DMsGuild: D&D Style-Guides give a unique insight into the game

[pukunui]

Could be these are new internal guidelines made for just that reason, that they decided to share.

Good point!

 

[flametitan]

There's some rather interesting elements in the Style guide, In particular, I really like what they say about clerics:

Clerics. Clerics are special individuals gifted with divine power by a deity, but they don’t have the
gods on speed dial nor are the gods constantly watching their every move. Clerics of a deity can go
astray of a deity’s ethos or even betray their deity. Judgment of such infractions might be immediate
or saved until the afterlife, based upon the whim of the deity.

That's... actually kind of interesting to me. Like a Paladin who breaks their oath, their is a penalty for clerics going against their gods, but it doesn't have to be an immediate effect.

 

[gyor]

Well, Sigil the City of Doors & the Lady of Pain are both mentioned in the DMG; they're definitely no longer just "Planescape IP."

There's further insight into their thinking on page 4 of the D&D IP Guide:

[SECTION]Multiple Planes of Existence
While Faerûn is where most of the action should take place in a D&D RPG, the world exists as one within multiple planes. These planes classically form a cosmology known as The Great Wheel. See the Dungeon Master’s Guide for more information on the Great Wheel. The most important concept to remember is that even if the players never visit another plane, the fact that multiple planes exist is knowledge that many adventurers and sages share. Common folk might not commonly know or think about the planes but their influence may be felt over the course of a D&D adventure. Elementals from the elemental planes, for example, demons originate from the Abyss, and devils from the Nine Hells.[/SECTION]

This says that, for the time being, they want to keep the focus on Faerûn. Which makes that sentence about Sigil ("characters should not be traveling there") redundant.

The only reason I can think for them calling out Sigil specifically as a place to avoid is that they have plans to release a product dealing with Sigil.

Actually thanks to Clerics, Paladins, and Bards, a basic knowledge of the planes should be common, because that is where the afterlife that the Gods offer is, you might not know a lot beyond the paradise the local gods offer, but this isn't Ravnica most people and races at minimum know that the planes exist even if they don't know them all. Look at history, basic religious teachings are common, even to the illiterate lower classes, and imagine how much more common it would be in a world where the Gods literally walk the earth, and competition for converts is intense, and literacy is far, far more common then in any historical period outside modern (usually only Barbarians can't read in FR).

 

[gyor]

Well, Sigil the City of Doors & the Lady of Pain are both mentioned in the DMG; they're definitely no longer just "Planescape IP."

There's further insight into their thinking on page 4 of the D&D IP Guide:

[SECTION]Multiple Planes of Existence
While Faerûn is where most of the action should take place in a D&D RPG, the world exists as one within multiple planes. These planes classically form a cosmology known as The Great Wheel. See the Dungeon Master’s Guide for more information on the Great Wheel. The most important concept to remember is that even if the players never visit another plane, the fact that multiple planes exist is knowledge that many adventurers and sages share. Common folk might not commonly know or think about the planes but their influence may be felt over the course of a D&D adventure. Elementals from the elemental planes, for example, demons originate from the Abyss, and devils from the Nine Hells.[/SECTION]

This says that, for the time being, they want to keep the focus on Faerûn. Which makes that sentence about Sigil ("characters should not be traveling there") redundant.

The only reason I can think for them calling out Sigil specifically as a place to avoid is that they have plans to release a product dealing with Sigil.

Actually thanks to Clerics, Paladins, and Bards, a basic knowledge of the planes should be common, because that is where the afterlife that the Gods offer is, you might not know a lot beyond the paradise the local gods offer, but this isn't Ravnica most people and races at minimum know that the planes exist even if they don't know them all. Look at history, basic religious teachings are common, even to the illiterate lower classes, and imagine how much more common it would be in a world where the Gods literally walk the earth, and competition for converts is intense, and literacy is far, far more common then in any historical period outside modern (usually only Barbarians can't read in FR, I mean even orcs, gnolls, and gobliniods have a written language).

 

[GothicEmperor]

That adventure design guide is actually quite good. More adventure designers ought to read it, really.

 

[MechaPilot]

"We avoid page references as much as possible."
- D&D Style Guide, pg 4

Yeah. We noticed.

* * * Angry Grumbling * * *

 

[gyor]

I wonder of the list of deities refer to in the IP guide didn't end up in the Style Guide because they wanted more flexibility to expand FRs Pantheon in the future.

 

[gyor]

I wonder if the list of deities refer to in the IP guide didn't end up in the Style Guide because they wanted more flexibility to expand FRs Pantheon in the future.

 

[robus]

Good to see the proof reading in the style guide is as good as ever:

Note that people don’t use the word “money” in the Frogotten Realms. They saiy “coin” instead. Coinage throughout the realms is customarily valued as follows:

I’m curious about these Frogotten Realms, is it for amphibious PCs?

 

[Remathilis]

"We avoid page references as much as possible."
- D&D Style Guide, pg 4

Yeah. We noticed.

* * * Angry Grumbling * * *

I wager its because they don't work with digital offerings like D&D Beyond or the virtual tabletops. It also solves problems with later editing.