I hear Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Eberron, and The Forgotten Realms frequently, yet I don’t know much of anything about them! I see the forgotten realms being brought up the most frequently, followed by Eberron, but I don’t know anything about the last two.
The Forgotten Realms is what I hear about the most. In particular it’s where Baldurs Gate and Movie takes place in. It seems to be the closest to what I think when I hear the word “fantasy”. I also remember seeing it in my old man’s (my dad’s) books about Drizzit.
Eberron seems to be more more advanced technology wise and less medieval and more steampunk. I skimmed through “Eberron, Rising From The Last War” at my library and it was cool seeing DnD in a new light. I really like the idea of combining technology with the fantastical elements of the fantasy genre.
Although I don’t know anything about Dragonlance or Greyhawk. Could you fellas tell me about them? I do want to mention that while I liked Eberron, I’d prefer to keep its technological elements within a more medieval setting (closest thing I can think of is kingdom rush, which I’ve been playing a lot of recently).
also, are all the realms connected in some way? Are they even in the same world? The same in game universe?Can still access the same planes of existence as well as the Shadowfell and Fey Wild no matter the setting, right?
also, are all the realms connected in some way? Are they even in the same world? The same in game universe?Can still access the same planes of existence as well as the Shadowfell and Fey Wild no matter the setting, right?
They involve different planets:
The planet Toril for Forgotten Realms.
The planet Oerth for Greyhawk.
The planet Krynn for Dragonlance.
The planet Eberron for, well, Eberron.
What sort of space journey would bring one from one planet to another is the purview of a crossover setting called Spelljammer. The cosmology there is complicated and, on top of that, has been completely changed in the 5th edition.
And there is an even greater crossover in the form of Planescape, which involves the various afterlives that may be shared between multiple settings.
However, from forum conversations, it seems that many players wish that each setting were treated as a truly separate work of fiction. This is especially true of Eberron fans.
Dragonlance tends to be a more “epic fantasy” setting, with the main antagonists being the Dragon Armies that serve the goddess Takhisis (known as Tiamat in other settings). It is predominantly a pre-gunpowder mediaeval-esque world. It was originally brought out as an adventure setting in the 1980s, and accompanied by a number of novels and anthologies. The original trilogy were Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning (by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman). It’s been rebooted for 5th edition with Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
Greyhawk I understand is the setting that the founders of D&D created and had more of a “sword and sorcery” feel. Apparently it will be presented in the new Dungeon Master’s Guide as an example for creating your own campaign worlds. Quite a few characters that you might come across in the names of spells or sourcebooks originated in Greyhawk (such as Mordenkainen, Tasha and Bigby).
Dragonlance tends to be a more “epic fantasy” setting, with the main antagonists being the Dragon Armies that serve the goddess Takhisis (known as Tiamat in other settings). It is predominantly a pre-gunpowder mediaeval-esque world. It was originally brought out as an adventure setting in the 1980s, and accompanied by a number of novels and anthologies. The original trilogy were Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning (by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman). It’s been rebooted for 5th edition with Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
Greyhawk I understand is the setting that the founders of D&D created and had more of a “sword and sorcery” feel. Apparently it will be presented in the new Dungeon Master’s Guide as an example for creating your own campaign worlds. Quite a few characters that you might come across in the names of spells or sourcebooks originated in Greyhawk (such as Mordenkainen, Tasha and Bigby).
What separates fantasy from epic fantasy, and what is the sword and sorcery feel supposed to mean?
also, are all the realms connected in some way? Are they even in the same world? The same in game universe?Can still access the same planes of existence as well as the Shadowfell and Fey Wild no matter the setting, right?
They involve different planets:
The planet Toril for Forgotten Realms.
The planet Oerth for Greyhawk.
The planet Krynn for Dragonlance.
The planet Eberron for, well, Eberron.
What sort of space journey would bring one from one planet to another is the purview of a crossover setting called Spelljammer. The cosmology there is complicated and, on top of that, has been completely changed in the 5th edition.
And there is an even greater crossover in the form of Planescape, which involves the various afterlives that may be shared between multiple settings.
However, from forum conversations, it seems that many players wish that each setting were treated as a truly separate work of fiction. This is especially true of Eberron fans.
Their own planets huh? Cool!
and I know from a glance Eberron is much more different then the other settings and I know it’s more steampunk in theme, but does it still have a sort of medieval theme to it somewhere?
What separates fantasy from epic fantasy, and what is the sword and sorcery feel supposed to mean?
and I know from a glance Eberron is much more different then the other settings and I know it’s more steampunk in theme, but does it still have a sort of medieval theme to it somewhere?
The first are actually literary terms, that DnD uses to describe the rough design of the world and how one expects it to play. The terms are in the DMG, in the chapter heading "Flavors of Fantay." However, you probably don't have access to that, so this is a good page that has a high level summary from a literature point of view: A Complete Overview of 18 Fantasy Subgenres - 2024 - MasterClass. Otherwise if you DO have access to the DMG (aka you bought it) its here: Flavors of Fantasy. But in short it attempts to categorize how Conan the Barbarian is different than Lord of the Rings, or Drizzt novels, and how to run your game that way. Its style of the game and the setting.
Eberron, is steampunk like, but instead of steam power, its magic powering devices and driving the tech of the world. So there is a a lot of low level magic and devices/gear, but very little high level magical power. But its medieval otherwise..but it has magical powered trains, airships powered by elementals, and things like that. Swords, bows, are staples along with wands and spells. Industry is powered by magic, not coal or petroleum.
over the 50 years of the game a number of world settings were published for players to use.
GrayHawk was the founder's world, Mystara was another early one not much supported anymore. Then they bought Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms and it became the major setting for most of the game's history. Because of that much of the lore for the game is based off the lore Greenwood created for his world. Dragonlance was based off a series of novels back in the 80's. Darksun was a world that had burned up most of its magic and psionics was the major "magic" present. They also created oriental adventures for Chinese/Japanese style fantasy and Zakhara as an "Arabian nights" setting. Latter these were spliced onto the Forgotten Realms. Ravenloft is for dark fantasy/vampires etc. Ebberon is fairly recent and a magical steampunk world. then in the last few years they have added a bunch of new or semi new settings like the Feywild of Wild beyond the Witchlight. Other newbies include Strixhaven, the Radiant Citadel, and Theros (the world of Magic the gathering I think), as well as Wildemont (Critical Role's world). Then there is Spelljammer, which is a magic based space fantasy that can be used to connect all the possible worlds, and Planescape which is about playing on the outer planes mostly. Apparently about half of al DDers play on more or less homebrew worlds, 25% play on some form of the forgotten realms and the other 25% play on one of the other worlds.
Wildbill summed it up nicely, though Theros is just one of the published worlds from magic the gathering, there’s also Ravinca. Theros is inspired by Greek mythology, while Ravinca is kind of like a whole world is a city, and there are guilds vying for power. And also there’s Wildemount from Critical Role. And the old Oriental Adventures is set in Kara-tur, which is on the same planet as the Forgotten Realms.
Many of the “settings” are actually ways to get from one world to another. Spelljammer lets you do it on, basically a spaceship; radiant citadel uses pods to transport you to a hub world, where you can then take a different pod to a different world; infinite staircase is exactly what it sounds like, with the addition of lots of doorways which open into various worlds; Planescape features the city of Sigil, another hub world with doorways to everywhere. Sigil is ruled by The Lady of Pain, who even gods are afraid of. Characters can also get from one world to another with the spell Dream of the Blue Veil and, arguably, teleport.
It’s worth noting that the official lore says Eberron is cut off from the rest of the multiverse. Also Athas (the world of the Dark Sun setting) is supposed to be inaccessible. Dark Sun was, far and away, the most badass setting they ever published. No gods (so no clerics or in those days paladins). A desert ruled by the Sorcerer kings in great cities full of slaves. A post-apocalyptic wasteland where using magic would drain what little life was left from the world. Your gear was made of bone and chitin. Water was more precious than gold. Halflings were cannibals. When it first came out in the 2e days, the official recommendation was to make 3 characters to start because it was so lethal.
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I hear Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Eberron, and The Forgotten Realms frequently, yet I don’t know much of anything about them!
I see the forgotten realms being brought up the most frequently, followed by Eberron, but I don’t know anything about the last two.
The Forgotten Realms is what I hear about the most. In particular it’s where Baldurs Gate and Movie takes place in. It seems to be the closest to what I think when I hear the word “fantasy”. I also remember seeing it in my old man’s (my dad’s) books about Drizzit.
Eberron seems to be more more advanced technology wise and less medieval and more steampunk. I skimmed through “Eberron, Rising From The Last War” at my library and it was cool seeing DnD in a new light. I really like the idea of combining technology with the fantastical elements of the fantasy genre.
Although I don’t know anything about Dragonlance or Greyhawk. Could you fellas tell me about them? I do want to mention that while I liked Eberron, I’d prefer to keep its technological elements within a more medieval setting (closest thing I can think of is kingdom rush, which I’ve been playing a lot of recently).
also, are all the realms connected in some way? Are they even in the same world? The same in game universe?Can still access the same planes of existence as well as the Shadowfell and Fey Wild no matter the setting, right?
They involve different planets:
What sort of space journey would bring one from one planet to another is the purview of a crossover setting called Spelljammer. The cosmology there is complicated and, on top of that, has been completely changed in the 5th edition.
And there is an even greater crossover in the form of Planescape, which involves the various afterlives that may be shared between multiple settings.
However, from forum conversations, it seems that many players wish that each setting were treated as a truly separate work of fiction. This is especially true of Eberron fans.
Dragonlance tends to be a more “epic fantasy” setting, with the main antagonists being the Dragon Armies that serve the goddess Takhisis (known as Tiamat in other settings). It is predominantly a pre-gunpowder mediaeval-esque world. It was originally brought out as an adventure setting in the 1980s, and accompanied by a number of novels and anthologies. The original trilogy were Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning (by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman). It’s been rebooted for 5th edition with Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
Greyhawk I understand is the setting that the founders of D&D created and had more of a “sword and sorcery” feel. Apparently it will be presented in the new Dungeon Master’s Guide as an example for creating your own campaign worlds. Quite a few characters that you might come across in the names of spells or sourcebooks originated in Greyhawk (such as Mordenkainen, Tasha and Bigby).
What separates fantasy from epic fantasy, and what is the sword and sorcery feel supposed to mean?
Their own planets huh? Cool!
and I know from a glance Eberron is much more different then the other settings and I know it’s more steampunk in theme, but does it still have a sort of medieval theme to it somewhere?
The first are actually literary terms, that DnD uses to describe the rough design of the world and how one expects it to play. The terms are in the DMG, in the chapter heading "Flavors of Fantay." However, you probably don't have access to that, so this is a good page that has a high level summary from a literature point of view: A Complete Overview of 18 Fantasy Subgenres - 2024 - MasterClass. Otherwise if you DO have access to the DMG (aka you bought it) its here: Flavors of Fantasy. But in short it attempts to categorize how Conan the Barbarian is different than Lord of the Rings, or Drizzt novels, and how to run your game that way. Its style of the game and the setting.
Eberron, is steampunk like, but instead of steam power, its magic powering devices and driving the tech of the world. So there is a a lot of low level magic and devices/gear, but very little high level magical power. But its medieval otherwise..but it has magical powered trains, airships powered by elementals, and things like that. Swords, bows, are staples along with wands and spells. Industry is powered by magic, not coal or petroleum.
Dude, Eberron sounds sick! I’ll have to look more into it.
Also thanks for telling me about that flavors of fantasy thing. I’ll be sure to read up on that sometime
over the 50 years of the game a number of world settings were published for players to use.
GrayHawk was the founder's world, Mystara was another early one not much supported anymore. Then they bought Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms and it became the major setting for most of the game's history. Because of that much of the lore for the game is based off the lore Greenwood created for his world. Dragonlance was based off a series of novels back in the 80's. Darksun was a world that had burned up most of its magic and psionics was the major "magic" present. They also created oriental adventures for Chinese/Japanese style fantasy and Zakhara as an "Arabian nights" setting. Latter these were spliced onto the Forgotten Realms. Ravenloft is for dark fantasy/vampires etc. Ebberon is fairly recent and a magical steampunk world. then in the last few years they have added a bunch of new or semi new settings like the Feywild of Wild beyond the Witchlight. Other newbies include Strixhaven, the Radiant Citadel, and Theros (the world of Magic the gathering I think), as well as Wildemont (Critical Role's world). Then there is Spelljammer, which is a magic based space fantasy that can be used to connect all the possible worlds, and Planescape which is about playing on the outer planes mostly. Apparently about half of al DDers play on more or less homebrew worlds, 25% play on some form of the forgotten realms and the other 25% play on one of the other worlds.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
cool! Wonder if I can ask my old man if he knows anything about the realms of DnD
Wildbill summed it up nicely, though Theros is just one of the published worlds from magic the gathering, there’s also Ravinca. Theros is inspired by Greek mythology, while Ravinca is kind of like a whole world is a city, and there are guilds vying for power.
And also there’s Wildemount from Critical Role. And the old Oriental Adventures is set in Kara-tur, which is on the same planet as the Forgotten Realms.
Many of the “settings” are actually ways to get from one world to another. Spelljammer lets you do it on, basically a spaceship; radiant citadel uses pods to transport you to a hub world, where you can then take a different pod to a different world; infinite staircase is exactly what it sounds like, with the addition of lots of doorways which open into various worlds; Planescape features the city of Sigil, another hub world with doorways to everywhere. Sigil is ruled by The Lady of Pain, who even gods are afraid of.
Characters can also get from one world to another with the spell Dream of the Blue Veil and, arguably, teleport.
It’s worth noting that the official lore says Eberron is cut off from the rest of the multiverse. Also Athas (the world of the Dark Sun setting) is supposed to be inaccessible.
Dark Sun was, far and away, the most badass setting they ever published. No gods (so no clerics or in those days paladins). A desert ruled by the Sorcerer kings in great cities full of slaves. A post-apocalyptic wasteland where using magic would drain what little life was left from the world. Your gear was made of bone and chitin. Water was more precious than gold. Halflings were cannibals. When it first came out in the 2e days, the official recommendation was to make 3 characters to start because it was so lethal.