D&D 5E What settings would you like to see full support for?

[Lanefan]

The thing is, in real life those names change with time, into a blend of words that are no longer regular English.

Well, in its defense FR has only existed for 30-odd years, nowhere near enough time for its place names to linguistically morph very much.

That said, some of its names could well be steeped in history. What does Moonshae mean? Luskan? Faerun? Thay?

Besides, who calls their city Daggerford, or Skullkeep?

Daggerford would be easy: some explorer once found a particular dagger in a river ford, and the place name stuck. Skullkeep? Can't quite fathom that one, though in a world with eeeevil wizards it could easily have been a simple name change to impress (or help subjugate) the locals.

Boy, it sure is fun living in the middle of a place called Desert of Despair or the Swamp of Doom!

I think the point of those names is to correctly imply that nobody *does* live there...at least, not for long. I mean hell, there's a pretty famous place in California called Death Valley for much the same reason...

Lan-"in my very first homebrew world there were places called "Drowsap" and "Daisap"; in the local language these just meant 'low swamp' and 'high swamp' respectively, as that's what they were"-efan

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I'm not fond of those either. It seems to me like many of the D&D races are mostly just defined by gimmicks, game play mechanics and appearance, and not culture. I want to see well written believable races, and not check boxes like in a videogame.

Actually crafting real artificial cultures is an incredibly daunting task. Certainly no less difficult than getting a really deep, thorough understanding of another real, but dead, culture--and that's the kind of thing experts dedicate an entire career to doing.

The thing is, in real life those names change with time, into a blend of words that are no longer regular English. Besides, who calls their city Daggerford, or Skullkeep? Boy, it sure is fun living in the middle of a place called Desert of Despair or the Swamp of Doom!

Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't. Hartford: literally "deer bridge," and I have read stories published within the last century that used both words. Or better yet, the city I live in: Port Land. Or several of the eastern states: Virginia is still pretty obviously about virgins, Maryland is clearly Mary's Land, Vermont is just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from Green Mountain, Florida is similarly quite clearly related to flowers and florists, etc.

And as for the "Desert of Despair," don't forget that IRL there actually is a place called "Death Valley," and some people actually live there.

 

[Raith5]

I voted for Greyhawk because it was the first world I played D&D in and I think it would fit easily with 5e. I guess it would be good to see Nentir Vale fully realised - but that is realistically not going to happen. But really, it would be cool to see anything other than FR.

 

[Imaculata]

And as for the "Desert of Despair," don't forget that IRL there actually is a place called "Death Valley," and some people actually live there.

But I think you understand what I'm saying. It kind of stretches the credibility of the world when it is littered with places that have staple fantasy names. Its fine if you have one death valley. Just as long as it isn't adjacent to the misty forest and the lost peak.

It only takes one quick look at the map of Faerun to spot many of these cliches and more. Its the sort of names my 12 year old self would come up with when drawing his first D&D map.

Then there's also the geography of many of these worlds, which does not seem to be based on any rules. Land formations are just placed at random, rather than with a little bit of knowledge about how actual land masses form in mind. I'm no professor, but I have looked at an actual map more than once. Which is more than enough to say that these fantasy lands look completely unconvincing.

When I run a campaign, I want my players to have the feeling that this could be a real world. More importantly, I want to be able to convince myself that it could be a real place.

 

[JohnLynch]

Its fine if you have one death valley. Just as long as it isn't adjacent to the misty forest and the lost peak.

I too hate real words being mashed together or some so called "real person" like Baldur's Gate or Werewoods. And what's worse is that Salt Lake City place or Boulder Mountains. We get it, it's a city on a salt lake and it's a mountain range with some boulders. Not exactly original there. And definitely don't get me started on "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River" otherwise known as "Queen of the Angels". That's just a stupid name. And what about Washington? What sort of name is Washington? I instantly start thinking of African American movie stars when I hear a name like washington and it totally ruins my immersion. I get it, it's named after some old hero of the area or something. But what was it called before then? The City that Has No Name? Or maybe they just called it "The City" and everyone was eagerly awaiting some hero to come along that they could name the city after. I mean. I can understand one or two places named like that on the continent. But America... err.. I mean Faerun just has way too many as it is. They should totally think of some more original names.

 

[Imaculata]

Sarcasm aside, just take one look at the map of Faerun. You'll see the Serpent Hills, right next to the Trollhills and Trollbark Forest, The Forest of Wyrms, The Sunset Mountains, The Storm Horns, The Were Woods, The Cloud Peaks, The Snake Wood, The Giant's Run Mountains, The Daggerford, the Cloak Wood, The Sword Coast, The Star Mountains, The Lost Peaks, The High Forest, the Far Forest, The Scimitar Spires and the Border Forest.

And that is all within one region. Are you getting what I'm trying to say?
Now compare this with the names on the map of my home brew setting:

Thilneray, Talnmont, Guzeau, Ylm, Elsefort, Akhémur, Karunta, Kanswimar and Iggenstill.

 

[Quickleaf]

Planescape. I would like to see official 5e Planescape material.

It's so hard to choose, but Planescape is the setting I enjoyed the most back in the day. I have some conversion plans in the works (more of that on www.planewalker.com), but still figuring out my workflow for creating the pdf, and need more time to do it.

[SBLOCK=Here's my first sample...]

[/SBLOCK]

EDIT: [MENTION=6776548]Corpsetaker[/MENTION] I too would suggest separating out FR and Al-Qadim and OA (if you can modify a poll after creating it, not sure ENWorld lets you do that). Yes, the latter two are *technically* located on Faerun, but they were their own product lines. Also, you've left out lesser known published settings like Blackmoor, Maztica, Pellinore, and Thunder Rift -- not sure if that was an oversight or intentional.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

It's gorgeous, [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION]. Like all your work.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Now compare this with the names on the map of my home brew setting:

Thilneray, Talnmont, Guzeau, Ylm, Elsefort, Akhémur, Karunta, Kanswimar and Iggenstill.

Those are all fine, I suppose... but don't do anything special for me personally.

It sounds as though you are quite happy with your own homebrew setting with your rules for names and such quite clear... which asks the question why you want to see another person/company's setting published that's also like it? Especially considering the odds are very good that while they might do some of the things you want, they aren't going to accomplish all of them. So you're still going to be disappointed in the end.

If your own setting works for what you want, then aren't you already ahead of the game?

 

[BlueBlackRed]

I'd rather they support FR barely, and everything else is aimed to making it easier for homebrew campaigns.

I'm not likely to buy SCAG, and any other settings books I won't buy.
Dark Sun was fun for the books, but not to play in.
Eberron...never.
Mystara was fun back when I played BECMI but it's just another cookie cutter fantasy world.
Dragonlance was fun long ago, but so many world changing events and novels has made it a mess.
Spelljammer; I passed in the 80's and I'll pass now.
Greyhawk, maybe but I'd rather play FR.
Ravenloft, pass. It's too dark for me.
Birthright & Rokugan, never played them

But my homebrewed campaigns, I just need monsters, magic items, and class options and I'm good to go.