D&D specifically has always been low effort mass market shite, started by just adding Lord of the Rings to a wargame, and expanded by slapping on whatever popular fantasy they can find. The settings largely exist to accomodate very basic stories of goodies and baddies fighting it out without concern for existing in a larger world.
With older editions there were a decent set of mechanics underlying it - not great, but good enough - so you could throw out almost all of the default lore and make a decent setting yourself, but 5e doesn't even have that, so I'll recommend basically any other TTRPG over it.