Two New Settings For D&D This Year

if it comes out this year i would agree with you. Possibly published by a third party company that has a good reputation (Green Ronin etc)

However if it’s coming next year I would stake all the money in my pockets that it will be a Curse of Strahd style book. Campaign with background and new monsters etc. Curse of Strahd was too successful not to repeat!

 

[Ancalagon]

Dark Sun doesn't have gods. In Eberron, the polytheistic religion is merely one religious belief among many. See the theme?

All of these, AND FR's belief system, are a subset of Planescape' belief system.

 

[TheSword]

‘The land is the source of arcane magical power.’

In Forgotten Realms, an elf ‘mythal’ is an epic-tier magic ritual that can make the land magic. I think, drow also did something like this, to levitate around in their city. There are all kinds of examples, of deriving magic from some terrain feature.

For the political elite, they could easily be half elves. Hence the ‘bloodline’, and they would be good at Charisma politics and Charisma bard and sorcerer arcane magic.

Write up a custom background.

Sorry I’m confused. Are you saying that the Forgotten Realms could be altered to have the feel of the Birthright Setting? Of course it could if you took a undiscovered, low magic, hostile elven, monster kingdom, section off the map, placed it all under one mythall, made every inch politically dominated and then killed all the gods and gave their powers to its rulers. Though that wouldn’t fit the style or tone of the rest of Realms... which is high magic, pantheon of gods, sparse wilderlands, for the most part

 

[Yaarel]

Sorry I’m confused. Are you saying that the Forgotten Realms could be altered to have the feel of the Birthright Setting? Of course it could if you took a undiscovered, low magic, hostile elven, monster kingdom, section off the map, placed it all under one mythall, made every inch politically dominated and then killed all the gods and gave their powers to its rulers. Though that wouldn’t fit the style or tone of the rest of Realms... which is high magic, pantheon of gods, sparse wilderlands, for the most part

I am saying, the Forgotten Realms setting is already sufficiently political and sufficiently bellicose, for player characters to focus on leadership mechanics and regional conflict. (Especially, high level characters.)

Monster kingdoms need not be ancient. They can be contemporary developments. Pirates could band together under a pirate monarch, drow could organize clans of giants, the wizards of Thay could decide to have a new leader that is set on expansionism, etcetera. Forgotten Realms has plenty, plenty, plenty opportunities for hostiles to organize. Almost anything is possible.

Instead of magic elves, make it magic half elves.

Rather than kill Forgotten Realms gods, the gods operate thru puppet rulers. The gods might even be part of the problem that needs fixing.

One of the features of Forgotten Realms is, virtually every inch of the planet is politically dominated and well mapped out. The points-of-light setting design philosophy was an attempt to make areas that were still ‘dark’ no-mans-lands. But for a political focus, the Forgotten Realms political maps work great.

 

[TwoSix]

All of these, AND FR's belief system, are a subset of Planescape' belief system.

I don't disagree with you, I'm not the one that needs convincing.

 

[TheSword]

I am saying, the Forgotten Realms setting is already sufficiently political and sufficiently bellicose, for player characters to focus on leadership mechanics and regional conflict. (Especially, high level characters.)

Monster kingdoms need not be ancient. They can be contemporary developments. Pirates could band together under a pirate monarch, drow could organize clans of giants, the wizards of Thay could decide to have a new leader that is set on expansionism, etcetera. Forgotten Realms has plenty, plenty, plenty opportunities for hostiles to organize. Almost anything is possible.

Instead of elves, make it half elves.

Rather than kill Forgotten Realms gods, the gods operate thru puppet rulers. The gods might even be part of the problem that needs fixing.

One of the features of Forgotten Realms is, virtually every inch of the planet is politically dominated and well mapped out. The points-of-light setting design philosophy was an attempt to make areas that were still ‘dark’ no-mans-lands. But for a political focus, the Forgotten Realms political maps work great.

Ah I see. Yes you could do that and explore those elements. It wouldn’t be like the Birthright setting though. You are equating a Political Campaign with the setting of Cerilia (home of Birthright). I agree that Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Mystara all are generic fantasy. However Cerilia stands on its own as having a very different feel to the Realms.

Im a big fan of the Realms but I just can’t agree that they are similar in the fundamentals.

Birthright is not generic and has a very different aesthetic. Probably as a result of being released at the end of AD&D following Darksun and immediately predating Eberron.

Your characterization of the Realms as being politically dominated is just wrong. Most villages, towns and cities stand on their own merits (with a few exceptions) The Silver Marches, the Sword coast, The Dale lands, The Moonsea for instance all consist of independents. It’s nothing like Birthright.

 

[Yaarel]

Ah I see. Yes you could do that and explore those elements. It wouldn’t be like the Birthright setting though. You are equating a Political Campaign with the setting of Cerilia (home of Birthright). I agree that Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Mystara all are generic fantasy. However Cerilia stands on its own as having a very different feel to the Realms.

Im a big fan of the Realms but I just can’t agree that they are similar in the fundamentals.

Birthright is not generic and has a very different aesthetic. Probably as a result of being released at the end of AD&D following Darksun and immediately predating Eberron.

Your characterization of the Realms as being politically dominated is just wrong. Most villages, towns and cities stand on their own merits (with a few exceptions) The Silver Marches, the Sword coast, The Dale lands, The Moonsea for instance all consist of independents. It’s nothing like Birthright.

I get the sense you understand what I am trying to say.

But I still dont understand what you are trying to say.

So far, your examples seem to parallel features of Forgotten Realms.



Maybe explain what makes Birthright ‘feel’ different from Forgotten Realms, assuming Forgotten Realms is also emphasizing regional conflicts and leadership?

 

[Yaarel]

Your characterization of the Realms as being politically dominated is just wrong. Most villages, towns and cities stand on their own merits (with a few exceptions) The Silver Marches, the Sword coast, The Dale lands, The Moonsea for instance all consist of independents. It’s nothing like Birthright.

Ah. Being dominated by local kingdoms (where the monarchs are more like mayors), is still territory being politically dominated.

If talking about vast empires, these could be alliances and federations, where kingdoms are banding together against each other. (This would be truly medieval-esque, and renaissance-esque!) Or more likely, one region suddenly, successfully, invaded and conquered swaths of other regions, while independent regions are now banding together against it.

Besides, there are times in the timeline when there were empires, including elf empires in the Forgotten Realms setting.

 

[Jester David]

Ah I see. Yes you could do that and explore those elements. It wouldn’t be like the Birthright setting though. You are equating a Political Campaign with the setting of Cerilia (home of Birthright).

Would you do a Birthright campaign that wasn't focused on taking control of a kingdom and playing a character giving a divine seed of power?

 

[TheSword]

I get the sense you understand what I am trying to say.

But I still dont understand what you are trying to say.

So far, your examples seem to parallel features of Forgotten Realms.



Maybe explain what makes Birthright ‘feel’ different from Forgotten Realms?

Okay in detail.

- The world is made up of kingdoms ruled for the most part by monarchies. Sole rulers that form a kind of club of regents or an elite amongst elites. Vs the forgotten Realms being made up of a mix of everytype of system and plenty of areas with no system of government at all.

- The kingdoms are all vying for a finite amount of power in competition for shared resources with each other and for the most part in highly developed kingdoms. Vs forgotten Realms settlements largely being surrounded by wilderness and not in competition with each other (sword coast, silver marches, dalelands etc)

- Birthright is largely ethnocentric, races do not mix easily and dwarves keep with dwarves, elves with elves etc. there are some exceptions but they are rare. Humans are divided in ethnic groups that are geographically bound. Vs forgotten Realms where almost every settlement is a mix.

- The elven race was at war with the human race for hundreds of years and this defines both their division in the world and their various specialisation (elves have no gods, normal humans can’t cast arcane magic above lvl 2). These races are still at odds and interaction is rare. Vs forgotten Realms where there are no major race divides.

- Society in Birthright is made up of blooded individuals which form an elite which covers the entire continent. Blooded characters are fundamentally different in so much as only they have the right to rule. Vs forgotten Realms where there is no unified elite sharing a single characteristic.

- The setting is low magic. Blooded Wizards able to use true magic are very rare vs Forgotten Realms where every other innkeeper is an archmage (read Volos Guide to the North)

- The setting is low power. Most regents are levels 3-7 with a few exceptions vs Forgotten Realms where every other blacksmith is a retired adventurer.

- There are a small number of extremely powerful monsters - the Awnsheighlien which can rule their own kingdoms as regents do. There is no analogy to this in the forgotten Realms that I’m aware of.

- Alongside the war between elves and men there is a parallel conflict between the natural world and civilization. This effects the strength of magic in the area and is tied up with the fairytale like nature of fey creatures, unicorns, sprites etc. vs Realms where magic is totally independent of the land and this conflict isn’t relevant.

- Anuire which occupies the main, most detailed part of the setting, represents a single empire fractured under a single throne. The individual kingdoms seek to regain that power vs Forgotten Realms where individual lands weren’t united and where they were there is no drive to unite once again.

- Birthright is largely feudal and Arthurian in feel and tone. It also draws on real world tropes and mythology with scandinavian, Germanic, Rus and Arabic themed cultures Vs the forgotten Realms distinctly renaissance, high fantasy, progressive feel.

These are just some of the main differences I say. As I said I am fan of both and have been for many years. Saying the settings are analogous is just plain wrong though. No doubt you could amend the existing Forgotten Realms canon to create something, like what I have described above. However if you did that it would be out of keeping with the existing 5e products and previous incarnations of the Realms. It would cease to be the forgotten realms.

 

[TheSword]

Would you do a Birthright campaign that wasn't focused on taking control of a kingdom and playing a character giving a divine seed of power?

Yes, I see the setting as being something very different to the campaign/kingdom building rules. The setting had an Arthurian/fairytale theme to it which is attractive as a setting in its own right. The play style in the original setting was definitely geared towards a wide range of campaign types. The following on Birthright.net demonstrates this.