D&D 5E Elements in a new official setting

[Yaarel]

Also what key points make grim fantasy differ from dark fantasy? Asking for a friend.

Grim is graphically violent, like organs and missing limbs. Dark is psychologically unsettling.

 

[jmartkdr2]

What are your essential features for a swashbuckling setting? How does it differ from PH options?

For myself, I'm really conflating "swashbuckling" with "pirate":

A lot more ships, sea/air/aether/etc, with decent rules for managing, upgrading, and fighting them. Places to sail to, both friendly and otherwise. An open, uncontrolled world where adventurers are usually on their own. Magic spells and items associated with them.

Sky islands would work really well, for me.

Mechanically, outside of ship rules, you don't need much. The PHB classes cover what you need for characters and rules, and the main other stuff you want is also already published somewhere. Maybe new races, but none are obviously needed for this. It would be nice to consolidate the major stuff (artificers and swashbucklers), but that's a nice-to-have, not a must-have.

The ship rules (including ship-based magic) is the big deal and main selling point, since most settings have ships and could therefore use the rules if you ever want them. This setting would simply focus on them in the first place.

Outside of ships, the only thing swashbuckling definitely has that 5e doesn't necessarily have is swordfighting stunts: you can swing on a chandelier, but it's not a core part of the experience in default 5e. More guidance on that sort of thing would be good, specifically suggestions on how to actively encourage it (the base rules imply you should make players roll for stunts, which discourages them.)

 

[Yaarel]

For myself, I'm really conflating "swashbuckling" with "pirate":

A lot more ships, sea/air/aether/etc, with decent rules for managing, upgrading, and fighting them. Places to sail to, both friendly and otherwise. An open, uncontrolled world where adventurers are usually on their own. Magic spells and items associated with them.

Sky islands would work really well, for me.

Mechanically, outside of ship rules, you don't need much. The PHB classes cover what you need for characters and rules, and the main other stuff you want is also already published somewhere. Maybe new races, but none are obviously needed for this. It would be nice to consolidate the major stuff (artificers and swashbucklers), but that's a nice-to-have, not a must-have.

The ship rules (including ship-based magic) is the big deal and main selling point, since most settings have ships and could therefore use the rules if you ever want them. This setting would simply focus on them in the first place.

Outside of ships, the only thing swashbuckling definitely has that 5e doesn't necessarily have is swordfighting stunts: you can swing on a chandelier, but it's not a core part of the experience in default 5e. More guidance on that sort of thing would be good, specifically suggestions on how to actively encourage it (the base rules imply you should make players roll for stunts, which discourages them.)

If the setting is modern or near future, and focuses on open seas, is that still swashbuckling?

 

[Steampunkette]

What are your essential features for a swashbuckling setting? How does it differ from PH options?

1) No armor to speak of.
2) Daring combat maneuvers.
3) Positioning meaning much more.
4) Different fighting styles that represent entire schools of thought rather than a simple +2 to damage rolls.
5) Low-tier Firearms that are fun and engaging.
6) More ship-combat options.
7) LOTS of Social Mechanics so your character can be super witty and offer remarks as cutting as their sword, and so your reputation has a tangible weight on the narrative.
8) Lots of Physical Maneuverability and Environmental interactions. Chandeliers for swinging -and- dropping on your enemy's head.
9) Did I mention ship-combat? Not just -on- a ship with 3d movement up into the rigging or over the railing of the forecastle, but also ship-to-ship.
10) Environmental Combat Effects. The heroes are fighting single opponents in deadly battles while surrounded by a chaotic barfight which they sometimes interact with.
11) Mechanics for daring escapes that just straight up end the possibility of a chase sequence, like cutting a bell-tower rope you're holding onto in order to get yanked up safely to the tower-peak while the bell destroys the stairwell.

Just so much more...

 

[jmartkdr2]

If the setting is modern or near future, and focuses on open seas, is that still swashbuckling?

I would say yes - swashbuckling can include parts of Star Wars if you like. It's more about the focus on panache and style, and the type of hero (chaotic good), than the details of the setting.

 

[Yaarel]

I would say yes - swashbuckling can include parts of Star Wars if you like. It's more about the focus on panache and style, and the type of hero (chaotic good), than the details of the setting.

Cool.

Swashbuckling hasnt been on my radar, but I could probably get into near-future swashbuckling, with floating cities, water platform cities, and "Cloud 9" geodesic flying cities, ala Buckminster Fuller.

The sea level rose suddenly by 50 meters, because of Antarctic icesheet slide off. Many humans are surviving on and relocating to the water surface. There are ruins of cities with top floors of buildings peaking above water level.

Meanwhile high-tech is as-if magic.

 

[Aldarc]

Swashbuckling tied for first place right now. Interesting that a lot of people agree with me that 5E doesn't really have a sufficiently swashbuckling setting (I mean, it could have been Eberron, but it chose to focus elsewhere). It really could use one, I think.

Swashbuckling Iomandra would be nice.

 

[Quickleaf]

I was inspired by @Steampunkette and @Urriak Uruk in another thread that involved discussion of "Planejammer", so I riffed something...

Psionic Zorro in Interplanar Malaysia

A mist-draped archipelago and island chain... where an oppressive regime with extraplanar backing is on the rise and fought back by psionic martial artists... some cities have elemental-infused technology thanks to elven contribution, though the elves have mostly gone into hiding... secret psionic orders act as the hidden hand behind the thrones... Southeast Asian motifs... disruptive gates to the watery parts of other planes with rulers jockeying for control of the gates... captains with enchanted ships brave the treacherous passages between planes and lost isles... your family is rolled up and has both mechanical and narrative weight, potentially saving your bacon or introducing complications mid-adventure... equal parts swashbuckling vigilantism, intrigue, and discovering ancient secrets.

It's swashbucklery – but outside the usual European cultural tropes.

It's islandy / maritime-themed – both without being locked into that, and providing cosmological connection.

It's got martial arts wuxia-esque elements – but not from the dominant Chinese influence.

I don't know if I just described Green Ronin's Mindshadows setting...

 

[Steampunkette]

I am deeply honored to have inspired such a concept. <3

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Sounds pretty cool!