One new setting a year?

[M.L. Martin]

But the source for this rumour is the same as the "three-tiered license" rumour, which has been thoroughly debunked, right? So I don't out much faith in it.

No; that source repeated this rumor, but it's been floating around since GenCon.

And the folks who complained the loudest about settings splitting the fanbase and wanted us to play One Game, One Setting, One Campaign are long gone from WotC.

 

[SSquirrel]

White WOlf has had a few games now that they release a core book for and a limit amount of extras, say 6. That runs over one year of gaming and then no more support. Gets a core book out and allows for a bit more information along the way.

If I trusted more companies to go as in depth as far as quality of writing (not to mention the book construction) I would say more things ala Ptolus would rock Sigil done the same as Ptolus would be great.

For those who wants planescape, just buy the Beyond Countless Doorways books Monte released. It has most of the Planescape group involved.

 

[thundershot]

I'd love to have a setting a year. That way the settings won't compete with each other, or get too bloated. It also means we might see some hardcover support for old favorites like Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Planescape, or Mystara (though I'd rather see Mystara mined for all its goodies and just integrated into the generic "core" setting)



Chris

 

[Ranger REG]

Isn't it the case of a lot of homebrew worlds ?

Cheers

As long it is stays homebrewed and does not become officially published.

So what is the detail of the "one setting a year" plan? Does that mean 2008 we'll see FR products and then stopped before the beginning of 2009? Or will they continue printing new FR products while introducing a new setting for 2009?

 

[SSquirrel]

One shot books for campaign worlds w/no further support planned can be released more often as far as I'm concerned. I'm currently assuming we see FR in 08 and Eberron in 09, then who knows which settings they will deem worthy. I think if FR is a GenCon release, they could get away with a February release of a 1 shot campaign book...maybe Dark Sun. No further products, but work on the one book systems to partner up w/new caretakers like was done w/Ravenloft and Arthaus or d20 CoC and Chaosium dual-statting their books. The once a year settings are your big money makers, planned for full support or at least a 1 year product cycle ala White Wolf's Orpheus. 6 books, each 2 months apart, then nothing else.

That would be a perfectly acceptable way to provide up to date versions of fan favorites without sapping their resources too much.

 

[Baron Opal]

Hey, that just might work. One high class, high page count hardback per year with periodic support from the DI. Not every idea will be a homerun, but I could see that work very well in tandem with the periodic PHB, DMG, &c every year.

 

[cougent]

As someone already said, not all settings are these grand huge things like FR and EB. Many settings could be done with one shot, high page count, single print books. IMHO that would be the way to pull this off with minimal impact. If one does really well then WotC or a third party may want to support it further, if one dies a hideous death then it was just a single book anyway. They could introduce the classics, the other contest finalists, and totally new concepts not yet even tried and see how they do.

 

[PeterWeller]

Because FR apparently is being released as a two book deal, one dealing with fluff, the other with crunch, I would see WotC adapting this approach for any other campaign release, whether or not it's supported by a full line. This way, they could turn a one time $30-40 purchase into a one time $60-80 purchase. It's a good way to sell an extra book and provide a more comprehensive product for settings that don't warrant their own line.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I believe that someone from WoTC had stated that the plan with the "one setting a year" was to produce the core book and then place any supplements/support material onto the DI or the online Dragon (except for FR). That way the fans of a particular world could buy the source book, sign up for the DI and get the supplements they want. The overhead of producing print copies of support materials goes away and it gives potential customers another reason to sign on for the DI. The fan of the once dead setting is happy, and WoTC is happy that they can add another $10 a month to their revenue stream.
Doesn't seem like too bad a deal to me to get some of the old settings back in print.

And with the company really wanting the online stuff to succeed, that would be, from that point of view, a great recruiting tool to get more people using the DI.

I like the idea of a single setting book each year - self contained, and marketed and understood that there will be no other books for it. That way they don't compete with themselves, and get extra stuff out there. A 4th ed Spelljammer one shot would be cool - plus it could be a place where new settings could be tried out as well.

 

[Baby Samurai]

I think I read something about the yearly PHB, MM, and DMG supporting the showcased campaign setting of that year.

So as we know Eberron is coming out in 2009, maybe the PHB of that year will have psionics and warforged etc?