What does a setting need to be "supported"

[Enevhar Aldarion]

What I define as support is what is released after the initial setting book/adventure. Your initial book could contain everything on your voting list, but if nothing more is published after that first book, there is no support. So additional information/releases on everything on that list, other than the starting region and starting adventure, would be what I consider support.

I am sure if we went through the history of published game systems and settings, it would be several dozen, if not well over a hundred, that never got any support after the initial book or two were published. I personally have owned quite a few like that, and avoided buying many others, that ended up being that way. And my history with failed games is primarily from before the creation of Kickstarter and other crowd-funded stuff, so with those too, games that got no support could number a lot higher.

 

[Remathilis]

If you're thinking about a setting as a saleable product the big one I've not seen mentioned so far is an outline history or timeline. It doesn't need to be comprehensive but rather just a bare bones.

I knew I had forgotten something when I was making my list! :doh:

Certainly, a history/timeline would be another element I'd have added to the list.

 

[robus]

I knew I had forgotten something when I was making my list! :doh:

Certainly, a history/timeline would be another element I'd have added to the list.

Though we’re talking macro history, not the micro stuff we see in FR I would hope?

 

[Quartz]

Though we’re talking macro history, not the micro stuff we see in FR I would hope?

Yes. Look at the Greyhawk timeline or the Shadow World timeline.

 

[jgsugden]

It depends upon the campaign world. What you need for it to be supported are the elements that make that world unique. That depends upon the design of the setting.

In many campaign worlds, equipment and magic items would be nothing more than a 'nice to have' element - but in a setting that was all about bringing wild west gunslingers into a fantasy world, the guns would be absolutely essential. Similarly, what is Krynn without the Dragonlance, kender and moon influenced magic? What is Dark sun without psionics and its unique bestiary? What is Eberron without artificers, warforged, dragonmarks and dragonshards? Game World can be done in 5E with unique classes, races, equipment, etc... but it requires a lot of unique support.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I consider a setting to be supported if it is playable with the rules provided. Forgotten Realms is supported, because the rules in the PHB are all consistent with how things work in that world. Eberron is not supported in the PHB, because things work differently there.

Supporting a setting is a different thing than defining a setting, by my perspective. You need things like a map, and notes on cultures and religions, in order to define a setting. That sort of stuff is system-agnostic, though. You could use (for example) Palladium's RIFTS core rulebook to define a setting, but supporting that setting would involve providing stats for the classes and races and monsters.

 

[Remathilis]

Though we’re talking macro history, not the micro stuff we see in FR I would hope?

At the very least macro (different ages, fallen kingdoms, world shaking events, etc) though some finer details might get in there depending on the setting (birth of the most recent king, the years spent in the Border Wars, etc). Still something that points out what has come before the moment the PCs show up at Ye Olde Tavern...

 

[Remathilis]

I consider a setting to be supported if it is playable with the rules provided. Forgotten Realms is supported, because the rules in the PHB are all consistent with how things work in that world. Eberron is not supported in the PHB, because things work differently there.

Interesting perspective. Things don't work ALL that differently on Eberron (mechanically speaking); though Eberron adds new options (races, dragonmarks, etc) and redefines some fluff (mostly new spins on each race). There is nothing stopping you from making a dwarf fighter, human cleric, halfling rogue, and elf wizard in Eberron, though you might be missing some of the unique flavor of the setting. I certainly think Eberron is far closer to the FR "default" than something like Dark Sun, which usually requires you to toss half the PHB in the trash when playing.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Interesting perspective. Things don't work ALL that differently on Eberron (mechanically speaking); though Eberron adds new options (races, dragonmarks, etc) and redefines some fluff (mostly new spins on each race). There is nothing stopping you from making a dwarf fighter, human cleric, halfling rogue, and elf wizard in Eberron, though you might be missing some of the unique flavor of the setting. I certainly think Eberron is far closer to the FR "default" than something like Dark Sun, which usually requires you to toss half the PHB in the trash when playing.

Fair enough, although I think they have something weird with half-elves, and divine magic is supposed to be different in Eberron. I'm not sure how the whole "silver flame" thing maps onto the domain structure, for example. That's the kind of thing that I would want a document to support.

The most important part of a setting is in the (setting-agnostic) definition, though, which tells us which classes and races don't exist. Forgotten Realms is a jumble of too many races and magic sources, so it would go a long way toward defining Eberron as a unique setting if you simply say that tieflings and warlocks don't exist (or whatever). You don't need an official document to support that sort of thing, though.