Spelljammer Chris Perkins and Ray Winninger Interview Discussing Spelljammer and Product Development

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

While I don't disagree that those are worlds that showed up in more than one product, I think it's hard to argue those are lines in the same sense as 2E.

AD

Oh, I'm not disagreeing with that. I'm just a pedant that was also pointing out that there are quite a few exceptions in D&D 5e to the general rule of "one source book for the setting, maybe a DMsGuild Product or two, and that's it". It's definitely nowhere near the extent that 2e supported its many settings.

 

[Micah Sweet]

A handful of Japanese playtesters do not cultural consultants make.

They made a specific effort. That it wasn't good enough for you doesn't erase that.

 

[lkj]

Oh, I'm not disagreeing with that. I'm just a pedant that was also pointing out that there are quite a few exceptions in D&D 5e to the general rule of "one source book for the setting, maybe a DMsGuild Product or two, and that's it". It's definitely nowhere near the extent that 2e supported its many settings.

That's fair. As a pedant myself (as my family frequently complains) I acknowledge my over generalization.

AD

 

[Parmandur]

Oh, I'm not disagreeing with that. I'm just a pedant that was also pointing out that there are quite a few exceptions in D&D 5e to the general rule of "one source book for the setting, maybe a DMsGuild Product or two, and that's it". It's definitely nowhere near the extent that 2e supported its many settings.

On the other hand, Rising from the Last War or Explorer's Guide to Wildemount are each worth like a half-dozen 2E supplements just on page count.

 

[Micah Sweet]

On the other hand, Rising from the Last War or Explorer's Guide to Wildemount are each worth like a half-dozen 2E supplements just on page count.

Depends on the supplement. Also, many of the 2e books had a higher text-to-art ratio if I remember correctly (I may be wrong).

 

[Parmandur]

Depends on the supplement. Also, many of the 2e books had a higher text-to-art ratio if I remember correctly (I may be wrong).

I did the math on this at some point, and 5E pages have higher word counts on average than AD&D ones, sometimes by quite a bit: see Yawning Portal or Ghosts of Saltmarsh for some comcrete examples, but you can also calculate by counting the words on some sample and extrapolating with great accuracy.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

A lot of it isn't new, but this quote did jump out at me. "Other factors we consider are things like ‘Do we have an idea to sufficiently differentiate this experience from the other worlds?’"

See that? That's why every setting book they put out has a hook or gimmick to make it unique, and that's why there's no Greyhawk book on the release list.

Yeah, people have been pointing that out for a while now. Ravnica was their giant magical city and faction war setting while also serving as their first M:tG setting book. Theros was their Greek mythology setting with M:tG-isms plugged into it. Ravenloft was their horror setting, Eberron was their magitek dungeonpunk Cold-War setting, Strixhaven was their magic academy setting, and Spelljammer is their space opera setting. Dragonlance is their nostalgia setting that also doubles as testing out some mass combat warfare rules to incorporate in a 5e minigame.

The only reason Greyhawk would come to 5e is to capitalize off of nostalgia. We already have enough generic fantasy settings in D&D 5e (Exandria, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms), so it really wouldn't have any role to fill other than "this is Gary Gygax's setting, a lot of older players want it back, and the 50th anniversary of D&D would be a good time to make money off of it".

I hope that this points to the two completely new settings that they're working on being published and being very different from what we already have in 5e. I would love a modern or futuristic fantasy setting, or a prehistoric Dawn War/First World setting, or settings inspired by real world cultures/regions D&D hasn't done well in the past (Mesoamerican, Indian, etc), or something else that we've never seen in D&D or M:tG before.

 

[Aldarc]

I hope that this points to the two completely new settings that they're working on being published and being very different from what we already have in 5e. I would love a modern or futuristic fantasy setting, or a prehistoric Dawn War/First World setting, or settings inspired by real world cultures/regions D&D hasn't done well in the past (Mesoamerican, Indian, etc), or something else that we've never seen in D&D or M:tG before.

I would personally want to see high seas island-hopping adventure done well for D&D. If we can't get Nentir Vale back, then I think Chris Perkins's Iomandra setting would be a nice addition.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'll tell you what I really really want:

A book that can help me to construct murder mystery type adventures. I have a couple of players who are huge murder mystery fans (including my partner), but I have never been able to figure out how to make it work in D&D. I was a big fan of Murder on Arcturus Station for Traveller.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'll tell you what I really really want:

A book that can help me to construct murder mystery type adventures. I have a couple of players who are huge murder mystery fans (including my partner), but I have never been able to figure out how to make it work in D&D. I was a big fan of Murder on Arcturus Station for Traveller.

That'd be excellent. The recent Locked Tomb novels (starting with the brilliant Gideon the Ninth) by Tamsyn Muir demonstate that murder-mystery and pretty extreme high-fantasy involving a ton of necromancers aren't incompatible, so it is surely doable.

EDIT - I literally just realized that Locked Tomb was a pun on "locked room" right now.

 

[deganawida]

That'd be excellent. The recent Locked Tomb novels (starting with the brilliant Gideon the Ninth) by Tamsyn Muir demonstate that murder-mystery and pretty extreme high-fantasy involving a ton of necromancers aren't incompatible, so it is surely doable.

Joel Rosenberg also had the Kami Dai’shan (not sure if I am remembering the surname correctly) novels in the 90s. I read “Hour of the Octopus” and really enjoyed it. If one takes fantasy as milieu rather than genre, there’s a lot one can do with it that doesn’t involve stabbing things (though the ones with stabbing are also good fun).

EDIT: Dam’shir? Really wish I could remember, especially as his surname was his title and he was the first to have it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Joel Rosenberg also had the Kami Dai’shan (not sure if I am remembering the surname correctly) novels in the 90s. I read “Hour of the Octopus” and really enjoyed it. If one takes fantasy as milieu rather than genre, there’s a lot one can do with it that doesn’t involve stabbing things (though the ones with stabbing are also good fun).

EDIT: Dam’shir? Really wish I could remember, especially as his surname was his title and he was the first to have it.

Internet sez: D'shai

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[deganawida]

Internet sez: D'shai

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Thank you!

 

[Micah Sweet]

I did the math on this at some point, and 5E pages have higher word counts on average than AD&D ones, sometimes by quite a bit: see Yawning Portal or Ghosts of Saltmarsh for some comcrete examples, but you can also calculate by counting the words on some sample and extrapolating with great accuracy.

Well, there you go.

 

[delericho]

I did the math on this at some point, and 5E pages have higher word counts on average than AD&D ones, sometimes by quite a bit: see Yawning Portal or Ghosts of Saltmarsh for some comcrete examples, but you can also calculate by counting the words on some sample and extrapolating with great accuracy.

You don't happen to know the approximate word count per page of those 5e books?

 

[delericho]

That last point is why I think that, when Dark Sun drops, it'll look a lot more like the 4e version than the original.

While I agree it will be closer to the 4e version, I can't help but feel that they'll remix it again - to restore gnomes (and other PC races) to the setting, to seriously downplay if not eliminate outright the slavery aspect, and to give Muls a new origin.

 

[The Glen]

Mystara benefitted greatly from introducing each nation with a full book, giving a far more expansive look at each nation rather than a few paragraphs like FR or GH. There were a few misfires like Ierendi relying too heavily on pop culture references like 80s TV shows, Atruaghin being notoriously rushed and incomplete and Dawn of the Emperors having both Empires crammed into too small of a book. Still there are far more hits than misses like Karameikos, Glantri, Darokin and Minrothad for example. Didn't hurt you had legendary game designers like Moldvay, Greenwood and Alston writing these books.

Sales wise it is one of the best known settings due to the legendary Capcom games and the fact the BECMI sets were translated in to multiple languages so when people from other countries wanted to buy setting books, Mystara was the only one in their language.

Any setting can be good with the right authors. If they don't want write them they can always go 3rd party route like Ravenloft in 3rd.

 

[The Glen]

I just wanted to mention bearded elves, is all.

As much as I love my bearded elves nothing beats the awesome 'staches the drow were sporting in Greyhawk.

 

[Parmandur]

You don't happen to know the approximate word count per page of those 5e books?

A normal 5E page without a chart or picture has just shynof 1000 words on average, based on my samplings. I have found a source through Google that suggests a 76,544 word count, which seems fairly reasonable given all the charts, maps, etc.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I can't forget the drow from my AD&D Monster Compedium. This is the picture. Do you know this artist died? RIP.