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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="JamesM" data-source="post: 3818478" data-attributes="member: 2762">Here's a totally idle speculation to consider:1. Remember the WotC setting search? The one that gave us Eberron? Why did WotC do that? At the time, I felt WotC was looking, for various reasons, to retire the Realms and replace it with a setting that was new and thus free from years of accumulated lore and that better and more easily served as a vehicle for introducing whatever new changes they made to the rules in upcoming years. 2. Despite its doing well, I don't think Eberron has come close to enjoying the same level of success as the Realms in terms of sales.Assuming these both are true, where does that leave WotC? They recognize that the Realms is their heavy hitter setting-wise. It has a large, loyal fanbase who's shown a willingness to put up with lots of arbitrary changes and ill-considered alterations over the years. But the design of 4E is significantly different, both rules-wise and flavor-wise, from that of the Realms, at least in its broadest, most "vanilla" form. What do they do?They could have created a wholly new setting but that'd leave them with the Eberron "problem," which is to say a game setting without the large, supportive fanbase (never mind string of best selling novels). And, let's be honest, it'd be a lot of work to create a new setting from scratch. My guess is that they figured it'd be easier to mold the Realms into something more amenable to their business plans for 4E than any other option. They're also probably gambling that, like 4E itself, the furor and bile will eventually die down between now and August and enough people will just roll with the punches and accept the changes, as they did in the past. Basically, they're wagering that Realms fans are loyal enough to the Realms as a brand that they'll stick with it no matter what.It's the same wager they're making with D&D as a brand and I think it's a good wager. I'd probably take it too -- but it's still a wager. There's a chance, and not an insignificant one, that they'll lose that wager. I think it less likely they will for 4E, but it seems much more likely for the Realms.Time will tell.</blockquote>

Verification