WotC Why WotC SHOULD Make A New Setting

[LuisCarlos17f]

A right worldbuilding needs a lot of work but today players don't need to spend their money when they can read the fandom wikis about videogames, comics or novels.

If WotC publishes a new setting, this will be not only for the TTRPG but mainly other type of products.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Use of contemporary technology (such as automotive vehicles or communications)

Ravnica and Eberron have these.

and everyday community and social institutions (such as libraries, schools/universities, or markets)

Pretty much every D&D setting has these.

Where are the Dresden files set? Chicago? A city in a far off land that I am never likely to visit and know very little about. Baldur's Gate is more familiar to me than Chicago. There really isn't any difference between a fictional location and a real world location that you only encounter through fiction.

 

[Corinnguard]

Urban Fantasy settings like other fictional settings make often use of the trope, Like Reality Unless Noted. If the author mentions something we're familiar with such as a door or a car, we convince ourselves that they look and function much the same as the ones, we're familiar with in RL. But as soon as the author mentions that the car can fly or runs on something other than gas or electricity, we know that the world in that setting isn't our own. It either merely looks like our own or it comes close to it to initially fool us into thinking that it is.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Page space in the time of PDF for me is just not a concern anymore, but yeah sadly stuff is still made for print first.

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I think shallow is also just often enough you dont need too much details its just noise.

Sure some things texts are better, but really not sure we need soo much details in many things.

yes we do need that much detail, the point of a setting guide meant to inform you about the setting, it's meant to have depth, not be some hazy outline for you to fill in the details yourself, it's meant to tell us about how this world works and how it came to be so we can understand and simulate it, the big organizations and notable characters, what the movers and shakers want and behave, where things run smooth and where tension lies, the turning cogs and pulling strings, those details aren't noise they're clarity.

Well you can use cliches etc. what do you expect this person to be?

i don't want to pick cliches myself, i want to be told who this person is, if i get a setting guide and it say under the mayor of oakhill 'what do you expect this person to be?' i'm demanding a refund because this book isn't doing it's job.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But as soon as the author mentions that the car can fly or runs on something other than gas or electricity

And if the author doesn’t mention it? There is generally no reason why they would.

But as soon as the author mentions magic or fairies or whatever we know it’s not the real world. It might be set in some place called “London” or “Chicago” but they are not the real world cities with those names.

The New York in the MCU is not real world New York. It’s just as much a fantasy setting as Gotham City.

 

[Corinnguard]

And if the author doesn’t mention it? There is generally no reason why they would.

But as soon as the author mentions magic or fairies or whatever we know it’s not the real world. It might be set in some place called “London” or “Chicago” but they are not the real world cities with those names.

True. The author wants you to know that the world within their series is like our own in RL, but at the same time they also want you to do a Perception and an Investigation check just to notice that something seems different about it. At the same time, you are 'filling in the blanks'. If the author mentions a car, you automatically assume that it looks something like your car. Four wheels, manual or automatic transmission, etc. Then the author surprises you by having the character pop the hood of their car up to reveal the magictech.

As for places, if you have lived somewhere for years, the buildings tend to blur into the background. You don't give them much thought. They are just there. But as soon as you bring in an out-of-towner into your city or town, they make you notice things that you didn't notice before. In any story, you are that out-of-towner. The characters in that story are your tour guide or guides. They are introducing their world to you and making you do that Perception check to notice the differences. Their Chicago or London might look very much like our own. Or they just might have share the same names as the ones in our RL. But you won't know till you make that Perception check.

 

[SlyFlourish]

It is so strange that some folks want to fight against the simplest reason: it is fun to be excited for official D&D things.

I'll try to clarify where I'm coming from.

I don't want any single company (whoever they are) to dictate my happiness with RPGs. I love the whole hobby. I love lots of different RPGs and lots of different products from lots of different companies (including WOTC). The strength of this hobby comes from that incredible range of designers, producers, companies, and products.

I don't buy the idea of "official D&D". That's just a trademark -- not the spirit of the game. WOTC bought thr trademark along with TSR. Hasbro bought it with WOTC. You could buy it if you had enough money.

D&D 3rd edition and D&D 4th edition were "official D&D". After they were no longer with WOTC the design leads of those games got together and made the D&D they wanted — 13th Age. That's their D&D.

Many argue that Old School Essentials better captures D&D more than D&D 2024. We can disagree on it, but I can certainly see where they're coming from. Old School Essentials (and Dolmenwood) is certainly closer in mechanics and feeling to BX D&D than D&D 2024 is. Does Dolmenwood count as "official D&D"? It's more compatible with the longest-running form of D&D than anything WOTC has made.

If one dismisses the products of the people who worked at WOTC or the previous products of the people who now work at WOTC as being not "official D&D", I think they're really limiting their view of the hobby and now they're just fans of a trademark and a big corporation, not the actual game.

I’d let go of “official D&D” as a criteria for seeking a good setting. WOTC can and has made great settings. So have lots of other publishers.

 

[Reynard]

I'll try to clarify where I'm coming from.

I don't want any single company (whoever they are) to dictate my happiness with RPGs. I love the whole hobby. I love lots of different RPGs and lots of different products from lots of different companies (including WOTC). The strength of this hobby comes from that incredible range of designers, producers, companies, and products.

I don't buy the idea of "official D&D". That's just a trademark -- not the spirit of the game. WOTC bought thr trademark along with TSR. Hasbro bought it with WOTC. You could buy it if you had enough money.

D&D 3rd edition and D&D 4th edition were "official D&D". After they were no longer with WOTC the design leads of those games got together and made the D&D they wanted — 13th Age. That's their D&D.

Many argue that Old School Essentials better captures D&D more than D&D 2024. We can disagree on it, but I can certainly see where they're coming from. Old School Essentials (and Dolmenwood) is certainly closer in mechanics and feeling to BX D&D than D&D 2024 is. Does Dolmenwood count as "official D&D"? It's more compatible with the longest-running form of D&D than anything WOTC has made.

If one dismisses the products of the people who worked at WOTC or the previous products of the people who now work at WOTC as being not "official D&D", I think they're really limiting their view of the hobby and now they're just fans of a trademark and a big corporation, not the actual game.

I’d let go of “official D&D” as a criteria for seeking a good setting. WOTC can and has made great settings. So have lots of other publishers.

Again, I am not saying that other games or D&D products don't excite me. They do. I am simply saying WotC could make a really great setting built for 5E and that would be cool.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Here’s an incomplete list of settings I thought were really cool. As a disclaimer, some of these were sent to me as review copies.

Dolmenwood
Aethereal Expanse
Grim Hollow
Arora
Broken Weave
Fateforge
Ptolus
Arcana of the Ancients
Path of the Planebreaker
Midgard
Southlands
Labyrinth
Ebon Tides
Primeval Thule
Planegea
Tal’Dorei Reborn
The Lord of the Rings
Humblewood
Thrones and Bones
Esper Genesis

You can find a lot more here:

D&D 5E Games & Settings

A list of official D&D 5E settings, plus stand-alone games and campaign settings by third party publishers. Third-party games and settings are produced using the Open Gaming License, and use the D&D 5E ruleset to explore new genres and worlds. The most common setting theme is Ancient Greek...

www.enworld.org

 

[SlyFlourish]

Again, I am not saying that other games or D&D products don't excite me. They do. I am simply saying WotC could make a really great setting built for 5E and that would be cool.

Sure. And they have.