D&D 5E Mearls on other settings

JeffB · Jul 4, 2017

I know many people see Bruce Heard as "the" known world/mystara guy but I never cared much for his expansions/revisions. One thing that really saddens me is the loss of Tom Moldvay as he is one of my all time faves of D&D royalty. I would have loved to see him produce stuff for the OSR, and him and el-jay-ess getting back together to do the original Known World. That I would buy, no matter edition.

Inchoroi · Jul 4, 2017

I'd buy a Dark Sun setting guide + short 1-5 adventure in a heartbeat...not so much the other settings, however. I have fond memories of Dark Sun, not so much the other settings, so I'd only be buying it for nostalgia value. My current players wouldn't like Dark Sun; two of them would kill to play War of the Lance in 5e, but that's only because they got their introduction to the game via that decades ago. I've run it and played it from 2e, but I don't think I'd ever run it again. My personal tastes have changed, and my current group's tastes are different, and are incompatible with that sort of campaign (the story-driven linear sort of thing).

They crave the sandbox more than anything, now. It works, because it fills me with joy that, my last sandbox campaign, they're still talking about a year later. They still have their character sheets with them every game.

gyor · Jul 4, 2017

gweinel said:
Exactly this. This is the reason why i think dmsguild alone is not the solution for the other settings. It must be something more. I don't know what will be, but i think wizards will cover all the other setting with one "stroke" and supplementary will open the ip in dmsguild

I'm curious as to what you think that one stroke will be?

Staffan · Jul 4, 2017

gyor said:
I'm curious as to what you think that one stroke will be?

I'm not the person you were asking, but I would not be surprised in the least if next year's November release was a "guide to the multiverse" sort of thing with short introductions of various settings and their mechanical uniquenesses, followed by opening those settings up for the DM's Guild.

Sadras · Jul 4, 2017

JeffB said:
I know many people see Bruce Heard as "the" known world/mystara guy but I never cared much for his expansions/revisions. One thing that really saddens me is the loss of Tom Moldvay as he is one of my all time faves of D&D royalty. I would have loved to see him produce stuff for the OSR, and him and el-jay-ess getting back together to do the original Known World. That I would buy, no matter edition.

Moldvay co-created the setting, wrote D&D basic and co-authored Isle of Dread.
I believe a greater contributor to Mystara/Known World in terms of content was Aaron Allston.

Sadly both of these greats have passed on which leaves us with Bruce Heard and this then predominantly because of Gaz 3 and Voyage of the Princess Ark. He is by default 'the' Mystara/Known World guy now. Although the collective fanbase from the Pandius pages and the Threshold magazine are really the ones who are carrying the torch.

Ath-kethin · Jul 4, 2017

Sadras said:
Moldvay co-created the setting, wrote D&D basic and co-authored Isle of Dread.
I believe a greater contributor to Mystara/Known World in terms of content was Aaron Allston.

Sadly both of these greats have passed on which leaves us with Bruce Heard and this then predominantly because of Gaz 3 and Voyage of the Princess Ark. He is by default 'the' Mystara/Known World guy now. Although the collective fanbase from the Pandius pages and the Threshold magazine are really the ones who are carrying the torch.

Heard was the Basic D&D brand manager through the 80s and early 90s. The entire Gazetteer series, as well as the Rules Cyclopedia, was done under his direction. If we were going to put Mystara in on person's hands, I'd vote for Heard all the way.

Hell, he even tried to buy the rights to the Known World from WotC a few years back but they wouldn't sell. On his blog he kept publishing expansions for the Known World right up until he gave up trying to get the right, and then he developed Calidar as a sort of spiritual kin to the setting.

Sadras · Jul 4, 2017

Ath-kethin said:
Heard was the Basic D&D brand manager through the 80s and early 90s. The entire Gazetteer series, as well as the Rules Cyclopedia, was done under his direction. If we were going to put Mystara in on person's hands, I'd vote for Heard all the way.

So would I, his Gaz 3 and even Gaz 10 were phenomenal. I didn't realise he was the brand manager, thought Allston would have been given the published content he created. That is my bad for assuming.

Hell, he even tried to buy the rights to the Known World from WotC a few years back but they wouldn't sell.

That I'm aware of. Pity they didn't say yes.

On his blog he kept publishing expansions for the Known World right up until he gave up trying to get the right, and then he developed Calidar as a sort of spiritual kin to the setting.

And I have supported everyone of his Calidar kickstarters

EDIT: Not bashing Heard, just stating that Moldvay (creator) and Allston (massive content contributor) have passed on. Heard is all that is left out of the trio.

JeffB · Jul 4, 2017

Sadras said:
Moldvay co-created the setting, wrote D&D basic and co-authored Isle of Dread.
I believe a greater contributor to Mystara/Known World in terms of content was Aaron Allston.

Sadly both of these greats have passed on which leaves us with Bruce Heard and this then predominantly because of Gaz 3 and Voyage of the Princess Ark. He is by default 'the' Mystara/Known World guy now. Although the collective fanbase from the Pandius pages and the Threshold magazine are really the ones who are carrying the torch.

Maybe you misunderstood my post. At the point where it was being expanded (whether Aaron or Bruce) is the point where I stopped enjoying the setting and don't care for it. Gazzetters and beyond. That's not "The Known World", to me. I would want Tom and LJS to expand on the setting as originally presented 1981-1983 working from their original material..the-known-world-dd-setting-a-secret-history/.

Ath-kethin · Jul 4, 2017

Sadras said:
That I'm aware of. Pity they didn't say yes.

. . . I have supported everyone of his Calidar kickstarters

EDIT: Not bashing Heard, just stating that Moldvay (creator) and Allston (massive content contributor) have passed on. Heard is all that is left out of the trio.

If you poke around a little bit, you can find Heard writing about his time at TSR. He started out as a French translator and things just kind of snowballed for him. It's an interesting story.

Allston was only ever a freelancer as far as I'm aware, though Moldvay of course had enormously more of an impact on Mystara. Since Heard was in charge of the line, his "Princess Ark" stories literally expanded the canon of the setting month by month as he came up with stuff, and were a hoot to read to boot. Sind, Hule, the Savage Coast, and all the western lands of Mystara came from him.

I'm a bit of a Bruce Heard fan, if it isn't obvious. His notes and commentary alongside the Princess Ark and Known World Grimoire articles are priceless.

Sadras · Jul 4, 2017

JeffB said:
Maybe you misunderstood my post. At the point where it was being expanded (whether Aaron or Bruce) is the point where I stopped enjoying the setting and don't care for it. Gazzetters and beyond. That's not "The Known World", to me. I would want Tom and LJS to expand on the setting as originally presented 1981-1983 working from their original material..the-known-world-dd-setting-a-secret-history/.

Thanks for the link. Bookmarked the page. Interesting read

D&D 5E Mearls on other settings

JeffB

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Inchoroi

Adventurer

gyor

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Staffan

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Sadras

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Ath-kethin

Elder Thing

Sadras

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JeffB

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Ath-kethin

Elder Thing

Sadras

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