D&D 4E 4e campaign settings in multiple books?

[WyzardWhately]

I've been pretty enthused up till now, but...

Aw, Hell No. I don't even *like* FR and that pisses me off.

 

[Uzzy]

Separate DM books for the different campaign settings? Good move, if it's a good price. Especially if it concentrates on the fluff.

 

[Rechan]

If they plan on making a Player's guide, please for the love of Thoon remove the spoilers.

The Player's Guide to Eberron had spoilers all over the place. While I understand that players can seperate OOC and IC knowledge, if it's for the players, then don't expose those things.

 

[Aloïsius]

That bugged me, too. You could look at it positively (they're getting a fresh perspective that might bring some good to the setting) or negatively (they're tasking someone who "doesn't get" the setting, and letting them change things until they "finally do" get it). I'm trying to stay positive, but for my part, it gets harder and harder with every blog post, podcast, and short website post - oops, sorry, "Dragon Magazine article." Hopefully what we see next summer will knock our socks off. Hope, hope, hope...

Well, looks like people are only reading what they want to read... In your case, you are looking for reason to worry.
Explain me why someone should have a FR degree to write a rule ? Especialy if the people asking you to write the rule (let's say "hey, Logan, we need a feat for this, a talent tree for that and a rule for creating magic portail) are themselves FR authors ?

I thought it was clear that WotC teams are divided bewteen story teams and rules teams...

Pardon me if I look rude, but I don't understand how multiple posters can make the same error of comprehension in the same thread.

 

[kenmarable]

Well, looks like people are only reading what they want to read... In your case, you are looking for reason to worry.
Explain me why someone should have a FR degree to write a rule ? Especialy if the people asking you to write the rule (let's say "hey, Logan, we need a feat for this, a talent tree for that and a rule for creating magic portail) are themselves FR authors ?

I thought it was clear that WotC teams are divided bewteen story teams and rules teams...

Pardon me if I look rude, but I don't understand how multiple posters can make the same error of comprehension in the same thread.

That has surprised me, too. It's not like he said "He, guess what? They're letting me write the whole new FR campaign!! Woo hoo!!"

They have a "mechanical designer"... well... designing mechanics for the setting. He even said "the story team will tell me what mechanics they need", so I don't see the issue here either. But I do know a lot of the 4e FR info has left people pretty soured which can easily lead to viewing these things in a negative light. I certainly feel some of that, too. But I don't see it as "you're not a FR expert, so you're not qualified to design some feats from ideas we give you." That's a bit extreme.

 

[Remathilis]

It might work if the Player Guide has some general info and then all the racial, deific, classes, feats, etc. Meanwhile the DM guide has the geo-political, npc stats, monsters, and sample adventure. (Not unlike Kalamar or even the 3.5 Ravenloft books)

 

[Sammael]

Pardon me if I look rude, but I don't understand how multiple posters can make the same error of comprehension in the same thread.

Because, Aloïsius, setting-related rules (such as PrCs) should be rooted in setting flavor. How can someone with no knowledge of FR write a Red Wizard of Thay talent tree? Purple Dragon Knight? Battleguard of Tempus? Can they truly write the stats for the Wyvern Crown of Cormyr or a Netherese Blast Scepter? What about the magic effects of a Mythal? Simbul's Synostodweomer? Kir-lanans?

In my opinion, a person writing ANY sort of material for a setting MUST have at least passing familiarity with the said setting and be willing to do independent research. The attitude displayed by the aforementioned designer is, to me, very disturbing.

 

[Rechan]

Meanwhile the DM guide has the geo-political

Some of that should be in the Player's Guide. If you want to play a noble or say, have your character who has ties to the anti-Crown resistance or whatever in that area over there.

Something like Eberron, the geo-political stuff is pretty important, not just for plots, but for characters. The Dragonmarked Houses are political movers and shakers too, and rife for character options. As is the nature of 'You're from this country, and usually people from here don't like people from That country because of what happened in the Last War'.

Now, for stuff like 'The Duke of Farington hates the Duke of Lancaster and would eat Lancaster's puppies if he could' isn't material the players need their hands on, but more general political landscapes are useful for players.

 

[Aloïsius]

Because, Aloïsius, setting-related rules (such as PrCs) should be rooted in setting flavor. How can someone with no knowledge of FR write a Red Wizard of Thay talent tree? Purple Dragon Knight? Battleguard of Tempus? Can they truly write the stats for the Wyvern Crown of Cormyr or a Netherese Blast Scepter? What about the magic effects of a Mythal? Simbul's Synostodweomer? Kir-lanans?

In my opinion, a person writing ANY sort of material for a setting MUST have at least passing familiarity with a said setting and be willing to do independent research. The attitude displayed by the aforementioned designer is, to me, very disturbing.

Because of course, when they ask him to write a red wizard of Thay Prc, they explain what they want ? Like in "look, this was the 3e Prc, we need to update it to 4e". Same thing with all other stuff you quoted. Be realistic. You don't need to have read the whole Cuningham story to write the stats of those elven blades : you just need to know what they were, stat-wise and fluff-wise, in the previous edition. That does not require to have read the whole realms great encyclopedia.

 

[Rechan]

Because, Aloïsius, setting-related rules (such as PrCs) should be rooted in setting flavor. How can someone with no knowledge of FR write a Red Wizard of Thay talent tree?

Like this.

"Hey, Intern Bob, you know a lot about FR right?"
"Sure do."
"Write me a page memo on what the Red Wizards of Thay are about, along with their magic, and take that down to the rules designer guy so he can make the Red Wizard of Thay PrC."

I have a lot of knowledge of FR and I couldn't write a PrC about the Red Wizards of Thay, because I suck at mechanics.

Expecting your Rules guys to ALSO be story guys is going to make your options slim.