D&D (2024) Half Race Appreciation Society: Half Elf most popular race choice in BG3

[Frozen_Heart]

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I don't mind a 'default' setting....

But please god can it not be forgotten realms. The map looks like it was made using a random biome generator in minecraft.

 

[Scribe]

But D&D insists on servicing a half-dozen different settings with decades of lore...

A half-dozen legacy settings, with decades-old lore.

What have they done, new, for 5e that was not actually outsourced?

 

[TwoSix]

WotC could have fixed this by focusing on one setting like every other major RPG (including its rivals like Pathfinder and TotV). But D&D insists on servicing a half-dozen different settings with decades of lore...

I don't mind a 'default' setting....

But please god can it not be forgotten realms. The map looks like it was made using a random biome generator in minecraft.

Wow, these 2 consecutive posts sure sum up WotC's setting conundrum nicely.

 

[Cadence]

WotC could have fixed this by focusing on one setting like every other major RPG (including its rivals like Pathfinder and TotV). But D&D insists on servicing a half-dozen different settings with decades of lore..is part of why I didn't like one of their editions.

Leaning super hard into one setting is part of the reason I didn't like one of the editions. (Granted it might have only been the third or fourth thing on my list).

 

[Micah Sweet]

A half-dozen legacy settings, with decades-old lore.

What have they done, new, for 5e that was not actually outsourced?

Nothing by the actual design team that I know of.

 

[Cadence]

Nothing by the actual design team that I know of.

With out 5e there would be no A5e, right?

;-)

 

[Yaarel]

So you're saying that D&D should be the Forgotten Realms, or just that you think that's how WotC will present it? Because what you've described for the PH is exactly that.

I don't mind a 'default' setting....

But please god can it not be forgotten realms. The map looks like it was made using a random biome generator in minecraft.

I assume what was true is still true. Most D&D players use a homebrew setting. But among the minority who use an official setting, Forgotten Realms is the most prominent, by far.

Since there are many 5e players who are new to D&D, the number of homebrews might now be a minority. The 5e rules encourage corporate branding and trademark protection rather than homebrew.

The 2014 Players Handbook is a genericized Forgotten Realms setting, which might be the worst, since it is neither setting-neutral nor setting-flavorful. Even so there is wisdom to a light touch, and the suggestive open-ended descriptions might be a factor in the popularity of 5e.

Forgotten Realms was intentionally designed to be an ecclectic "kitchen-sink" setting. It already obsorbs most of the old school Greyhawk and Dragon Magazine settings, as well as Ravenloft and other settings. The design makes it possible for the Forgotten Realms to even obsorb, by name, the City of Greyhawk and the Town of Blackmoor, as well as the Theros and Strixhaven, as local regions somewhere on the planet of Toril.

I am resigned to the fact that Forgotten Realms will continue to be the "default" setting for the 2024 edition too.

But, by organizing the 2024 setting into "regions", each typically around a major city, it is easy to use other regions that are quite different with the distinctive backgrounds there.

Meanwhile movies and videogames popularize and flavor the Neverwinter region and the Baldurs Gate region.

 

[Micah Sweet]

With out 5e there would be no A5e, right?

;-)

Absolutely, and I will always love pre-Tasha's 5e for providing that basis for a good version of the game (IMO, etc). But Level Up wasn't made by the WotC team, who have also as far as I know not made any new settings in house in the decade 5e has been around. That was the question I was answering in the post you responded to.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I assume what was true is still true. Most D&D players use a homebrew setting. But among the minority who use an official setting, Forgotten Realms is the most prominent, by far.

Since there are many 5e players who are new to D&D, the number of homebrews might now be a minority.

The 2014 Players Handbook is a genericized Forgotten Realms setting, which might be the worst, since it is neither setting-neutral nor setting-flavorful. Even so there is wisdom to a light touch, and the suggestive open-ended descriptions might be a factor in the popularity of 5e.

Forgotten Realms was intentionally designed to be an ecclectic "kitchen-sink" setting. It already obsorbs most of the old school Greyhawk and Dragon Magazine settings, as well as Ravenloft and other settings. The design makes it possible for the Forgotten Realms to even obsorb, by name, the City of Greyhawk and the Town of Blackmoor, as well as the Theros and Strixhaven, as local regions somewhere on the planet of Toril.

I am resigned to the fact that Forgotten Realms will continue to be the "default" setting for the 2024 edition too.

But, by organizing the 2024 setting into "regions", each typically around a major city, it is easy to use other regions that are quite different with distinctive backgrounds.

So you want something specific that you know WotC isn't going to give you?  That I can relate to. Finally some common ground!

 

[Yaarel]

So you want something specific that you know WotC isn't going to give you?  That I can relate to. Finally some common ground!

Heh.

But I assume the 2024 Players Handbook will continue to default to the FR (Forgotten Realms) setting. If all of the setting-specific content is discrete in a section of examples of specific local cultures, then they can go into more flavorful detail. For example, the Elf species lists three FR elven communities. The Human-Elf multispecies lists three FR cultures and how they fit in or dont, or are the leading government families. The Paladin class might list an example of how the Paladin Oath forms a sacred faction in the Forgotten Realms. Bard will mention the Harpers as one of three cultural backgrounds. Three specific Druid communities. The Cleric class might list an example of two theistic communities and one nontheistic community. And so on.

Instead of how the 2014 Players Handbook lists three "subraces", the 2024 Players Handbook can list three specific local cultures.

The designers need to decide how much setting content is optimal in terms of sales, but any amount is possible if contained discretely in the context of a separate section for cultures and their backgrounds.