New WotC Campaign Setting

[Priest_Sidran]

They have something that I think could use another (single) book, Ghostwalk...at least as an update to 3.5

As for settings IF they do another one it will most likely be another Setting Search (IMO) because that last one was very successful.

Another thing that I wouldn't mind them doing is all of the old supplements from TSR like the Roman Empire, or the Celtic World books.

 

[greywulf]

you know what would be a cool way to start a new setting? where there is no one central point, no focal point. No Sigil, no Waterdeep, no Greyhawk City... or at least, if you have those, no one of them is more important than the other. each one would have an equal likelihood to be the most important place in the campaign.....

BOZ, you rock!

That is a completely excellent idea. Heck, why buy it when we could create it ourselves? Something like the d20NPCWiki but for countries. Do a write-up of a country, post it up. Someone else could add to it, give more depth, or write about how their country and yours interrract.

Man, I love this idea.........

 

[Kae'Yoss]

you know what would be a cool way to start a new setting? where there is no one central point, no focal point. No Sigil, no Waterdeep, no Greyhawk City...

I wouldn't call Waterdeep a focal point really. At least, not nearly as focal as sigil. Not by a very far shot. It's only ever important if you play in the area (northern Sword Coast, Western Heartlands). Otherwise, you'll probably visit Skuld, Calimport, Suzail, Selgaunt, whatever metropolis is near. There's many many campaigns that never see the inside of Waterdeep.

in fact, make a totally modular campaign world. yeah, that's the ticket. describe a number of countries, cities, etc... but NO ATLAS. yeah, the DM places whichever lands he wants wherever he wants, and decides how each one interacts with the others based on location and other factors. then you can port in Cormyr, Karameikos, and the Suel Empire, plus another country you made up for a homebrew world, and maybe the city of Dis in the middle of them and they would all fit seamlessly. yeah...

it would be a world where truly anything from D&D would fit. it would be marvelous... *heads back into a fevered dreamlike state...*

So, call it "Homebrew"? I don't know. It's essentially what you can do now.

It's not a bad idea, but I wouldn't call it a Campaign Setting. More a Campaign Toolbox.

 

[Piratecat]

The problem with that is that international politics and trade and tensions drive a lot of my game's tension - and if I don't know what's where and who is next to one another, all that goes away.

I also like a central focal point (or rather, a couple of them), even though I don't always use it. It gives everyone some common ground that they've heard of.

 

[BOZ]

you could even make several sourcebooks out of it. say, "Nation X might be hostile to Nation Y, which might be an ally of Nation Z, which might be a trading partner of Nation Q," and under which circumstances those things might apply. but nothing would be assumed, so that total control is up to the DM.

I could see it being a "Campaign Toolbox", though it would also be flavor-heavy. each new product would provide links to the older ones, but DMs would only be obliged to use the parts they like.

there would probably even be "portable cities" and "portable NPCs" with backgrounds that could allow them to be placed wherever they fit best for the campaign.

but the key element would be that DMs could place things however they like, and import basically anything from any campaign setting or story.

 

[BOZ]

The problem with that is that international politics and trade and tensions drive a lot of my game's tension - and if I don't know what's where and who is next to one another, all that goes away.

I also like a central focal point (or rather, a couple of them), even though I don't always use it. It gives everyone some common ground that they've heard of.

that's the thing - they don't go away, but instead of the designers telling you how all of that works, you pick and choose. think of it like a buffet.

it would be like a big box of ideas, to jumpstart a DM's homebrew world, basically.

 

[an_idol_mind]

you know what would be a cool way to start a new setting? where there is no one central point, no focal point. No Sigil, no Waterdeep, no Greyhawk City... or at least, if you have those, no one of them is more important than the other. each one would have an equal likelihood to be the most important place in the campaign.

in fact, make a totally modular campaign world. yeah, that's the ticket. describe a number of countries, cities, etc... but NO ATLAS. yeah, the DM places whichever lands he wants wherever he wants, and decides how each one interacts with the others based on location and other factors. then you can port in Cormyr, Karameikos, and the Suel Empire, plus another country you made up for a homebrew world, and maybe the city of Dis in the middle of them and they would all fit seamlessly. yeah...

it would be a world where truly anything from D&D would fit. it would be marvelous... *heads back into a fevered dreamlike state...*

Isn't that essentially the evolution of Mystara?

 

[Cedric]

It occurred to me today what I wanted to see in a new Campaign Setting.

I would like a medium-magic fantasy campaign setting...where the "good" guys, are losing. Whole cities in ruin, countries fallen to evil humanoids, a nation of evil dragons, a wasteland of barbarian tribes...and a few very large, well defended bastions of hope.

A few rare places where the dream lives on. Making magic items would be fine, but buying them would be very difficult (limited resources). Tons of fallen cities to explore for lost artifacts. Travel is anything but automatic...with large teleportation gates linking distant cities, but traveling outside the city walls is risking death or worse.

All hope is NOT gone, but boy, is it ever flagging.

Baronies would be available to anyone strong enough to clean out and hold a piece of land...offering every adventurer the chance to become nobility.

Hmm...I think I just came up with my next homebrew setting.

I started working on this Homebrew setting last night. Usually I just create these in a vacuum. In other words, I work on it and no one sees any of the work until I'm done and I run the game.

I usually do a mix of completely original stuff, items taken from other WoTC material and published settings and a smattering of material borrowed from published fantasy or mythology (usually with my own flavor, I borrow the concept, not the details).

This time though, I was kind of thinking about posting some of the material as I create it, and getting some feedback from others. What forum would I most appropriately use for that? General? House Rules? or Story Hour?

Thanks

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

that's the thing - they don't go away, but instead of the designers telling you how all of that works, you pick and choose. think of it like a buffet.

it would be like a big box of ideas, to jumpstart a DM's homebrew world, basically.

I really like this idea. Think about how many beginning DMs want to write their own game worlds, but don't really have any idea where to start and what to put in them. Sure, you can get advice on where to put mountains and water from various supplements, but where are the guides to building trade networks and political intrigue. If you had fairly distinctive and flavourful drag-and-drop kingdoms with modular resources and governments, perhaps even a major-NPC building handbook, as well as a guide to making them all interact smoothly, that would be a major help to putting together the framework of a campaign world.

 

[greywulf]

Isn't that essentially the evolution of Mystara?

The Known World wasn't allowed to evolve. It was savagely and brutally kicked to death one night by a proverbial 300-pound gorilla that decided to call it Mystara.

Now that I'm bitter or anything.