D&D 5E Sell me on: Midgard by Kobold Press

[Charlaquin]

I was tempted to just say “playable gnolls” and nothing else, but decided I’m gonna take the request a bit more seriously.

It’s a dark European fantasy setting that wears its real-world influences on its sleeve. There are plenty of fantasy settings out there that are inspired by medieval Europe in a pretty roundabout way, where they put their own spin on ideas inspired by some blend of other fantasy stories, especially Tolkien, which are in turn inspired by European myth and folklore. But if you want a setting that is unabashedly just straight-up Fantasy Europe, Midgard has you covered. It’s also got a bit more Eastern European influence than many Western fantasy settings do, which is pretty cool.

Another point in its favor, is that I feel it does the kitchen sink setting thing quite well. There’s a ton of stuff in there, lots of races, lots of subclasses, lots of special magic systems, lots of crunchy options without getting too bogged down in the fiddly minutia. And while there’s a lot going on, everything feels like it has a place. Often kitchen sink settings feel very haphazardly thrown together, but Midgard feels like it was constructed with deliberate intent. That’s something I think it has in common with Eberron. Yes, there’s a lot there, but a lot of thought went into how all these elements fit together in a cohesive world.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Eberron also seems pretty cool, but the high politic/cold war aspect of the setting will turn-off my players, as most of them are rather the casual, beer-and-pretzel-and-wine-and-side discussions-on-a-friday-night type.

So I'm curious, as you've said what settings you like (and I like those too btw), but this description of your players doesn't give me much insight into what type of setting they would be interested in.

Seems to hint that they aren't very interested in a very open sandbox, or in a highly political post-war setting either. So something between the two?

More details about your players would be good to help decide, but it sounds like they would be happy with big "normal D&D settings" like Greyhawk, the Sword Coast, or Midgard. Of the three Midgard may excite you personally the most.

 

[Voadam]

I was tempted to just say “playable gnolls” and nothing else, but decided I’m gonna take the request a bit more seriously.

Someone might have thought you were talking of Ponyfinder.

 

[Weiley31]

Someone might have thought you were talking of Ponyfinder.

Technically Midgard was the first to give 5E playable Gnolls.

 

[Charlaquin]

Someone might have thought you were talking of Ponyfinder.

You can play gnolls in that?

 

[Weiley31]

If Gnolls are playable in Ponyfinder, then that means you can have a MLP campaign that has the 5E Gnolls invading Equestria.

And the 5E Gnolls are not edited.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

More details about your players would be good to help decide, but it sounds like they would be happy with big "normal D&D settings" like Greyhawk, the Sword Coast, or Midgard. Of the three Midgard may excite you personally the most.

I have a table of 8 players, so there's that. 2-3 of them are more invested players: they are ardent CR fans, they mostly know when new stuff is published and the new player options and know how to build their PC. The rest are more casual, but pretty intense roleplayers (often more than the ones that are mechanically savvy). I help them creating the fiction they imagined for their character concept: they tell me want they want and I build their character sheet for them (I dont mind it).

Most of them dont care much for politic, nor deep intrigue. They love railroads, so having just the right amount of ''emptiness'' in the setting is paramount: I cant leave them in a hexcrawl and say ''go live your adventuring life, the world is your canvas''.

They dont really care for the higher powers, such as gods or big players in the shadows, they are deeply involved with the local characters though. I started them with Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures, so the concept of local involvement is integral to their understanding of D&D. ie: In Tyranny of Dragons, they dont give a hoot about the fact that a cult is trying to take over the world by summoning an evil dragon goddess. They will barge through the adventure to bash the skulls of Tiamat because her cult trashed their village at the start, though.

One thing this group does well though is horror or immersion in stressful events. I will need to play them through CoS one day because I know they'll be the right group for it. They are big fan of Stranger Things and other ''kids of bikes'' concept.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I have a table of 8 players, so there's that. 2-3 of them are more invested players: they are ardent CR fans, they mostly know when new stuff is published and the new player options and know how to build their PC. The rest are more casual, but pretty intense roleplayers (often more than the ones that are mechanically savvy). I help them creating the fiction they imagined for their character concept: they tell me want they want and I build their character sheet for them (I dont mind it).

Most of them dont care much for politic, nor deep intrigue. They love railroads, so having just the right amount of ''emptiness'' in the setting is paramount: I cant leave them in a hexcrawl and say ''go live your adventuring life, the world is your canvas''.

They dont really care for the higher powers, such as gods or big players in the shadows, they are deeply involved with the local characters though. I started them with Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures, so the concept of local involvement is integral to their understanding of D&D. ie: In Tyranny of Dragons, they dont give a hoot about the fact that a cult is trying to take over the world by summoning an evil dragon goddess. They will barge through the adventure to bash the skulls of Tiamat because her cult trashed their village at the start, though.

One thing this group does well though is horror or immersion in stressful events. I will need to play them through CoS one day because I know they'll be the right group for it. They are big fan of Stranger Things and other ''kids of bikes'' concept.

Nice, that's a lot of great detail. So in my view, it sounds like it really is more a style of play that matters to your players, not the setting itself; they really sound a lot like the Mighty Nein from Critical Role, in that they want to have adventures, make $ and beat the bad guys, but aren't too interested in being involved in the politics or godly affairs. You can have this style of play in any setting, but there are some settings that are better suited for this than others.

Best settings in my view for classic "break down doors, save the village and get paid" adventurers, are these (IMO); I use modules as a reference, but I'm saying their representative of the settings, not that you need to run these.

• Midgard (I don't know a super lot about it, but it checks a lot of boxes here).
• Sword Coast. Pretty much a kitchen sink of everything D&D has, making it kind of boring but also capable of running literally anything. Modules like Dragon Heist, Icespire Peak, Phandelver sound great for your group.
• Greyhawk. Actually pretty good choice here, as I think your group would enjoy modules like "Against the Giants" or "Cult of the Reptile God."
• Ravenloft. Specifically Curse of Strahd sounds pretty good for your group. More horror though than normal D&D, so maybe avoid this.
• Golarion (the Pathfinder setting). Really a huge kitchen sink as well, but a ton of railroady adventure paths, many of which I'm sure your group would enjoy.
• Mystara (also know little about this one, but it's another one of these that would work).

Anyway, I think these could all work, so if I were you I would read the 1d4chan articles on each one and decide which tickles your personal fancy the most. The great thing here is your group is actually pretty flexible; it's the adventure type that needs to fit them, not the setting. So you can really pick whatever you want, as long as it's not too weird for them like Dark Sun or Spelljammer.

 

[jayoungr]

My personal favorite part of Midgard is the Southlands (currently having a Kickstarter), which is less real-world-analogous than the northern part of the world. It does have Fantasy Egypt and other places with real-world ties, but there are also plant people and wasp people.

 

[Zardnaar]

My personal favorite part of Midgard is the Southlands (currently having a Kickstarter), which is less real-world-analogous than the northern part of the world. It does have Fantasy Egypt and other places with real-world ties, but there are also plant people and wasp people.

And a city in a bottle.