Do settings get "played out"?

[Kmart Kommando]

My group plays nothing but Forgotten Realms. I can't stand the setting. Reading the books is okay and fine, several authors have done well in telling stories in FR, but playing in FR just leaves something to be desired.

Spells of the setting are stronger than the core books on average, and often times we are somewhat limited in character concept based on the part of the world in which we are starting, though that may just be DMing style. Also, nearly every FR module we have run has had an overwhelming sense of deus ex machina.
It is one of the main reasons I am starting my Iron Heroes game soon, and completely building the setting from scratch. The other is the magic item arms race that is 3.5.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

It is one of the main reasons I am starting my Iron Heroes game soon, and completely building the setting from scratch. The other is the magic item arms race that is 3.5.

Glad to hear it, you can get some very good ideas on these boards if you cruise around enough. There are a lot of gems buried back in the old threads.

Far as magic items goes you should be able to find several threads here dealing with that subject. Here's a few there are more buried in the forum but they're harder to find.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=190627
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=190734
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=187954
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=144003
http://www.enworld.org/article.php?a=144
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=187360

 

[Kae'Yoss]

So my question is this: does there come a time when a setting, regardless of popularity, should be put to pasture?

No. Why get rid of something that's popular? If it's still popular, it seems that a lot of people are enjoying it the way it is - in fact, they might enjoy the things others don't like about it.

If you're tired of something, move on. It's simple, and there's so many world, including many good ones, out there.

Does it ever get too big, too sprawling, too dense, too dependent on gimmicks to continue?

Maybe. But this depends not on objective indicators like "we have 250 novels for this setting now, we must put it to rest". The only way it can be put down for being too big, sprawling and so on is if it gets too big, sprawling and so forth for the fans to still enjoy it.

If that happens, they'll stop buying novels and/or supplements, And the Publisher should think about what to do. Let it go and do something new? Do a make-over? Ask the customers why they don't buy anymore? And so on.

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.

Yes. And that point is when people stop buying.

It really makes no difference for those who don't like it: They stop playing there and buying its books, so for them the setting's "dead", anyway. But those who still like it despite (or because of) the complexity can continue to buy. So until the number of people who keep buying gets too small for the setting to be profitable, its time has not yet come.

1. An open world like FR or Greyhawk can get burned out through endless expansions, revisions, metaplot etc. This is sad, and usually a result of the world being over-worked by the publisher.

It can only get burned out if too many people feel that way. FR doesn't seem to be there yet. And may never be.

Plus, many people like it for this fact. They want an intricate world where lots of things happen. For them, the setting gets better and better.

2. A 'closed' world can be constructed to tell a particular story. These worlds are usually best finished with when that story is done. Dragonlance's Krynn was designed that way, Middle Earth at end of the third age also, and the Midnight world would be 'done' once Izrador was defeated.

I'd say, Midnight would be done once Izrador destroys the world.

But it's true that many worlds are "closed": After their story has been told, it doesn't offer enough to make it an interesting place.

But I think those are less than one would mean.

 

[William drake]

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.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS....start making your own stuff, its just what happens with fantasy. Also, if you've played in the F.R try playing a much toned down game, where magic and healing is less...more exotic, dangerous, and mysterious...try that style and see if it fits. If not, go to the SciFi games.

Game ON

 

[KenSeg]

Burn out can happen, even in a home brew world. We have been playing our DMs world for 20 years now and still prefer it to any company world. However, even a good game world needs change up at times. Move around in time a little so that the politcal situation has changed and the former city of Mort is now good aligned instead of the bastion of evil that it has been for centuries. Or perhaps there has been a massive natural disaster of some type that has wiped out a region in this time period. A little spin on an old familiar is many times all it takes to bring a little passion back into the gaming.

-KenSeg
gaming since 1978

 

[Arnwyn]

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.

I absolutely think so - especially if there is some sort of metaplot and/or if novels start screwing with the game world in any significant way.

I'm still enjoying the Forgotten Realms (+15 years), but only after I dumped all novels (and all products related to the novels) some years ago. [Dragons of Faerun was one of the worst FR products in years.]

 

[Shadeydm]

Played out? Never, come on are you trying to tell me you aren't excited to pick up the new 169 Page sourcebook on "Elminister's Kitchen" due out later this year?!?!

 

[Ulrick]

Greyhawk will never die.

...although in Dragon #137 a wizard named Waldorf destroyed Greyhawk, enslaved its dieties, and demanded TSR to come up with something new.

 

[Birmy]

Played out? Never, come on are you trying to tell me you aren't excited to pick up the new 169 Page sourcebook on "Elminister's Kitchen" due out later this year?!?!

...

...Is it in hardcover?

 

[Dykstrav]

Things can definitely get burned out. Unfortunately, what constitutes "burnout" is subjective and will depend on exactly who you ask for an assessment. What many people think of as burnout is really just their tastes changing over time. Yeah, it does happen. So then the trick becomes figuring out if you're just tired of it or the quality has declined in some way.

This really got me thinking about the old World of Darkness that was terminated in 2004. In many ways, the games could be genuinely amazing with their complexity (in setting, not rules) and the depth in which the themes of the games were explored. I love Wraith: the Oblivion, for example, and would gladly play or run a Wraith game any day of the week. Most players I know that really enjoyed the old World of Darkness were disappointed with the new material. So now the fan base has split into two camps (which one is dominant depends on who you ask). It seems that the people I've talked to that enjoy the new World of Darkness games were the ones that had gotten burned out on the old World of Darkness years ago.