D&D 4E Default setting for 4E?

[grimwell]

Since the DMG is off limits for players (especially for newbloods), it wouldn't help them. A sample pantheon in the Player's Handbook, on the other hand, will show them what to expect from the cleric class, even if the pantheon is later changed. The same holds true for tons of other aspect of the game.

I guess my point was that every game requires someone to be the DM, and the DM is going to pick up the DMG so the information being in the DMG as a training tool would allow the DM to then communicate with the players and explain the details. If you put a Deity in the PHB, you are going to have a player who wants to follow that path, and if you don't allow it you are creating a disappointment (especially for people new to the game).

Far better for the player to read about the cleric, see all the class features, including domains (I'm just going to use 3.5E terms for simplicity) and see a description that includes a line reading "Each cleric will have two of the following domains, depending on their faith. Check with your Dungeon Master to find out what faiths are available in your game."

You can encourage the relationship between the DM as a world designer, and the player as an active participant in that world.

"Your choices are cool Dave, but I was really hoping to play a cleric who focused on growing flowers and dancing and had the Herbalizer and Entertainer domains... can we work something out?" (humor intentional).

 

[Nightfall]

Scarred Lands!

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Forgotten Relams fan here. I have to say that while 4E is going to come out, it shouldn't be Eberron of FR. I should justly be Greyhawk. I say this because that setting is vanilla as can be and interesting at the same time.

As per the format, I believe there should be 3 or 4 Player's Manuals. 1 for the Basics, 1 for Expanded Divine Info, 1 for expanded Arcane info and possibly another for expanded Psionics info.

 

[blargney the second]

What I'd like to see is a PHB that has no setting info at all. Then for each setting that will be supported, they release a Player's Guide to X that only contains info any character could have access to right off the bat. Rather like the Player's Guide to Ptolus.

 

[The Human Target]

As the default setting, it has to be. GH has always been the default setting (or almost always).

If the default setting isn't vanilla, it will colour the corerules and change the tone of the game. And that would be very bad, as it would be more difficult to do other game worlds with it. Different game worlds was always one of D&D's greatest strengths. Without it, it might cease to be the most popular game.

I'm coming at it from a standpoint of interest. Greyhawk bores me. Many of my gaming friends love it to death, but can come up with no explanations for this love beyond it being "a classic" and "real D&D."

 

[Masquerade]

And why is that, precisely?

*just curious*

Maybe it's just me, but, as someone raised in the 90's, vanilla fantasy feels very 70's. ^_^ I find the flashiness of Eberron very appealing. If WotC is indeed aiming for a new generation of gamers with the new edition, they may think the same way.

 

[The Human Target]

Ting is, there is more the implied setting than just deities. There is quite a lot of cultural material embedded in the races - are all elves really skilled with longswords and longbows? Of course, much of this implied culture comes from Greyhawk, so logically Greyhawk becomes the default setting. The alternative is to call out cultural elements from races and offer some example cultures. That's trickier than it sounds.

Non-setting specific D&D would take quite some development work...

This is also a huge point. The base rules for D&D assume a LOT of information to be true in all game worlds. And this information is Greyhawk standard. It even makes assumptions about the hair and eye colors of the races.

In Eberron, dwarves still get a racial bonus againts giants. Even though the giants and the dwarves of Eberron have had little to no contact with each other ever.

 

[RogueTom]

Known World/Mystra

FR has too much of a history and flavor of its own to be basic world

Eberron has too much of the weird, add on, sci fi, stuff (ie robots and psionics)

Grayhawk has been ruined by the "living" GH crowd

I believe there needs to be a base setting - implied in the core books and a base structure for given in a 5th "core book" [Introduction/Primer, PH, DMG, MM, Setting Basics]

And while I think the three above mentioned could and should be able to be profitably supported in their own right the core world should be a revamped Known World/Mystra with the generic name "Known World" so that DMs could use it as a base expand it to their liking and rename it to what ever fits their flavor. It should be generic "vanilla" fantasy - a single continent the size of say Europe with a base Medieval European flavor with Magical overlay.

 

[Ranger REG]

I do not think there should be any default setting.

Meh. That's like buying your state's driver's manual without a vehicle.

 

[Nightfall]

Just because...

It's (yes you guessed it) Scarred Lands!