WotC Why WotC SHOULD Make A New Setting

[Scribe]

Pretty sure the point is not to use MtG settings. Personally I hate crossing the streams.

The point is, the Magic side of the house has for years on end demonstrated that it has the bandwidth and horsepower to crank out settings.

So why can't or hasn't, the D&D side of the house?

 

[Remathilis]

Maybe. It might also depend on what class they're playing. "I am a Kender Artificer. Want to see my latest invention?"

What's worse, a Kender Artificer, a Tinker Gnome Artificer or a Mad Tinker Gnome Artificer?

I'm not sure. I never get past "I'm a kender..." before they are rolling for initiative.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Further proof you only need one setting then. Forgotten Realms could handle horror, pulp, noir, melodrama, survival, sword and sorcery, planetary romances and comedy. We can get rid of the rest.

Indeed, and is exactly what Paizo do with Golarion. They even use it for Starfinder. There really isn't a great deal of mileage in WotC pushing out settings, new or old. It would be more useful if WotC took a region of an existing setting and expanded on it in more detail.


Ravenloft does serve as a shorthand label for "this is a horror themed adventure".

 

[ZeshinX]

Pretty sure the point is not to use MtG settings. Personally I hate crossing the streams.

The point is, the Magic side of the house has for years on end demonstrated that it has the bandwidth and horsepower to crank out settings.

So why can't or hasn't, the D&D side of the house?

I think they're (WotC) still very much aware of the 2e glut and its consequences and trying to keep that learned lesson very much in mind. That's sheer speculation on my part of course. They may simply be gun-shy (still) because of it, even if the market could likely support a new setting (again, speculation).

 

[nyvinter]

I love the MtG worlds. I don't play the game but the worlds and how they work and stories there are great. And that's the big issue with bringing them into D&D, they're very much locked into the MtG meta-story that's going to make the question "why don't Elmister do something about this?" way worse with all the planewalkers and multiverse events and invading technovirus people. Not to mention they're made for a different purpose than in-person adventuring.

Making something up from scratch for D&D adventures with the MtG people contributing? This is how you get entusiasm for what you're doing, having fun, and bond as people at work. I'd even argue that weird classes don't really fitting in and be off theme — samurai anyone? — happens because they're not building worlds. I love the Path Of The World Tree barbarian but considering that the FR ones is destroyed it fits more into Kobold Press Labyrinth setting than any of the current WotC ones.

2e glut was created by a lot of things at the same time, like every setting getting lots of books in the same time, a warehouse of novels, bad directions from the top. Some of these still exists in Hasbro, but many don't. A new setting every third year with no expansions isn't going to be a problem.

 

[Remathilis]

Indeed, and is exactly what Paizo do with Golarion. They even use it for Starfinder. There really isn't a great deal of mileage in WotC pushing out settings, new or old. It would be more useful if WotC took a region of an existing setting and expanded on it in more detail.


Ravenloft does serve as a shorthand label for "this is a horror themed adventure".

I'm in total agreement. One grand kitchen sink for all of D&D, everything working together in a unified whole.

But as Whizbang said, probably too late to put the genie back in the bottle.

 

[Remathilis]

I love the MtG worlds. I don't play the game but the worlds and how they work and stories there are great. And that's the big issue with bringing them into D&D, they're very much locked into the MtG meta-story that's going to make the question "why don't Elmister do something about this?" way worse with all the planewalkers and multiverse events and invading technovirus people. Not to mention they're made for a different purpose than in-person adventuring.

WotC has realized the same problem and between the desparking of many planeswalkers and the revelation of omenpaths, a lot of the "band of superheroes" type stories are gone and regular powerful characters can travel if needed.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

A lot of those settings, because they are 3PP, also get the additional adventure support that WotC often doesn’t provide.

Fondly strokes his swath of Ptolus/Praemal adventures on the bookshelf.

 

[Reynard]

Fondly strokes his swath of Ptolus/Praemal adventures on the bookshelf.

If I was forced to choose, I would definitely take a big fat Eberron adventure anthology over a new setting.

 

[Scribe]

Like...why isnt Wizards doing something like this? When was the last time Wizards even tried? MtG makes settings all the time, 3PP does it all the time.

Why do people just accept Wizards coasting on past glory when it comes to D&D?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dndshorts/ryoko-and-helianas-guide-to-mythozoology