D&D 5E (2024) Preferences in a New Official 5.5e Specific Setting

[Hussar]

I like this, but it is hard to do in the current rules as a settimg that is defined by those rules.

Take Rome. If everyday Romans ar3 supposed to be playable, you cannot be restricted to that map. Many Romans come from further afield. If the people in the port should be understandable much less playable, the world needs more than southern Europe and SWANA region.

Truth is, unless ypu go way out of your way to close the known world in or go way back to the dawn of civilization, the known world has never been that small.

Well, kinda/sorta. Most Romans didn't come from further afield. But, that's not really the point.

In a setting that large - say a very large island about 1000 miles in diameter (that's damn near a continent really), you have MORE than enough space to plonk down all 11 races, have enough biomes to handle pretty much any critter save the really extreme ones and more than enough space to have all sorts of communities.

I mean, just think of it in real world terms. How many different cultures would you find in that circle I defined? If we replace cultures with species, (not as analogues, just saying that where the Celts lived, now dwarves live in that region, where the Gauls lived, that's elves, where the Goths hung out, that's where you find the human nations, etc) you have more than enough geography.

I mean, good grief, Middle Earth is about that size. And we have, what, a half dozen different intelligent species? Elf, man, dwarf, hobbit, orc, goblin, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. If it's good enough for Tolkien, it's probably good enough for D&D. Doing a bit of Googling, and the Shire to Minas Tirith is the same distance as Oxford to Venice. So, yeah, that's LOTS of geography.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Well, kinda/sorta. Most Romans didn't come from further afield. But, that's not really the point.

In a setting that large - say a very large island about 1000 miles in diameter (that's damn near a continent really), you have MORE than enough space to plonk down all 11 races, have enough biomes to handle pretty much any critter save the really extreme ones and more than enough space to have all sorts of communities.

I mean, just think of it in real world terms. How many different cultures would you find in that circle I defined? If we replace cultures with species, (not as analogues, just saying that where the Celts lived, now dwarves live in that region, where the Gauls lived, that's elves, where the Goths hung out, that's where you find the human nations, etc) you have more than enough geography.

I mean, good grief, Middle Earth is about that size. And we have, what, a half dozen different intelligent species? Elf, man, dwarf, hobbit, orc, goblin, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. If it's good enough for Tolkien, it's probably good enough for D&D. Doing a bit of Googling, and the Shire to Minas Tirith is the same distance as Oxford to Venice. So, yeah, that's LOTS of geography.

Middle Earth still had people from further away affected the action. In a dnd 5e setting version, you'd want to have playable Easterlings, which means knowing more than lotr ever showed about them.

Now i think you could set the action in such a small area, especially with how 5e treats setting lore. But the book would have half page sections on places outside the area of focus.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I will give an example using my own very 5e setting, humorously named Islands World.

The largest landmass in IW is a little smaller than Australia, and it isn't even where the focus of the setting lies. Instead, the real action is in the Arcipellago of the Turtle, which is roughly analogous to Indonesia but a little more spread out with a central island shaped like a turtle with its head looking to the side.

But the Arcipellago is defined in part by the old empires of the Lands of The Three Moons, which is that Australia sized landmass. The Empire of Capet is waning and the Empire of Albarona is aggresively waxing, and both have principalities of the Turtle that they have taken over within the last 15 years.

To define The Turtle, you have to describe the other lands at least a little, because there are many people from those placess in the arcipelago.

 

[Hussar]

Middle Earth still had people from further away affected the action. In a dnd 5e setting version, you'd want to have playable Easterlings, which means knowing more than lotr ever showed about them.

Now i think you could set the action in such a small area, especially with how 5e treats setting lore. But the book would have half page sections on places outside the area of focus.

Meh, why would you have playable Easterlings? They barely appear in the stories and have pretty much no role.

Like I said, the point isn't to play Middle Earth Role Play. We already have that. The point is that in the area that the Lord of the Rings takes place in includes half a dozen or more different species. It's more than big enough to have the PHB species and still have tons of space left over.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I guess a future setting wouldn't be only a world or planet but a wildspace or solar system. Maybe it would be a cluster of wildspaces, with the option of using "stargates" to explore other worlds.

We should keep the idea of a possible Dark Sun spin-off where we can "borrow" our favorite elements but allowing creative freedom for player options and monsters.

An update of "Councyl of Wyrms" would need something like a dragon-monster class and this would mean a lot of work for game designers, and time for playtest and feedback.

A setting can't be only like a "snow globe" or a electric toy train always with the same railroad where the children only can watch. It has to be interactive and the players to feel inspiration to create their own stories. A setting has to be designed to allow multiple spin-off.

It needs its own style or identity, enough brand power.

 

[Muso]

For sure nothing related to any MtG setting.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Meh, why would you have playable Easterlings? They barely appear in the stories and have pretty much no role.

Because they are right there, not actually that far away, and people will want to play them.

Like I said, the point isn't to play Middle Earth Role Play. We already have that.

Seriously? You really think that i was takimg the example as literaly what you want the setting to be? Come on.

The point is that in the area that the Lord of the Rings takes place in includes half a dozen or more different species. It's more than big enough to have the PHB species and still have tons of space left over.

And my point is that unless it is a dawn of civilization game, even islands have neighbors that affect them. I am not sure that a setting made to avoid that would easily be a 5e setting per the thread premise. Like I wouldmt consider the Nentir Vale setting appropriate for a setting made for 5e.

And it is easily fixed by keeping the regional neighbors to half-page writeups and focusing the action on the smaller region.

 

[Hussar]

Meh, I started playing D&D with The Known World. That's about exactly the size I was talking about and it had everything you needed for D&D. To me, all that other stuff is just a waste of time. I was asked what my preferences are. Well, that's my preference. Keep it small, focused and self contained. Which, to me, translates to manageable, and detailed enough that all the crap work is done for me.

Here's the Known World as it existed when I started D&D gaming: