The setting of Dungeons and Dragons, known as the Forgotten Realms, is incredibly vast. While many campaigns that take place in the Forgotten Realms are centered on the Sword Coast, the setting itself offers a wider continent and several other planes of existence. Such a massive setting can become overwhelming, even within campaigns that take place over hundreds of hours. One of the ways that stories like Baldur's Gate 3 manage this is through focusing on a small area, while bringing in lore from other parts of the world.

Narrowing the setting down to just a small portion of the Sword Coast can make the world feel more manageable, and has the added benefit of space to give justice to those smaller settings. Both Baldur's Gate 3 and Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves do this well, as they're set in small regions of the Sword Coast, while also hinting at the wider world beyond the scope of the story being told.

Baldurs Gate 3 - Best Companions in the Game
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Baldur's Gate 3's Use of Setting

Baldur's Gate 3 is set in several places across its three acts: the Risen Road and Emerald Grove, the Shadow Cursed Lands, and Baldur's Gate. The Emerald Grove is roughly a tenday walk from Baldur's Gate, with the Shadow Cursed Lands and Mountain Pass between them. Act One also sees a diversion to the Underdark, a network of underground caverns and tunnels that run beneath the Risen Road and the Shadow Cursed Lands. Access to Baldur's Gate is limited to the Lower City and the sewers, with the Upper City out of bounds.

However, Baldur's Gate 3's worldbuilding and lore is designed in a way that communicates that the setting exists in a far larger world, so that even newcomers to the franchise have an understanding of the setting's scope. After seeing the Hells in the opening cutscenes of Baldur's Gate 3, the tieflings in Act One refer to their exile from Elturel, a city that was dragged into the Hells. The road that goes towards the Mountain Pass also has a sign that points to Elturel, which gives geographical context to players despite the lack of a world map.

The Planes and Setting in Honor Among Thieves

Other Planes in Baldur's Gate 3

Other planes are also referred to, even if they aren't visited. Lae'zel speaks of the Astral Plane in dialogue, and it's possible to visit the House of Hope in Act Three. The House of Hope has a room filled with portals to other planes and, while they can't be visited, it gives an indication of the scale of the setting. Because the areas depicted in Baldur's Gate 3 are massive and take tens of hours to explore, that they're still a fraction of the wider map of the Sword Coast alone conveys the scale of the world.

Honor Among Thieves takes place in a different region of the Sword Coast, namely the very far North. Settings of note include the city of Neverwinter and the Underdark. Like Baldur's Gate 3, Honor Among Thieves also brings in lore from other parts of Faerun, such as Thay. The story focuses on its core setting and characters, but the references to other parts of Faerun make the world seem larger and include references that Dungeons and Dragons fans can spot. These references aren't so complex that they alienate first-time viewers who are unfamiliar with the setting, and the plot doesn't concern itself with making the matter too complicated; rather, they just feel like a natural part of the world.