D&D 5E Is the Forgotten Realms experiencing a new Golden Age now that its NOT the default 5e setting anymore?

[Charlaquin]

Calling it "default" or arguing over whether it is the "default" is what is meaningless. It doesn't matter. You are absolutely correct that most of the WotC adventure paths were written in Faerun locations and that odds are that people who do not create their own setting for their game will use Faerun over other previously published ones. No argument there. But so what? Why does that matter? It doesn't. So the folks here having pissing matches over "Faerun is the default setting!" "No, it isn't, it's the D&D Multiverse!" so on and so forth are just arguing over nothing. Because no one will eventually accede to the other and say "Okay, you are right.", and even if they did... again, so what? That's not going to change WotC's behavior. WotC will still to do what they do regardless of what gets "agreed upon" here on the boards.

Of course people are still going to argue here about it if for no other reason that it's something easy to argue about and why else are all of us posters here if not to just argue meaningless arguments because we have nothing better to do? LOL! Heck... MY post was a meaningless post too! I can admit that. My post that asked "Why are you all wasting your time arguing about this when it doesn't matter?" is just as much a post of me just filling my time as your post was countering mine. So it's cool. We're just talking for the sake of talking because why not? Beats working.

Thanks, Nietzsche

 

[Parmandur]

Late to the party so sorry if this has already been covered, but I think perhaps there’s a meaningful distinction to be made bear between “default setting” and “assumed setting.” Forgotten Realms can kind of be seen as 5e’s default setting, in that published adventures seem to, well, default to being set there, if there’s no specific reason for them to be set somewhere else. Golarion is Pathfinder’s assumed setting, because all of the writing assumes the setting’s lore. It isn’t just the go-to example, it’s woven into the game itself.

If we do draw such a distinction, I would argue that 5e’s assumed setting is kind of a Planescape/spelljammer mashup, which uses the great wheel and the astral sea to connect all the various settings (Forgotten Realms included) into a unified meta-setting

I think that's a solid distinction. And that assumed meta-Setting with high fantasy genre assumptions has been quite consistent since the 5E 2014 Core books to now, even if it is more fully realized a decade later.

 

[Charlaquin]

You don't have to. And there's no reason to. Just like there's no real reason for me to write this response back.

But we do it because it's a few minutes of entertainment for each of us to craft a post and then post it, even though we both know that our actions are not creating any tangible results. Neither of us is changing the other's mind and we certainly are not impacting anyone else in this thread (other than perhaps clogging it a little with our sidebar). But that doesn't mean we still can't enjoy ourselves writing it. I know I do!

Are you ok?

 

[Charlaquin]

I think that's a solid distinction. And that assumed meta-Setting with high fantasy genre assumptions has been quite consistent since the 5E 2014 Core books to now, even if it is more fully realized a decade later.

Yeah, though in defense of the folks arguing that FR was 5e’s “default” setting early on, I do think they leaned much harder on FR as the go-to setting for published adventures for the first couple years, with only token representation of the assumed multiversal meta-setting in the form of passing references in the PHB, MM, and DMG. It does seem like they’ve been making a more concerted effort lately to showcase the multiversal nature of the game’s setting assumptions. Perhaps in part because of the frequent misapprehension that FR is default.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, though in defense of the folks arguing that FR was 5e’s “default” setting early on, I do think they leaned much harder on FR as the go-to setting for published adventures for the first couple years, with only token representation of the assumed multiversal meta-setting in the form of passing references in the PHB, MM, and DMG. It does seem like they’ve been making a more concerted effort lately to showcase the multiversal nature of the game’s setting assumptions. Perhaps in part because of the frequent misapprehension that FR is default.

Yeah, but as early as the run-up to Princes of the Apocalypse Crawford laid out what their plan was...then they executed it. So it feels more like a rational progression than a change, since theybplanned it all along.

Between the Monster Manual lore and the DMG mini-Manual of the Planes, it isn't really passing references, IMO.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah, but as early as the run-up to Princes of the Apocalypse Crawford laid out what their plan was...then they executed it. So it feels more like a rational progression than a change, since theybplanned it all along.

I agree, but I can understand if people were skeptical of that statement at the time that he made it. And if one was skeptical at the time, I can understand one feeling like something has changed between then and now. I mean, something literally has changed. It’s just that the change has been gradual and ongoing.

Between the Monster Manual lore and the DMG mini-Manual of the Planes, it isn't really passing references, IMO.

I mean, they are literally references made in passing, so I don’t know what else you’d call them.

 

[Parmandur]

I mean, they are literally references made in passing, so I don’t know what else you’d call them.

Chapter 2 of the DMG is quite lengthy and even full of mechanics, I consider it pretty meaty.

 

[Charlaquin]

Chapter 2 of the DMG is quite lengthy and even full of mechanics, I consider it pretty meaty.

Chapter 2 consistently presents the great wheel as the default cosmological setting assumption, and while the great wheel cosmology is not exclusive to forgotten realms, it is present there, so I think one could be forgiven for having attributed this to FR being default rather than Planescape being default. Explicit and specific references to non-FR settings are largely made in passing, including in this chapter.

 

[Parmandur]

Chapter 2 consistently presents the great wheel as the default cosmological setting assumption, and while the great wheel cosmology is not exclusive to forgotten realms, it is present there, so I think one could be forgiven for having attributed this to FR being default rather than Planescape being default. Explicit and specific references to non-FR settings are largely made in passing, including in this chapter.

In 3E and 4E, the Forgotten Realms didn't use the Great Wheel: 3E FR had the World Tree deal going on, and then the World Axis in 4E. The 5E DMG details the assumed Setting...the Great Wheel cosmos.

 

[Charlaquin]

In 3E and 4E, the Forgotten Realms didn't use the Great Wheel: 3E FR had the World Tree deal going on, and then the World Axis in 4E. The 5E DMG details the assumed Setting...the Great Wheel cosmos.

The Forgotten Realms’ cosmological situation was pretty funky during 4e due to the spellplague, but my understanding was that the great wheel and the world tree were (and, well, still are, I guess) contemporary competing models in-universe.