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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6023964" data-attributes="member: 37579">Here’s the thing though, D&D has always had elements of an assumed setting.As an example. let’s look at orcs. The basics are established: green skinned evil humanoids with porcine features. But the descriptions never stop there and always include the elite warriors who have plucked out one of their own eyes as tribute to their one-eyed orc god. The “Eye of Gruumsh”. This assumes:a) There’s an orc god with one eyeb) Orcs can gain favour with said god for ocular mutilationc) There’s someone named “Gruumsh”2e had no assumed setting, so it was always “the orc god” but that’s still making assumptions. At least with 3e and 4e we had more information on Gruumsh and because he was assumed to exist we could have more mechanical options. Really, which sounds cooler? An orc Eye of Gruumsh or the orc bruiser? One has story and background and history and the other just says “I’m a slightly higher level orc”, even if the two are mechanically the same. The default setting makes orcs more interesting. That said, there are 4 Reasons to have a default assumed setting.a) Easier for groups of new players. It tells them how the world works and how the various races and people interact. It lays out the common assumptions and background. b) Easier for new World Builders. It sets an baseline that can either be followed, or moved away from in deliberate contrast.c) Consistent Tone. It prevents a little of the “kitchen sink” as new additions will have to be more carefully justified, being an addition to an established world. New content has to fit and cannot be forced.d) Fewer setting books yet more setting content. At first this seems a little contradictory. If every book has a dash of Realmslore then that should make every book less appealing for non-fans. But if every book has a little Realmslore then there will be fewer dedicated Realms books, which have no desired content. It means more books with something everyone can like.Point “c)” is understated but important. For example, let’ look at content like wildens and shardminds. They’re added to the game with little thought about how the fit in established worlds and campaigns in progress. WotC just throws in this idea bomb, which DMs have to react to: explaining how a living crystal race fits the tone and back-story of their world. If there was a default setting this kind of addition is done more cautiously; it’s adding one more thing to the Realms that cannot easily be removed. If an idea or option does not add something necessary or beneficial to the Realms than there’s a good chance it won’t add anything to most homegames. Or that more effort has to be made on the part of the designers to make the new edition fit seamlessly into the world, to ensure the default flavour is solid and unique.I’m not advocating every book should be Realms 24-7. For some books the information can be presented generically and a paragraph added working the content into the Realms – especially in the Core books. Instead, it’s something I’d like to see more in the splatbooks, in the equivalents of Complete Warrior or Martial Power. There the extra flavour would be appreciated. The content isn’t just more content entirely for the sake of releasing more content, the standard “more options just to keep the brand published”. Instead, it’s content that complements the world, expands the story, and enriches the game. We’re not getting more arcane traditions or cleric domains just so players have more options, but because there’s something lacking in the setting, something that isn’t well executed with the current options. Additionally it’s always, always, always easier to ignore content than make it up from the ether if it’s lacking. It’s possible to run a Dark Sun game using the core rulebooks easily enough by just replacing the fluff. It’s not a huge issue to ignore the bits or Realmslore or change over names of deities. I remember when 2e came out I did a horrible job of writing-up deities for my campaign setting as I had no examples. I had no idea what to include. World building was not my forte. Part of that was my poor job of reading the “cleric” entry, but the lack of sample gods – including dogma and portfolios – hurt my game. In my most recent 4e game, I was using a homebrew world that was post apocalyptic fantasy, mixing the various tropes of end of the world fiction with D&D. I cast orcs in the role of wasteland mutants, making them a recent race in terms of the world. It was a very different take that didn’t mesh very well with 4e and its assumptions, but it was not hard at all making those changes.</blockquote>

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