I'm a new DM just starting LMoP with three players who are new to D&D. I'm following LMoP, but wanting to mix in my own creativity. Since we're in the world of Forgotten Realms, it feels important to make sure my creations don't contradict any established lore. Where my anxiety comes in is in the realization that I don't know most of that lore, and I probably won't ever, or at least not for a long time. It's daunting that there's no single campaign setting book. The lore is scattered across many adventures, some of which aren't for 5e, not to mention concepts and characters from fiction series, etc. Honestly, I don't have the energy to study hours of material to make sure I'm staying true to the world.
This leads to be being too scared to be too creative. I'm wondering how others deal with this situation. Do you just let loose and make stuff up, and trust that any future contradictions can be easily dealt with? Are you Forgotten Realms experts?
Sometimes I think it would be easier if I made up my own world and just picked and chose from Forgotten Realms and other settings.
You as a DM create the World for your Players. Your players don't need to know anything about the World. Use the forgotten Realms as a setting. Draw inspiration from it. The Setting get some signifcant changes with different adventures and is under the influence from the outside all the time. Like Arkhan the cruel claiming the Hand of Vecna in the Critical Role series.
So if something you come up with don't fit to the "original" Lore don't worry! It's your universe from the beginning of your campaign. 2 Groups playing Baldur's gate: Descent into Avernus can End the Campaign and end up with completly different worldsettings. What's really important for your Players is consistency. When your Players meet people in a town this people should be still there, when the adventurers return after a year or so. Maybe they have changed, because life is flowing but your PC should meet the same NPC in some places. This creates the feeling of a living World. Even better, if your Players take an influence of the Life of some of this people and recognize it.
I've made some really signifcant changes to the town of Triel in my Campaign. One Player read the official lore and said: "We're obiously in a different Triel-Universe" and after that it was fine. The Player's ask me questions now, if they want to know anything about the World. I try to read something about the lore sometimes and work it in my creations.
This leads to be being too scared to be too creative. I'm wondering how others deal with this situation. Do you just let loose and make stuff up, and trust that any future contradictions can be easily dealt with? Are you Forgotten Realms experts?
Sometimes I think it would be easier if I made up my own world and just picked and chose from Forgotten Realms and other settings.
Let loose and make stuff up.
Think of it this way - you ARE making up your own world! You're just, for convenience, using a lot of lore from Forgotten Realms. Your world can, at any moment, turn out to be different from FR. The point of all these sourcebooks and lore are to help you, as a DM, make a fully fleshed out world, by letting you answer some questions by looking them up instead of making them up.
You as a DM create the World for your Players. Your players don't need to know anything about the World. Use the forgotten Realms as a setting. Draw inspiration from it. The Setting get some signifcant changes with different adventures and is under the influence from the outside all the time. Like Arkhan the cruel claiming the Hand of Vecna in the Critical Role series.
So if something you come up with don't fit to the "original" Lore don't worry! It's your universe from the beginning of your campaign. 2 Groups playing Baldur's gate: Descent into Avernus can End the Campaign and end up with completly different worldsettings. What's really important for your Players is consistency. When your Players meet people in a town this people should be still there, when the adventurers return after a year or so. Maybe they have changed, because life is flowing but your PC should meet the same NPC in some places. This creates the feeling of a living World. Even better, if your Players take an influence of the Life of some of this people and recognize it.
I've made some really signifcant changes to the town of Triel in my Campaign. One Player read the official lore and said: "We're obiously in a different Triel-Universe" and after that it was fine. The Player's ask me questions now, if they want to know anything about the World. I try to read something about the lore sometimes and work it in my creations.
This is well-said. I'm running Avernus for two groups. They are in two completely different versions of the Forgotten Realms.
The forgotten realms police will not come to your door. And if they did, they’d have to stay six feet away, so they couldn’t even arrest you. I think the important thing is to stay consistent with what you invent. If you decide there is a small farming town one day to the east, and the mayor is named bob, remember to stick with it if the party travels East. If it’s not on an official map, that doesn’t matter at all.
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I'm a new DM just starting LMoP with three players who are new to D&D. I'm following LMoP, but wanting to mix in my own creativity. Since we're in the world of Forgotten Realms, it feels important to make sure my creations don't contradict any established lore. Where my anxiety comes in is in the realization that I don't know most of that lore, and I probably won't ever, or at least not for a long time. It's daunting that there's no single campaign setting book. The lore is scattered across many adventures, some of which aren't for 5e, not to mention concepts and characters from fiction series, etc. Honestly, I don't have the energy to study hours of material to make sure I'm staying true to the world.
This leads to be being too scared to be too creative. I'm wondering how others deal with this situation. Do you just let loose and make stuff up, and trust that any future contradictions can be easily dealt with? Are you Forgotten Realms experts?
Sometimes I think it would be easier if I made up my own world and just picked and chose from Forgotten Realms and other settings.
There are few "forgotten realms experts". The few I could list are Chris Perkins, Ed Greenwood, and R. A. Salvatore.
I know quite a bit about the forgotten realms, do you have any specific questions?
I can't really tell you all of it, but I can likely help you with questions.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
You as a DM create the World for your Players.
Your players don't need to know anything about the World. Use the forgotten Realms as a setting. Draw inspiration from it. The Setting get some signifcant changes with different adventures and is under the influence from the outside all the time. Like Arkhan the cruel claiming the Hand of Vecna in the Critical Role series.
So if something you come up with don't fit to the "original" Lore don't worry! It's your universe from the beginning of your campaign. 2 Groups playing Baldur's gate: Descent into Avernus can End the Campaign and end up with completly different worldsettings.
What's really important for your Players is consistency. When your Players meet people in a town this people should be still there, when the adventurers return after a year or so. Maybe they have changed, because life is flowing but your PC should meet the same NPC in some places. This creates the feeling of a living World. Even better, if your Players take an influence of the Life of some of this people and recognize it.
I've made some really signifcant changes to the town of Triel in my Campaign. One Player read the official lore and said: "We're obiously in a different Triel-Universe" and after that it was fine. The Player's ask me questions now, if they want to know anything about the World. I try to read something about the lore sometimes and work it in my creations.
Let loose and make stuff up.
Think of it this way - you ARE making up your own world! You're just, for convenience, using a lot of lore from Forgotten Realms. Your world can, at any moment, turn out to be different from FR. The point of all these sourcebooks and lore are to help you, as a DM, make a fully fleshed out world, by letting you answer some questions by looking them up instead of making them up.
Just make stuff up. Do whatever you want.
This is well-said. I'm running Avernus for two groups. They are in two completely different versions of the Forgotten Realms.
The forgotten realms police will not come to your door. And if they did, they’d have to stay six feet away, so they couldn’t even arrest you.
I think the important thing is to stay consistent with what you invent. If you decide there is a small farming town one day to the east, and the mayor is named bob, remember to stick with it if the party travels East. If it’s not on an official map, that doesn’t matter at all.