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

[Mistwell]

After it was announced as the winner of the WotC Campaign Setting Contest, Keith Baker's Eberron became one of the most popular and beloved settings among D&D players, with its rich and vibrant world, distinct art style, and unique races. Eberron isn't everyone's favorite setting, but it's always been one of my favorites, and it echoes the way D&D settings have been formed from the earliest days of the game; made by a solitary creator, or maybe a few friends, and then shared with anyone who wanted to play in it.

The WotC Campaign setting contest, as unlikely as it was that you were going to win, out of all of the entries, ignited interest among everyone who had a campaign setting that they wanted to share.

So, what do you think? Would creating a new version of this contest, allowing the players of D&D to have a chance to create an official campaign setting, would be popular for the game? Is it something you would enjoy?

Well I had a lot of fun coming up with a submission, and reading the submissions of others. So yes, I'd say it's a great idea. And it feels like it's around that time to return to this idea.

It could even be published to DMsGuild only, by WOTC.

 

[Umbran]

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

But, if you give them the trainwreck, then everyone has the chance for a double-trainwreck! Why deprive them of that?

 

[Umbran]

No enumerated list could possibly contain my antipathy. The name of my hatred is Legion.

Do not publish your hatred, for it is in conflict with Marvel-Disney IP. While your hatred may be vast, your lawyer's hourly rates would also be vast...

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, definitely. As much as I think Midnight took a bold approach to Tolkienistic fantasy by having the heroes lose, when you look at Eberron, it’s clear why it won and things like Dawnforge and Midnight did not. They clearly were looking for something that was a radical departure from trad fantasy.

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

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.

 

[Tony Vargas]

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

Well, for WotC, the buzz. I mean, there's publishing a unique/interesting/slightly-out-there new setting by a quality freelancer like Baker, then there's publishing a new setting out of 11k submissions in a big contest, that just happens to be a unique/interesting/slightly-out-there new setting by Baker.
The latter gets more buzz for said setting.

 

[Gradine]

Do not publish your hatred, for it is in conflict with Marvel-Disney IP. While your hatred may be vast, your lawyer's hourly rates would also be vast...

Considering the Bible pre-dates modern copyright laws by a millennia or two, I'd think it's fair to say he's pretty safe. Or else this is the reason why Konami stopped making good games, and then stopped making games.

 

[generic]

Well, for WotC, the buzz. I mean, there's publishing a unique/interesting/slightly-out-there new setting by a quality freelancer like Baker, then there's publishing a new setting out of 11k submissions in a big contest. The latter gets more buzz for the setting.

Exactly.

If the hidden WotC spies see this, maybe I'll get a chance to wax philosophical about my favorite setting of my own creation: Skinhacker​.

 

[Mistwell]

Remember all the people who claimed they would not submit an entry for fear WOTC would just steal their ideas?

Yeah...how did that turn out?

 

[generic]

Remember all the people who claimed they would not submit an entry for fear WOTC would just steal their ideas?

Yeah...how did that turn out?

WotC is, I would assume, far less interested in stealing people's ideas than some would assume, considering that fact that they haven't taken any DMsGuild content and incorporated in in official books, despite the fact that you have to agree to that when you publish on the DMsG.

 

[LordEntrails]

I can't see WotC, and I don't think it would be wise, for them to publish a setting that modifies any of the core races and classes. Doing that simple splits the player base again. And I don't see that being beneficial.

New lore, new maps, new fluff and context, sure that could be nice, but I don't think they will do it.

What they might do though is publish a cross-over setting. Like they tried with Ravnica (though it modified core). What that might be? No idea.

A contest? Gain, maybe, but I doubt it. Sure the rabid fans like us would be into it, but the 90% of D&D players and fans who play so casually they don't keep up on the intricacies would just be confused. Confused customers are not good for long term brand loyalty.