Spellplague

[Inuzuka]

I'm new to D&D, mostly became interested thanks to various webcomics.

Can anyone tell me whether most 3.5e games take place before or after the events of Spellplague?
I was just randomly reading up on things when I found mention of this and was curious.

[Amphetryon]

I'm new to D&D, mostly became interested thanks to various webcomics.

Can anyone tell me whether most 3.5e games take place before or after the events of Spellplague?
I was just randomly reading up on things when I found mention of this and was curious.

Assuming we're talking about the same event, Spellplague is Forgotten Realms setting-specific canon to justify some of the changes in the world from 3.5 (pre-Spellplague) to 4e (post-Spellplague).

[Jeraa]

Assuming we're talking about the same event, Spellplague is Forgotten Realms setting-specific canon to justify some of the changes in the world from 3.5 (pre-Spellplague) to 4e (post-Spellplague).

Just as the Time of Troubles was used to justify changes from 1st edition AD&D to 2nd edition AD&D.

[Rhynn]

Can anyone tell me whether most 3.5e games take place before or after the events of Spellplague?

Most D&D games probably don't take any stance on the Spellplague - they don't happen in the world that has the Spellplague (Forgotten Realms, or Faerûn).

I can't speak as to what people play, but all pre-4E D&D books set in the Forgotten Realms take place before the Spellplague. Like Amphetryon said, the Spellplague is the "in-world" paradigm shift between 3E and 4E.

[Inuzuka]

Most D&D games probably don't take any stance on the Spellplague - they don't happen in the world that has the Spellplague (Forgotten Realms, or Faerûn).


Okay thanks, but what other worlds would you be playing in 3.5?

[ArcturusV]

Well, on top of custom crafted worlds, you have Greyhawk of course, Krynn, Ravenloft... not sure off the top of my head if they updated Dark Sun for 3rd edition. Pretty sure they didn't do Planescape. Rokugan did get done, so that's always a book standard option.

But I'd bet custom crafted worlds are perhaps the most common of options.

[Amphetryon]

Okay thanks, but what other worlds would you be playing in 3.5?

The Player's Handbook default setting is Greyhawk, or at least Greyhawk Light (since the cosmology and geography are stripped down and/or absent).

There is an abundance of material published for Eberron, which was created specifically during 3.5's run.

Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Planescape, and other previous edition settings have vibrant online communities updating these settings to 3.5 (and, as far as I know, to 4e).

Many groups choose to homebrew their own settings, or to play old-school dungeon crawls that are functionally devoid of any over-arching world info beyond "there's a dungeon with some monsters and loot. GO!'

[Rhynn]

Okay thanks, but what other worlds would you be playing in 3.5?

Well, a huge number of Dungeon Masters - I don't know how many, but I'd guess half? - create their own worlds. That's easily the oldest tradition of D&D.

D&D 3.X published worlds include Greyhawk (sort of), Eberron (the sole 3E original setting), Ravenloft (as a WotC adventure and as a stunningly good licensed third-party line that actually captures gothic horror better than the 2E sourcebooks), Oriental Adventures, and Dragonlance, to name a few.

A lot of people also play in 2E settings with no official support, and many of them have unofficial fan publications (often of great quality). These include Planescape, Birthright, Al-Qadim, Mystara, and Spelljammer.

[TuggyNE]

Okay thanks, but what other worlds would you be playing in 3.5?

What other worlds wouldn't you be playing in? :smalltongue: FR may be the single best-known setting by some margin, but it's definitely not a majority of games. Maybe 10-20%??

[KillianHawkeye]

Personally, I dislike the Forgotten Realms, so given the choice I would never play in a game set on Faerun.