One setting per year?

[KingCrab]

I miss Ravenloft so I'm glad the license expired, but I'm not getting my hopes up. A lot of people just didn't get into that setting.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I have my doubts about Greyhawk, Dragonlance, or Ravenloft showing up in this format, and I really don't think we will see Mystara, Planescape, or Dark Sun. Planescape has been edged out by a new cosmology (which I am happy for, myself), I don't even know a thing about Mystara (which means it is being forgotten), and Dark Sun is just really wierd from what I hear.

I think a new take on Oriental Adventures and the other two finalists from the Setting Search probably have better chances than some of what was mentioned above. Planescape might get in if they take the best parts of both it and Spelljammer and fuse them into a more coherent and dsitinct setting. I also imagine we might see more settings like Ghostwalk, which reinvent the game, rather than settings which are just touches of flavor added onto vanilla D&D.

 

[M.L. Martin]

With what I'm hearing about the new Ravenloft: Dominion novels, I'm starting to wonder if Ravenloft will be repurposed as a campaign setting for d20 Modern 2E.

I could get behind that.

 

[Ranger REG]

Of course, I doubt all of the old settings will make it to 4e and they will more likely publish a new one somewhere along the road.

As long as I'm alive and able, I'll keep lobbying for Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms.

 

[Irda Ranger]

2008- Forgotten Realms
2009- Eberron
2010- Greyhawk
2011- Planescape
2012- Dragonlance
2013- Dark Sun
2014- Mystara
2015- Ravenloft

Two things:
1. I doubt they'll republish all of these. Planescape, despite it being made of pure liquid awesome, wasn't ever published for 3E, and now the Astral Sea doesn't even have a 'center' for Sigil to rest on. Like in 3E, they'll do a Planes book and move one. Instead they'll do at least one, and maybe two, new settings that showcase 4E.

2. If some of the above are worth doing in 4E (such as Dragonlance), they're worth doing in 2009 rather than later. Money from a good license today is better than money tomorrow. Just because WotC is only releasing one setting book per year doesn't mean there will only be one setting book per year. They'll just be released by others. WotC just needs to figure out what their over-arching strategy is so they can negotiate license terms that advance that.

With what I'm hearing about the new Ravenloft: Dominion novels, I'm starting to wonder if Ravenloft will be repurposed as a campaign setting for d20 Modern 2E.

That could work. Ravenloft was never a really good fit for the (what's now called) Paragon and Epic bits of D&D. What was the point of being 30th level if you still can't challenge the Domain Lords? Ravenloft would work better with a low-power/low-fantasy rule set more similar to d20 Modern/Grim Tales than with Core D&D.

The same goes for any "gothic" or "early modern" game, such as Call of Cthulu or a Leage of Extraordinary Gentlemen game.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I don't see Planescape being redone for 4E, especially with all the changes in the planes' scheme.

Huh? FR and Eberron also have their distinct planar setup, and FR is still done first. Furthermore, the PoL setting is the implied setting... doing it as third setting (two years later) isn't the way to go (it'd be just like core+)... better to focus on an existing setting. Perhaps they don't know either and hence just got all licenses back "in advance" to give them more wiggle-room for Setting no. 3.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Aristotle]

Remember that the fact that something wasn't published under 3E doesn't make it not viable. They specifically wanted to limit the number of official settings under 3E, but it appears that business model may have changed for 4e. (I'm still hoping our one setting a year, post Eberron, will be one-offs with limited additional support save for some Dungeon adventures.)

That said, I doubt all of these old settings will see official reprint. I expect we might see other finalist settings from the setting search or a totally new setting cooked up by some of the newer developers.

The fanboy in me would love to see Dark Sun, as I felt it was one of the few settings that was truly different.

 

[the Jester]

Don't discount the possibility that they'll publish one or more of the runners up from the setting search.

Eberron was the top dog, but I find the idea that the Points of Light idea might have been generated by one of the runners up to be very interesting.

 

[Cyronax]

I've see mentioned that they will release one new setting per year. Considering that 4e will probably be around for 8 years, prehaps the release schedule will look something like this:

2008- Forgotten Realms
2009- Eberron
2010- Greyhawk
2011- Planescape
2012- Dragonlance
2013- Dark Sun
2014- Mystara
2015- Ravenloft

Of course, I doubt all of the old settings will make it to 4e and they will more likely publish a new one somewhere along the road.

Why is WotC even doing this? Didn't having a bunch of settings segment their market in the 2e days? I specifically remember reading how they wanted to not repeat that in 3e by keeping the official line down to 2.5 settings (FR, Eberron, plus random GH content through RPGA and other venues).

I can't believe that the market realities have changed that much. That, and that would mean WotC will have to compete with itself plus all the third party OGL settings like Scarred Lands (is it being updated?) et al.

C.I.D.

Edit: Aristotle brought up some of my points earlier. I missed his post.

 

[Joël of the FoS]

I also doubt Ravenloft would be that low in priority, given the new novels, the success of EtCR and its years of cool material WotC could update.

In a poll where many many online people did vote, Ravenloft was third.

Joël