Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
The current edition ofDungeons & Dragonsuses the Forgotten Realms hunting expedition place as the default location for many games , and manyDMs opt to gear up theirD&Dhomebrew gameson the continent of Faerun in the scope . The earlier edition ofD&Dhad dedicated Forgotten Realms books , but these were treat as supplemental stuff , and the setting was by no means considered the default choice . today , most secret plan are set in Faerun , even with the numerous campaign scene on offer , and there are a few reason for the popularity of the Forgotten Realms , compare to otherD&Dsettings .
The other iteration ofAdvanced donjon & Dragonsdidn’t have a set nonpayment world and the books treat most cloth as if it would be slot into a homebrew game . The exception to this was basicDungeons & Dragons , which used the Mystara prepare as its nonpayment . The second variation ofAD&Dalso miss a default setting , but this was the era when lots ofnewD&Dcampaign preferences were introduced , such as Birthright , Dark Sun , Planescape , and Spelljammer , some of which diverge from the received phantasy set data format . InD&D3e , the default setting was the world of Oerth from the Greyhawk cause setting . This mean that most of the campaigns and sourcebooks treated Oerth as their main setting , with notes on how to conform certain elements to other configurations . InD&D4e , the default setting is know as Nentir Vale , which is a world that deliberately lacks specific details , so that DMs are free to flesh it out as they please .
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D&D5e handle the continent of Faerun from the Forgotten Realms as its default campaign setting , though there has been a transfer direction to the multiverse at great . This might have something to do with Wizards of the Coast bringing back many of the old campaign scene , withSpelljammer set to return in Augustand Dragonlance returning later in the class , along with integrating planes fromMagic : The Gatheringinto the multiverse . There are several reasons why Faerun is used as the defaultD&Dsetting , as it ’s conversant to non - D&Dplayers , easy to explain to newcomers , and has lore that is easy to habituate or ignore as the DM call for .
The Forgotten Realms Has The Most Popular Spin-Off Media
There have been manyD&Dnovels released over the class and they have been set across the different military campaign configurations , but the most democratic by far isThe Legend of Drizztseries by R.A. Salvatore . These book were n’t the first novels set up in the Forgotten Realms ( that pureness belongs to Douglas Niles’Darkwalker on Moonshae ) , but Salvatore helped flesh out the circumstance . The Legend of Drizztstars Drizzt Do’Urden , a drow commando who lives on the open of Faerun , despite his airstream being shunned and despised . The account of Drizzt run from an outsider to one of the most far-famed heroes in Faerun help theD&Dnovels discover an interview outside of the tabletop game , and Drizzt still intemperately features inD&Dmedia , such as theAdventures in the Forgotten Realmsset forMagic : The GatheringandDungeons & Dragons : Dark Alliance . The Legend of Drizztseries set forth in the ' LXXX and is still go stiff today , with the next book ( Glacier ’s Edge ) launching in August . Drizzt is potential the most popularD&Dcharacter of all prison term and his gibbousness helped make the Forgotten Realms a popular choice forD&Dcampaigns .
The Forgotten Realms campaign setting has the most medium that non - D&Dplayers will have consumed . The majority of theD&Dgames are set in the Forgotten Realms , including theBaldur ’s Gateseries , Neverwinter , Neverwinter Nights , Icewind Dale , Eye of the Beholder , andIdle Champions of the Forgotten Realms . There are a lot of people who were uncover toD&Dduring the 2e/3e geological era through theBaldur ’s GateandNeverwinter Nightsseries , which is why the fictional character and location from those game still play prominent purpose inD&Dmedia . It bears mentioning that the upcomingDungeons & Dragons : Honor Among Thievesmovie is also confirmed to be set in the Forgotten Realms , with the music director affirm during the D&D Direct that the report is do in the Sword Coast neighborhood . The fact that the Forgotten Realms was prefer over the other options just goes to show how popular it is . It remain to be seen how much the option of circumstance will count in the movie , but there are bound to be a ton of reference to the novels and video game , as well as the tabletop game .
Why The Forgotten Realms Is The Default (Not Dragonlance Or Greyhawk)
In theD&D2e era , there were three worlds that were considered the " main"D&Dsettings : Abeir - Toril from the Forgotten Realms , Oerth from Greyhawk , and Krynn from Dragonlance . Oerth did become the default setting inD&D3e , but it ’s easy to see why the continent of Faerun won out in the end . TheclassicD&DGreyhawk press settingis slap-up for decimetre who desire a world that has the BASIC laid out but has enough wriggle way for them to bestow or remove affair as needed . The problem with Greyhawk is that it does n’t have the outside entreaty that the Forgotten Realms has . There have been some Greyhawk novel and telecasting game , but they are nowhere well-nigh as popular as the ones set in the Forgotten Realms .
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The worldly concern of Krynn from Dragonlance has the opposite problem . Dragonlance has many novel , with its mainline serial publication ( compose by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman ) rivalingThe Legend of Drizztseries in terms of popularity and recollective - term appealingness . The job with Krynn is that the traditional knowledge of the scope created by the novels is so dense and restrictive that it can make run a basicD&Dgame severely , at least not without ignoring the housing of the setting . The humankind of Krynn is often involved in a number of great - scale conflicts , while some of its eras ask completely dissimilar rules for magic . Even the process of becoming aD&Dwizard in Dragonlanceis difficult , as the lore of the scene mention that all spellcasters have to make this epic journey and perform a deep personal ( and dangerous ) examination , in ordination to be make out by the Wizards of High Sorcery and not run as a turncoat . That kind of factor can introduce some antic fibre - building moments in a novel , but it ’s likely to derail a campaign unless everyone is uncoerced to ignore that key part of the setting .

The Forgotten Realms has the utter mixture of widespread popularity with bothD&Dfans and those who are only conversant with the game through remote spiritualist and has a setting that is easy to use for all type of secret plan , without the lore becoming too restrictive . Faerun is a situation that is big and familiar , where reference like Elminster or Volo could appear to give the players a brief Word of God of boost , before seeing them off on their next vainglorious dangerous undertaking . This is the entreaty of the Forgotten Realms and why it was chosen to be the face of the current edition ofDungeons & Dragons .
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