Also, are there any stickied threads with like, a list of generators? As in name generators, maybe even encounter generators based on level, that sort of stuff. If not I'll look everything up individually but having a single thread with everything in one place would be hugely helpful.
Thanks
I've always just invented my own setting as I go along, and change the modules/adventures to fit into my setting.
I had been thinking of the setting from the 4E Starter sets and Essentials boxed sets as Eberron, on the understanding that Eberron was 4E's default setting, but I believe I've heard that particular area referred to as "Points of Light", and it seems that it's not necessarily Eberron.
If it helps:
- Campaign Settings > Nentir Vale (Wikipedia Entry)
"Nentir Vale is the sample community provided as a default setting in the 4th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide. Most sourcebooks refer to the cosmology this community exists in as "the D&D world" or "points of light," though these appear to be informal names. The overall setting is one in which great empires of various races, including tieflings and dragonborn, have long ago or recently fallen. Towns and other civilization centers are colloquially referred to as "points of light," with the Dungeon Master encouraged by the guidebook to leave the rest of the world largely unplanned, vague and unpredictable. The deities presented in the 4th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide are a hodge-podge of Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms and newly created gods. What cultural uniformity exists beyond the Nentir Vale, other than the Material Plane-wide worship of some or all of these figures, is little."
- Nentir Vale: Wouldn't Want to Live There (The New DM)
"The Points of Light campaign setting for D&D 4th Edition seems on its surface very generic. I guess that was the point, as it was meant to replace Greyhawk as a setting that anyone could drop their game into without having to worry about massive backstories and over 30 years of history cluttering everything up. They’ve also only detailed a few very small areas of the game world, so you can drop whatever you like into the world as everything outside those two or three sections are sparsely detailed at best....
"...Points of Light is hands down the most plug-and-play game world that D&D has ever had. It’s a new DM’s dream. I can make the world whatever I want and no one can argue. Forgotten Realms, I have to deal with over a hundred novels and short stories, almost all of which have been read by my roommate while less than five of them have been read by me. Dragonlance has been rebooted so many times with things working differently in each iteration that tiny things can break reality for your players if they’ve been following, like a continuity error in a movie. It’s enough to drive you insane. But Points of Light can be whatever you want it to be…as long as it’s deadly and dangerous...."
By the sound of it, the setting is intended to be generic enough to be slipped into any fantasy setting, so find a campaign setting you like (or make up your own), and slip Nentir Valley's Point of Light into it however you wish.
YronimosW has it right, but to sum up in a more concise way:
The core setting is "Points of Light". It is set up assuming any world you use is a dark and dangerous place, and occasionally there are spots of good civilization / safe places (the points of light).
You can drop any point of light (a module you find) into any world and their geographic relation to each other doesn't much matter.
So you could have a Netir Vale in the dalelands of Faerun (forgotten realms), or in the forests on Khorvaire(eberron), or the next town over, or two weeks journey, from Restwell Keep (chaos scar modules). Its a plug and play design.
community.wizards.com/wiki/Dnd:Points_of...
As for names, search the webs. Or just look up old names from medieval europe. Or just go simple, like calling someplace where two roads cross, "Two-crossings." As for encounters, if you get one of the monster books, you will have a number of monsters that you can combine to form encounters that fit your storyline.