D&D 5E The case for (and against) a new Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book

[Guest 6801328]

You don't even NEED that much. Once we were diceless many years ago and I ran a short adventure. If I needed a d20 rolled, I just picked a number in my head between 1 and 20 to be 1 and went from there. So if I picked 9 in my head to be 1 and the player told me 14, he rolled a 6. If he told me 8, he rolled a 20. It was slow, but we were still teenagers and we made it work gosh darn it!

Yeah, well when I was a lad we played by flipping one coin, that we shared. And we were so poor that it only had a heads side; we spent the tails side.

But you tell that to kids nowadays and they don't believe you.

 

[Xenonnonex]

You don't need this information... ToA clearly states enough lore about Ubtao that you can guess safely what his portfolio is, or apply the domain you think fits best. There is no need for google, you can use your copy of the Player's Handbook to pick a domain easily.

"This contains everything you need!"
"My player wants to play this so I need this information..."
"Nah. I am going to assert my opinion on you. I am going to tell you you do not need this information!"

What ToA states about Ubtao is vague at best. If inference is needed that is clearly not "clearly stating". If you need to guess that is literally the opposite of "clearing stating". If you need external sources to make use of the information that is clearly not having everything you need. There is great disconnect.

Considering by googling Ubtao it's just going to tell you what his portfolios are in previous editions, you'll have to guess which 5E ones to pick for him anyway, so it's not that helpful.

Going off previous editions is actually helpful. It actually gives comparisons to map relevant domains.
The 3e FRCS gives you Planning, Plant, Protection, Scalykind as domains for Ubtao.
The 2e Powers and Pantheons gives creation, the labyrinth of life, jungles, the Jungles of Chult, the Tabaxi, dinosaurs for his portfolio.
Oh. What is that. 5e has the Protection the Life and the Nature domains. Oh. What it is that? I did not need to guess? That is helpful. Great.
The 3e FRCS gives you his alignment. N. Which is not clearly stated in ToA.

If your ability to create your own adventure is broken by missing a god's portfolio (I assure you I need no such thing), then you may be googling for more help regardless of what setting book you buy.

Whatever helps you feel better.

 

[Xenonnonex]

You don't even NEED that much. Once we were diceless many years ago and I ran a short adventure. If I needed a d20 rolled, I just picked a number in my head between 1 and 20 to be 1 and went from there. So if I picked 9 in my head to be 1 and the player told me 14, he rolled a 6. If he told me 8, he rolled a 20. It was slow, but we were still teenagers and we made it work gosh darn it!

Yeah, well when I was a lad we played by flipping one coin, that we shared. And we were so poor that it only had a heads side; we spent the tails side.

But you tell that to kids nowadays and they don't believe you.

It would be cool to run D&D with Jenga.

 

[Fenris-77]

It would be cool to run D&D with Jenga.

There is actually a game that uses Jenga as its stress mechanic, or something like that, but I can't recall the name. I thought it was a cool idea.

 

[Xenonnonex]

There is actually a game that uses Jenga as its stress mechanic, or something like that, but I can't recall the name. I thought it was a cool idea.

Dread is great.

 

[Fenris-77]

Dread is great.

That's the name. Thanks. Yeah, I havent played it but I thought the idea was genius.

 

[Teemu]

Ubtao is not an active god in the 5e Realms. Why would ToA have domains and such? There are no domains for Mystryl either. Or other dead or forgotten gods.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Ubtao is not an active god in the 5e Realms. Why would ToA have domains and such? There are no domains for Mystryl either. Or other dead or forgotten gods.

The claim is that ToA "has everything you need to run Chult adventures".
Your post demonstrates it does not. That claim is simply not true. You do need to find information elsewhere. Whether the god is active or not is irrelevant for home games.

 

[teitan]

I also just want to chime in that "Buying/selling a TTRPG product that isn't a great value during a global pandemic is fiscally irresponsible" to be one of the most bizarre arguments I've ever read here. And that was a high bar already.

That wasn’t the argument I made. I said telling someone to suck up 50 bucks in a massive recession for 40 pages of material is encouraging fiscal irresponsibility.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Apparently my gentle sarcasm didn't get the point across.

Let me try parody instead:

"What else do you need other than knowing that there's a place called Chult that is mostly jungle? If you need your hand held beyond that, maybe you should try Hello Kitty: Island Adventure?"

I see absolutely nothing wrong with wanting more detail than what is in ToA. It's not what I personally want, however to suggest as you do that the level of detail you want is fine, but that anybody who wants more detail is a bad DM (which is kinda what you're saying) is ridiculous, arrogant, and offensive.

All three at once! Hat trick!

I am not trying to comment on people's competence as DMs (you're the one name-calling, not I).

What I am trying to point out is that people are throwing out the word "need" for something like adventure building, and then saying their ability to make adventures suddenly breaks down with the simplest of requests. Which is demonstrably false; I explicitly explained how one could easily solve this simple riddle of the player wanting to worship Ubtao by using your handy Player's Handbook.

I have utmost confidence that even the most novice of DMs can pull this off (in fact, the player can solve this problem themself with their own PH).

I'm not going to say that these extra factoids are not useful; clearly a vocal group want these. I am trying to point out that the "need" for these seem extremely limited to me, as the actually valuable stuff is the maps, NPCs, hooks, statblocks, that sort of stuff. If you can solve your problems with the PH (or a google search, if you really must), then I am honestly not that sympathetic that people are lacking their ideal Campaign Setting book.