Forthcoming 4E settings?

[El Mahdi]

Why should old timers be punished for loving their settings the way they always have and not wanting to see them nuked ?. . .

More importantly, why not publish a genuinely original, brand-new built up to speed, specially designed new world ? with all the new cool bells and whistles already built in ? . . .


No seriously : if you shoehorn 4e on an old setting you will probably alienate the old fans, unless this is done exceptionally well, and I don't trust WOTC to deliver this after seeing the 4e Realms. (Check the reactions).

Point #1: The setting is only "nuked" if you nuke it in your campaign. If you don't like the changes, then don't use them. If you say it didn't happen in your campaign, then it didn't happen.

Point #2: As much as that article was misrepresented and misquoted in previous posts, it was said that there would be new 4E settings, and not only redo's of older ones.

Quote: "The model described above will be used every year, and we'll focus on a different campaign setting. Next year, we'll give this treatment to Eberron. After that? Well, we'll be exploring the best worlds from our vault, as well as creating new worlds as warranted." - Bill Slavicsek - "Ampersand" Dragon issue 363

Point #3: Seriously, how does this "alienate" old fans. If they didn't print anything new for your favorite campaign world, you won't buy any new material. If they print something new that you don't like, you won't buy any new material. It's a case of no harm, no foul. People who like the new material will buy it, people who don't, won't. I'm sure some of them will be old fans, and more importantly, some of them will be new fans, which, I'm sure, is exactly what they want.

Point #4: What is so seriously wrong with the 4E Realms? What did they do to the Realms that is so irrevocable, that no-one can change it to their personal flavor in their game? If you don't like that Khelban is dead - poof, Kehlban is alive in your game. If you don't like Dragonborn in FR - poof, there country doesn't exist and the old country is back. If you don't like the Spellplague - poof, never happened. If you don't like returned Abier - poof, Anchorhome and Maztica are right back where you left them. Why is this such a big deal?

 

[El Mahdi]

Besides, why are you avoiding my question ?

Maybe because the premise of the question has no basis. Nobody is being "punished". If WoTC put out a statement saying "We don't like our fans of ___________, so we are no longer going to publish anything about or for this setting ever again. We are also going to keep a death-grip on the IP so that nobody else will ever publish anything about it or for it either.", that would be punishment and betrayal (although within their rights - wrong as that may be).

WoTC updating a setting and providing new material is nothing more than attempting to provide their fans with the next installment. If someone doesn't like it, they are well within their rights to vote their opinion with their wallet. If someone doesn't like the changes, they are within their rights to state their opinion. But accusing WoTC of Punishing or Betraying makes absolutely no sense. Could WoTC be guilty of putting out a poor product? Absolutely, and according to some this is exactly what they have done, which is a completely acceptable opinion. But guilty of Betrayal and Punishment - come on, give me a break.

 

[Minicol]

Thank you for your kind answers.

I'll try to answer as best :

1 Sure, you are right. But a new (or returning) player picking up the book will know about the nuking and expect it to have happened. May make communication around the game table harder.

2 Actually this is good news. I did not read that article before. I could even buy that (those ?) new world if it is good and inspiring. Yes, really, not kidding about that.

3 I was judging from the reactions seen on this forum (and others). plenty of people seem to have been alienated. I felt this too, though not as bad as others. To be clear, it's due to how it was nuked, rather than the nuking itself.

4 Yes : you are right. But essentially same as 1 : a new player with the book in end is disappointed/surprised/ ... that is book is not not as useful in your campaign as in any "standard" campaign. And might drop out because of that.

But mostly : I have the feeling that 4e would be best served by something really built for it. We could talk about the new coolness, rather than this debate.

Regards and goodnight anyways.

 

[Minicol]

Maybe because the premise of the question has no basis.

I will gladly admit that my answer has no basis, but Whitemouse answer had none either and I was more thinking of what he wrote than anything WOTC at the moment.

Besides, you answered my question ( which was about the new world in fact) with your second point, and thank you for that.

Regards.

 

[Whitemouse]

I will gladly admit that my answer has no basis, but Whitemouse answer had none either and I was more thinking of what he wrote than anything WOTC at the moment.

Emphasis mine. Just for the record, I'm a woman.

 

[El Mahdi]

Regards from me also.

Maybe you or someone should start a thread about what we want to see in a new 4E campaign setting. Kind of like the "What do we want from a 4E Oriental Campaign" thread. Maybe we here at ENWorld could design a camapaign setting and submit it to WoTC like Eberon was. That'd be cool.

 

[Voadam]

Amethyst from Dias Ex Machina Games.

Kingdoms of Kalamar 4e is already put out by Kenzer and Co. 501 pages.

 

[Staffan]

P.S. WOTC leaving Eberron alone (for the most part) for 4E still surprises me- what a great decision.

I think the main reason FR got nuked was the mass of old canon -every corner of the world had already been described, sometimes two or three times. The Spellplague provided an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, keep what they liked and revamp the rest.

Eberron, however, hasn't been covered in great detail yet. There's only been thirteen books released (core, Faiths, Magic, Explorer, Five Nations, Xen'drik, Sarlona, Dragons, Races, Last War, Stormreach, Dragonmarked, Sharn) plus adventures. There are still places even on the primary continent that have only gotten two pages in the core book. Thus, there's no need to press the reset button.

 

[Mercurius]

Eberron, however, hasn't been covered in great detail yet...There's only been thirteen books released...plus adventures.

"Only thirteen." I know, compared to FR it isn't that much but it is still funny.

 

[Knightfall]

I'm a 4E fan and even though I want GH (as stated above), I also agree with jokamachi. So I should clarify: Shoehorning 4E's core cosmology and default world assumptions into GH would be a huge mistake. Were they to alter 4E to fit GH (drop the dragon and demon people, drop the 4E default cosmology and world assumptions, etc etc) I'd be OK with that.

Well, there is a thread on Canonfire! that talks about what WotC is planning for Greyhawk. I'm not sure where the OP got his information, however.

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