D&D 4E What should the next new official campaign setting for 4e be like?

[Tequila Sunrise]

Well, as a side note, RL isn't out yet, and has been pushed back (from what I read coming out of D&DXP).

That said, I'd love a setting with built-in opportunities and hooks for dominion management. It's a shtick I love to use- the pcs in my current game declared themselves governors of their local area when they were about 3rd level (there was a total lack of authority or governance, it's a backwater). I guess something like Birthright, though I never got to play or read it.

I'd love a setting, or any supplement really, that had rules for dominions. And made them relevant, rather than just window dressing. It doesn't need to be as important or detailed as the small-scale skirmish rules that 4e is so good at, but dominion conflict is its own untouched gold mine of potential fun.

Other than that, I want Planescape but I suspect I'll have to write that one myself.

 

[GameDoc]

I'd love a setting, or any supplement really, that had rules for dominions. And made them relevant, rather than just window dressing. It doesn't need to be as important or detailed as the small-scale skirmish rules that 4e is so good at, but dominion conflict is its own untouched gold mine of potential fun.

In the 3.5 PHB2, there was a system for "affiliations" by which PCs could join and rise up the ranks of a guild, temple, government, military order, etc., even rising to the level of leader. There were also rules for conflicts between these entities.

Seems like that could be incorporated into 4e without a great deal of difficulty.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I'd like to see a seafaring setting. The dungeons are mostly on islands you have to reach by ship. The different races mostly come into contact by visiting each others ports or on the open sea.

Not looking for a Freeport or 4e Pirates of the Carribean setting. Something fresh. For that matter, it could be the same default world as the Nentir Vale, just somewhere else far away.

This would be neat, and goes along with their "drop-in" philosophy that the Nentir Vale also uses.

Something new, first off.

Secondly, something that isn't based on Medieval Western Europe, at least not entirely. I have a real interest in the Midgard project because of its focus on Slavic and Eastern European/Russian myth.

Thirdly, something that pushes the unique aspects of 4e, things like the Shadowfell and Feywild, gives a new spin on the Dawn War, new origins for races, not unlike Zeitgeist (in some respects).

Definitely NOT a kitchen sink world, unless they're going to expand Nentir.

I agree here, almost 100%. Something new, and something that doesn't try to "do everything" because Forgotten Realms pretty much has that covered. And then some.

Mystara/Known World

With this WotC also has the option to create a Hollow World setting as well.

Despite the fact that this has been done, I think it could use another try. This was something I was even considering trying on my own, and separate from my normal homebrew.

Spelljammer. Swashbuckling on the astral sea.

This one is like Dark Sun for me; I hated it when it first came out, but I like it now.

Something like Pirates of Dark Water mixed with Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas? I'd like to see something like that.

I would +1 your for this, Klaus, but I already have recently for something else.

Pirates of Dark Water was awesome. Maybe one of the most interesting things that Hanna-Barbera ever did. I would totally buy this. Adding in Sinbad, and Pirates of the Caribbean would just be delicious icing on an already inticing cake for me.

Would love them to do a Greyhawk reboot as originally envisioned by EGG.

Again, even though it's not new, I would love a proper go at a Greyhawk box. They could even make it compatible with Nentir, somehow, and it wouldn't ruin anything, though they would have to revert the pantheon back to GH canon, or it would lose too much of its appeal (no borrowing gods from FR).

In the 3.5 PHB2, there was a system for "affiliations" by which PCs could join and rise up the ranks of a guild, temple, government, military order, etc., even rising to the level of leader. There were also rules for conflicts between these entities.

Seems like that could be incorporated into 4e without a great deal of difficulty.

I like this idea.

This is why I am not the least bit interested in Neverwinter. It's just another city in FR. Not worthy of an entire campaign, in my opinion.

FR and Greyhawk have "generic" covered.

Eberron has "mage-punk" covered.

Dark Sun and Dragonlance have "gritty" covered.

Mystara has "near-earth" covered.

Ravenloft has "gothic horror" covered.

Planescape/Spelljammer has "other worlds (and ways to get there)" covered.

What's left?

 

[Dice4Hire]

Not to de-rail the topic at hand, but I thought I'd mention that there are a lot of 3rd party publications that could easily be used to build a 4e campaign world. The great thing about "worlds" is that they're almost 100% fluff.

The thing is, I do not wnat this. Not at all. I want a campaign setting that pays some attention to the ruleset I am using. Like old Greyhawk, for an example. It never paid any attention to the concept of raise dead, something that was not really all that har to do. Nothing with elementals, etc. I like how Dark Sun kinda pays a lot of attention to 4E. In fact, it fits 4e's cosmology really really well.

That makes me a lot happier, a campaign world that shows some of the effects of the ruleset on society and history.

 

[BobTheNob]

In so far as the "ancient civilizations" theme goes, did anyone out there play Titan quest (great game, played it so much it cramped up my wrist...or at least that what I tell people)? It really opened my eyes that the ancient world, if you make the mythology real, actually stands up really well as a setting, surprisingly better than I expected.

I would actually vote for a classical world setting on earth.

Either that or (sacrilege warning. Do not keep reading if you are easily offended)....4e modern or 4e sci fi.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

In so far as the "ancient civilizations" theme goes, did anyone out there play Titan quest (great game, played it so much it cramped up my wrist...or at least that what I tell people)? It really opened my eyes that the ancient world, if you make the mythology real, actually stands up really well as a setting, surprisingly better than I expected.

I would actually vote for a classical world setting on earth.

I did actually play TQ. I got stuck at the first act boss, but I agree that they did a decent job with the mythology in that game. I don't even really like ancient Greece as a setting, but they Did It Right in TQ.

It sort of inspired me to want to do a near-earth campaign. Mystara kind of has that covered though, at least enough for my liking.

Either that or (sacrilege warning. Do not keep reading if you are easily offended)....4e modern or 4e sci fi.

That latter one already exists; it's called Star Wars Saga Edition.

I know, to be fair, that is more like 3.9e, and more Space Opera than Sci-Fi, but I think "real" sci fi would be a hard sell, at least without the option to use as much Space Opera or Space Fantasy as you wanted/needed.

4e Modern is an interesting idea. Lots of competition out there from Shadowrun, Cyberpunk 2020, the still-satisfied fans of d20 Modern, and folks that run CoC in modern times, among many others. That said, I'd still like to see it.

 

[SSquirrel]

What about a Greek themed city state?

They only had 7 cities left with sorceror kings in Dark Sun so Greece got skipped

 

[VGmaster9]

What's left?

Well we could have Birthright and Al-Qadim re-released as well as Maztica and Kara-Tur having their own settings (also, places like Anachrome, Osse, Katashaka, and Yal-Tengri could be sub-settings for FR). BTW, from what I see, the Neverwinter campaign won't really be a full-fledged setting.

 

[The Little Raven]

I think they should have some of their M:TG story/world team people come up with a new world. Those guys have come up with some rather innovative concepts, and pairing their world-building with the D&D design teams mechanical support would give us something quite a bit different than another world designed by the D&D team.

Of course, I also want the 1983 version of Greyhawk re-imagined to use the 4e gods, races, and whatnot.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Well we could have Birthright and Al-Qadim re-released as well as Maztica and Kara-Tur having their own settings (also, places like Anachrome, Osse, Katashaka, and Yal-Tengri could be sub-settings for FR). BTW, from what I see, the Neverwinter campaign won't really be a full-fledged setting.

Maztica and Kara-Tur, I could live without, and IIRC, they didn't do very well back in the day. Kara-Tur probably did better than the others, but that is because there is likely a market for what amounts to a "Power Source: Asia" campaign book. That is something I think would best be addressed by a 3PP, though.

I recall Al-Qadim being similarly unpopular as Maztica, though it has much more appeal to me than any of the other FR-spinoffs. Too much redundancy with Dark Sun for it to see re-release any time soon.

I just don't think that FR needs all these spinoffs. This stuff is already a part of the 'Realms, so I don't see the need to make more sub-subsettings from them. Then again, I don't see the appeal of Neverwinter either, so what do I know.