Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Levistus's_Leviathan" data-source="post: 8406103" data-attributes="member: 7023887">My three favorite setting books in D&amp;D 5e are Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, Eberron: Rising from the Last War, and Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. They all follow the same format that WotC has used for all of its setting books that came out after the SCAG, which includes a section for character options, a section for DM advice, a gazetteer section, a monster section, and a lore section. I've found that this format works incredibly well, and is very compelling. Yes, lore is a significant part of it. The player options included are also a major part of it (Wildemount would be very different without Dunamancy and Eberron would be very different without Artificers, Dragonmarks, and its main races). The format and given tools are very important to me. However, the main thing might be the basic concept of the setting (if it adds anything to D&amp;D that we don't already have in the existing setting). Eberron, Ravenloft, and the M:tG settings are very different from the core assumptions of D&amp;D 5e. Wildemount as well, to a different extent. If a setting is really close to the base assumptions of D&amp;D 5e, it needs to do a really good job at highlighting its differences to avoid the feeling of &quot;just another Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk&quot;, like how Explorer's Guide to Wildemount focuses on its history, conflict between the Kryn Dynasty and Dwendalian Empire, Dunamancy, the Arms of the Betrayers/Vestiges of Divergence, the Heroic Chronicle, and its in-depth and amazing gazetteer section that gives plot hooks specific to the world in every location that it details. That's what I think makes a good D&amp;D setting book. Don't tell me what I already know about the world (the base lore included in the PHB), tell me how the world does things differently and how the PHB fits into the world.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Levistus's_Leviathan, post: 8406103, member: 7023887"] My three favorite setting books in D&D 5e are Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, Eberron: Rising from the Last War, and Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. They all follow the same format that WotC has used for all of its setting books that came out after the SCAG, which includes a section for character options, a section for DM advice, a gazetteer section, a monster section, and a lore section. I've found that this format works incredibly well, and is very compelling. Yes, lore is a significant part of it. The player options included are also a major part of it (Wildemount would be very different without Dunamancy and Eberron would be very different without Artificers, Dragonmarks, and its main races). The format and given tools are very important to me. However, the main thing might be the basic concept of the setting (if it adds anything to D&D that we don't already have in the existing setting). Eberron, Ravenloft, and the M:tG settings are very different from the core assumptions of D&D 5e. Wildemount as well, to a different extent. If a setting is really close to the base assumptions of D&D 5e, it needs to do a really good job at highlighting its differences to avoid the feeling of "just another Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk", like how Explorer's Guide to Wildemount focuses on its history, conflict between the Kryn Dynasty and Dwendalian Empire, Dunamancy, the Arms of the Betrayers/Vestiges of Divergence, the Heroic Chronicle, and its in-depth and amazing gazetteer section that gives plot hooks specific to the world in every location that it details. That's what I think makes a good D&D setting book. Don't tell me what I already know about the world (the base lore included in the PHB), tell me how the world does things differently and how the PHB fits into the world. [/QUOTE]

Verification