D&D General Campaign Setting Contest: Should We Do It Again?

[Mallus]

Hmmm... a new setting competition would give my group an excuse to dust off The Port on the Aster Sea/On the Shores of an Infinite Ocean and stat it again.

The question is would we use the setting as originally written up -- lyrical, melancholy, full with symbolism -- or the majestic trainwreck we turned it into during actual play?

 

[Tony Vargas]

Why are Halfings always riding something?

Short legs.

 

[TwoSix]

Hmmm... a new setting competition would give my group an excuse to dust off The Port on the Aster Sea/On the Shores of an Infinite Ocean and stat it again.

The question is would we use the setting as originally written up -- lyrical, melancholy, full with symbolism -- or the majestic trainwreck we turned it into during actual play?

Original write-up, of course. Why deprive play groups of their own trainwreck?

 

[Aldarc]

There are a few homebrew settings by D&D writers that I wish had also been officially published, namely James Wyatt's Aquela setting and Chris Perkins's Iomandra setting. I'm sure it's no small coincidence that both settings deal with island-hopping and high seas adventure.

 

[generic]

The main reason for an "official" competition is the prestige.

I mean, let's be honest with ourselves.

What could be more exciting for a D&D player than having your setting published by WotC, not by you, on Kickstarter, but by WotC itself.

Also, we're in dire need a "5e" setting.

 

[generic]

Furthermore, as Radhammer said, the impact of a large campaign setting event echoes beyond the one that WotC chooses.

 

[Urriak]

Midnight for 5e seems like it would easily be doable with only a few adjustments.

I would love to see Dawnforge updated for 5e, as I think that a "prequel fantasy" to what D&D presumes is somewhat missing in the current field of settings, whether 3pp or official.

However, I also find that that the original Dawnforge a bit too conservative in presenting the "prequel to D&D" by having wizards unchanged, despite druids, clerics, and monks having replacement classes that were meant to be like prefigured versions of the classes. It seems like class dedicated to the study of magic would have also had an earlier version as well.

What is a "prequel fantasy"?

As for whether there should be a contest... as good and fun an idea such a contest would be, giving an opportunity for people to share and create their work in a context that is given more serious consideration (in turn giving an incentive for people to create more innovative settings for D&D), it simply doesn't make much sense for WotC to do this at this time.

There are 21 campaign settings that have been released over D&D's history. Even if you limit these to the most popular, there is plenty of material for Wizard's to release; there is almost no reason for them to want to do a contest when people are already bothering them constantly about Dark Sun, Planescape, and Spelljammer.

 

[Mycroft]

Also, we're in dire need a "5e" setting.

Well, apparently most people prefer home-brew, and even if they release another setting, no need to reinvent the wheel (yet another new setting), plenty of established settings that have not really been touched in years (aside from FR and Eberron), and all the M: tG worlds.

 

[Aldarc]

What is a "prequel fantasy"?

Dawnforge was written to be a "prequel" of sorts to D&D's sort of presumed current state of affairs. It was set before the split between elves and drow. Before the orcs became (mostly) evil marauders. The gods are not in the heavens but are, instead, demigods that walk the earth. The characters of Dawnforge will become the figures of legend that D&D speaks about. You are living in the building that will become the ruins that D&D characters will explore. Your character has the ability to shape the direction of the future such that maybe the drow never come about as a result of your actions in reconciling the elves. Or they may steer it towards the D&D that we know. Even though the setting was not Greco-Roman in flavor, it did have that sort of mythic flair or tone where your characters would become like Hercules, Jason, or Theseus.

 

[gyor]

Yeah, that'd be cool.