2010: Is it Dragonlance? (hint)

[Dragonhelm]

2010 is the 25th Anniversary of the Dragonlance novels,

2009 is the anniversary for both games and novels. DL1 Dragons of Despair was released in March 1984, and Dragons of Autumn Twilight was released in November 1984.

 

[M.L. Martin]

2009 is the anniversary for both games and novels. DL1 Dragons of Despair was released in March 1984, and Dragons of Autumn Twilight was released in November 1984.

I stand corrected--I thought DoAT was January 1985.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

2009 is the anniversary for both games and novels. DL1 Dragons of Despair was released in March 1984, and Dragons of Autumn Twilight was released in November 1984.

I stand corrected--I thought DoAT was January 1985.

well (atleast in my mind) that shoots that clue out of the water...relasing DL on it's 25th anniversary sound like a good idea...announceing it for a year later...not so much

 

[CelticMutt]

Here are some things Chris Perkins has said about campaign settings here...



Some interesting insights, and I think it helps us eliminate more than one old campaign setting.

I still think Birthright can work well as an entire updated setting.

 

[Mad Mac]

I still think Birthright can work well as an entire updated setting.

Possibly. I always thought Birthright was a cool idea for a setting, but most of the details left me cold. As a complete do-over, it could work.

I also think the coupling the setting with good, easy to use realm management/mass battle rules could encourage people to pick up the setting just for the extra goodies.

We're ruling out nothing.

However, whether we treat a past setting as a full-blown campaign setting or simply absorb its best concepts or qualities into a core D&D book would be a topic of debate. Taking Birthright as an example, we could put the mechanics for leading armies, building strongholds, and ruling kingdoms into a future DMG. I'm not saying we would do that, but if we did, would we need a Birthright campaign setting reboot? Hmm.

Ok, now I've seen the quote you're talking about. It's a good point, but I think you can argue that Birthright can provide you with useful content and background to use the sort of rule expansion that he is referencing here. I mean, in theory you can take the rules for this stuff from 2nd edition Birthright and apply them to FR, but then you've got to do all the work yourself.

With a Birthright setting, you could potentially have (statblocks?) for several nations or settlements that players could try to rule or lead, as well as other setting material geared towards running that sort of campaign. If nothing else, it could serve as a very useful reference book for DM's to pillage or reskin for their own settings.

That said, I still think Birthright is pretty far down the list. My guess at this point is:

2010 Dragonlance
2011 Dark Sun
2012 Candyland Extreme.

 

[DerekSTheRed]

I love, love, love Birthright, but I have no illusions that it will be re-released for 4E. That's why I'm working on my home brew version. It would be beyond awesome if a future DMG included rules for leading armies, building strongholds, and ruling kingdoms leaving me less work. Having a built in sand box for PCs to try out those new rules in a 4E Birthright setting would be great but it probably wouldn't justify the investment on WotC's part.

 

[webrunner]

I think we can discount Spelljammer and Planescape as possibilities. The fact that they've included Sigil and Jamming hulls and such in 4e books already, and the way that they're not 'campaign settings' in the traditional sense of the term, means they really dont have a place in the way that they're handling 4e.

Or rather, they do have a place: but not as a campaign setting release. They're content, behind the scenes, regardless of which campaign setting books you're using. Almost every 4e setting has dwarves, and avengers, and the possibility of getting ahold of a spelljammer vessel or ending up in Sigil.

 

[Jack99]

a) Next year is the 35th anniversary of Supplement II: Blackmoor.
b) Not sure how popular it was in its day, but being one of very few supplements available I'm sure it was.
c) What would tug at the heart-strings of long time gamers more that an homage to a recently departed original designer?

And Blackmoor has an A in it.

Codemonkey is publishing Blackmoor I thought? At least Ari claimed he worked on some 4e Blackmoor stuff for them. Or did he perhaps just say that he worked on Blackmoor? Hmm Maybe the Mouse can confirm something?

 

[Henrix]

I think we can discount Spelljammer and Planescape as possibilities.

There is also the fact that they have stated that both seem to have cost more than they ever made.

That could of course have been due to the rather excessive material, with expensive boxes with lots of material and maps, but still.

I think we'll see some of the interesting bits of Planescape, Spelljammer, Ghostwalk, Birthright, Ravenloft and perhaps Hollow World resurface only as source material suitable for any campaign.

And Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Mystara, and such, just as a place for inspiration - some monsters that haven't been ripped yet.
And Dragon articles.
What sets them apart is mostly just fluff - and Wizards currently wants crunchy player's guides. I think those outsell the campaign settings by a lot. I'd estimate at least a couple of times more sales for a PG than a CS. More players than DMs around, and more people that want the crunch for use in other settings.

 

[Shemeska]

There is also the fact that they have stated that both seem to have cost more than they ever made.

As far as I'm aware, that's not true at least for PS. Planescape sold pretty well, and made a profit. However the profit margin for each product sold was less than other lines, primarily because of the larger number of box sets, and they also used a larger variety of inks in the printing process.