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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yora" data-source="post: 5826617" data-attributes="member: 6670763">I'd say I reached that point somewhere in mid 3rd Edition. Yes, Sembia and the Border Kingdoms where not really described, as were some parts around Turmish. But those regions were pretty much completely blank without any incentive to play there.I think a good campaign setting offers a glimps at something that makes players and DM think that it would be exciting to explore it further, learn more about what's going on and who is who. But at least in my perception, every time there was something worse exploring, there was also an explaination what exactly you would find there. To a great deal, this was my own fault, because I read tonnes of material on the realms. And yes, you have to hand the DMs something to work with if their players want to explore a place. But I think they went too far. It's okay to state what is the current state of things, but all too often, you would also get the ntire background information that explains the whole backstory. And I think it's much more interesting if you go to places, solve the current issue at hand, but also leave with a sense of wonder about how the location came to be and what it was used for. In the Forgotten Realms, I feel that much too often this isn't the case and when you find a ruin in region X, well informed players instantly know the entire history of the culture that build it. People may have different experiences, but supposed you visit Karse or Myth Drannor, there's a good chance a couple of players already know the entire history of the place and come to metagame realizations whom they are currently dealing with and how they can be defeated.Keeping things vague and not answering all questions is something I enjoy in a setting and in that regard, the grey box does the job best. In AD&D, you also had separate booklets for players and DMs, so players could inform themselves about the world without having to read all the supposedly secret stuff as well. Starting in 3rd Edition there was only one big book of everything that was read by both DMs and players, even if as a player would like to only read about the commonly known things.</blockquote>

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