
If they are rules by a kingdom they would definitely know the monarchy and it's family names, along with some military leaders as well.Įntertainers might be well known when they travel from town to town performing.ĭon't try to get your players to know everything. They might know general things like, "Barbarian tribes to the north" and "goblins to the east". Most likely they would only know what's happened locally, maybe some historical figures that affected their region, some lore that is passed down through the generations, religious teachings, etc. Scrying and magic can get information around, but only for a select few. Cities will get news slowly, as sailing ships arrive from other sea ports with goods, mail, and news.

Villagers may go weeks without knowing what's happened on the other side of the mountain. Information doesn't travel like it does for us. I imagine they have some knowledge of the events in Tyranny of Dragons, and I expect that certain classes have specific knowledge, like wizards knowing about the Weave. I think they would have awareness of, although not necessarily intimidate knowledge of, Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate, and Neverwinter the factions, the common races, the common monsters, and some rare monsters of legend. What are some of the locations, personas, and histories you would assume the any character growing up on the Sword Coast would know? From this, players can make checks for specific questions and details that go beyond the scope of the overview. I plan to create a distilled document for my players highlighting some of common knowledge and history so that they have a baseline understanding of things. Still, the characters seem to be babies experiencing everything for the first time, less like someone who would have grown up hearing stories about Waterdeep, the Harpers, and Tiamat, etc. We are currently in the early stages of Storm King’s Thunder, which seemed like a good stage setter for other campaigns in the region. My player’s familiarity to Faerun is very narrow, and in fairness, this is our first campaign in this setting. Put another way, I may have never been to Japan, but I certainly have some awareness of Tokyo, World War II, and Godzilla. We covered some of the world during session zero, but it’s dawning on me that my players still have a limited understanding of the place they inhabit.
