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General Tabletop Discussion
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Does D&D Next need a Core Setting?
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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5916629" data-attributes="member: 58197"><p>Historically, the function of the core setting has been to provide the following elements:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A pantheon of gods.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monster "ecology" material.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A starting town.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spell names.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Hand and Eye of Vecna*.</li> </ul><p>[SIZE=-2]*I was going to say "artifacts," but to all intents and purposes, the only artifacts in the game are the Hand and Eye. Each edition includes a few other throwaways because the designers feel like Vecna shouldn't be allowed to hog all the artifacts. Nobody cares.[/SIZE]</p><p></p><p>The pantheons can be relegated to sidebars or subchapters. Just as 3E presented a list of domains, and then gave us a list of Greyhawk gods and the domains connected to them, D&DN can present the gods of the major settings in abbreviated form.</p><p></p><p>Monster ecology is an interesting question. Late 3.5E tried to do something where each monster entry presented different "ecology" material for each major setting (Eberron, FR, et cetera). It's a nice idea, but maybe going too far. I think it's okay to default to Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk for most monsters, and call out the cases where there's a big important difference, like orcs in Eberron.</p><p></p><p>The starting town both can and should be setting-agnostic. 4E and BD&D had the right idea here, with Fallcrest and Threshold respectively: Small, isolated, self-contained towns with handy dungeons nearby. Other than exotic settings like Dark Sun and Planescape, you can drop them in pretty much anywhere and they're fine. Of course, Threshold eventually grew into the sprawling chaos of Mystara, but as originally presented it was just The Starting Town.</p><p></p><p>Spell names don't really need a lot of setting background, and in fact I think it's better if they aren't presented with any. It's more fun, as a player, to try to imagine the sort of wizard who would come up with Mordenkainen's various utility and meta-spells, and compare it to Melf's destructive streak and Bigby with his hand fetish.</p><p></p><p>As for the Hand and Eye of Vecna, Vecna scoffs at your petty setting constraints. The Hand and Eye can show up in any setting they damn well please.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 5916629, member: 58197"] Historically, the function of the core setting has been to provide the following elements: [LIST] [*]A pantheon of gods. [*]Monster "ecology" material. [*]A starting town. [*]Spell names. [*]The Hand and Eye of Vecna*. [/LIST] [SIZE=-2]*I was going to say "artifacts," but to all intents and purposes, the only artifacts in the game are the Hand and Eye. Each edition includes a few other throwaways because the designers feel like Vecna shouldn't be allowed to hog all the artifacts. Nobody cares.[/SIZE] The pantheons can be relegated to sidebars or subchapters. Just as 3E presented a list of domains, and then gave us a list of Greyhawk gods and the domains connected to them, D&DN can present the gods of the major settings in abbreviated form. Monster ecology is an interesting question. Late 3.5E tried to do something where each monster entry presented different "ecology" material for each major setting (Eberron, FR, et cetera). It's a nice idea, but maybe going too far. I think it's okay to default to Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk for most monsters, and call out the cases where there's a big important difference, like orcs in Eberron. The starting town both can and should be setting-agnostic. 4E and BD&D had the right idea here, with Fallcrest and Threshold respectively: Small, isolated, self-contained towns with handy dungeons nearby. Other than exotic settings like Dark Sun and Planescape, you can drop them in pretty much anywhere and they're fine. Of course, Threshold eventually grew into the sprawling chaos of Mystara, but as originally presented it was just The Starting Town. Spell names don't really need a lot of setting background, and in fact I think it's better if they aren't presented with any. It's more fun, as a player, to try to imagine the sort of wizard who would come up with Mordenkainen's various utility and meta-spells, and compare it to Melf's destructive streak and Bigby with his hand fetish. As for the Hand and Eye of Vecna, Vecna scoffs at your petty setting constraints. The Hand and Eye can show up in any setting they damn well please. [/QUOTE]
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