Setting Junkies - How do you get your fix these days?

[Mercurius]

I've never been one to use published settings (half the fun I get from D&D is making my own) but is the basic premise of the OP correct? There are only many settings published for 4E so far but the "settings per year" doesn't seem that out of whack to me. Is 4E really light on new settings?

Well they haven't published any truly new settings in years, but in terms of "new" as in "new to 4E", then the rate itself isn't lower than previously, I think. We've had the FR in 2008, Eberron in 2009, Dark Sun in 2010, and Neverwinter in 2011, not to mention the Shadowfell and possibly Nentir Vale coming up as well. The only one of those that could be considered "new" is Nentir Vale, and the gazetteer has either been postponed or canceled; I suppose Shadowfell could be considered new in that I don't think Gloomwrought has been detailed before.

But my point is less about the number of different settings that WotC is publishing and more about A) the number of setting sourcebooks being published, and B) the number of D&D-related settings as a whole, including other publishers. Other than PDFs, the only non-WotC 4E setting that I can think of is Amethyst, which is science fantasy, and of course Golarion which is the new big kitchen sink setting. But if you go back to the 3.x days, you had WotC supporting two major settings, the Forgotten Realms and Eberron, with new supplements coming out a few times a year for each, as well as various other "mini-setting" books like Ghostwalk. In the 90s you had half a dozen settings that they supported to various degrees. Now they take a "three and out" approach.

Stepping back to the big picture, I'd really like to know the paper RPG demographics and whether any let-up in settings is more due to fewer gamers than new systems.

You and everyone else! I honestly don't understand why a serious, professional demographic study hasn't been done. I'm sure WotC has done their own but if they have, they aren't sharing (at least not since the "Dancey Report" of 11 years ago). All we know is that there many more D&D players in the 80s than there are now and that D&D reached a low-point in the late 90s, resurged with 3E in the early 2000s, and is probably a bit lower now.

 

[Mercurius]

I'm snorting Shadowrun.

I've never been a huge fan (or detractor, just indifferent) but I couldn't resist the Sixth World Almanac, which I picked up on Ebay for $15 including shipping.

I don't. But then I find most settings boring, so I don't read them.

Thanks for sharing. By the way, this thread was specific addressed to "setting junkies." Thanks for stopping by

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Thanks for sharing. By the way, this thread was specific addressed to "setting junkies." Thanks for stopping by

1. I thought "setting junkie" was being counted here as a mental state.

2. I was being honest and not dismissive of anyone else or otherwise being mean. I don't think your response was called for.

 

[Mercurius]

1. I thought "setting junkie" was being counted here as a mental state.

2. I was being honest and not dismissive of anyone else or otherwise being mean. I don't think your response was called for.

I don't want to derail the thread but I'll use this as an opportunity to clarify the term (again): I'm using "setting junky" to mean a fan of RPG settings and, as I said above, someone who purchases and collects settings just for reading enjoyment or idea-mining, not necessarily in-game use. For example, I am a setting junky because I purchase and collect RPG settings, even though I use a homebrew in my own game. I love world-building, I love fantasy (and sf) worlds, but I prefer to create my own than run a pre-made one. But I also love reading about and collecting other worlds.

I took your initial post to mean that you aren't a setting junky, which is why I responded as I did. It seemed odd that you even replied in this thread; it would be like me stopping in on a thread about horror RPGs and saying "I haven't bought any recent books, but then again I don't like horror rpgs." I mean, what's the point?

Or are you saying saying that you are a setting junky but you just don't like many settings?

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Or are you saying saying that you are a setting junky but you just don't like many settings?

Actually yes, I do like to read settings for enjoyment but just find many reasons (monetary as well as how much time it takes to find and then read) to try and strictly budget which settings I read.

I could have probably worded "I don't like most settings" better: I really meant more "most settings present a tone or some special thing about the setting up-front in an attempt not to spend money and/or time I'm not going to personally enjoy". I'm sure we all have standards of what turns us off to a work, mine just happen to be contrary to a majority of settings I have found out there.

 

[Mercurius]

OK, fair enough - I apologize for jumping to conclusions. And I hear you - there are very few settings that I love, a bunch that I like, and quite a few that I'm either indifferent about or don't like. Maybe I'll write a post about settings...

 

[Shemeska]

It's not so much about settings as it is about setting -support-. Paizo is doing it right with Golarion, WotC/TSR did it right in 2e and to a lesser extent 3e, I quite enjoyed nWoD, and at the moment I'm enjoying stuff from Paizo, Cthulhutech stuff from Wildfire to expand on their world, and Eclipse Phase stuff expanding on their world (cannot wait for Gate Crashers).

 

[radferth]

I'm Radferth, and I am a setting junkie. It has been very hard these past couple of years. I've mainly been getting by with Dragon Age RPG, old Green Ronin historical setting I missed the first time, and mining old fantasy novel series for setting info (Witchworld, Prydain, Pegana). For some reason I've been holding off on Golorion. Maybe I'm saving it for when I am truly desperate.

 

[Mercurius]

It's not so much about settings as it is about setting -support-. Paizo is doing it right with Golarion, WotC/TSR did it right in 2e and to a lesser extent 3e, I quite enjoyed nWoD, and at the moment I'm enjoying stuff from Paizo, Cthulhutech stuff from Wildfire to expand on their world, and Eclipse Phase stuff expanding on their world (cannot wait for Gate Crashers).

Yeah, me too re: Gate Crashers--it looks very interesting. I didn't buy Sunward as the content didn't interest me as much, but it is on my long queue of rpgs book to buy eventually.

I'm Radferth, and I am a setting junkie. It has been very hard these past couple of years. I've mainly been getting by with Dragon Age RPG, old Green Ronin historical setting I missed the first time, and mining old fantasy novel series for setting info (Witchworld, Prydain, Pegana). For some reason I've been holding off on Golorion. Maybe I'm saving it for when I am truly desperate.

I didn't buy the Dragon Age RPG mainly because I heard that it was very light on setting information.

As for Golarion, maybe [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Inner-Primer/dp/1601252773/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293037584&sr=8-2"]this[/ame] while wet your appetite? And no, I don't work for Paizo

 

[DragonLancer]

Golarion, baby. There's enough for everyone .

Same here. Golarion has more than enough to keep my group and I occupied.