Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The New D&D Adventure Storyline Will Be Announced On June 2nd-3rd
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 7716127" data-attributes="member: 5100"><p>The above is all part of why I'm so vocal about not liking the Realms. When every published adventure defaults to at least starting in the Realms and the Realms is the only setting with anything approaching formal support (SCAG), not even 2 in 5 actually play in the Realms. That could mean any of three things:</p><p></p><p>1) There just isn't a market for published adventures, regardless of what setting they're in. If this is the case, then why bother with any setting, at all? Just throw them into some random, undefined march, like was often done in 1E.</p><p></p><p>2) There's a market for the adventures, but enough folks find the Realms unacceptable that they're willing to customize them to use elsewhere. Having attempted conversion of a couple of the adventures (PotA successfully, HotDQ, not so much), this is not a trivial undertaking and don't let anyone convince you otherwise. It's not necessarily an ordeal, but it's still a pretty strong statement.</p><p></p><p>3) The market for published settings is pretty small and it doesn't so much matter which setting as it does how much official support there is for it. WotC could just as easily have made Greyhawk the default setting for 5E and the published adventures would have sold just as well. The Realms is sort of the Kim Kardashian of D&D worlds: it's the most played because it's the most played.</p><p></p><p>Personally, I think it's a mix of all the above. Of the 38%, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it broken into three roughly even groups:</p><p></p><p>1) A subset who genuinely enjoy the specific character of the Realms. They're explicitly interested in the Realms being maintained and supported. Most of them are probably ticked that there isn't a 5E FRCS, yet. A significant number, maybe even a majority, would jump all over combined rules/setting core books where the Realms wasn't a side bar in the PHB, but called out throughout.</p><p></p><p>2) A portion that likes lore but isn't particularly attached to the Realms. Not every setting (e.g. Spelljammer, Dark Sun) would be able to float their boat, but they'd be just as happy with Greyhawk, Krynn, Mystarra, or even Eberron as the default/AL setting.</p><p></p><p>3) A group that's not particularly thrilled by using the Realms, but values some aspect of the "officialness" of it all. Maybe they just want published adventures and don't care at all what setting it is. Maybe it's something else. They might prefer to jump, but not without some promise of official 5E content.</p><p></p><p>Groups #2 and #3 are pretty firmly in either the "Kardashian" camp or are just completionists. They aren't really even worth considering in terms of which setting to publish. They'll probably buy whatever is produced. If they don't care for, say, Eberron, there's probably an alternate buyer waiting to fill the gap.</p><p></p><p>The real question, in my mind, is how much of the first group would switch loyalties to another setting vs. how many fans of other settings would step in to fill the gap. If, say, half of group #1 would switch (grudgingly or otherwise) to Eberron (just to be consistent with my example), then that means that the size of the dedicated, "from my cold, dead heads" fanbase for the Realms is roughly the same as for any other setting -- somewhere under 5% of the total player base.</p><p></p><p>The idea that the default setting has little-to-no impact on the overall success of the D&D game just smells right. I say the Realms has had a few good years as the preeminent D&D setting. Give the crown to another one for another 2-3 years.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Of all the alternate settings, if none see real first-party support, my hope is that they somehow open up Eberron so that Keith Baker can do more work on it. That could be DMs Guild, another license (Goodman, etc.), or whatever. Keith has been participating in an Eberron podcast for the past few months and clearly still has a love for the setting.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mercule, post: 7716127, member: 5100"] The above is all part of why I'm so vocal about not liking the Realms. When every published adventure defaults to at least starting in the Realms and the Realms is the only setting with anything approaching formal support (SCAG), not even 2 in 5 actually play in the Realms. That could mean any of three things: 1) There just isn't a market for published adventures, regardless of what setting they're in. If this is the case, then why bother with any setting, at all? Just throw them into some random, undefined march, like was often done in 1E. 2) There's a market for the adventures, but enough folks find the Realms unacceptable that they're willing to customize them to use elsewhere. Having attempted conversion of a couple of the adventures (PotA successfully, HotDQ, not so much), this is not a trivial undertaking and don't let anyone convince you otherwise. It's not necessarily an ordeal, but it's still a pretty strong statement. 3) The market for published settings is pretty small and it doesn't so much matter which setting as it does how much official support there is for it. WotC could just as easily have made Greyhawk the default setting for 5E and the published adventures would have sold just as well. The Realms is sort of the Kim Kardashian of D&D worlds: it's the most played because it's the most played. Personally, I think it's a mix of all the above. Of the 38%, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it broken into three roughly even groups: 1) A subset who genuinely enjoy the specific character of the Realms. They're explicitly interested in the Realms being maintained and supported. Most of them are probably ticked that there isn't a 5E FRCS, yet. A significant number, maybe even a majority, would jump all over combined rules/setting core books where the Realms wasn't a side bar in the PHB, but called out throughout. 2) A portion that likes lore but isn't particularly attached to the Realms. Not every setting (e.g. Spelljammer, Dark Sun) would be able to float their boat, but they'd be just as happy with Greyhawk, Krynn, Mystarra, or even Eberron as the default/AL setting. 3) A group that's not particularly thrilled by using the Realms, but values some aspect of the "officialness" of it all. Maybe they just want published adventures and don't care at all what setting it is. Maybe it's something else. They might prefer to jump, but not without some promise of official 5E content. Groups #2 and #3 are pretty firmly in either the "Kardashian" camp or are just completionists. They aren't really even worth considering in terms of which setting to publish. They'll probably buy whatever is produced. If they don't care for, say, Eberron, there's probably an alternate buyer waiting to fill the gap. The real question, in my mind, is how much of the first group would switch loyalties to another setting vs. how many fans of other settings would step in to fill the gap. If, say, half of group #1 would switch (grudgingly or otherwise) to Eberron (just to be consistent with my example), then that means that the size of the dedicated, "from my cold, dead heads" fanbase for the Realms is roughly the same as for any other setting -- somewhere under 5% of the total player base. The idea that the default setting has little-to-no impact on the overall success of the D&D game just smells right. I say the Realms has had a few good years as the preeminent D&D setting. Give the crown to another one for another 2-3 years. Of all the alternate settings, if none see real first-party support, my hope is that they somehow open up Eberron so that Keith Baker can do more work on it. That could be DMs Guild, another license (Goodman, etc.), or whatever. Keith has been participating in an Eberron podcast for the past few months and clearly still has a love for the setting. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The New D&D Adventure Storyline Will Be Announced On June 2nd-3rd
Top