Why I feel so abysmally let down by the "Ravnica" news...

[Jester David]

That being the case, don't you think that means such options are likely to be more beneficial for your homebrew in the long run? Doesn't having to think outside your comfort zone and preferred tropes provide more creative fodder, not less? Isn't the process of trying to accomodate unexpected elements a net gain, creatively?

Maybe.
Maybe not.
There's no guarantee. I have enough humanoid creatures in my world, so I don't need any beyond the regular pool of expected D&D races. I don't need to tack-on hedgehog or lemur people.
Subclasses can be hit or miss. I'm spending $50 on the chance the content will work. And I know very little of the flavour will work.

 

[Henry]

Carvorite, from H G Wells 1st Men in the Moon, is a magical power source for flying vehicles from a novel that is undoubtedly steampunk.


It doesn't have to be powered by steam in order to be Steampunk.


The John Carter stories are often classed as Steampunk, even though it's flying ships are powered by magic. Or if you want something contemporary, The Aeronaut's Windlass (Jim Butcher) is classed as Steampunk by Amazon, but features magic-powered flying ships.

Star Wars is classified as Sci-Fi by many people — it doesn’t make them right. As a fan of Star Wars, it usually has me yelling for no sane reason, “IT’S SCIENCE FANTASY!!!”

 

[MoonSong]

Hiya!

Don't buy it. Or at least wait a couple months. By buying it outright you are saying "Thank you Sir, may I please have some more?" and holding out your wooden bowl for more gruel simply because you are a bit peckish.

I'm not buying either...but that's par for the course for me. I have the Starter Box set, PHB, MM, DMG. That's it. Haven't bought a single 5e product since...because nothing has appealed to me enough. Ravnica and Ebberon are much the same. I have no illusions; I doubt I will ever get anything 5e related...too bad. Oh well, still having fun playing with the core books anyway.


PS: Planescape was cool...but the "lingo" completely and utterly makes it totally unreadable and unpalatable to me. YMMV. Ebberon? If I want something steam-punk'ish, I'll play Iron Kingdoms. Ravnica? Not interested in the least. Again, I'll just play Star Wars (WEG d6 version) or some other sci-fi game...if I want a big endless city, I'll go with Vornheim. Nothing they are putting out is "new" or "interesting"...it's all "been there, done that". But Hollywood is on the same line..."Well, Product X did really good 20 years ago...lets do that, but diversify it! We can't loose!" :rolleseyes:

^_^

Paul L. Ming

Too bad, sorry sorry for ruining your boycot, but I can't resist it, I'm so getting the Ravnica book on day one, I've wanted something like that for a LONG time, please sir more gruel, more gruel.

(The Eberron pdf, I'll just wait until it is complete and I can get it POD. If SAO Abridged taught me anything, is never pay for open Beta)

 

[MoonSong]

I was very surprised by the Ravnica announcement, mainly because I think ENWorld is a top forum for "hardcore" D&D fans and I don't remember anyone seriously asking or wishing for this setting to be supported.

I... did, a few years back. Never seriously expected it would happen though. But I've been wishing for this for a long time. (I wonder if that makes me no one)

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe.
Maybe not.
There's no guarantee. I have enough humanoid creatures in my world, so I don't need any beyond the regular pool of expected D&D races. I don't need to tack-on hedgehog or lemur people.
Subclasses can be hit or miss. I'm spending $50 on the chance the content will work. And I know very little of the flavour will work.

To be fair, there will likely be fairly little fluff, much crunch, as this is a publishing companion to Wyatt's Art book, which is a rules agnostic setting guide focused on fluff. Somewhere north if XGtE in fluff, but more rul s oriented. Apparently, mostly monsters.

 

[Reynard]

Maybe.
Maybe not.
There's no guarantee. I have enough humanoid creatures in my world, so I don't need any beyond the regular pool of expected D&D races. I don't need to tack-on hedgehog or lemur people.
Subclasses can be hit or miss. I'm spending $50 on the chance the content will work. And I know very little of the flavour will work.

I think setting books generally have a lot more to offer than a few pages of race and spell crunch, even to dedicated homebrewers. They tend to frame ideas from a particular perspective and in so doing present ideas I probably had not considered or at least had not considered in that specific way. There are always things worth stealing in a settting book, IMO. Now, of course that doesn't mean the amount of yoinkable material is worth the cover price, and people should certainly gauge worth on their own metrics, but outright dismissing things before seeing them (or reading reviews) seems a terrible waste of potential.

 

[Jester David]

To be fair, there will likely be fairly little fluff, much crunch, as this is a publishing companion to Wyatt's Art book, which is a rules agnostic setting guide focused on fluff. Somewhere north if XGtE in fluff, but more rul s oriented. Apparently, mostly monsters.

I hope not. Settings that don't give any actual lore on the setting are a waste.

I think setting books generally have a lot more to offer than a few pages of race and spell crunch, even to dedicated homebrewers. They tend to frame ideas from a particular perspective and in so doing present ideas I probably had not considered or at least had not considered in that specific way. There are always things worth stealing in a settting book, IMO. Now, of course that doesn't mean the amount of yoinkable material is worth the cover price, and people should certainly gauge worth on their own metrics, but outright dismissing things before seeing them (or reading reviews) seems a terrible waste of potential.

But, again, the amount of "yoinkable material" should be comparable, regardless of the setting. Ravnica should offer as much as Eberron or Dark Sun or Hollow World in that respect.

The difference is no one is playing a Ravnica game right now. But some people are likely playing in existing settings and would have benefited from an official update.

So much of 5e is founded on nostalgia. Introducing new players to classic elements of D&D. Creating a shared framework for stories and bridging the generations. That's the whole point behind Tales from the Yawning Portal.
So why not do the same with a campaign or two?

 

[robus]

Star Wars is classified as Sci-Fi by many people — it doesn’t make them right. As a fan of Star Wars, it usually has me yelling for no sane reason, “IT’S SCIENCE FANTASY!!!”

Err, I think you mean Space Opera!

 

[robus]

To be fair, there will likely be fairly little fluff, much crunch, as this is a publishing companion to Wyatt's Art book, which is a rules agnostic setting guide focused on fluff. Somewhere north if XGtE in fluff, but more rul s oriented. Apparently, mostly monsters.

I wonder if the art books will continue after this? The Ravnica book is most likely full of art from the cards + plane shift style crunch.

 

[cbwjm]

I think if I was going to be disappointed it would be if they said one of the releases was spelljammer or Greyhawk. I consider both of those settings as incredibly boring or outside what I want in a DnD game. Even Eberron is more a case of what can I mine for ideas. Ravnica, however, is probably the first 5e release that I have looked forward to more than usual. Finally something new being added instead of another old setting rehashed for the current edition. Don't get me wrong, I have my favourite settings that I would like to see updated, but I much prefer this 50/50 split as the release model. Give us something old updated to the new edition but give us something new and interesting at the same time.