D&D 5E Campaign setting strategy: Would a big campaign setting guide followed by regional books be better?

[Remathilis]

That is exactly the structure of the product(s) I want to create for my homebrew setting.

I've become a fan of the "setting in a box" method; having one kingdom/region detailed and then stitch them all together. A failed homebrew world I tried to do was basically that: it stitched the Nentir Vale, Elsir Vale, Barovia, Thunder Rift, Punjar, Hollowfaust, Freeport, and the Valley of Obelisk's all together in a chaotic mess. Didn't get to do what I wanted with it (due to unrelated problems) but the idea of a Frankenworld made of up of other campaign settings does have merit.

 

[Staffan]

That said, the Karameikos box is perhaps one of the most complete yet usable settings in D&D. You have all the trappings of the archetypal kingdom, down to knights, churches, guilds and the like, a detailed idea of the religion, politics, and economics of the kingdom, plenty of places to explore and villains to foil, and still room to explore, settle, and rise to power. And a touch of the exotic was just a border away. Its really brilliant.

Yeah, it wasn't bad, per se. It just wasn't what I was looking for at the time.

 

[Staffan]

Really, this depends on if you like "top down" or "bottom up" styles of world-building.

Top-down is pretty much what old TSR box-sets did; give you a giant overview of the world in the box and then leave it to the supplements to fill in. What you got was something a mile-wide and an inch deep; the FRCS 3e for example was chock full of areas but to fit it all in they didn't give any area detail; making most of the areas fairly dry and un-exciting.

Dark Sun was a bit of an exception to this, except not advertised as such. The setting in the original boxed set was fairly small - about 400-450 miles from east to west, with about a quarter of that mostly inaccessible (the Sea of Silt), and about 300 miles from north to south. That's about the same size as Cormyr + Sembia in FR. The revised boxed set multiplied the area by about 8, but with less detail on the distant areas (the box gave about as much detail on the new areas as it did on the established ones, but spread out over much more space).

 

[jrowland]

I voted No. FOr settings like FR, with gobs of maps, books. guides. novels etc. we already have the large focused setting. Smaller, edition specific, adventure themed chunks is pregerable.

However, should they introduce a new setting, I'd like to see the full campaign guide first

 

[Doc_Klueless]

No. As I said in another thread:

"I'm really looking forward to this product because, as can be seen in a thread I started, I'm looking to get into the Forgotten Realms so I better use whatever WotC puts out by understanding the background/world behind the adventures a little better. I followed a couple of suggestions and picked up the 3e Campaign Setting, the 4e Campaign Setting and a couple of the Volo guides, but... DAMN! The information contained within them is so overwhelming. My old brain cannot retain it all! Or even a fraction of it it would seem.

What I and others like me who are just now picking up the Forgotten Realms (or D&D or both) is something that breaks out a smaller chunk of the FR with teasers about the rest of the world. Something that I can take in with smaller bites to process and assimilate. From the sound of it, this may be that product."

I still feel that way... Strongly!

 

[Jester David]

I think regional books are nice and I like reading them for settings I like, but the suffer from serious diminishing returns.

Not all your audience is going to buy a campaign setting books.
Of the people who buy a setting, not everyone is going to buy regional books.
of the people who buy a regional book, not everyone is going to buy a book on a particular region.

As an example, not everyone will be interested in a Cormyr book, even if they're a Realms fan. Someone might only set campaigns in the Vilhon Reach region, and only want books on Turmish and Chondath.

 

[delericho]

Campaign setting strategy: Would a big campaign setting guide followed by regional books be better?

Better for whom?

For me, yes, a big campaign setting book is better - mostly because I'll then skip the regional guides entirely. I actually find it more beneficial is the setting is not detailed down to the last nuts and bolts.

Commercially? Probably not. Because most people who are interested in the setting at all will probably buy the first region book and then the one for their region of choice, and because it allows WotC to stop producing region books as soon as they stop selling.

(It's also worth noting that WotC's current strategy is storyline-based. That's why we get a player's guide associated with the setting, it's why the Adventurer's League materials are all tied into the current storyline. And I'll bet that the Sword Coast book will also exist primarily to support storylines - whether that's Rage of Demons or the as-yet-unknown next storyline. I wouldn't assume that the existence of a Sword Coast guide means there will be a forthcoming Dalelands book, or whatever - it's entirely possible that as far as settings go, this is all we're getting.)

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I voted for option three, "I don't use campaign settings." I would not normally vote in a poll when my vote is, essentially, "Meh, none of the above," but in this case, the "none of the above" option seemed relevant. What I find most useful these days is adventure modules. I'm busy, and a module often includes, for my purpose, anyway, just enough campaign setting material to be genuinely helpful without being overwhelming (I don't have time to digest an entire campaign setting book) or constricting (I like to wing it).

 

[redrick]

I think regional books are nice and I like reading them for settings I like, but the suffer from serious diminishing returns.

Not all your audience is going to buy a campaign setting books.
Of the people who buy a setting, not everyone is going to buy regional books.
of the people who buy a regional book, not everyone is going to buy a book on a particular region.

As an example, not everyone will be interested in a Cormyr book, even if they're a Realms fan. Someone might only set campaigns in the Vilhon Reach region, and only want books on Turmish and Chondath.

Realistically, I don't think the Sword Coast setting book is an indicator that we'll get books for all the other regions of the Realms. That seems contrary to what Wizards has been doing thus far. More likely, if the AP's get moved to another region of the Realms, we might see a setting book to supplement that.

If that is the case, I could see the value of Wizards doing a short little "Quick Guide to the Sundering" PDF for folks who are familiar with earlier versions of the Realms and want to keep up to date with Wizards Universe Continuity. There are people who seem to care about that, and hopefully it wouldn't be too expensive to produce. (And if it helps to sell a few old FR PDFs off of dndclassics, that can't hurt Wizards either.)

 

[Corpsetaker]

Better for whom?

For me, yes, a big campaign setting book is better - mostly because I'll then skip the regional guides entirely. I actually find it more beneficial is the setting is not detailed down to the last nuts and bolts.

Commercially? Probably not. Because most people who are interested in the setting at all will probably buy the first region book and then the one for their region of choice, and because it allows WotC to stop producing region books as soon as they stop selling.

(It's also worth noting that WotC's current strategy is storyline-based. That's why we get a player's guide associated with the setting, it's why the Adventurer's League materials are all tied into the current storyline. And I'll bet that the Sword Coast book will also exist primarily to support storylines - whether that's Rage of Demons or the as-yet-unknown next storyline. I wouldn't assume that the existence of a Sword Coast guide means there will be a forthcoming Dalelands book, or whatever - it's entirely possible that as far as settings go, this is all we're getting.)

Better for everyone.

Right now Wizards is taking a big gamble because they are narrowly focusing on a specific area that many people are either tired of or don't like. The chances are higher that people will not like the area and not purchase the book. You have a greater chance of people buying an overall book because it has all areas and caters to everyone.

I am currently looking at the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Guide for 3rd edition and it's a perfect setup because they took the most widely known areas and went into just enough detail to get you started by detailing the "important sites" of those areas.