D&D (2024) The changes to languages are a good start

[Scribe]

Common originating in Sigil is wild. The First World I could see, but the idea that Sigil has that much influence on all the worlds of the Material Plane is a pretty significant idea to put forth in the PHB.

This started in the UA's I believe, centering Sigil in the IP very hard.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This started in the UA's I believe, centering Sigil in the IP very hard.

It honestly feels very counter to the original idea of Sigil. Its vibe was Fantasy Mos Eisely, not Fantasy Manhattan. You can't both be the mysterious place you fall into by accident and the cultural center of the multiverse.

In any case, it's dopey lore I won't be using.

 

[overgeeked]

It honestly feels very counter to the original idea of Sigil. Its vibe was Fantasy Mos Eisely, not Fantasy Manhattan. You can't both be the mysterious place you fall into by accident and the cultural center of the multiverse.

In any case, it's dopey lore I won't be using.

I always got fantasy London vibes. Which would also explain why Common originated there.

 

[Vael]

I tend to view Druidic as a vaguely magical language. It can be written into the bark of a tree (without carving) as a secret message only another Druid would read. Highly contextual, it resists learning by non-Druids because the same shapes and patterns could be meaningless if it appeared in a tree vs in a flower bush.

 

[Scribe]

It honestly feels very counter to the original idea of Sigil. Its vibe was Fantasy Mos Eisely, not Fantasy Manhattan. You can't both be the mysterious place you fall into by accident and the cultural center of the multiverse.

In any case, it's dopey lore I won't be using.

I think its a deeper discussion on 'what is D&D IP' but I dont know that we need to open that up.

 

[Tonguez]

I always got fantasy London vibes. Which would also explain why Common originated there.

Yeah definitely Dickensian London - even the Sigil slang is pretty much London slang (which is why Berk always amused me). It is funny to think that DnD Common and Thieves Cant is going to amount to the same thing though.

London does a pretty good job of being both mindboggling place you wander through by accident and the cultural center of the anglosphere.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think its a deeper discussion on 'what is D&D IP' but I dont know that we need to open that up.

Oh, outside the game, it's 100% about building up a brand that can be leveraged elsewhere. Which is a fine motivation, honestly.

I'd just rather they make the First World the origin of Common, which would really fit in with the lore of the First World and the idea that the Material Plane is just echoes of it today.

 

[pukunui]

Oh, outside the game, it's 100% about building up a brand that can be leveraged elsewhere. Which is a fine motivation, honestly.

I'd just rather they make the First World the origin of Common, which would really fit in with the lore of the First World and the idea that the Material Plane is just echoes of it today.

I haven't noticed any references to the First World in the 2024 PHB. I wonder if it will get a mention in the DMG.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I haven't noticed any references to the First World in the 2024 PHB. I wonder if it will get a mention in the DMG.

Yeah, it may be that the idea didn't catch fire the way they hoped. (I think it was fine, personally, if not necessarily the most exciting bit of cosmology ever.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah definitely Dickensian London - even the Sigil slang is pretty much London slang (which is why Berk always amused me). It is funny to think that DnD Common and Thieves Cant is going to amount to the same thing though.

London does a pretty good job of being both mindboggling place you wander through by accident and the cultural center of the anglosphere.

The British Empire conquered much of the world, which is why English is everywhere.

I have a hard time imagining Sigil conquering the entire Material Plane -- or even wanting to. It would certainly be a big break with what I know of as Planescape lore. And if they conquered the Material Plane, why did they leave? Why aren't the planar races still all over the Material Plane?

This feels like it was meant to be the First World and then someone pointed out that the First World can't yet work as a basis for a cartoon show or to sell t-shirts or anything, since it only exists as the lore in two supplements and nothing more, and they swapped it out for Sigil -- which works for both of those things and even has a Lego minifig coming next month -- without thinking it through.