One setting per year?

[M.L. Martin]

Well, if it comes to picking your opinion or Dancey's facts as truth, I'd have to go with the guy that was actually involved in all this stuff, rather than just a forum poster. I have no reason to disbelieve Ryan Dancey, as he's not trying to "prove his point" on a message board or anything.

OTOH, Dancey was big on gaming uniformity--I got the impression that if he had his way, everyone would be playing not only the same rules and the same setting, but the same campaign. I think that may shade his reading of the data somewhat.
Besides, there's at least one mistake in that (in)famous message. DL was not a successful world when TSR moved it over to SAGA--it was a product line a year or two in the grave as a gameworld.

 

[The Little Raven]

OTOH, Dancey was big on gaming uniformity--I got the impression that if he had his way, everyone would be playing not only the same rules and the same setting, but the same campaign. I think that may shade his reading of the data somewhat.

Wait, how does supporting the idea of a single system to be able to handle any genre shade his ability to read TSR's own logs and records and determine what caused it's financial downfall?

 

[M.L. Martin]

Wait, how does supporting the idea of a single system to be able to handle any genre shade his ability to read TSR's own logs and records and determine what caused it's financial downfall?

Again, the impression I'd gotten was not just one system, but one setting and one campaign, was his ideal for the hobby. But it's been a long time, and I've never particularly liked or trusted Dancey's ideas for the hobby (the OGL was a stroke of genius, true, but he's far too big on organized play for my tastes), so I could be misremembering. (See, I can admit to my own prejudices possibly affecting my read of the data too. )

 

[DM_Blake]

Why, oh why is there no mention of Maztica?

TTBSE! (Totally The Best Setting Ever)

Please quote me for truth!

 

[Gundark]

We had this thread once already (I fact I started it). I think that thread title was the same even. Anyhow I suspect they may release new settings rather than their old ones. Remember the setting search? WotC bought the rights to 2nd and 3rd place too (if memory serves).

That said I could see some of the more popular settings coming back (Dragonlance?)

 

[Cyronax]

We had this thread once already (I fact I started it). I think that thread title was the same even. Anyhow I suspect they may release new settings rather than their old ones. Remember the setting search? WotC bought the rights to 2nd and 3rd place too (if memory serves).

That said I could see some of the more popular settings coming back (Dragonlance?)

Not to defend thread stealing, but why do you need to be so snarky? The discussion the thread generated is valid IMO. Is it improbable that others could also talk about such a general topic as settings-released-annually?

If you did first put out the thread, then cool. I just enjoyed posting to it whomever started it, since I also have opinions on the subject.

What were your original points? Exactly the same as ours?

C.I.D.

 

[Abstraction]

A setting a year implies, to me, that each setting will get a book, maybe an adventure path and then no more. TSR was selling supplements on a myriad number of settings all at the same time. The WOTC method of 2008 sell only Setting X, 2009 sell only Setting Y seems much more likely to keep consistent customers. I am guessing that settings that have demand for more content will get licensed to other companies.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

At this point, the only old settings that I expect to see are FR, Eberron, and maybe Dragonlance. Considering how much attention the cosmology has been given, I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually saw a new planar setting that draws on the most interesting parts of planescape, but I highly doubt WotC will just republish it unchanged.

After the two main settings are published, I expect to see a brand new setting.

I've actually come to see this line of thinking (and remeber this is all IMHO) that settings segment the market, proven false with 3e. In fact the success of so many D&D settings (Midnight, Scarred Lands, Iron Kingdms, etc.) by 3rd party publishers, and OGL/d20 games like Conan (which is really just another "setting") is what I think galvinized this idea for WotC. It can be done succesfully...if done right.

WotC and 3rd party companies have different standards of success, because of their relative sizes. Sales from a d20 setting that would be a great success to a d20 company would be a miserable failure to WotC. Small game companies can produce books that appeal to a small niche of the D&D market.

Besides, WotC is only producing one setting book per year. Not multiple books in many different settings every month, like they did in 2e's heydey.

 

[Imaro]

At this point, the only old settings that I expect to see are FR, Eberron, and maybe Dragonlance. Considering how much attention the cosmology has been given, I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually saw a new planar setting that draws on the most interesting parts of planescape, but I highly doubt WotC will just republish it unchanged.

After the two main settings are published, I expect to see a brand new setting.


WotC and 3rd party companies have different standards of success, because of their relative sizes. Sales from a d20 setting that would be a great success to a d20 company would be a miserable failure to WotC. Small game companies can produce books that appeal to a small niche of the D&D market.

Besides, WotC is only producing one setting book per year. Not multiple books in many different settings every month, like they did in 2e's heydey.

Never said they were producing multiple books in many differet settings every month. You know I find it funny that the second largest roleplaying company basically bases it's entire business model on doing exactly what people claim would destroy D&D. Uhm, let's see White Wolf with...

nWoD mortals (or generic books if you will)
nWOD Mage
nWoD Vampire
nWoD Werewolf
nWoD Promethean (limited run)
nWoD Changeling (limited run)

Exalted 2nd ed.

Scion: Hero & Scion Demigod

At least 7 distinct settings based on 3 different worlds and 3 slightly different systems. They should have been out of business a long time ago.

Edit: Like I said before I think this had way more to do with how TSR was run as a whole than too many settings being the root cause or even a serious factor.

 

[PeterWeller]

Not to defend thread stealing, but why do you need to be so snarky? The discussion the thread generated is valid IMO. Is it improbable that others could also talk about such a general topic as settings-released-annually?

If you did first put out the thread, then cool. I just enjoyed posting to it whomever started it, since I also have opinions on the subject.

What were your original points? Exactly the same as ours?

C.I.D.

He didn't sound very snarky to me. I think we're getting too touchy around here.