One Thing I Think Could Be Improved From ALL Previous Editions...

[Dice4Hire]

Or make the Forgotten Realms the default setting, since they intend on supporting it anyways, but also give us a framework (in the character builder as well) for using domains, races and other world related mechanics according to our own campaign fluff.

Yes, I can agree with this. A setting is needed, I think, if only to give new players an idea what a setting is.

Sure, us old fogies do not need it.

I would like to see a lot of 'here it is', and then a sidebar of 'here is how you change it' thoroughout the basic rulebook.

 

[pemerton]

In Worlds and Monsters (4e prerlease) this issue was discussed. One reason given for opting for a default setting was that otherwise modules can't be written which refer to the temple of so-and-so, and art can't be drawn with particular holy symbols, banners etc.

Anyway, I agree with [MENTION=3192]howandwhy99[/MENTION] above, that D&D - via its race, class, equipment, etc lists - is a setting, and I really like the way the default setting is explained and handled in the 4e books (the Essentials books are particuarly good for this).

Dark Sun is also an excellent example of the presentation of a different setting.

 

[Wormwood]

I loved both 4e's assumed 'soft' setting and the 1e DMG's "name dropping" approach.

Give me legends, hints and artifacts. I'll fill in the rest.

 

[Lanefan]

I loved both 4e's assumed 'soft' setting and the 1e DMG's "name dropping" approach.

Give me legends, hints and artifacts. I'll fill in the rest.

I must confess I don't often agree with you, [MENTION=928]Wormwood[/MENTION] - but this time you're bang on.

That said, I don't mind there being passing reference to an implied setting if only to give new players/DMs and-or those with limited time something to work with out of the box.

BECMI D&D introduced part of Mystara (Karameikos) in the Expert set. There was nothing in the Basic set, and I don't recall anything of significance in the Companion set.

A later module (I forget which one but I have it around here somewhere) expands greatly on this setting, and shows the map in Isle of Dread to be but a tiny part of the world.

It includes Blackmoor, which tags it as having been at least in part Dave Arneson's own world; but in fact the whole thing was a generic setting they threw together to test stuff, and then kept when they found it worked.

If Forgotten Realms does end up as the default 5e setting it'd be in some sense poetic justice: FR is the only setting to appear in all of 1e 2e 3e and 4e yet has not been the default for any of them.

Lanefan

 

[Number48]

The 3E cleric was actually an example of good design here. By having domains, you can swap out the default gods with relative ease. A system, or even a discussion, about doing that is completely missing. Making your own world should be there from the first release of core books. I don't want to wait 5 years to make the game my own, and I don't want to have to invent all the rules or tricks that WotC already has ready to use from making 5E in the first place.

 

[SensoryThought]

I hate forgotten realms - it feels like a bloated sack of cliches thrown together with little rhyme or reason stacked with Marty Stu and Baron Von Badass NPCs. But for newbies, history (spans 2e-4e) name recognition (land of Elminster and Drizzt), and generic D&D feel it is the logical choice to package with 5e.

Personally Eberron 3e/4e is my favorite setting followed by Birthright 2e and Spelljammer 2e.

 

[Tallifer]

I am not a fanatic of the Realms either. Indeed I would prefer Eberron. But the Wizards have already chosen to support the Realms, therefore I say make the best of a mediocre situation and support the Realms fully. And avoid confusion for new players and dungeon masters.

 

[Li Shenron]

One thing occurs to me that I don't think has been done in any previous edition, but that recently increasingly jars on me:

- There is a 'default game world' hard-coded into the initial rules set.

In AD&D we had, essentially, Greyhawk - and again in 3.X. And kinda in 2e. In 4E we had PoLand. But doing this - especially changing it - causes unnecessary friction and hassle for a DM who wants to design and run his or her own world setting (within the D&D system parameters).

The stuff I'm thinking about primarily comes down to the gods, the cosmology and the alignment system. Maybe also the equipment lists - although standard types of weapons and armour are arguably required for the system/powers themselves.

I would much rather see "Divine Domains", rules for codifying planes of existence, rules for defining deities and suggestions for alignment systems included in the core rules. By all means, give a baseline set of examples in each area, to give everyone a "starter for ten" on their first time out with the new system and to give a baseline for the generic adventures, but please give the generic rules for this stuff from the word 'go!'

I essentially agree.

- no pantheon borrowed from a specific setting: a 4e-styled "best-of" is better, but no names or setting references would be best

- no cosmology, just example of planes that exist in almost every traditional setting: astral, ethereal, shadow, and some generic mention of planes of the afterlife and maybe also elemental planes, without exactly specifying how many or how they work/interact

- for alignment, I would rather still put the standard 3x3, but alongside 2-4 variants (e.g. a simple honor-based system, a thematic system reminiscent of M:tG, and something new)

I don't care if total beginners need a setting as a base, because whatever they put in the PHB/DMG will never have enough space in those corebooks to be usable as a setting. Better to put nothing in the core (which also means that every following splatbook will need to have 5%-10% dedicated to the default setting).

Instead add a small booklet of a chosen setting to the Introductory Box (the "family product") with geography, history summary, pantheon, famous characters & power groups. A 20-30 pages booklet or even smaller taken from the Campaign Setting book of such setting.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I don't want a "baked in" setting (unless it's Greyhawk), but I do want to see illustrative examples, and those could be built on a common setting. For example, the gods chapter can explain types of gods, domains, portfolios, etc ... then provide an example of a pantheon from a classic D&D setting.

 

[Aramax]

Oh man do I agree w/OP.One of my early problems w/th was the racial fluff -none of it fit my world!

(now if they want to devote some page count and some side bars to a setting ,I gotts no prob)