D&D 5E (2024) WotC Should Make 5.5E Specific Setting

[Maxperson]

Something my DM told me several years ago:

"If you are eating an elephant, eat it in small bites."

As everyone knows, an elephant is the world's largest land-dwelling mammal. You cannot eat it in one sitting. You have to eat it in small bites over a period of time. The same thing goes for creating a setting. It's going to take a lot of time and effort to create one. Then you have to let other people see it, playtest it for you and then listen to their feedback.

I tried that once. Its hide was thick and I couldn't get through it. Then it got mad at me. Never again!

 

[mamba]

This. None of those races needed to come from somewhere or "are here now." They just hadn't been described before.

then either you have to retroactively change history, so they can have kingdoms or whatever and affected events in history, or they have no past and just happened to be around while things happened without playing much of a role in it.

I can understand why the latter might not be satisfying for everyone, and why some do not like the former either

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The point is the Dragonborn are newcomers to the setting.

The point is the WOTC should make at least ONE setting where the Dargonborn are native and important to the setting.

Spelljammer your party to Aber.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Then you have to let other people see it, playtest it for you and then listen to their feedback.

You don’t have to build a whole world before you let players loose in it, you only need to know what’s over the next hill. And then you can get your feedback as you go along.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

then either you have to retroactively change history, so they can have kingdoms or whatever and affected events in history, or they have no past and just happened to be around while things happened without playing much of a role in it.

I can understand why the latter might not be satisfying for everyone, and why some do not like the former either

The vast majority of human history is unknown to - everyone really. Most events pass by unremarked and unrecorded. And even when they are recorded, most people only know local stuff (and a lot of that is wrong). Even professional historians have specialisms and don’t know that much outside of those.

 

[Parmandur]

That's the point. WotC doesn't need to create a brand new setting every time something changes in the rules. People who play this game are plenty capable of spending a few seconds to do it themselves in one of the many kitchen sink settings already out there. We don't need yet another kitchen sink just to save you a few seconds of coming up with something for your game.

Would it help you if instead of creating yet another kitchen sink setting the game doesn't need, they wrote down a few ideas for you in an article and put it out there for you to read and use if you wanted to?

If anything, I think WptC should imitate Daggerheart and explore more lightweight and focused "Campaign Frame" type approaches.

 

[Parmandur]

spell points are a resource that needs to be tracked, however, spell slots are multiple separate versions of a resource that also needs to be tracked, which is simpler? 'you have 20 spell points which all your spells use some amount of' or 'you have three 1st level slots, you have three 2nd level slots, you have two 3rd level slots and one 4th level slot, and you can only cast some spells with some slots because the other's aren't big enough'

Spell points are deceptively complex in practice, while spell slots are surprisingly easy at the table.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

While I know you are referring to 5e/5.5e, weren't the Dragonborn native and important to 4e's Points of Light setting?

Dragonborns were in the original PoL setting. But the Goliaths came in PHB 2, but that means they are not as well-integrated in the story as Dragonborn, Tiefling or even Halflings. (And the lore basically is: They are usually isolated, living underground, hostile to Giants that often enslave Goliaths for being stronger than humans and due the convenience of also living in mountaineous areas.) So it's basically the same problem as Forgotten Realms (and that's just within one edition! Though at least we know about their relations, and whilte t heir place isn't as strongly defined perhaps, ultimately, the PHB 1 races are not that different in detail, though the supplements before PHB 2 and after still probably add more details to them than the PHB 2 races).
That said, the PoL setting isn't a setting like Forgotten Realms or Eberron where you have dedicated source books detailing it. It's an "implied setting", you piece together the stuff in various lore elements strewn into the various rulebooks. It's definitely serves a different purpose than a fully-fledged setting, creating a lot of space for potential adventure and to make up your own historical facts about major parts of the world. Heck, the most detailed area is basically just the Nentir Vale, a single region.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The point is that with what I came up with they are not newcomers. They were there and are native, and are important to the setting. And I could come up with dozens of other ways that they were there are along and important to the setting, just not in the forefront of gameplay up until now.

This is not rocket science and does not require a 7th(at least) kitchen sink setting to be made.

Not a kitchen sink setting.

A setting that accounts for the PHB core races and classes.

That also doesn't have to be its only defining feature, just like Eberron's only defining feature isn't that it fits the 3E Core Rules on what races and classes exist, or how magic items can be created by characters and what not.

I could easily see that a DND 5 setting might also introduce a new class (like Eberron had artificers) or new races (like Eberron had Shifter, Kalashtar and Changlings) on top. And might have its unique themes (like Eberron had the 1st World War ending with a thaumaturgical explosion and strong urban/noir fantasy elements, or the Dragonmarked houses as a mix of story and game mechanics).

 

[Azzy]

There's probably a thread about it already...but....

I advise people to start with a small amount of BIG. Have a concept of your world's mythology, if only a framework to fill in as you go i.e. "Is their a god of knowledge, was their an ancient empire, what flavor is the starting kingdom? Merely paragraphs unless you are into it.

D&D's approach to deities, mythology, and cosmology is and has always been sadly lacking and feels so artificial. Each culture should have its own religion, beliefs, and cosmology. That said, I'm also a big proponent of fill in as you go—because unless it's relevant to the players, NPCs, or the adventure then there's no need to detail it.