Yea, I agree with this. The PHB and MM should be about creating and establishing the tropes of D&D, not specifically spelling out an origin story. Settings can have canonical elements, but the core should always be presented as a malleable toolkit.
Absolutely one of my favorite hooks in the setting.
It's not FR-specific. 2e and 3e material set in the Shining South and neighboring lands had gnolls as regular humanoids who had worshipped Gorelik before Yeenoghu came along and persuaded most of them to follow him instead.I always assumed that Volo's was FR specific and therefore gnolls as described (literally created by a demon) is just one possibility and only matters to FR. I like the concept, and even though Yeenoghu doesn't exist in my campaign world, I used roughly the same concept.
Then again, I take all the entries from the MM as just the default starting point, any entry in the book should be modified for a specific campaign world if you want.
Depends on the setting, that too is setting specific. It's pretty much explicitly not the case in eberron It's more vague there but not really true in darksun either. Ravenloft delights in taking away & generally interfering with your ability to reach out to them or engage in planar travel like that.
Well, as I said, that's the default, which is why spells such as plane shift and commune exist. Eberron, and certain other settings, are not the assumed norm and those settings take pains to make sure you know it's not the norm.
That's the thing though, "the default" presented by core books like the phb & mm needs to be more than "in forgotten realms & planescape" or they need to be put out as setting specific books like "xyz campaign setting"
Volo, or Volothamp Geddarm, is most definitely a character from the Forgotten Realms. However, "Volo's Guide to Monsters" isn't a Realms-specific book, the lore presented is core 5E D&D. The book certainly has a healthy dose of Realmsian flavor.I always assumed that Volo's was FR specific and therefore gnolls as described (literally created by a demon) is just one possibility and only matters to FR. I like the concept, and even though Yeenoghu doesn't exist in my campaign world, I used roughly the same concept.
Then again, I take all the entries from the MM as just the default starting point, any entry in the book should be modified for a specific campaign world if you want.
That is an excellent title for a Dark Sun book! WotC, make it so!
