No buzz for the 2011 Campaign Setting?

[ArcaneSpringboard]

Yes, Mark of Death was bad....but now Eberron novels are no longer considered canon.

They never were considered canon actually.

 

[Celestian]

People also still watch Days of Our Lives. Doesn't necessarily make it any good.

Yeah, people still play this old game called D&D. Gawd only knows why.

Your comment is pretty idiotic if you're trying to insult the people that like a setting you don't specially when you play the same game that the same "logic" can be applied to.

Back on topic I wouldn't mind seeing a Dragonlance book or two.

 

[doctorhook]

What's worse is when you get a novel from a setting that really doesn't seem like it belongs. It changes vital elements for no apparent reason and such.

I'm looking at you "Mark of Death".

Can't XP you again so soon. Suffice to say, "Mark of Death" really disappointed me; a tenth of the way into it, mere weeks after I became an Eberron fan, I had the sneaking suspicion I knew more about the setting than the author did. Not cool.

Anyway, it is kinda weird that there's not fifteen different threads guessing about the next setting like there was last year. The bettor's choice had been Dark Sun, but lots of support still went to Dragonlance . Myself, I was rooting for Gamma World -- jokingly at first, until I realised how well it would fit 4E; imagine how pleased I was when I discovered we were getting Gamma World anyway. Incidentally, shortly after I came to support Gamma World, I messaged Andy Collins (I think), who told me they weren't planning to make a Gamma World 4E. Now, I naturally prefer to think that I was the one who gave him (or somebody) the great idea.

I guess I don't much care about the 2011 setting right now. Ask me again in a few days, once we know what it's going to be, because today everything I wanted is already available or coming out soon.

 

[Jack99]

Yeah, people still play this old game called D&D. Gawd only knows why.

Your comment is pretty idiotic if you're trying to insult the people that like a setting you don't specially when you play the same game that the same "logic" can be applied to.

Back on topic I wouldn't mind seeing a Dragonlance book or two.

Take it easy friend, I was not insulting Greyhawk. I have nothing against Greyhawk. Just pointing out that just because something has had a following for 30 years, doesn't necessarily make it good - which was the point of the guy whose post I replied to.

I am truly sorry if you in any way found it offensive, it was not the intent.

 

[the_amnesiac]

Whatever it is, I hope it's something new, and that it's as much of a departure from the norm as Dark Sun is (though not in the same way.) We've got enough Generic D&D In Funny Hats as it is.

 

[Raduin711]

Why not use Dark Sun as a comparison, and expect a reboot?

Of course, Dragonlance has a few strikes against it.

1) They killed the DL novel line.
2) It doesn't seem too popular around WotC offices.
3) There may be a strong feeling that DL works better as an adventure path than a full-blown setting.

I feel that Dragonlance has a great deal more in common with Forgotten Realms than Dark Sun.

Both DL and FR are novel-driven settings. Both have a history of conclusive world-shattering cataclysms.

Dark Sun was essentially retired after 2nd edition (there were a few magazine articles, a couple nods in the EPH, and Athas.org) and the events that "ended" the setting didn't really take the setting anywhere. The only novels that the setting has under its belt are all so old that they can be (and have been) safely ignored.

Bringing DL into 4th edition is going to challenge how the entire setting works. The world is well described from many different points of view. In order to make these changes, something is going to have to change about the setting. And given that the vast majority of the DL interest is from people who read the novels, rebooting the setting and driving a monster truck over 15 years of DL stories is not going to make the readership very happy.

So I think it only makes sense that DL fans would have to expect another cataclysm to bring DL into 4e.

 

[renau1g]

Take it easy friend, I was not insulting Greyhawk. I have nothing against Greyhawk. Just pointing out that just because something has had a following for 30 years, doesn't necessarily make it good - which was the point of the guy whose post I replied to.

I am truly sorry if you in any way found it offensive, it was not the intent.

I agree that a following doesn't make something good, I don't think Twilight is "good" but millions of people disagree with me. My point wasn't that however, my point was that even though something may not be new it shouldn't automatically be deemed "not good" either. It was in reference to the post about the settings submitted during the Eberron selection.

 

[Hungry Like The Wolf]

I'd like to see a seafaring setting something like Ptolus where the world is mostly water. We've had wastelands, wars, space, quasi-medieval Europe but nothing really focusing on a primarily oceanic-world.

 

[ferratus]

I feel that Dragonlance has a great deal more in common with Forgotten Realms than Dark Sun.

Certainly.

Both DL and FR are novel-driven settings. Both have a history of conclusive world-shattering cataclysms.

Unfortunately yes.

And given that the vast majority of the DL interest is from people who read the novels, rebooting the setting and driving a monster truck over 15 years of DL stories is not going to make the readership very happy.

Like Dark Sun though, there is a large segment of former DL fans that haven't liked what has happened over the past 25 years of stories. DL has also noticeably leaked fans over the past 15 of those 25 years, to the point where the fanbase is at a fraction of its former strength. According to MWP, the reprints of the classic DL adventures and the War of the Lance Sourcebook sold better than anything else (besides the core Dragonlance Campaign Setting book itself). So I wouldn't count a reboot as being out of the question. All it needs to do is bring back the fans it lost to be a good idea. After all, even some of those who have stuck with the setting through thick and thin might not be entirely opposed to a reboot, as long as it isn't just a reprint of 1e.

Bringing DL into 4th edition is going to challenge how the entire setting works. The world is well described from many different points of view. In order to make these changes, something is going to have to change about the setting.

So I think it only makes sense that DL fans would have to expect another cataclysm to bring DL into 4e.

I moved around your words a little bit to separate the two points and deal with them individually without repeating myself.

The thing about novel writers writing without much editorial control or setting management, and the numerous cataclysms and world shaking events, is that you can pretty much account for all the 4e races and classes already, just by playing in contemporary Krynn.

Take a look at the psionic power source for example.

Psionics: Since 4e made psionics and chi synonymous, psionics has become the archetype for the power within. In Dragonlance, a new magic was introduced called mysticism, which was the power within or the power of the heart. They had powers similar to clerics, as well as powers of mentalism. Ardents, Psions, Monks, and Battleminds all conform to various mystic archetypes (though not exhaustively, since mysticism included druid and healing magic too).

Now to the original Chronicles, this would have been hogwash. The only healing magic came from the gods. However, the 5th Age team decided that they needed clerical magic so they just reintroduced it under another name. When they decided to bring back the banished clerics and wizards from the setting, they kept around mystics and sorcerers so as not to offend the 5th Age fans who were active online. Now with mystics and sorcerers being similar concepts to wizards and clerics, they are looking for something to make them distinct. The primal and psionic classes, as well as the various divisions of arcane classes, gives these mystics and sorcerers differentiating flavour text and a new home.

In other words, the damage is already done.

 

[dangerous jack]

I'd like to see a seafaring setting something like Ptolus where the world is mostly water. We've had wastelands, wars, space, quasi-medieval Europe but nothing really focusing on a primarily oceanic-world.

This is something that I'd like to see too, and I'm placing my bet that this will be the type of setting announced. I wouldn't be surprised if it had pirates & ninjas (& dragons), either (Iomandra & the Dragon Sea).

Al Qadim wouldn't suprise me, although that might be too much desert. Then again, it's a very different type of desert and they'd get more mileage out of the dungeon tiles.

I'd be surprised if it was:
* Greyhawk - very little design or development space, since it's pretty core. And rebooting it to Sword & Sorcery would be cool, although too close to some of Dark Sun's themes.
* Dragonlance - some development space (Solamnic Knight theme, High Sorcery paragon path, dragon mounts would be cool) but the book would either have to introduce another cataclysm or spend so much space supporting all the ages that there would be little to offer non-DL fans
* Mystara - could have both design and development space, since there's a lot of wackiness, but doesn't seem to have a broad theme to unite all of the design.
* Birthright - domain rules & bloodtheft aside, it's similar enough to standard fantasy

Of course, this is all in my experience, which is admittedly limited to adventures, box sets, novels, and gazeteers. And regardless of which setting it is, there is something I like about all of the above, so I think I'll be excited to see what they do regardless.