D&D 5E (2024) Preferences in a New Official 5.5e Specific Setting

Hussar · 2025-11-30T03:22:26+0000

doctorbadwolf said:
I like this, but it is hard to do in the current rules as a settimg that is defined by those rules.

Take Rome. If everyday Romans ar3 supposed to be playable, you cannot be restricted to that map. Many Romans come from further afield. If the people in the port should be understandable much less playable, the world needs more than southern Europe and SWANA region.

Truth is, unless ypu go way out of your way to close the known world in or go way back to the dawn of civilization, the known world has never been that small.

Well, kinda/sorta. Most Romans didn't come from further afield. But, that's not really the point.

In a setting that large - say a very large island about 1000 miles in diameter (that's damn near a continent really), you have MORE than enough space to plonk down all 11 races, have enough biomes to handle pretty much any critter save the really extreme ones and more than enough space to have all sorts of communities.

I mean, just think of it in real world terms. How many different cultures would you find in that circle I defined? If we replace cultures with species, (not as analogues, just saying that where the Celts lived, now dwarves live in that region, where the Gauls lived, that's elves, where the Goths hung out, that's where you find the human nations, etc) you have more than enough geography.

I mean, good grief, Middle Earth is about that size. And we have, what, a half dozen different intelligent species? Elf, man, dwarf, hobbit, orc, goblin, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. If it's good enough for Tolkien, it's probably good enough for D&D. Doing a bit of Googling, and the Shire to Minas Tirith is the same distance as Oxford to Venice. So, yeah, that's LOTS of geography.

doctorbadwolf · 2025-11-30T06:44:05+0000

Hussar said:
Well, kinda/sorta. Most Romans didn't come from further afield. But, that's not really the point.

In a setting that large - say a very large island about 1000 miles in diameter (that's damn near a continent really), you have MORE than enough space to plonk down all 11 races, have enough biomes to handle pretty much any critter save the really extreme ones and more than enough space to have all sorts of communities.

I mean, just think of it in real world terms. How many different cultures would you find in that circle I defined? If we replace cultures with species, (not as analogues, just saying that where the Celts lived, now dwarves live in that region, where the Gauls lived, that's elves, where the Goths hung out, that's where you find the human nations, etc) you have more than enough geography.

I mean, good grief, Middle Earth is about that size. And we have, what, a half dozen different intelligent species? Elf, man, dwarf, hobbit, orc, goblin, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. If it's good enough for Tolkien, it's probably good enough for D&D. Doing a bit of Googling, and the Shire to Minas Tirith is the same distance as Oxford to Venice. So, yeah, that's LOTS of geography.

Middle Earth still had people from further away affected the action. In a dnd 5e setting version, you'd want to have playable Easterlings, which means knowing more than lotr ever showed about them.

Now i think you could set the action in such a small area, especially with how 5e treats setting lore. But the book would have half page sections on places outside the area of focus.

doctorbadwolf · 2025-11-30T07:05:32+0000

I will give an example using my own very 5e setting, humorously named Islands World.

The largest landmass in IW is a little smaller than Australia, and it isn't even where the focus of the setting lies. Instead, the real action is in the Arcipellago of the Turtle, which is roughly analogous to Indonesia but a little more spread out with a central island shaped like a turtle with its head looking to the side.

But the Arcipellago is defined in part by the old empires of the Lands of The Three Moons, which is that Australia sized landmass. The Empire of Capet is waning and the Empire of Albarona is aggresively waxing, and both have principalities of the Turtle that they have taken over within the last 15 years.

To define The Turtle, you have to describe the other lands at least a little, because there are many people from those placess in the arcipelago.

Hussar · 2025-11-30T07:26:32+0000

doctorbadwolf said:
Middle Earth still had people from further away affected the action. In a dnd 5e setting version, you'd want to have playable Easterlings, which means knowing more than lotr ever showed about them.

Now i think you could set the action in such a small area, especially with how 5e treats setting lore. But the book would have half page sections on places outside the area of focus.

Meh, why would you have playable Easterlings? They barely appear in the stories and have pretty much no role.

Like I said, the point isn't to play Middle Earth Role Play. We already have that. The point is that in the area that the Lord of the Rings takes place in includes half a dozen or more different species. It's more than big enough to have the PHB species and still have tons of space left over.

D&D 5E (2024) Preferences in a New Official 5.5e Specific Setting

What Flavor of Setting would you like them to create?

Heroic Fantasy

Swords and Sorcery

Epic Fantasy

Mythic Fantasy

Dark Fantasy

Bright Fantasy

Intrigue and Politics

Mystery and Investigation

War and Battle

Wuxia/Anime

Modern Fantasy

Urban Fantasy

Science Fantasy

Apocalyptic or Post Apocalyptic Fantasy

Other (Please describe)

Hussar

Legend

doctorbadwolf

Heretic of The Seventh Circle

doctorbadwolf

Heretic of The Seventh Circle

Hussar

Legend

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