D&D 5E What Main Themes Would You Want a New Official Setting to Focus On?

[Nefermandias]

not been done yet

Mask of the Red Death.

 

[Ixal]

I would really like an 'Age of Discovery' setting where one continent is discovering a new one that, at first, seems empty of civilization and they all rush to claim ressources... but as they push deeper, maybe it turns out it's not so empty so they also have to establish alliances to really benefit from the discovery.

Thats a disaster waiting to happen with todays social issues imo.

 

[Undrave]

Thats a disaster waiting to happen with todays social issues imo.

Well, yes, but only if the power dynamics reflect our real world. If the two sides have a similar techno-magical level then it wouldn't be the same situation at all. Basically, make it more like two Europes divided by unexplored wilderness.

Another way to accomplish it would be to have two material planes ending up linked by accident.

 

[J-H]

Well, yes, but only if the power dynamics reflect our real world. If the two sides have a similar techno-magical level then it wouldn't be the same situation at all. Basically, make it more like two Europes divided by unexplored wilderness.

Another way to accomplish it would be to have two material planes ending up linked by accident.

When you're carrying around a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Something offensive can always be found. There are no safe spaces once something's out in public.

 

[Undrave]

When you're carrying around a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Something offensive can always be found. There are no safe spaces once something's out in public.

Or you don’t put any civilisation at all (or they were taken out by like… mind flayers or something from outside the material realm).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Well, yes, but only if the power dynamics reflect our real world. If the two sides have a similar techno-magical level then it wouldn't be the same situation at all. Basically, make it more like two Europes divided by unexplored wilderness.

Another way to accomplish it would be to have two material planes ending up linked by accident.

How I do it in my AU Earth setting, Crossroads;

• the indigenous people of America (the common name ends up being Iroquoisa amongst Europeans due to The Iroquois being the dominant power trading with early Viking settlements in Iceland and Greenland) don’t die in droves to European diseases
• the Spanish Catholics show up as desperate but wealthy exiles, build coastal trade ports, and later return to Iberia as a wealthy prodigal child
• one of Europe’s Great Powers is the Reykjavik Federation, which consists of members states in Scandinavia, Northwestern Russia, and North Eastern America, and the islands in between
• First Nations folks have their own mystic and martial traditions which make them a match for European explorers, which combines with fairly equal population numbers to a more equal footing in early military conflicts
• Slavery of the South Asian Islamic variety is the only prominent form of slavery in the world as of the main time period (1630’s), and it is a dying practice.
• Catholicism is a minority faith in Europe, only having major traction in parts of Iberia, Italia, and the coastal trade ports of South and Western “Iroquoisa”.
• An additional source of schism in the European Christian faith is that Catholicism focuses on the works of St. Peter, while Orthodoxy focuses on the works of St. Mary, and has a female Holy Mother at its head, known as The Magdalena. Orthodoxy is the most common form of Christianity in Europe, with Catholicism having fallen out of favor after High King Mordred Pendraig’s pagan army sacked Rome in the 2nd Century CE with the help of the Knights of The Raven and Knights of The Dragon, a holy and arcane order of knights, respectively, as well as the blessings of The Queen Mother, The Morrigan, who is the mother of Mordred’s heirs and mentor to Mordred and his mother, Morgan Le Fey.
• Basically, Europe is less religiously oppressed/more religiously diverse, less patriarchal, less racist, and less militarily imperialist, having a sort of stalemate between several great powers.

Spoiler: The great powers are

;

• The Empire of Briton, capital Cardiff, ruler High King Mordred the 9th, parliamentary Monarchy. Aristocracy are largely Shadar-Kai and Vryloka, being scions of The Sisters (Morrigan, Nimue/Nemain, and Macha). Empire spans Britain, most of France, parts of Iberia, and various islands stretching as far as Gibraltar.
  
  
• The Federation of Reykjavik, capital Reykjavik, ruled by The Allthing and current Queen Margrethe III and her Prince Consort Ratonhnhaké:ton. Spans Scandinavia and North Eastern “America”, as well as Islands in between and a small amount of North Western Russia.
  
  
• Empire of The Golden Horde, as yet WIP empire ruling much of Eastern Europe, ruled by an Emperor.
• The Holy Empire of Byzantium, capital Constantinople, seat of the Orthodox Church, ruled by Divine Empress Justintinia XII, an aasimar descended from the archangel Uriel.
  
  
• Islamic Empire, capital Baghdad, in the midst of a Renaissance, but much reduced in power and land, especially after the rise of the Zoroastrian Empire of Iran (Persia), under Darius The Inheritor.

 

[Ixal]

How I do it in my AU Earth setting, Crossroads;

• the indigenous people of America (the common name ends up being Iroquoisa amongst Europeans due to The Iroquois being the dominant power trading with early Viking settlements in Iceland and Greenland) don’t die in droves to European diseases
• the Spanish Catholics show up as desperate but wealthy exiles, build coastal trade ports, and later return to Iberia as a wealthy prodigal child
• one of Europe’s Great Powers is the Reykjavik Federation, which consists of members states in Scandinavia, Northwestern Russia, and North Eastern America, and the islands in between
• First Nations folks have their own mystic and martial traditions which make them a match for European explorers, which combines with fairly equal population numbers to a more equal footing in early military conflicts
• Slavery of the South Asian Islamic variety is the only prominent form of slavery in the world as of the main time period (1630’s), and it is a dying practice.
• Catholicism is a minority faith in Europe, only having major traction in parts of Iberia, Italia, and the coastal trade ports of South and Western “Iroquoisa”.
• An additional source of schism in the European Christian faith is that Catholicism focuses on the works of St. Peter, while Orthodoxy focuses on the works of St. Mary, and has a female Holy Mother at its head, known as The Magdalena. Orthodoxy is the most common form of Christianity in Europe, with Catholicism having fallen out of favor after High King Mordred Pendraig’s pagan army sacked Rome in the 2nd Century CE with the help of the Knights of The Raven and Knights of The Dragon, a holy and arcane order of knights, respectively, as well as the blessings of The Queen Mother, The Morrigan, who is the mother of Mordred’s heirs and mentor to Mordred and his mother, Morgan Le Fey.
• Basically, Europe is less religiously oppressed/more religiously diverse, less patriarchal, less racist, and less militarily imperialist, having a sort of stalemate between several great powers.

Spoiler: The great powers are

;

• The Empire of Briton, capital Cardiff, ruler High King Mordred the 9th, parliamentary Monarchy. Aristocracy are largely Shadar-Kai and Vryloka, being scions of The Sisters (Morrigan, Nimue/Nemain, and Macha). Empire spans Britain, most of France, parts of Iberia, and various islands stretching as far as Gibraltar.
  
  
• The Federation of Reykjavik, capital Reykjavik, ruled by The Allthing and current Queen Margrethe III and her Prince Consort Ratonhnhaké:ton. Spans Scandinavia and North Eastern “America”, as well as Islands in between and a small amount of North Western Russia.
  
  
• Empire of The Golden Horde, as yet WIP empire ruling much of Eastern Europe, ruled by an Emperor.
• The Holy Empire of Byzantium, capital Constantinople, seat of the Orthodox Church, ruled by Divine Empress Justintinia XII, an aasimar descended from the archangel Uriel.
  
  
• Islamic Empire, capital Baghdad, in the midst of a Renaissance, but much reduced in power and land, especially after the rise of the Zoroastrian Empire of Iran (Persia), under Darius The Inheritor.

You know that islamic slavery was every bit as bad as the catholic one? Or that Islam was also as oppressive as christianity?
You seem to have a very "specific" idea of history.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You know that islamic slavery was every bit as bad as the catholic one? Or that Islam was also as oppressive as christianity?
You seem to have a very "specific" idea of history.

Both statements are only true in very specific times and places. The one about slavery is mostly false. Very few forms of slavery in history have ever been as bad as the Transatlantic Slave Trade form of chattel slavery.

The Greeks were often extremely bad, and if we go to ancient Mesopotamia we see some truly horrific stuff, but Islam? Very very rarely is it even comparable.

Very rarely in all of history do we see generational inescapable chattel slavery.

Anyway, you seem to have a very specific agenda when speaking about Islam. Feel free to ignore me if you can’t stand to see anything positive about it.

 

[Northern Phoenix]

I would really like an 'Age of Discovery' setting where one continent is discovering a new one that, at first, seems empty of civilization and they all rush to claim ressources... but as they push deeper, maybe it turns out it's not so empty so they also have to establish alliances to really benefit from the discovery.

That's what i felt too! This sorta thing combined with the Island/Tropical/Pirates vibe would be right at the top of DnD Settings i'd like to see material for. Sort of like a larger and more in-depth Planeshift: Ixalan combined with some more extensive "Pirates of the Caribbean" style stuff.

Prehistoric would also be great in so many ways, so that was my second pick.

 

[Ixal]

Both statements are only true in very specific times and places. The one about slavery is mostly false. Very few forms of slavery in history have ever been as bad as the Transatlantic Slave Trade form of chattel slavery.

The Greeks were often extremely bad, and if we go to ancient Mesopotamia we see some truly horrific stuff, but Islam? Very very rarely is it even comparable.

Very rarely in all of history do we see generational inescapable chattel slavery.

Anyway, you seem to have a very specific agenda when speaking about Islam. Feel free to ignore me if you can’t stand to see anything positive about it.

And Islamic slavery was also chattel slavery, something that you seem not to be aware of. Including the practice of castrating all males and killing all children born to slave woman.

Sure, there were also other forms of slavery like galley slaves or warriors slaves enslaved through devshirme (blood tax) who could reach a rather high position in society, but the mines and plantations in the islamic world were often also worked by slaves, with Africans being the majority of chattel slaves.