New WotC Campaign Setting

[ssampier]

No. This thread alone is reason enough - most people have their favorites. They are hurt if you didn't bring back Planescape/Al Qadim/Birthright/Dark Sun/Greyhawk/Ravenloft/Mystara/Blackmoor/SpellJammer. Why don't we bring all back and call it Nostalgia Soup (it tastes great).

Besides, splitting fan base between two "generic"* settings cannot be good for the company.

* I deny FR is generic, but Greyhawk = D&D to me.

 

[Kunimatyu]

Honestly, I think that adventure books ala Expedition to Castle Ravenloft are the way to go. You get to revisit classic campaign settings all without competing with the two major CS lines.

That being said, I would really like to see standalone setting books for Spelljammer, Al-Qadim(call it Arabian Adventures to avoid Homeland Security?), Planescape, and maybe Dark Sun/Mystara.

 

[Asmor]

No. This thread alone is reason enough - most people have their favorites. They are hurt if you didn't bring back Planescape/Al Qadim/Birthright/Dark Sun/Greyhawk/Ravenloft/Mystara/Blackmoor/SpellJammer. Why don't we bring all back and call it Nostalgia Soup (it tastes great).

Besides, splitting fan base between two "generic"* settings cannot be good for the company.

* I deny FR is generic, but Greyhawk = D&D to me.

What would you say sets FR apart from vanilla generica? For example:

Planescape is set in a very un-Europe-y setting and defined by the struggle between moral ethos

Dark Sun is practically post-apocalyptic/mad max from what I've heard

Ravenloft is pretty close to being generic. It emphasizes horror and dark fantasy enough that it usually avoids being called generic, though. Personally, I'd just as soon call it generic.

All I know of Al'qadim is that its setting is based on mythical Arabia. Shaharazad, Alladin, etc. Very un-Europe-y, but I could see it quickly becoming generic-ish once you get past the cosmetic differences.

From a quick check on Wikipedia, my impression is that Birthright is a generic setting, but is unique in its scope that the PCs are powerful politicos. Still, I'd personally be inclined to call it generic for the same reason as Ravenloft; it's not anything that a DM couldn't really pull off in any setting.

Spelljammer... well, it's so different it's practically D&D in name only.

And I'm not familiar with Mystara or Blackmoor, but their names are so bland that I'm not even inclined to look them up to see if they are in fact unique.

So what sets FR apart from any other generic high fantasy setting? I don't mean to sound snarky, mind you, I'm really not very familiar at all with FR and I'm genuinely curious what your reason is for not considering it generic.

On a totally unrelated note, I'd agree with what others have said... I think it makes a lot more sense to publish just a single campaign setting book for some of the older licenses, or even knew ones, rather than trying to support them fully. Hell, I'd totally buy a CS that I had no intention of playing if it was my impression that it was self-contained and would be an interesting read.

 

[JustKim]

Unless playing in Ptolus, Ravenloft or Midnight, of course. And it's a different planar map if you go by the book with the Forgotten Realms or Eberron.

That said, I think a one-shot standalone book on Sigil and on other planar communities would be a Very Good Thing.

Planescape was pretty aggressive about incorporating the various worlds and unifying TSR's mythology, cosmology bedamned. I recall characters from and direct interactions with Toril, reference to a character's fate in Athas, and reference to the beliefs of Krynn as viewed by planar personalities, among other things. Planescape's crossover with Ravenloft is pretty infamous.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Planescape was pretty aggressive about incorporating the various worlds and unifying TSR's mythology, cosmology bedamned. I recall characters from and direct interactions with Toril, reference to a character's fate in Athas, and reference to the beliefs of Krynn as viewed by planar personalities, among other things. Planescape's crossover with Ravenloft is pretty infamous.

Unless Vecna is going to go through another canon-chewing cycle in the future, for the most part, folks playing in Ravenloft ain't going nowhere, not even the City of Doors. Now, if someone playing in a Planescape campaign wants to take a one-way trip to Ravenloft, that's their call.

It's trivial to add Ravenloft to Planescape. It's difficult to the point of ridiculousness to plausibly add Planescape to Ravenloft (or Midnight).

It's mildly easier to do with Ptolus, since at least there's an (epic) pathway to reopening Praemal to the planes, but it ain't easy and hand-waving it uproots a large number of the aspects of the setting, so I suspect most DMs won't be in a hurry to do it, unless Ptolus is just a city in a larger existing setting and not a campaign unto itself.

 

[pogre]

Personally, I would prefer to see WOTC keep doingthe bigger adventures like Red Hand of Doom that is practically a setting in itself. To me, if an adventure can take you through 10 or so levels, it will be a campaign world in all but name, as whwn it is done, it is easy to say that it was fun and move on to another adventure.

Absolutely. Easily incorporated into homebrews and published worlds.

 

[Hussar]

I'd like to add another voice in the love for larger modules. Campaign in a box is my number one favouritest way to DM. Being able to run a coherent campaign for months with minimal prep work is the way I want to go.

The biggest problem I have with published settings is that while I might like the setting, my players may or may not care, and so, it becomes difficult to make the setting actually matter. Also, while I have umpteen Scarred Lands books, none of them actually really helps me when it comes time to write an adventure. They are tourist overviews, but, it's up to the DM to start cranking out adventures.

Works for some people, but, for my money, I'll stick to mega-adventures and adventure paths.

 

[greywulf]

I'll throw an idea into the pot.

Why not produce a book called Complete Worlds or something that contains an overview and 3.5 crunch for the most popular settings from the past - prestige classes, unique critters, an index of suitable monsters from the MMs, etc. A bit like the occassional Campaign Classic Dragon issues, but covering the more fundamental stuff.

They could include Planescape, Dark Sun, Al Quadim, etc. Heck, include Greyhawk too as a 3.5 update and everyone would be happy. Lay it out like Tome of Magic so the sections are colour coded. I liked that.

Add in a section about how to create your own gameworld (restricting classes to certain races, how magic works, etc) and something about world hopping, and you'll have a book I bet every single GM will want in their collection.

What you think?

 

[Aeson]

While I would definately like to see Planescape come back, a campaign setting I'd like to see would be a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting (that isn't gamma world) with magic and fantasy elements rising from the ruins of a modern society.

Rifts anyone? Really that is an interesting idea. A d20 post-apocalyptic fantasy setting.

 

[Aeson]

Red Steel. Not only would that bring in the swashbuckling "Pirates" campaign style, it's a well developed setting with roots in one of the most popular settings ever (Mystara/The Known World), while still being portable enough to fit into Greyhawk, FR or Eberron. With the addition of a few newer twists (Action Points, Inheritors as a PrC or full-progression class) it would fill that niche nicely.

Just do it as a one-shot adventure book, like Ghostwalk or Expedition to Castle Ravenloft and I'd be giddy.

I liked Red Steel. I would like to see it come back. Anyone know of a d20 fansite for Red Steel?