Nobody but existing hobbyists cares about the mechanics.
False. Nobody except existing hobbyists cares enough to directly care about the mechanics. WoW blew Everquest out of the water because the mechanical underpinnings were much better.
WotC cares about them to the exclusion of other things because it no longer has a framework to support creative initiatives outside of raw game design. People want to play heroes in imaginary worlds. WotC has no idea how to make the play experience jibe with imagining heroes doing things, and no particular ability to develop worlds in which they can dwell.
False. The way you make the play experience work with imagining heroes doing things is by providing a superb play experience - and that comes from the
mechanics.
It's okay though; every other company is failing in the same way. This is because online feedback and internal research hugely favours results that can be tied to an unambiguous causal chain.
No. It's because financial research hugely favours things that sell. And people only ever play in one setting at a time. Heavy development of a setting is a loss-maker. Which is one of the things that destroyed TSR.
That's what concentration on game systems provides. It's sad because development of imaginary spaces to work with from several angles was something RPG companies were good at, but they've forgotten lessons learned and even hold them in contempt.
The lessons they've learned are that you don't want to follow TSR to its grave with warehouses full of inventory worth $0.00
This also applies in electronic gaming. I've seen numerous projects go South simply because "fluff" was seen as subordinate -- a necessary evil to make a game comprehensible. Funny thing is that leading IPs do take this stuff seriously. That's why Star Wars has Leland Chee for instance -- and of course, he's doing a job based on root concepts wrangled into a universe by an RPG company. Sad to see we've lost the ability to do what we pioneered. This is especially apparent in D&D.
D&D 4e? You mean the game where the mechanics now support the fluff of everyone being larger than life rather than linear fighter, quadratic wizard? The game where wizards are no longer tied to the Vancian model? The game where you can have a fight against 20 orcs at once without it being silly?
Now the thing is that fluff made impossible by the rules is just
annoying. Fluff supported by the rules is wonderful. And the two need to be written hand in hand. And in 4e they are. It's especially ironic that 4e is a better representation of Dark Sun, what with mechanics such as survival, preserving/defiling, and weapon breakage, than 2e ever was. This despite the fact that Dark Sun was supposedly written for 2e.
The hot upcoming setting for D&D is almost 20 years old.
The Nentir Vale? Check your timelines. I think you mean the hot new setting (i.e. Darksun). And you say that as if it actually means something.
I very much doubt that WoTC is unable to write settings. Because it has four damn good ones out there. (PoLand, Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Athas - and Sigil come to think of it). And I am prepared to bet that one developer of D&D out of every two has their own setting which has not been published. So probably does one DM out of every two (more if you count all the contradictory Nentir Vales). And this makes publishing yet another new setting a vanity project unless it adds something to the game. The sort of vanity project that destroyed TSR (well, that, and more vanity projects like DragonDice, needlepoint, etc.) It's a vanity project because everyone wants to do one - and most people want to use their own.
So when is it good to publish a new setting? When the new setting fundamentally expands the game? With 4e first we had a barely mapped setting to explore, with a post-collapse society. So what couldn't you do there? Large benevolent organisations and large scale clashes of good against evil? Well, that's one. So the Realms becomes our second setting. So what sort of stories can't be told between those two settings? Large scale moral ambiguity, merchant houses that can bring down kingdoms, uncertain deities? Everyone slightly morally grey, and there being a price for everything? Eberron. So now what haven't we covered? A gritty setting. Post apocalyptic fantasy. Everyone is
ed. not only are there no good guys, there are few people trying to be good. And here comes Dark Sun.
What should the next setting for WoTC be? I don't know. But if they bring one out, it should be one that fundamentally expands the range of situations and stories to be told. Each setting is carefully chosen to expand the game and make the whole thing deeper and richer. And that way it is useful to all the amateur worldbuilders in the way that adding a tenth kitchen sink setting wouldn't be.
Which is a world away from the TSR-style approach you seem to be advocating. "Of course we'll publish your new setting, Jim. Bill, Fred, Joe. Work on supplements for it. Who cares if they sell?"
That said, I want a cities, towns, and villiages sourcebook if possible. (Of course I own A Magical Medaeval City Guide, so that will do). Because after 3e books like Secrets of Sarlonia or whatever the nth Realms book was, WoTC are dialling back. Not because they couldn't put more out. But because 90% of their audience aren't even in the market for Secrets of Sarlonia or The Frozen North of the Forgotten Realms. Whereas Martial Power 2 is something people might buy.
