Unpopular opinions go here

[Scribe]

But how is Spelljammer not a setting book?

In comparison to Eberron?

Its an Adventure. - Book 1.
Its a Monster Book. - Book 2.
Its an absolutely tiny slice of setting basics, player options, and some ships. - Book 3.

Again, compare it to the only real setting book of the edition. Its not comparable. Its like saying SCAG is a setting book for the Forgotten Realms.

Now, again, I found Eberron overwhelming, far too much, but when someone says 'Setting Book', they mean that. They dont mean SCAG, and they dont mean Spelljammer, which many many (not me) people found inadequate as a setting set of books.

 

[Lanefan]

No thanks. What happened to the Mad Emperor? Give me an adventure complete with locations, stat blocks, mechanics and all the actual work of creating adventures already done or at least mostly done.

I don’t want or need high altitude ideas.

I do. I can come up with the adventure myself, or bend something to suit that already exists; but I need that high-altitude idea in order to make it fit in to the setting.

I do need pretty maps, art, stat blocks and mechanics to run next week’s session.

True, but I try to come up with these ideas a bit farther ahead than that. If I'm caught short I'll find an existing module and shoehorn it in.

That said, I have over 300 canned modules here in print plus another dozen or so pdfs, so it's not like I'm short of options.

And as an added bonus, those maps, stat blocks, room descriptions, NPCs and whatnot can be recycled into other adventures.

My climax adventure for Candlekeep Mysteries repurposed the Darkhold from Dungeon of the Mad Mage. My last adventure where the pcs were exploring a magical mine was another DotMM level. My current adventure features a crashed giff bombard. The hold is a repurposed hold from Salvage Operation from Ghosts of Saltmarsh.

I've done this as well. The one I'm running now is going to steal a few bits from 2e's Against the Giants (if-when they get that far). I once used the cave map from U1 Secret of Saltmarsh as a beholders' lair.

I have zero use or want for a bunch yet another three hundred page book of adventure ideas.

Where for me, the more adventure ideas the merrier.

The fact that pretty much everything I’ve purchased for 5e has actually been used at my table instead of being read once and never looked at again is one of the biggest attractions of 5e for me.

Good. Glad to hear it.

 

[Lanefan]

Give me canned campaigns that take about 18 months to play through. Fantastic. I’ll play one then move on to the next.

Ahhh - this explains a few things.

If all you want from a setting is the ability to play one AP in it and not move beyond that AP into the greater setting, then of course all the setting stuff you need will be (or should be) included in the adventure book. APs aren't usually big on downtime and-or the PCs interacting with the setting in non-adventuring ways, so there's not much setting info needed.

When I think of a "setting", however, I think of something that has enough in it to handle many different campaigns run by many different DMs, perhaps in many different discrete areas of said setting and with the characters interacting with the setting in all sorts of ways beyond simple adventuring; and I expect the setting guide(s) to provide enough info to facilitate this.

Does Curse of Strahd provide enough setting info about Barovia such that a DM could run a complete non-CoS campaign there? If no, it's not a setting book IMO.

 

[Maxperson]

In comparison to Eberron?

Its an Adventure. - Book 1.
Its a Monster Book. - Book 2.
Its an absolutely tiny slice of setting basics, player options, and some ships. - Book 3.

Again, compare it to the only real setting book of the edition. Its not comparable. Its like saying SCAG is a setting book for the Forgotten Realms.

Now, again, I found Eberron overwhelming, far too much, but when someone says 'Setting Book', they mean that. They dont mean SCAG, and they dont mean Spelljammer, which many many (not me) people found inadequate as a setting set of books.

Actually, even SCAG has significantly more setting in it than Spelljammer which has all of 7 pages, 5 of which are one small city.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Actually, even SCAG has significantly more setting in it than Spelljammer which has all of 7 pages, 5 of which are one small city.

...to be fair, not exactly a high bar.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

...to be fair, not exactly a high bar.

Oh, they serve halflings and gnomes?

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Oh, they serve halflings and gnomes?

too tall. think developmentally stunted kobolds and you're getting closer. not quite pixie size, though (and i don't mean weird 5e small pixie, i mean proper tiny pixie).

 

[Gradine]

Still confusing to an old timer like me.

Here's a primer:

FFI: The One That's Basically D&D: The JRPG
FFII: The One Where You Hit Yourself In The Face To Gain HP
FFIII: The One With The Boss That Requires Four Dragoons Or You Die
FFIV: The One With Cecil and Kain and Moon Wizards
FFV: The One The Four Job Fiesta Is About
FFVI: The One With The Evil Clown And The Dumb Octopus That Won't Leave You Alone
FFVII: The One With Sephiroph And The Big Sword
FFVIII: The One With Gun Swords
FFIX: The One With The Horny Monkey Guy
FFX: The One With Drownball
FFXI: The One That's An MMORPG That Nobody Played
FFXII: The One With All The Judges
FFXIII: The One With All The Hallways
FFXIV: The One That's An MMORPG That Was So Bad They Broke Everything To Make It Way Better
FFXV: The One That's The Boy Band Road Trip
FFXVI: The One With Kaiju Battles

BONUS ROUND: SPINOFF EDITION
FF Mystic Quest: The One With The Rockin Soundtrack
FF Tactics: The One Where You Blame Yourself Or God
FF Origins Stranger Of Paradise: The One Where You KILL CHAOS

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah no.

If Eberron is a setting guide, and I believe it is, you cannot call SCAG, or Spelljammer, Bigby/Fizban (setting guide?!) ToF or Volos, a setting guide. Planescape isnt even out so...

Some of them dont even count as lore books.

As I've said many times, I like the spelljammer release but its a.

Monster Book
Small Adventure
Player Options, and descriptions of ships, and a tiny amount of actual setting/lore, but you cannot compare that to Eberron with a straight face.

If thats 'setting book' to you, then sure, every release is a setting book.

I think they mean everything that isn't the core books or an adventure path. Somehow.

 

[Micah Sweet]

No I’m asking WotC to keep doing what they’re doing and have done for the past ten years - present settings through adventures and practical, usable formats.

I don’t need or want a 5e FRCS. I have multie adventure paths set in FR that will get far, far more use at my table.

You folks that want setting stuff? Well, you’re still getting it. Just not the hose pipe you used to get while I had to be satisfied with tiny dribbles.

So no. I’m not going to apologize or feel bad that I’m finally the target audience after waiting for twenty five years. Give me canned campaigns that take about 18 months to play through. Fantastic. I’ll play one then move on to the next.

That is so far from what I want out of D&D I struggle to understand how we in any way play the same game.