Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Dire Bare" data-source="post: 9151425" data-attributes="member: 18182">The &quot;Known World&quot; or Mystara setting started off pretty light with minimal detail, just names on a map . . . but over time became just as detailed and complicated as Dragonlance, the Realms, and other settings. And this is one of the potential landmines of an explicit setting, that it begins to overwhelm the game itself. This was TSR's mistake back in the 80s and 90s, to publish TONS of settings and TONS of products for each setting making them all rather unwieldly to newcomers.WotC pulled back from this with 3rd Edition, and even further with 5th Edition. This upsets some fans who want the 5th Edition updates to the VOLUMES of material previously published, but it sure makes D&amp;D and even the Forgotten Realms easier to jump into for those new to the game. And is less likely to invalidate or change canon from what came before.5th Edition references ALL of D&amp;D's prior settings in the core books . . . but purposefully does not give us a map of &quot;Fantasyland&quot; or the implied setting details that have carried forward with the game since the White Box. For D&amp;D, this is wise, IMO.But most of the adventure books have used the Forgotten Realms as the explicit or &quot;default&quot; setting, and this is wise also. It gives newcomers a well-realized world to play in, but also allows us all, old-timer and newcomer, to step outside the Realms easily enough and as far as we want to. And it allows them to shift the focus of the core books (slightly) in 2024, or to start publishing supplements and adventures in settings other than the Realms, without having to overhaul the game itself or worry about competing product lines.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dire Bare, post: 9151425, member: 18182"] The "Known World" or Mystara setting started off pretty light with minimal detail, just names on a map . . . but over time became just as detailed and complicated as Dragonlance, the Realms, and other settings. And this is one of the potential landmines of an explicit setting, that it begins to overwhelm the game itself. This was TSR's mistake back in the 80s and 90s, to publish TONS of settings and TONS of products for each setting making them all rather unwieldly to newcomers. WotC pulled back from this with 3rd Edition, and even further with 5th Edition. This upsets some fans who want the 5th Edition updates to the VOLUMES of material previously published, but it sure makes D&D and even the Forgotten Realms easier to jump into for those new to the game. And is less likely to invalidate or change canon from what came before. 5th Edition references ALL of D&D's prior settings in the core books . . . but purposefully does not give us a map of "Fantasyland" or the implied setting details that have carried forward with the game since the White Box. For D&D, this is wise, IMO. But most of the adventure books have used the Forgotten Realms as the explicit or "default" setting, and this is wise also. It gives newcomers a well-realized world to play in, but also allows us all, old-timer and newcomer, to step outside the Realms easily enough and as far as we want to. And it allows them to shift the focus of the core books (slightly) in 2024, or to start publishing supplements and adventures in settings other than the Realms, without having to overhaul the game itself or worry about competing product lines. [/QUOTE]

Verification