D&D 5E Does D&D Next need a Core Setting?

[Herremann the Wise]

I was wondering if D&D Next actually needs a core setting such as Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk or can it remain generic so as to be applied to any setting rather than have specific assumptions?

I liked the idea of the Points of Light thing when initially mooted, but found it did not work as well in practice and so I'm equally concerned that a generic treatment this time around might not have enough inherent direction. On the other hand, I really don't want the style of Forgotten Realms stamped all over everything with all the confused baggage that it carries. Perhaps 3e did this idea well in that while Greyhawk was the "core setting", it really was in the background and didn't intrude itself upon the books (aside from the core deities) unless you were looking for it.

And so, I'm not too sure what I want or if anything actually needs to be there. Any ideas?

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[hbarsquared]

I really liked 4E's Points of Light setting, and I feel it made a great default setting that was at both times unintrusive and sparked the imagination.

I know that I do not want Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk as the "default." And I do think there needs to be a generic Core Setting that everyone can look to to say "this is D&D." I think PoL does this.

With that said, I don't know how they can "continue" with it without repeating the same background and historical information. Perhaps just refocusing away from the Nentir Vale and creating a different region in the same world?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Not really, no.

Though I liked the 3E approach. The core books used Greyhawk-based items as examples for some continuity, but it wasn't an "in your face" core setting. The 4E structure worked well, too, but lacked the continuity with prior D&D that I found to be a bit of a let down.

 

[bloodtide]

This is several problems.

1.No matter what the core world is like, someone won't like it. So you run the risk of that someone not buying a product that is all about that core setting. Complete Champion from 3.5E is full of nice stuff for the Core Gods Only, and though it has some fluffy space where they say ''oh you can make this stuff up for other gods'' it's not the kind of thing that makes people buy a book. Why waste money on some examples you can't use and then have to make up all the stuff yourself?

2.If you have a Core World, it automatically limits the things you can have in the game. If in the core world all elves are three feet tall, then in all core books they will be that way. If your core god of magic is also a god of death(like that core 3X one) then you will have an odd mix of magic and death for everything related to the god.

3.If you make the core world to generic, then it's pointless.

4.If you have a core world, it will need fluff....lots and lots of fluff...and that is lots and lots of pages in a book.

 

[GX.Sigma]

I really liked 4E's Points of Light setting, and I feel it made a great default setting that was at both times unintrusive and sparked the imagination.

I think the default setting was way too intrusive. I don't want to worry about whether my character is technically a fey or shadow creature when there's no feywild and shadowfell in my game.

 

[slobster]

To some extent, having a few elements of a "core setting" leech into the core books is unavoidable. For instance, the MM is going to have an entry on Orcs (that or the internet will explode in an orgy of nerdrage the day after it comes out). That entry will certainly have some fluff included, probably of the "orcs are bad people that eat younglings, so adventurers can feel pretty good about stabbing them in the gizzard and taking their 2d4 gp."

That is a pretty generic description for an almost universal tabletop RPG enemy, but wait! An avid and overserious Eberron fan (let's not name any names here ) might look at it and think "man, enough with this Tolkien rehash! Orcs are druidic ancients who sealed Dal'Quor eons ago with the assistance of a black dragon mystic! Why did they have to choose a default setting so that all of the fluff in the core books is incompatible with my game?"

D&D has always assumed a sort of nebulous pseudo-medieval european setting, and over the years that has become ingrained in us gamers' collective psyche. As far as I can tell, recapturing this elusive "feel" is pretty much the ur-goal of this entire DDN exercise. As such, I think they should include a lot of the stuff that we commonly think of as D&D, a lot of which has roots in the classic setting of Greyhawk and a lot of which just sort of happened.

Does that count as a setting? Maybe? But it is setting-ish, and I'd be very disappointed if they went the path of antiseptically cleansing the core rulebooks of flavor and shared gamer culture.

 

[billd91]

Inclusion of any setting-specific material pretty much establishes a default core world. And deities are pretty much setting specific. It doesn't matter I'd it's genericized, it's still a default setting.

 

[Mercule]

I think the reason why the "assumed setting" thing worked in 1e was because of the legendary Gygaxian prose. He didn't consciously try to bake Greyhawk into the 1e books (so far as I know). He was just looking for examples to illustrate his points. I'd actually been playing for a couple of years before I picked up the Greyhawk box, and it never crossed my mind that you even could integrate all his examples into a single setting.

IMO, 4e's Point of Light setting failed at evoking the same muse because they put too much definition around the wrong things (political history, race origins, etc.) and not enough around the right things (monsters, magic items, etc.). Case in point: Tieflings. The origin story given is kinda neat, but there's enough specifics that it feels like the PHB says "this is what happened". The largest amount of fluff, as far as I recall, in 1e was around artifacts, which Gygax pretty much explicitly said, "Now, go make up your own."

I'd love to see some sort of implied setting in the core books, but it would need to be done gently. If used for anything other than just enough "salt" to add flavor, it won't work.

As far as using the Realms goes, I bought the gray box when it was released and consider that to be the best version of the setting. Of course, I found even that to walk a razor's edge between uninspired and goofy. While I won't begrudge anyone for releasing or buying a 5e FR setting book, I'm certainly going to skip 5e if I can't even escape the Realms in the core books.

Setting aside personal preference, I've finally come to realize that Greyhawk was due for retirement. I still love the original box and think it was one of the best settings ever put together, but it had aged enough that there were subtle version differences and even the hardcore fans were fans of different animals. IMO, Forgotten Realms has reached the same point (if not passed it). Some people are still annoyed by the Avatar Trilogy changes. I'm not sure what 2e --> 3e brought, but 4e brought the Spellplague, which is far more than Greyhawk ever suffered through.

Greyhawk is done. Krynn is done. Forgotten Realms is done. Let the nostalgia continue, but that's all there is. Eberron probably has another 5-10 years, then it's done, too. Better look for something new, guys.

 

[Lanefan]

It needs - well, something.

Not necessarily inherent enough in design to get in the way of DMs using their own settings/worlds/etc. (in other words, completely generic) but complete enough for a DM to use if she likes.

If nothing else, a default setting comes in handy for placing adventures by being a baseline for giving examples, as in:

In Generi-world(TM), Quest for the Fifth Setting takes place in and under the northern edge of the Nightwind Forest, about 100 miles east of Bayport. As DM you should feel free to place this adventure anywhere suitable for your own campaign, with the proviso that you will ideally need a deep and wide canyon (in whose wall are situated the Griffin caves) and a large forest nearby containing at least one village where the party can re-supply.

If a DM is using the Generi-world setting she can take this info and dive right in; if not she can, if she likes, look at the Generi-world map of this area and see what's involved. Or she can always wing it...

Lanefan

 

[Sunseeker]

I would rather the core rules be as setting neutral as possible, and make most of the supplemental rules fairly setting neutral as well. Themes and Backgrounds are where most of the fluffy, setting-specific goodness should be at, perhaps some specific variant abilities, but generally speaking the vast majority of content should be setting neutral, and the settings themselves should be creative and engaging without needing specific rules for those worlds.