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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6291129" data-attributes="member: 2067">Sure, and those were mashed into the mash-up, too. I copped to being a bit of a fundie on this. I think the distinction between &quot;assume that this is what dwarves are&quot; and &quot;here's one example of what dwarves are&quot; can have a pretty huge downstream effect on how the game is presented and what awesome things can come out of it. It's different because of the underlying assumptions: a default is opt-out, you have to actively make the choice NOT to use it. An example is opt-in. You actively make the choice if you WANT to use it (or if you just abdicate that choice). On the one hand, you're saying &quot;no&quot; if you don't use the default. On the other, you're only ever really saying &quot;yes,&quot; if you want the specific version presented. It informs how people approach the thing in the first place. Ask anyone who complained in 3e about magic items being &quot;necessary&quot; or people who didn't like 4e's take on D&amp;D icons, or anyone who struggled with 2e's cosmology, or people who didn't like how 1e druids had to fight higher-level druids to advance. The ability to change the rules doesn't absolve the rules from the responsibility of making the best D&amp;D game they can.If I had my druthers, I'd say &quot;all of them.&quot; I'm a fan of settings. I'd buy a setting book every year. Though I might excempt the &quot;other continents of FR&quot; from this requirement. Kara-tur, Maztica, and Al-Quadim are solid settings, but if 5e does an Oriental-style, Mayincatec-style, or Arabic-sytle setting, I'd much rather they do something original and unconnected to FR's baggage. Personally, I'd be especially fond of a new kind of Al-Quadim. The possibilities of Arabian-style fantasy are crazy rich, and that setting scratched the surface, but was so obscure in 2e that it could've used some more love. And when each setting comes, I would want them to completely ignore the &quot;default&quot; and be true to themselves first and foremost. So none of this &quot;we have to include elves, since elves are part of D&amp;D!&quot; noise.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 6291129, member: 2067"] Sure, and those were mashed into the mash-up, too. I copped to being a bit of a fundie on this. I think the distinction between "assume that this is what dwarves are" and "here's one example of what dwarves are" can have a pretty huge downstream effect on how the game is presented and what awesome things can come out of it. It's different because of the underlying assumptions: a default is opt-out, you have to actively make the choice NOT to use it. An example is opt-in. You actively make the choice if you WANT to use it (or if you just abdicate that choice). On the one hand, you're saying "no" if you don't use the default. On the other, you're only ever really saying "yes," if you want the specific version presented. It informs how people approach the thing in the first place. Ask anyone who complained in 3e about magic items being "necessary" or people who didn't like 4e's take on D&D icons, or anyone who struggled with 2e's cosmology, or people who didn't like how 1e druids had to fight higher-level druids to advance. The ability to change the rules doesn't absolve the rules from the responsibility of making the best D&D game they can. If I had my druthers, I'd say "all of them." I'm a fan of settings. I'd buy a setting book every year. Though I might excempt the "other continents of FR" from this requirement. Kara-tur, Maztica, and Al-Quadim are solid settings, but if 5e does an Oriental-style, Mayincatec-style, or Arabic-sytle setting, I'd much rather they do something original and unconnected to FR's baggage. Personally, I'd be especially fond of a new kind of Al-Quadim. The possibilities of Arabian-style fantasy are crazy rich, and that setting scratched the surface, but was so obscure in 2e that it could've used some more love. And when each setting comes, I would want them to completely ignore the "default" and be true to themselves first and foremost. So none of this "we have to include elves, since elves are part of D&D!" noise. [/QUOTE]

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