D&D 5E What would you want for a *new* 5E campaign world?

[Ed_Laprade]

So, I will say this, if fantasy Medieval Europe HAS to appear, stick off on the side of the map and put something else in center place. That would be a welcome change, and it would sure be something for US gamers to deal with, so little exposed to different cultures.

But why should the gamers have to 'deal' with it? We might not know much about the setting, but our characters have been living there all their lives! This is the same sort of thing as having characters in a world full of monsters that Adventurers have been dealing with for ages, but your low level character has never heard of any but Goblins and Orcs. Only worse.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

But why should the gamers have to 'deal' with it? We might not know much about the setting, but our characters have been living there all their lives! This is the same sort of thing as having characters in a world full of monsters that Adventurers have been dealing with for ages, but your low level character has never heard of any but Goblins and Orcs. Only worse.

Yes, you might become surprised by the existence of values and aesthetics different from your own! Of course it would still be FAUX whatever timeperiod/society. Its not like you'd be asked to deal with slavery and women that are possessions, etc! No, just different armor, different hair colors, maybe some other fluff, etc.

 

[pemerton]

IIt really doesn't matter to me one bit the extent to which the world has a deeply realized history or a deeply realized anything, really, except to the extent that it directly affects a campaign that I'm going to be running or playing in.

<snip>

I understand the impulse to present a setting like it's a real place, but in the end that is just not as useful to me as a setting book that realizes that it's being read by somebody who wants to be a player or a DM in a TTRPG adventure set in the setting.

Agreed.

I think of a setting as like 5 or 10 adventure products gutted of extraneous detail, loosened up in terms of plot linearity and crammed together so you can criss-cross connections in play. It's a midway product between the ready-to-run adventure and complete homebrew. I'm not interested in "worlds" that are mostly made up of the kind of detail that I wouldn't even bother to come up with in a homebrew setting. I don't particularly care about the geographical extent of the setting, whether it's a city or an island or a province, or whatever--you could run a huge campaign in just one city. Whatever is most appropriate for the unifying flavor. I like some general background detail, but just enough for NPCs to have interesting things to talk about during extemporaneous conversations.

I like this.

For me, the most important aspects of a setting are (1) a map, so I can keep track of the PCs' movements, and put different adventure sites in appropriate geograpical locales, and (2) a conflict-laden cosmology. My current 4e game has been running for 4 years and 20 levels and map-wise hasn't moved off the map on the inside covers of the old B/X module Night's Dark Terror. And I'm using the default 4e history and cosmology.

 

[Lwaxy]

To me, a new setting isn't really needed. I'd prefer a guide for GMs to make their own.

I have so many settings of my own and of other people, plus all the official ones.... and I bet that's the case for most of us.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Agreed.

I like this.

For me, the most important aspects of a setting are (1) a map, so I can keep track of the PCs' movements, and put different adventure sites in appropriate geograpical locales, and (2) a conflict-laden cosmology. My current 4e game has been running for 4 years and 20 levels and map-wise hasn't moved off the map on the inside covers of the old B/X module Night's Dark Terror. And I'm using the default 4e history and cosmology.

Yeah, pretty much. I think the conflicts and such should be rooted in some history. Take the PoL setting in the back of DMG1 as an example. Its not bad, there's a town, with a number of locales and plot hooks presented, one small starter adventure, which has some more hooks, and a map with a number of locations. Each one has basically a general description and some suggestions of what it might be. Beyond that it is just a map with some terrain on it and a general story of a once thriving border region of a fallen empire. I thought it was actually a bit bland, and didn't take the PoL concept far enough, but it wasn't bad. The 4e Cosmology behind it certainly provides lots of gameable conflict.

I'd love to see something that took PoL a bit further. Make it a bit darker world. Its not a sure thing that the light will win, in fact the light is pretty weak and flickery right now.

 

[pemerton]

Take the PoL setting in the back of DMG1 as an example. Its not bad, there's a town, with a number of locales and plot hooks presented, one small starter adventure, which has some more hooks, and a map with a number of locations. Each one has basically a general description and some suggestions of what it might be. Beyond that it is just a map with some terrain on it and a general story of a once thriving border region of a fallen empire. I thought it was actually a bit bland

I didn't read the Fallcrest chapter of the DMG until Essentials came out, and I was comparing the DMG to the DM's Kit to see what had changed.

When I think of the 4e cosmology and history I think of the stuff in the PHB in race (and to a lesser extent class) descriptions, and the stuff in the MM and in the DMG chapter on the gameworld. Plus Worlds & Monsters, and then stuff in the *Power sidebars plus the later sourcebooks.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I didn't read the Fallcrest chapter of the DMG until Essentials came out, and I was comparing the DMG to the DM's Kit to see what had changed.

When I think of the 4e cosmology and history I think of the stuff in the PHB in race (and to a lesser extent class) descriptions, and the stuff in the MM and in the DMG chapter on the gameworld. Plus Worlds & Monsters, and then stuff in the *Power sidebars plus the later sourcebooks.

Mostly I like the central concepts of the Cosmology, the struggle between divine order and primordial chaos. Pretty much every urban civilizations cosmology included that sort of element in it, and most of the pre-urban ones too for that matter. Once men settled into ordered settlements the primary struggle became the order of the polis against the anomie of the outside world. The conflict is compelling and archetypal, the hero brings divine order. Primordials lurk in out there somewhere in the chaos. Chains rust, ancient seals crumble, magic fades, one day chaos will be back, and its up to you to deal with it when it comes.

I liked the mirror planes of shadow and fairy too. Take the 4e cosmology and answer the unanswered questions, make a few choices, maybe replace some of the gods (I'm not really that super enamored of the current crop TBH, though they're not terrible they seem a bit contrived). There's plenty of good setting generating material there for sure.

 

[variant]

I would like to have a low magic medieval European fantasy setting.

 

[Salamandyr]

I think I would rather see WOTC license authorial worlds and put out campaign sets for playing in those worlds, like the old Lankhmar setting books for 2e.

I could really go for some updated Lankhmar material.

 

[Derren]

But why should the gamers have to 'deal' with it? We might not know much about the setting, but our characters have been living there all their lives! This is the same sort of thing as having characters in a world full of monsters that Adventurers have been dealing with for ages, but your low level character has never heard of any but Goblins and Orcs. Only worse.

Because information technology is poor to non-existing in most fantasy settings and people would only know the direct surroundings of their village, the road to the city and stories bards tell them which are more often fabrications than the truth.
That such people have no clue about the world apart from what they deal directly with makes sense.