What other settings should get the FR treatment?

[Shroomy]

I don't think that advancing Planescape's timeline by 1000 years actually changes anything. Factions come and go, various powers rise and fall, but to truely change Planescape you'd have to change the underlying philosophies.

The Unity of Rings, the Rule of Three, Center of the Multiverse and maybe the Blood War are the constants of Planescape. However, changing those completely changes Planescape to something that is not-Planescape.

So on one level, you could do a new Planescape, with all new factions and philosophies, but it's still the same old Planescape, if that makes any sense.

While the Blood War would be problematic, I've seen fan created interpretations of core Planescape assumptions using the 4e cosmology, and they seem pretty solid to me. However, ultimately, I think it is largely irrelevant as I expect WoTC to mine pre-4e cosmology and use bits and pieces they wanted (the appearance of Sigil in the DMG for example). I guess we'll see when the upcoming Manual of the Planes is released.

 

[Hussar]

I don't think that advancing Planescape's timeline by 1000 years actually changes anything. Factions come and go, various powers rise and fall, but to truely change Planescape you'd have to change the underlying philosophies.

The Unity of Rings, the Rule of Three, Center of the Multiverse and maybe the Blood War are the constants of Planescape. However, changing those completely changes Planescape to something that is not-Planescape.

So on one level, you could do a new Planescape, with all new factions and philosophies, but it's still the same old Planescape, if that makes any sense.

I guess it depends on what you see as the "core" of a setting. To me, Planescape is the wahoo setting where PC's interact with gods and demons, walk side by side with all manner of beings, and have adventures which have cosmic consequences.

The specifics of that - like the Blood War - are just window dressing that can be changed easily while keeping that core.

Heck you could use 3e events to advance the setting:

With the death of Demogorgon, the Abyss was rent assunder. First came the waves of Obyrith lords and their servants, tearing at the very fabric of the multiverse. But, that wasn't the worse. After the Obyriths, came the Primordials. Then the war truly began.

None know for how long the war raged, after all what is time but another dimension and all the Great Wheel was sundered in the conflict. In some realms, only an eyeblink passed, while in others, an eternity...

There, two paragraphs, I've changed Planescape to fit 4e cosmology. Turn that into a 200 page book and you're done.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

I guess it depends on what you see as the "core" of a setting. To me, Planescape is the wahoo setting where PC's interact with gods and demons, walk side by side with all manner of beings, and have adventures which have cosmic consequences.

The problem with your entire post is that I think 99% of all Planescape fans would dispute you on this.

 

[GSHamster]

I guess it depends on what you see as the "core" of a setting. To me, Planescape is the wahoo setting where PC's interact with gods and demons, walk side by side with all manner of beings, and have adventures which have cosmic consequences.

Maybe. I've always seen Planescape as "philosophers with clubs", and that's what separates Planescape from "adventuring on the outer planes." (This is something which Planescape: Torment absolutely nailed.)

 

[Keefe the Thief]

I know it´ll never happen, but i would really like to see both a reprint of the old Planescape status quo before Faction War, and a 100 year time jump "fit it into the 4e cosmology."
I hate canon with the fires of 1000 suns myself, because it creates stale and rigid settings, so if i would be forced to choose, i would take the reimagined setting. After all, i highly doubt that a "stay canon" setting could reach the quality of the old boxed sets. So, WotC: smash and rearrange, please.

 

[Gansk]

As far as resetting a campaign back to zero, I think this would be absolute suicide for a game company. If you do this you have only two options:

1. Take the campaign back to the beginning - keep everything that happened in the previous timeline as canon - essentially reprint all of the old material, but updated for your new system - and then have everybody play back through events that are already written in stone.

2. Take the campaign back to the beginning, and then start anew - creating new history and events (a complete retcon and re-envisioning).

The problem with #1 is very few people enjoy running campaigns and adventures where they have no control over major events (as has been said by a lot of people on these forums - example: FR Avatar Crisis adventures). I just don't see how a game company could make adequate revenue off this approach.

The problem with #2 is, if fans feel abandoned and betrayed when a campaign world is updated, imagine the feelings if their favorite campaign, the one for which they have a library of source material, is completely retconned, absolutely invalidating their library of "canon" materials. I don't see how a game company could make any revenue off this aproach.

I'm not a Greyhawk scholar, but I think there is a long historical period between the Twin Cataclysms and the formation of the current kingdoms that would not have any "major events", as you put it. I think a Star Wars style tie-in could work in this instance. Greyhawk fans would recognize the races and world geography, but the rest could be a blank palette to incorporate 4e.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

As for time jumps go; why does it have to be into the future??

This would be the only way I'd be at all interested in some setting revivals (at least if the options were limited to 1) Jump forward or 2) jump backwards), particularly Mystara.

If they were to try and do a 4E FR with Mystara, I don't think I'd be terribly interested. I'd have to see who/what the creative team they came up with was, but I'd much prefer if they did something in the past of that world, perhaps around the time of the Alphatian Landfall, or the first Alphatian/Thyatian conflict (AC 0); that could be a really interesting time frame to explore.

 

[CountPopeula]

I think no matter how they handle the remaining settings, since they're only going to do three books for each of them, they need to be boiled down to their essence. This wasn't done for Forgotten Realms. Although one could argue FR doesn't have much of an essence, what set the FR apart, mostly, was that Greyhawk assumed (for argument's sake, at least) a lower magic level, FR was high magic all the way. Eberron has sort of taken high magic to a new level, leaving FR as sort of... generic fantasy with Elminster.

Other settings have their own flavor to be encapsulated. Dark Sun is gritty, psionic, dune-like. Eberron is high adventure, high magic, fairly modern and cosmopolitan, like Final Fantasy. Spelljammer is like pirates of the carribean in space Ravenloft is gothic horror, and so on. They shouldn't be shoehorned to the PoL thing if they don't fit (I think Dark Sun and Ravenloft would fit, but Eberron and Birthright not so much.)

You've made this new system, now show me how to use it outside of "Points of light in the darkness." If every campaign has that central design with different set dressings, why am I paying $100 for each one?

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

I wonder how many changes could be in Mystara. That should be an interesting world with lots of lots of changes. This world has not been updated from the first edition I guess. One good idea is the war for independence of the Tralderians vs. Karamaikus

I’m not sure how many political changes can be in Ravenloft, all there is to do is create new domain and change the rulers of existing ones.

Greyhawk should be great, there are several changes that I though of doing. One of them is – Iuz opened a gate to the abyss and demons, leaded by Gratz or Fraz Urb Lu sweep the human lands. Turosh-Mak takes over the Ulek nations by force and new war is on the threshold.

 

[Ginnel]

I tend to look at these things in a more pragmatic way rather than emotional, they could redo any setting they liked and do anything they want with it, I wouldn't be shouting "that isn't [name of setting or game]" and raising pitchforks to the sky and then making snide comments about the new version whenever I can, because I still have the version of the setting that I prefer.

Side note:
I'm messing about with the idea of a bunch of powerful elementals called primordials gathering against the forces of the Gods and the rest of the multiverse waging war and the end result of this is (throwing a few of the uber titans in) the 4e universe being created (players would get to save aspects/become gods etc throughout this process), with The Lady protecting Sigil by locking it up.