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<blockquote data-quote="Shiroiken" data-source="post: 9151131" data-attributes="member: 6775477">There's two ways to have a &quot;default&quot; setting for D&amp;D: a generic setting and a detailed setting. A generic setting like the Known World has no details attached to it outside of the standard lore. This has the advantage of letting the DM detail out the world however they want, with very few restrictions. When DMs were assumed to design their own campaigns, this was a useful starting point. The downside is that it's not a very helpful tool for new DMs, since it doesn't really provide anything except the very basic idea of a setting. This is actually my preferred approach, with a good chapter in the DMG to help DMs detail out the setting (or better yet, make their own).A detailed setting like Greyhawk, Nentir Vale, or the Forgotten Realms provides the DM with everything they need to start a campaign. This is actually the industry standard, with games designed to work within a specific setting. The downside to doing this is that it hamstrings the DM on what they can do (without massive homebrew). This can also be problematic for the setting, unless the core rules take the setting completely into consideration. Nentir Vale worked extremely well, since they designed it with 4E in mind. Greyhawk was largely ruined by being the &quot;default&quot; setting in 3E, with people getting a piss poor, generic interpretation of the setting.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Shiroiken, post: 9151131, member: 6775477"] There's two ways to have a "default" setting for D&D: a generic setting and a detailed setting. A generic setting like the Known World has no details attached to it outside of the standard lore. This has the advantage of letting the DM detail out the world however they want, with very few restrictions. When DMs were assumed to design their own campaigns, this was a useful starting point. The downside is that it's not a very helpful tool for new DMs, since it doesn't really provide anything except the very basic idea of a setting. This is actually my preferred approach, with a good chapter in the DMG to help DMs detail out the setting (or better yet, make their own). A detailed setting like Greyhawk, Nentir Vale, or the Forgotten Realms provides the DM with everything they need to start a campaign. This is actually the industry standard, with games designed to work within a specific setting. The downside to doing this is that it hamstrings the DM on what they can do (without massive homebrew). This can also be problematic for the setting, unless the core rules take the setting completely into consideration. Nentir Vale worked extremely well, since they designed it with 4E in mind. Greyhawk was largely ruined by being the "default" setting in 3E, with people getting a piss poor, generic interpretation of the setting. [/QUOTE]

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