D&D 5E What does Midgard do that Forgotten Realms and Wildemount don't?

[Ruin Explorer]

I mean, just in the early 1490's the Sword Coast alone faces at least five potential existential threats to civilization...and they haven't even finished with that slice of time and space yet.

First off, we should discount everything that happens "off-screen", i.e. between editions. None of that is a real threat, it's just an excuse to shake things up. Second off, none of it ever happens outside of that! It's always like "OH NO BAD THINGS COULD HAPPEN!" and then they don't. You can only cry wolf so many times before you need to burn Cormyr to the ground to prove that the wolf actually exists.

The only thing I can think of, off-hand is at the beginning of Descent into Avernus when they blow up Elturel, but then it's hilarious because none of the characters seem to take it particularly seriously and also the whole thing is written like it's a small place (which is weird because in 2E it was massive). So they undermined even that!

 

[Parmandur]

First off, we should discount everything that happens "off-screen", i.e. between editions. None of that is a real threat, it's just an excuse to shake things up. Second off, none of it ever happens outside of that! It's always like "OH NO BAD THINGS COULD HAPPEN!" and then they don't. You can only cry wolf so many times before you need to burn Cormyr to the ground to prove that the wolf actually exists.

I just meant the five Adventure books with existential threats to civilization published for 5E in the last 6 years. Granted, I think this point is maybe lost in most TSR/WotC products, but that's Greenwoods original authorial intent for his boyhood fan-fiction mashup, I think.

I do somewhat prefer Gygax's wargamer approach.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

I must mention Spelljammer, which to me is the disco of D&D settings: you either love it or hate it (maybe not hate, but see it as ridiculous - which it is, but in a lovely way), but even if you're in the latter group, you grudgingly appreciate its over-the-top style. Whenever I think of the wonderful decade or so of setting experimentation that was 2E, I think of Spelljammer as the most outrageous, if short-lived, offering.

Reading the history of the creation of Spelljammer, it was both a bit ill-conceived and certainly ill-executed. According to legend, it started when Jeff Grubb was at the bar with a few other designers and said something to the effect of "I see a knight standing on the deck of a ship, his sword drawn... except the ship is flying through space!" Great idea, certainly, but then they decided it's main purpose would be to link Greyhawk, The Realms and Krynn together.

Spelljammers in Toril? Yeah, sure, why not?

Spelljammers in Greyhawk? Well, maybe, kinda?

Spelljammers in Krynn? Uh, yeah, no.

Trying to link up all three in such a ham handed way was a bad idea, and there really was no Spelljammer "setting" at all until the release of the Astromundi Cluster... at the end of it's run.

 

[Mercurius]

Reading the history of the creation of Spelljammer, it was both a bit ill-conceived and certainly ill-executed. According to legend, it started when Jeff Grubb was at the bar with a few other designers and said something to the effect of "I see a knight standing on the deck of a ship, his sword drawn... except the ship is flying through space!" Great idea, certainly, but then they decided it's main purpose would be to link Greyhawk, The Realms and Krynn together.

Spelljammers in Toril? Yeah, sure, why not?

Spelljammers in Greyhawk? Well, maybe, kinda?

Spelljammers in Krynn? Uh, yeah, no.

Trying to link up all three in such a ham handed way was a bad idea, and there really was no Spelljammer "setting" at all until the release of the Astromundi Cluster... at the end of it's run.

I never used it to link worlds, but to get the party out into space! I have fond memories of space battles and really, like many RPG products, it was just fun to read about and imagine.

That said, I really like the idea of a Planescape-Spelljammer hybrid, with spelljammer ships navigating the Astral Sea.