MechaPilot
Explorer
Look at Orbyn's example on Eladrin in my quoted post. Eladrin are Super-Elves who live in the Fairie plane. On surface, it'd be really easy to say "they don't fit Athas" and not allow them. Especially since they had no "historical" prescident before 4e either. Yet WotC found a way to integrate them. That is so much cooler than "Due to the lack of connection to the Feywild, there are no Eladrin on Athas".
Maybe, but it's also far less appropriate than saying "they would ordinary be excluded because Athas lacks a connection to the feywild, but here's a modified version that fits with the themes and character of the setting." If you're talking about allowing a single player to make a single Eladrin PC, you can make a virtually infinite number of excuses for how that character arrived on Athas without originating there because of all the magic in all the worlds of D&D (as I said earlier, it's just as easy as saying a character from any other Palladium game was drawn through a portal into RIFTS Earth).
There are times hardline no's cannot be avoided (orcs on Athas or Krynn for example) but those should be things that are important to the setting (such as orc's role in the game going to draconians). But I'd rather see those moments be fewer and poignant rather than "its not the way it was in 2e".
Sorry, but I have to call BS. There is no "hardline no" as it relates to the races of individual characters, for reasons I already mentioned. An orc PC fits into Krynn just as well as an Eladrin PC does to Athas. However, having a section that explains "this is why they were excluded, here is a modified version that fits with the setting, and here are ideas for bringing in PCs of that race from other settings" is inclusive, thorough, and educates people new to a setting about the intended character and feel of the setting while giving DMs tools to ignore that intent if they so choose.
Anyone who wants to use the world as it was in 2e is a PDF on DM's Guild away; the updated versions should be UPDATED.
As soon as the 2e PDFs start including mechanical update appendices for every edition that comes after, I'll agree with you on that.
The 4e Dark Sun and Eberron, 3e Realms and Dragonlance, and Arthaus Ravenloft should be the Gold Standard on how to make a setting fit with a new edition's rules. I think if WotC has any honest intention of updating those settings, they will resemble THOSE products closer* than the 1e/2e box set versions.
"Arthaus Ravenloft?" I've never head of a product called that. A quick Google search appears to indicate that you're talking about the 3e Ravenloft books. If so, I liked those books. I liked what they did with the dark lords and land masses changing (I didn't have a problem with Soth losing his domain or with that Necropolis domain nestled within Darkon), and I liked what they did with the Weathermay twins taking on Van Richten's mantle in his absence. Notably, all of those things are in keeping with the tone and character of Ravenloft.
Also, just realized this, if Van Richten were a mage he'd darn near be John Constantine. Fighting the supernatural forces of evil, loses friends and loved ones frequently during the fight, repeatedly has tragedy visited on his family by the supernatural, struck with enduring guilt.
Grow and evolve.
That's making things a bit personal don't you think? I have no problem with changes, I just want them to be in keeping with the feeling, the tone, and the character originally intended for the settings. You can play it as jumpscare slasher "horror," but Ravenloft should always be designed primarily with a gothic horror feel in mind because that is the identity of the setting.