D&D 5E Phandelver starting to show up in the wild. NewbieDM looks to be the first!

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That doesn't track for me. It's not like the starter areas in WoW or even BG3 are mundane.

Probably the most popular starting area in WoW is an abbey with a vineyard under siege from bandits. Most of the starting areas are pretty simple, other than the draenei (waking up in the ruins of their interdimensional ship), worgen (a city under siege) and goblins (late stage capitalism interrupted by a volcanic eruption triggered by a dragon).

Honestly, though, everyone here trying to argue each other out of their opinions are doing the equivalent of arguing whether blue or red are the better color. It's a matter of taste. Some folks want a simple beginning to start from (JRRT was one of them, most notably), and some folks want to start things off more dramatically.

Bickering over what one should have in a starting town seems like it should be in its own thread.

 

[overgeeked]

Probably the most popular starting area in WoW is an abbey with a vineyard under siege from bandits. Most of the starting areas are pretty simple, other than the draenei (waking up in the ruins of their interdimensional ship), worgen (a city under siege) and goblins (late stage capitalism interrupted by a volcanic eruption triggered by a dragon).

Honestly, though, everyone here trying to argue each other out of their opinions are doing the equivalent of arguing whether blue or red are the better color. It's a matter of taste. Some folks want a simple beginning to start from (JRRT was one of them, most notably), and some folks want to start things off more dramatically.

Bickering over what one should have in a starting town seems like it should be in its own thread.

It would make for an interesting thread. Some WoW starting areas are fantastic, others mundane. Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Pandaren, whatever the new dragon-people are called, are all fantastic as well.

 

[pukunui]

I think having a mundane starting location is fine. It leaves room for DMs to insert more fantastical elements to their own taste. Like if you want to have a nice old treant, maybe name her Granny Smith and put her in the Edermath Orchard.

Maybe she's the guardian of the orchard, and she makes sure the trees always provide plenty of good fruit. Since she's old, she's all but rooted into place. It would take more than just some ruffians causing trouble to get her mobile again. But people can go and talk to her, and she'll give them advice along with some apples.

 

[Reynard]

Probably the most popular starting area in WoW is an abbey with a vineyard under siege from bandits. Most of the starting areas are pretty simple, other than the draenei (waking up in the ruins of their interdimensional ship), worgen (a city under siege) and goblins (late stage capitalism interrupted by a volcanic eruption triggered by a dragon).

Honestly, though, everyone here trying to argue each other out of their opinions are doing the equivalent of arguing whether blue or red are the better color. It's a matter of taste. Some folks want a simple beginning to start from (JRRT was one of them, most notably), and some folks want to start things off more dramatically.

Bickering over what one should have in a starting town seems like it should be in its own thread.

In the very first WoW game I played (roughly 20 years after I started playing D&D) I was blown away by the tree people that walked around and guarded the starting location.

The idea that you shouldn't have that stuff, that starter towns should be mundane boring historical analogs is insipid. It makes no sense and provides no value unless you are literally trying to reveal the fantastic through play. But if the PCs include dragon folk and demon folk and fae folk, it's not reasonable to make revealing the fantastic a play goal.

 

[pukunui]

But if the PCs include dragon folk and demon folk and fae folk, it's not reasonable to make revealing the fantastic a play goal.

Bear in mind that none of those folk were available to play when the starter set first came out. It was just humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings.

 

[Reynard]

Bear in mind that none of those folk were available to play when the starter set first came out. It was just humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings.

So your defense is that the starter set was intended to lie to new players about what was available to play?

 

[mamba]

So your defense is that the starter set was intended to lie to new players about what was available to play?

that is a pretty weird interpretation of what was written... I get it, you want crazy wild, fantastic stuff, well not everyone does and a starter adventure is a good place to keep it more grounded

 

[Reynard]

that is a pretty weird interpretation of what was written

Are you sure? Because the "basic D&D" supposition of Phandelver is a straight up lie as soon as you present the PHB. You might not like it, but it's true: the starter set gave you a BS interpretation of what the D&D world was intended to look like, relative to the PHB. And it wasn't necessary. They could have literally just as easily made the default pregens a half orc sorcerer, a tiefling warlock, a dwarf barbarian and a elf rogue. If the intent was to actually reframe the tropes. But they didn't.

 

[mamba]

Are you sure? Because the "basic D&D" supposition of Phandelver is a straight up lie as soon as you present the PHB

emphasis on 'as soon as', the starter set was released before that. Also, not making them available in the set is not lying, nor is it in any way required to populate every small town in an adventure with the weirdest creatures you are allowed to play

 

[FitzTheRuke]

To be fair, BG3 has completely changed how I view 'baseline' D&D.

How so? I'm curious.