Birmy
Hero
I was paging through the Forgotten Realms 3e book the other day and got to thinking about how much I used to love that setting. All campaigns I'd DMed had been set there, and I'd obsessively devoured all of the novels (regardless of quality) all through my teen years. I'd grown sort of dissatisified with how convoluted it had all become, and looking at it now it was hard what I had liked so much about it for all those years. I'd felt similarly about Dragonlance, though my affection for that setting burned out much more quickly. It seemed like they either became too dependent on novel-driven events or became so complicated that it necessitated a time jump that made things even more messy
So my question is this: does there come a time when a setting, regardless of popularity, should be put to pasture? Does it ever get too big, too sprawling, too dense, too dependent on gimmicks to continue? Do settings get "played out" (so to speak)? I know complicated game worlds are part of the appeal for a lot of people, but it just seems to me that these things have a saturation point eventually.
So my question is this: does there come a time when a setting, regardless of popularity, should be put to pasture? Does it ever get too big, too sprawling, too dense, too dependent on gimmicks to continue? Do settings get "played out" (so to speak)? I know complicated game worlds are part of the appeal for a lot of people, but it just seems to me that these things have a saturation point eventually.