specific site, such Candlekeep which is part of the Baldurs Gate region. Some regions like Ice Wind Dales to the north and High Forest inland to the east lack a major city. Ice Wind Dales is a harsh arctic environment with a few towns holding on. High Forest is the pristine forest of a Wood culture Elf-majority region, whose small tree-house towns are often hidden. The elders of local families govern each tree-house town, but they form traderoute networks with each other to unite the region. High Forest also has small communities of High Forest Drow culture Elves and small communities of Humans from neighboring regions, who now adapt into the ecology of the forest wilderness. Planar Fey communities, even Unicorn communities along one of its rivers, are also known in the High Forest. To its east by southeast, Everelsk is a High culture Elf-majority region. Between High Forest and Neverwinter is the socalled "Savage Frontier" where small farming and mining communities of Orc, Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Goblin, and Halfling, defy interference from foreign govenments. These socalled "Savages" subdivide into the regions of Dessarin, Delimbiyr, and Fallen Lands, to the west, south, and east of the High Forest respectively. Vast regions such as the Endless Wastes (top right) of The Hoards and Shaar (along bottom left) do well to subdivide into into smaller regions, since its remote indigenous communities will tend to be quite different from each other. Generally, there is no such thing as "unclaimed" territory, since obviously the indigenous who live there claim it. However, powerful governments sometimes form peace treaties that establish a "neutral" buffer zone between the two that neither will occupy, which tends to leave the indigenous populations in peace or to fend for themselves, since assistance would require both powerful governments to agree. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Forgotten Realms planet Toril - Faerun continent.png"]295322[/ATTACH] I often complain about baking Forgotten Realms setting assumptions into the Players Handbook and other Core Rules. As long as it stays away from the Species descriptions and the Class descriptions (especially the Cleric class), I have to admit, I kinda like the Backgrounds doing a deep dive into the Forgotten Realms setting details. The Species themselves, such as Elf (without Wood, Drow, High cultures) and Classes such as Cleric (without specific religions or multiverse assumptions) are there to be used as-is for any setting. I am ok with each Species description being followed by a section with three Forgotten Realms cultures where the Species is notable. The details of the Backgrounds are instructive examples for what a Background can look like, but it feels easier for the DM to ignore, while supplying different Backgrounds for a different setting instead. The DM and players are probably using a homebrew setting, and might be using an other official setting that is unrelated to Forgotten Realms, such as Eberron or one of the Magic The Gathering settings. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Half Race Appreciation Society: Half Elf most popular race choice in BG3
Top