D&D 5E Us Building a "Fundamentally 5E" Setting From Scratch Together

[Shadowdweller00]

no ill will to anyone i quoted i just don't think these posts especially contribute to the idea of building 'the setting that embodies 5e'

Hmm. I'm having a hard time following the reasoning that seems to have lead you from the examples you gave to the conclusions you seem to have reached. Which were once again:

it's not ideas that are 'not 5e' but ones don't really serve to highlight any particular aspect of the design of 5e, they might be cool ideas but they're not cool ideas that say anything, and i was intentionally vague in my previous post due to not especially wanting to point fingers at anyone specific

More specifically of those items you referenced:
1) Seems to be a pretty good example of a Great Old One patron for warlocks; or origin story for Aberrant (Mind) Sorcerers.

2) While I don't really know of any mechanical support for the giant-dragon conflict, it WAS a theme pushed pretty hard by the 2014 MM at least.

3) Seems like more of a plot hook or setting mystery. While, no, it doesn't necessarily highlight any fundamental 5e mechanics, any viable campaign setting NEEDS things like these.

4) Sounds like an excellent in-universe origin story for a particular (if unspecified) Bardic College; as well as an interesting place to explore. Which, once again, any viable setting needs.

5) In-universe example and possible origin story of a monastery for monks; or possibly some other specialized warrior-type order like a paladin or fighter subclass (Psychic Warrior maybe?).

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I had the idea for the Great Peace from listening to the MM preview videos, and the primordial enmity between Dragons and Giants. What happened when the hot conflict was over?

You have these two PC options that should have a place in that story. Instead of a trite "we used to be enemies, but now we just don't like each other" story, I thought how about a story about the retreat of imperial powers and the constructed identities they leave in their wake.

Just my 2¢

 

[Micah Sweet]

We are not talking about adventures, we are talking about a setting that embraces the full expanse of an edition of D&D. I again point you to Eberron and how it broadly reaches toward every subgenre appropriate to 3.5.

I just don't think genre is a strong a force here as you think. Far more important (to me, anyway, in the context of this setting discussion) is what the rules are designed to support, irregardless of what the designers say they're for.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well, yes. Taking into account the modern sensibilities and concerns means the "fundamentally 5e" setting. This comprehensive setting incorporates the assumptions and options of the 2024 core rules.

(Differently, a more specialized custom setting would only use the parts of core that were relevant, and would even add new rules where necessary.)



The profitability would be part of being appealing for DMs and players who use the 5e 2024 rules.


All that said, I dont remember reading any of your posts that would be especially conflictive with the 2024 setting assumptions.

For the record, the only person explicitly concerned with modern sensibilities and such as far as I can see is you. No one one else brought that up.

You mentioned a problem with colonization. My idea suggests that the big nations may very well use planar travel to colonize places like the Feywild and Shadowfell, and I would allow all the logical implications of doing so.

I don't think that conflicts with the 5.5 game (although as I said earlier I would likely use Level Up as a base instead because to me it's a much better version of 5e), but you might.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

Just as a point of note the Shattered Planes concept wasnt originally intended as full apocalyptic - I originally envision a relatively standard Material Realm with with planar bleeds not full on incursions. The hellscapes were out beyond the borders of the Known Realms. Maybe more Mid-Apocalyptic than Post.

Others pushed it full apocalyptic and the Nexus-Bastions became a spin off to try and reclaim a bit more stability inside the chaos...

The thing about Apocalypses is that life adapts and moves on, even if circumstances have changed. Is our own Earth in the real world (still) a post-apocalyptic setting if our atmosphere can no longer support giant insects, the super-continent of Pangaea has been broken into fragments, and/or dinosaurs no longer dominate life?

I guess what makes a setting "post-apocalyptic" in my personal view is an underlying theme of loss; and sometimes de-evolution. Which doesn't actually need to be the case even in a place where physical and magical laws vary from place to place.

 

[Yaarel]

You mentioned a problem with colonization. My idea suggests that the big nations may very well use planar travel to colonize places like the Feywild and Shadowfell, and I would allow all the logical implications of doing so.

We can assume migrations of species from one plane to an other.

According to the 2024 Players Handbook, all Tieflings originate from the Fiend Planes. Some Tiefling families have emigrated from there to other planes, including the Material Plane. One can expect these immigrants to found their own communities in the Material Plane, or mix within the cosmopolitan communities that are already in the Material Plane.

The species of Elves exists in almost every plane of existence, seemingly as part of some magically informed wanderlust. In the Material Plane, there are Elf-majority communties and there are Elves within Human-majority communties, and so on.

Same goes for every species whose origins are beyond matter.

Even among species of Material origin, there will be Dragonborn-majority communities, Orc-majority communities, Dwarf-majority communities, etcetera.

Whether communities have a prominent majority, or are truly multispecies with no species having the majority, communities do compete with each other for numerous resources.

 

[Reynard]

I just don't think genre is a strong a force here as you think. Far more important (to me, anyway, in the context of this setting discussion) is what the rules are designed to support, irregardless of what the designers say they're for.

Rules aren't the extent of the game.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Rules aren't the extent of the game.

Of course not, but I believe they are the primary motivator in what makes one edition differ from another. Otherwise, why bother?

 

[Reynard]

Of course not, but I believe they are the primary motivator in what makes one edition differ from another. Otherwise, why bother?

I am skeptical. You complain about a lot more than rules between editions, especially in regards to settings.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I am skeptical. You complain about a lot more than rules between editions, especially in regards to settings.

I sure do. But the prompt was to make a setting that exemplifies 5e, and to me that's more fun if you take the rules in that edition to their logical extremes.