D&D (2024) Should Forgotten Realms remain the default setting?

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

IIRC and I could be misremembering but isnt there quite a bit of lip service to FR in the 5E core books that would imply that its the default setting for 5E?

There is lip service to many settings in the core books, it is not just FR.

 

[Parmandur]

After your first response I started thinking not even counting DMs Guild there's quite a bit of material 5E that's not FR. I didn't know that wizards have said that FR isn't the default setting. Makes me wonder why so many people, including myself, think that it is?

Yeah, you can find Twitter arguments from 2015 where the WotC team correct people who assumed it is the default. Thing is, every book before Curse of Strahd in 2016 was FR by default (though the Adventures all discussed how to use different Settings), and it wasn't until 2018 when we saw a full bon-FR Setting. However, at this point, there hasn't been a fully FR based book in 2 years (unless you count Candlekeep, but I don't).

 

[R_J_K75]

There is lip service to many settings in the core books, it is not just FR.

Yeah @Parmandur already pointed that out. It's been so long since I read them that I only remembered FR as being more than the others, but I'm most likely wrong.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I would not mind but I'd prefer if they went the ''point of light'' way with it instead of huge info dumps with every answer already answered, and go lighter with the huge catastrophic events.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

All of the sample names in the PHB for humans are drawn from the Forgotten Realms.

Most of the longform adventures are set in the Realms.

The Realms is the only setting with placement notes for all of the Journeys through the Radiant Citadel adventures.

The Spelljammer pre-adventure is set in the Realms.

The notion that the Forgotten Realms isn't the default setting is a little bit of gaslighting.

 

[R_J_K75]

Yeah, you can find Twitter arguments from 2015 where the WotC team correct people who assumed it is the default.

WotC D&D website is crap nowadays, I can never find anything. Between that, D&D Beyond, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, etc I miss alot of news/discussions because Im not on any. I wish they just pick one place to give their announcements, but I get it times have changed and Im a little behind. I think one thing that gave me the impression that FR was default is the factions in the DMG are all from the Realms doing a quick perusing just now. I know they're examples, but I think people have have a tendency to disregard or recognize this.

 

[Parmandur]

All of the sample names in the PHB for humans are drawn from the Forgotten Realms.

Yet the Race section is full of Greyhawk, Eberron, and Dragonlance lore as well, that's just one random data point. As to OneD^D, it's worth noting that theybseem to have dropped suggested names entirely, and the Human writeup centers Sigil as the origin of the Hunan race.

Most of the longform adventures are set in the Realms.

Not all, and those that are are nominally so. They frequently include explicit guidelines on how to adapt to other Settings easily.

The Realms is the only setting with placement notes for all of the Journeys through the Radiant Citadel adventures.

Not so, several don't get a FR analog.

The Spelljammer pre-adventure is set in the Realms.

Not in the actual slipcase, the Beyond bonus material is a seperate deal.

The notion that the Forgotten Realms isn't the default setting is a little bit of gaslighting.

Not really, they've really consistently stated how the FR is a frequent well they draw from without being the "default" as Greyhawk was for AD&D, Mystarra was for BD&D, or the Nentir Vale was for 4E. Early on, that wasn't easy to see in practice, but they followed through and at this point have minimized the FR in print products for a long time.

 

[Parmandur]

WotC D&D website is crap nowadays, I can never find anything. Between that, D&D Beyond, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, etc I miss alot of news/discussions because Im not on any. I wish they just pick one place to give their announcements, but I get it times have changed and Im a little behind. I think one thing that gave me the impression that FR was default is the factions in the DMG are all from the Realms doing a quick perusing just now. I know they're examples, but I think people have have a tendency to disregard or recognize this.

Here's Crawford from 2015:

 

[R_J_K75]

Here's Crawford from 2015:

Makes sense

 

[Parmandur]

Makes sense

At the time, people were arguing with him that there were no non-FR books for the game after 9 months, so clearly FR was the default Setting, but after 8 years it really seems lole they meant it and had a longterm goal that they eventually got to.