What is the setting of the BG universe? Is there any kings in this world?

[Flowery]

Lore. I wonder how the world map looks like for example.
In Witcher we know everything about world-politics just like in GoT/Song of Ice and Fire.

But all we know about the BG universe is there a big city called Baldur's Gate and that is all. Not that I miss anything more than this, I just wonder.

[kth]

DnD setting has spaceships and stuff

[seandeven]

Read a Campaign setting book on the Forgotton Realms, a treasure trove of information on the Sword Coast.

[ShadowDark3]

Originally posted by seandeven:

Read a Campaign setting book on the Forgotton Realms, a treasure trove of information on the Sword Coast.

Just to clarify and elaborate on this, Baldur's Gate is set in the world of the Forgotten Realms. Baldur's Gate itself is located in the region of the Sword Coast, and the game itself actually takes place within quite a small part of this region.

There are dozens of books written over the last several decades which take place in the Forgotten Realms, on the Sword Coast and the lands all around. The books span hundreds of years of lore and cover many major events, including the events of the original Baldur's Gate games.

All of what I've read has been pretty typical genre fiction, and writing quality varies from book to book, but if you're interested in the lore it's still fun reading.

There are also many older games set in the Forgotten Realms, most notably (in my opinion) Neverwinter Nights. Neverwinter is another major city located (I believe) far to the north of Baldur's Gate.

[Sentient_Toaster]

Sword Coast region of Faerun continent on the world Toril, within the Forgotten Realms setting. That particular region is very disproportionately the setting for adventures and is much better described in general.

https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/faerun-map
has a map of the Sword Coast area.

There's an unofficial "Forgotten Realms" wiki on Fandom, but be warned that there are no spoiler warnings about... uh, anything at all. Wandering around might spoil content in BG3, or any number of published adventures for the tabletop game, etc.

[Ghost]

The setting of the Baldur's Gate series is "The Forgotten Realms", the planet is Toril, the continent is Faerun, the region is the Sword Coast.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Forgotten_Realms
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Toril
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Faer%C3%BBn
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Sword_Coast

[Jaeleth]

Originally posted by Flowery:

Lore. I wonder how the world map looks like for example.
In Witcher we know everything about world-politics just like in GoT/Song of Ice and Fire.

But all we know about the BG universe is there a big city called Baldur's Gate and that is all. Not that I miss anything more than this, I just wonder.

Ah... The trillion dollar question :)
The setting is Toril, Forgotten Realms, a planet that existed a long time ago in a far away galaxy...
Problem is the somewhat dis-organised or minimalist way FR lore was built throughout time.
Unlike Tolkien, who devised a world and a culture from ground up to the details of inventing whole new languages and grammar rules and on which setting you cannot change the colour of a flower without being accused of crimes against humanity (Hi RoP crew, we've a few scores to settle here boyz...), FR had, at the start, at most a couple of paragraphs to describe each race traits and a shoddy map...
Years passed and writters wrote books, creators designed adventure modules and (later) the programming crew stepped in and cRPG's were born, particularly BG1, BG2 and BG3.

Now, if they were all paying attention to the previous works, lore should've been built on top of existing, officially published, work and things would be more or less sensible,
Trouble is, some didn't pay attention, and some cultures are much, much less documented than others. For instance, due to numerous books published the Dwarven culture and the Drow culture have ample coverage, thus when you create a new game or story, if you are not paying attention, it is very easy to commit a "crime" when portraying these two races.
Other races, for instance, Sahuagin, are much less written about so, it is easier, but still there is some lore, beware.

As it is we have what we call the "crime" of lore infringement, on which BG3 is guilty of a few. Unfortunately, nowadays, that crime is mostly committed not for lack of knowledge of previous works, but for one shameful reason: Catering to certain political, modern Earth, agendas usually with the intent of being spoken of and thus, gather more potential buyers, the premise is: If the work, particularly if it is a game, is good, traditional buyers will still buy it in spite of those issues while it will add all the other buyers who wouldn't give a rat's ass for that game, but will now buy it for political reasons...

Given all this and trying to see the game through an Earthman's eyes you can say that, if you remove the magically powered stuff, BG3 set appears to be similar to Earth in the early stages of the Renaissance, perhaps XVIIth century, but with some anachronisms: gunpowder and yet no guns... large ships with triangular sails ONLY and no man-o-wars, mechanical water pumps which suggest some kind of engine behind them and no locomotion beyond animals.
Note: I am assuming the submarine is propelled by magical means and the robots, of course, are powered through magic, thus, they don't count.

[seandeven]

Originally posted by Jaeleth:

Originally posted by Flowery:

Lore. I wonder how the world map looks like for example.
In Witcher we know everything about world-politics just like in GoT/Song of Ice and Fire.

But all we know about the BG universe is there a big city called Baldur's Gate and that is all. Not that I miss anything more than this, I just wonder.

Ah... The trillion dollar question :)
The setting is Toril, Forgotten Realms, a planet that existed a long time ago in a far away galaxy...
Problem is the somewhat dis-organised or minimalist way FR lore was built throughout time.
Unlike Tolkien, who devised a world and a culture from ground up to the details of inventing whole new languages and grammar rules and on which setting you cannot change the colour of a flower without being accused of crimes against humanity (Hi RoP crew, we've a few scores to settle here boyz...), FR had, at the start, at most a couple of paragraphs to describe each race traits and a shoddy map...
Years passed and writters wrote books, creators designed adventure modules and (later) the programming crew stepped in and cRPG's were born, particularly BG1, BG2 and BG3.

Now, if they were all paying attention to the previous works, lore should've been built on top of existing, officially published, work and things would be more or less sensible,
Trouble is, some didn't pay attention, and some cultures are much, much less documented than others. For instance, due to numerous books published the Dwarven culture and the Drow culture have ample coverage, thus when you create a new game or story, if you are not paying attention, it is very easy to commit a "crime" when portraying these two races.
Other races, for instance, Sahuagin, are much less written about so, it is easier, but still there is some lore, beware.

As it is we have what we call the "crime" of lore infringement, on which BG3 is guilty of a few. Unfortunately, nowadays, that crime is mostly committed not for lack of knowledge of previous works, but for one shameful reason: Catering to certain political, modern Earth, agendas usually with the intent of being spoken of and thus, gather more potential buyers, the premise is: If the work, particularly if it is a game, is good, traditional buyers will still buy it in spite of those issues while it will add all the other buyers who wouldn't give a rat's ass for that game, but will now buy it for political reasons...

Given all this and trying to see the game through an Earthman's eyes you can say that, if you remove the magically powered stuff, BG3 set appears to be similar to Earth in the early stages of the Renaissance, perhaps XVIIth century, but with some anachronisms: gunpowder and yet no guns... large ships with triangular sails ONLY and no man-o-wars, mechanical water pumps which suggest some kind of engine behind them and no locomotion beyond animals.
Note: I am assuming the submarine is propelled by magical means and the robots, of course, are powered through magic, thus, they don't count.

The magical planet of Toril exists in current time.

Lore generally has been built on top of existing, officially published, works.
What are these "lore" crimes in BG#3....
I want to understand plural "lore" crimes.

"Traditional buyers" are always dying off making room for new buyers that doesn't change. Your tradition buyers ...what does that mean.

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by seandeven:

Originally posted by Jaeleth:

Ah... The trillion dollar question :)
The setting is Toril, Forgotten Realms, a planet that existed a long time ago in a far away galaxy...
Problem is the somewhat dis-organised or minimalist way FR lore was built throughout time.
Unlike Tolkien, who devised a world and a culture from ground up to the details of inventing whole new languages and grammar rules and on which setting you cannot change the colour of a flower without being accused of crimes against humanity (Hi RoP crew, we've a few scores to settle here boyz...), FR had, at the start, at most a couple of paragraphs to describe each race traits and a shoddy map...
Years passed and writters wrote books, creators designed adventure modules and (later) the programming crew stepped in and cRPG's were born, particularly BG1, BG2 and BG3.

Now, if they were all paying attention to the previous works, lore should've been built on top of existing, officially published, work and things would be more or less sensible,
Trouble is, some didn't pay attention, and some cultures are much, much less documented than others. For instance, due to numerous books published the Dwarven culture and the Drow culture have ample coverage, thus when you create a new game or story, if you are not paying attention, it is very easy to commit a "crime" when portraying these two races.
Other races, for instance, Sahuagin, are much less written about so, it is easier, but still there is some lore, beware.

As it is we have what we call the "crime" of lore infringement, on which BG3 is guilty of a few. Unfortunately, nowadays, that crime is mostly committed not for lack of knowledge of previous works, but for one shameful reason: Catering to certain political, modern Earth, agendas usually with the intent of being spoken of and thus, gather more potential buyers, the premise is: If the work, particularly if it is a game, is good, traditional buyers will still buy it in spite of those issues while it will add all the other buyers who wouldn't give a rat's ass for that game, but will now buy it for political reasons...

Given all this and trying to see the game through an Earthman's eyes you can say that, if you remove the magically powered stuff, BG3 set appears to be similar to Earth in the early stages of the Renaissance, perhaps XVIIth century, but with some anachronisms: gunpowder and yet no guns... large ships with triangular sails ONLY and no man-o-wars, mechanical water pumps which suggest some kind of engine behind them and no locomotion beyond animals.
Note: I am assuming the submarine is propelled by magical means and the robots, of course, are powered through magic, thus, they don't count.

The magical planet of Toril exists in current time.

Lore generally has been built on top of existing, officially published, works.
What are these "lore" crimes in BG#3....
I want to understand plural "lore" crimes.

"Traditional buyers" are always dying off making room for new buyers that doesn't change. Your tradition buyers ...what does that mean.

I think lore crimes what makes the lore inconsistent, logically flawed.

FR is like that. Also it does not help i would say that there are currently at least 2 different kind of Forgotten Realms that player use or understand.
The older version of 3.0-3.5 and the newer version of 5.0
And there are many things that are completely different or outright opposing to each other.
It is similar with Ravenloft. (Of which i know more)
Vlad the Impaler and his campaigns of conquer has been replaced by Vic and her facing a zombie apocalypse and so on. The 5th ed got so dumbed down and simplified, it really hurts. Some of the stuff added is actually quite stupid like the domain that destroys other domains?:D And so on. (My favourite idiocy is still the Psy using clerics of good replacing the Morninglordians...was like okay...someone overdozed on something:D)

[seandeven]

Originally posted by Nordil(Hun):

Originally posted by seandeven:

The magical planet of Toril exists in current time.

Lore generally has been built on top of existing, officially published, works.
What are these "lore" crimes in BG#3....
I want to understand plural "lore" crimes.

"Traditional buyers" are always dying off making room for new buyers that doesn't change. Your tradition buyers ...what does that mean.

I think lore crimes what makes the lore inconsistent, logically flawed.

FR is like that. Also it does not help i would say that there are currently at least 2 different kind of Forgotten Realms that player use or understand.
The older version of 3.0-3.5 and the newer version of 5.0
And there are many things that are completely different or outright opposing to each other.
It is similar with Ravenloft. (Of which i know more)
Vlad the Impaler and his campaigns of conquer has been replaced by Vic and her facing a zombie apocalypse and so on. The 5th ed got so dumbed down and simplified, it really hurts. Some of the stuff added is actually quite stupid like the domain that destroys other domains?:D And so on. (My favourite idiocy is still the Psy using clerics of good replacing the Morninglordians...was like okay...someone overdozed on something:D)

From what I read.
Editions change the lore. Yes, and I agree.
This is where the retcons and weird drow/orc debates arise. I blame Wotc more than anything Larian related.

Nothing in BG#3 is necessarily a lorebreak that I can tell, liberties.... sure.

[Lord Adorable]

It's set in the Forgotten Realms, a Dungeons & Dragons (1974) setting that's been around since 1987. About 4 or so years younger than the likes of Warhammer Fantasy.

[Ghost]

Originally posted by Lord Adorable:

It's set in the Forgotten Realms, a Dungeons & Dragons (1974) setting that's been around since 1987. About 4 or so years younger than the likes of Warhammer Fantasy.

As a sidenote, Forgotten Realms predates D&D (and the Chainmail system), originally being the setting for Greenwood's stories.

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by seandeven:

Originally posted by Nordil(Hun):

I think lore crimes what makes the lore inconsistent, logically flawed.

FR is like that. Also it does not help i would say that there are currently at least 2 different kind of Forgotten Realms that player use or understand.
The older version of 3.0-3.5 and the newer version of 5.0
And there are many things that are completely different or outright opposing to each other.
It is similar with Ravenloft. (Of which i know more)
Vlad the Impaler and his campaigns of conquer has been replaced by Vic and her facing a zombie apocalypse and so on. The 5th ed got so dumbed down and simplified, it really hurts. Some of the stuff added is actually quite stupid like the domain that destroys other domains?:D And so on. (My favourite idiocy is still the Psy using clerics of good replacing the Morninglordians...was like okay...someone overdozed on something:D)

From what I read.
Editions change the lore. Yes, and I agree.
This is where the retcons and weird drow/orc debates arise. I blame Wotc more than anything Larian related.

Nothing in BG#3 is necessarily a lorebreak that I can tell, liberties.... sure.

Yes i have probably just left out the main reason you mention, editions change the lore.

It depends thus greatly who the one that writes the new lore is.
In the previous versions you could feel how the person writing it had respect and love for the setting. In the newer version sometimes you outright feel that they did certain things just because they are fed up with the whole stuff or outright hate it. And that they tried to cut corners whereever possible.
But that is just the vibe i am getting:)

[seeker1]

Originally posted by Jaeleth:

Note: I am assuming the submarine is propelled by magical means and the robots, of course, are powered through magic, thus, they don't count.

Yeah, and tell me the medieval civilization that was capable of building an underwater prison with mechanical pumps. There's all the steampunk tech Gortash put in as defenses in Wrym's rock.... flamethrowers, landmines, and grenade launchers. Also, though there are no gunpowder firearms in the game, several 5E-lore-friendly mods can put them in. At a certain point, I guess, pretending away not just the magic but the anachronisms so you can make it fit an Earth time period, starts to get ... pointless.

Hence a thread I started on that very topic.

A lot of the monsters don't even come from medieval European mythology. Gary made them up or named them after plastic toys. Quite a few are from non-European/non-Western mythology, too. The illithids are based on HP Lovecraft. The githyanki were literally, originally, from outer space - not the Astral Plane. The nautiloid is a spaceship taken from Spelljammer. At least one creature in the game rangers can summon or druids can shapeshift into is a dinosaur. People see things that look like medieval Earth, WANT it to BE medieval Earth, and then when I keep pointing out it's a fantasy hodgepodge and always has been ... well ....

[harken23]

There's more lore written for the Forgotten Realms than just about any other fantasy universe, including Lord of the Rings.

[=M$= Oroberus]

Originally posted by Sentient_Toaster:

Sword Coast region of Faerun continent on the world Toril, within the Forgotten Realms setting. That particular region is very disproportionately the setting for adventures and is much better described in general.

https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/faerun-map
has a map of the Sword Coast area.

There's an unofficial "Forgotten Realms" wiki on Fandom, but be warned that there are no spoiler warnings about... uh, anything at all. Wandering around might spoil content in BG3, or any number of published adventures for the tabletop game, etc.

you forgot [...]mostly on the material plane[...] between Toril and Forgotten Realms but that's indeed a good summary regarding the 'where' it takes place