Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="buzz" data-source="post: 3077100" data-attributes="member: 6777">I'd basically agree, and this is a reason I like Eberron.Very true, but I did not mean to imply otherwise. I'm just saying that, if the setting isn't a source of situation or mechanics, then it's color.Again, I agree. But w/r/t the context of the OP, if the situations you encounter in your games are rarely ones informed by the setting, I can see how the settings are going to blur together. FR and GH may provide two different contexts for battling through the dungeon of an evil cult, but the resulting play may look identical.Right, and if the fact that diffusing the standoff is better accomplished by solving the mystery is determined by the setting, then you've got setting that really matters, i.e. informs the play.Let me be clear that when I said "settings don't matter," that's not the same as saying "settings are not important" or "...fulfil no purpose," as funny as that may sound.What I'm saying (or saying now, at least) is that D&D will work without any "setting" in the conventional sense. The implied setting of D&D is so strong that you can create PCs and run adventures wihtout any context larger than the module the DM is currently using. This is why I can easily see the perspective of the OP; given a series of contexts (i.e., settings) that are all vaguely medieval European and leave most aspects of the implied D&D setting untouched (because the settings themselves do so or because the DM runs them that way), it should come as no surpirse that the player may not see any difference between them.And this is regardless if the setting is doing a great job of inspiring the DM. I mean, I don't really see a whole lot of difference between FR and GH (much less Mystara, Kalamar, and many homebrews I've created/witnessed). However, people have their tastes, and the text of GH may inspire some DMs to create great adventures more than the text of FR, and vice-versa. Not to mention, some setting products may be better-written than others and more clearly provide direction for the DM.Still, does this really matter from the player perspective? Is the setting going to be more distinct because of this? I'm not sure it will.I think my opinion stems from having seen so many similar settings over the years. Nowadays, a setting really needs to show me it has a reason to exist. If all a setting has to offer me is a new map and extensive elvish history, I'm probaby going to pass, as it's not changing the here and now of the D&D play experience. Since the here and now is what's important to me when game night rolls around, I can fill in setting details like that myself, should they ever come up, thus saving me having to plow through another big tome (or a fat handout from the DM).</blockquote>

Verification