Ravnica: Is This The New D&D Setting? [UPDATED & CONFIRMED!]

If so... meh?

 

[SkidAce]

Funny you should say that. I just browsed Dominaria and Kaladesh at B&N and ended up ordering Dominaria on Amazon but didn’t like Kaladesh for exactly the reasons you state, especially the lack of a map compared to the beautiful one in the Dominaria book.

You didn't buy at B&N?

 

[robus]

Which other Art books have world maps? I’m particularly drawn to Zendikar and Amonkhet, not as much the other ones.

Sadly there's no official Zendikar map but, because I was so inspired, I created one based on a cool map I found floating around the interwebs:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?488520-M-tG-Zendikar-World-Map

I was quite pleased by the result

 

[Philip F Goding]

@Philip F Goding, I enjoy your long posts filled with all sorts of quasi-Gygaxian arcana, but am a bit confused about what exactly you hope to see from WotC Greyhawk-wise. Can you spell it out simply? It sounds like you want something, yet at the same time (understandibly) don't want them to "modernize" Greyhawk with tropes from more recent editions (e.g. Dragonborn).

As an aside, I was working on a longish post in which I went through the major settings of D&D and offered what I'd like to see WotC and speculated on on what they actually might do. Not sure if I'll post it as it is one of those long ramblers that might receive questionable response, but I'll "mention" you if I do as I'd be curious as to what you thought about my Greyhawk suggestion.

Here's the thing. I am pretty satisfied with everything they do. I can think about how to make anything better though. I can also see how things could have been worse as well. I see pros and cons in each edition and systems other companies have created as well. What I want has many aspects that are probably impossible or very unlikely, but I might hope for some of these things anyway. Occasionally they put something in I didn't expect along the lines of those hpes and sometimes something I didn't think of.

In the world the way it is today especially here in the States. I see a polarization with feelings behind whatever side you might believe in that make it very difficult for people to get along. It's like a marriage headed for divorce, but the kids want them to work it out and keep the family together. I don't know about the united part of the USA. There are forces that seem to work towards winning at all costs and part of the playbook is a divide people tact to make it easier to win. Everywhere you look for honest information they have an agenda and frame what they say conveniently cropping out ideas that don't serve their narrative, so the story or picture is not complete although they behave as if it is. At times they state ideas in a way using language that sounds as if they are saying something different than what they really believe in. You have to judge for yourself who is trying to take advantage and who is sincere.

I believe in eventual peace as we learn from all of this, but I look to increase peace, harmony and unity. One thing that I note in 5th Edition and in the D&D community and WotC a movement towards greater unity. Inviting peoples who are more and more diverse to play and orient towards it being a fun experience. The D&D community then is one of the all too few oasis-es into which I could choose to spend my time. I think groups like this you can join serve to lessen feelings of depression and anxiety. I could conceivably lower numbers of suicide, drug and alcohol related problems, violence in the home and so forth. To me it is a form of community development as folks in these groups develop closer relationships and may do other things together.

I also believe in free will and the right for a person to choose for him or her self what they want to do. That means we don't need rules lawyers especially if we are having a good rime. We could choose to play any edition we choose as a group too. In the days of OD&D and AD&D 1st Edition we were invited to create and use any rules we wanted and yeah it put forth rules to be as realistic as possible you were invited to not use rules you found to be unwieldy. Being creative and having fun was the overarching rule. If a DM didn't want to take a lot of time searching through the books he could make a ruling on the spot, which sometimes meant an argument with someone that knew the rule. We don't really want the argument, but we could talk about this and decide on whether or not to go with the rule as printed or what the DM came up with. The DM is the final judge though and the goal is to make it a good experience.

I basically hope for everything from every edition and setting that seems incomplete or that I feel left hanging on without closure. That mostly means going back to the original campaigns of E Gary Gygax, Robert Kuntz, Dave Arneson and all the other visionaries who worked on this in the beginning days of the 1970's and '80's. That means working out issues between WotC and the remaining founding fathers or their estates concerning materials.

I also hope for settings based on real life historical materials we have on various places or times of the past. I also hope for settings based on literature, film, comics, video games etc. I would like to play in or at least visit anywhere that you could imagine without doing all the work to set it up although I could, but official material tends to be better balanced as it is play tested. What I hope for is pretty endless.

The recent announcements concerning Eberron and Ravnica was pretty interesting. First we have Ravnica which is a pleasant surprise and not due until November. The second being Eberron is probably the setting that was the most highly expected and the pdf is available now. That means playtesting until they finalize the materials, which might not take long and could be done before Ravnica or maybe not. It should take as long as it takes rather than push it out early. It appears that at that time you could get a PoD of it. Anyway it doesn't matter what you do to try to please everyone some still are not happy. You aim towards the most people possible.

All settings are on my list, but at the top are Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Wilderlands of High Fantasy, and Kalibruhn. After that are a number settings based on books, comics, cartoons and so forth. At the top of that list we have Tolkien's Middle Earth, The Land of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Nehwon, Melnibone and a setting based on the cosmic horror of HP Lovecraft. O have been thinking about a setting based in ancient Africa with a kind of ewakanda feel and I could go on and on.

Much of this is quite unlikely with some exceptions in the future, but hope springs eternal

 

[gyor]

I think the main thing that differentiates Greyhawk from FR is it's tone: grimmer, grittier, grounded.

In that respect, 5e isn't a ideal fit - it's hard to die, and unlimited cantrips make magic a common sight.

What do you mean by grittier, grimmier, and grounded? Do you just mean magic is less common.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

What do you mean by grittier, grimmier, and grounded? Do you just mean magic is less common.

No, there is a lot more to it than that. Adventuring is a dangerous profession - most don't live long. But being a peasant farmer isn't much better. Threats are more likely to be human and morally ambigous than always chaotic evil monsters.

 

[Mercurius]

You didn't buy at B&N?

No. Money is tight right now and even with my B&N membership the difference was like 10 bucks. I’ve given B&N plenty of money and it isn’t like they’re a small business that needs to be supported over the mega corporation.

Why do you ask?

 

[SkidAce]

No. Money is tight right now and even with my B&N membership the difference was like 10 bucks. I’ve given B&N plenty of money and it isn’t like they’re a small business that needs to be supported over the mega corporation.

Why do you ask?

I struggle with where to buy game stuff on a daily basis. I was curious as to your reasoning.

No slight intended.

 

[Mercurius]

I struggle with where to buy game stuff on a daily basis. I was curious as to your reasoning.

No slight intended.

It might be an interesting thread topic.

I buy the limited D&D books at my FLGS, and the occasional impulse buy, but everything else online: Amazon, EBay, Powell’s, occasionally Noble Knight, etc.

 

[robus]

It might be an interesting thread topic.

I buy the limited D&D books at my FLGS, and the occasional impulse buy, but everything else online: Amazon, EBay, Powell’s, occasionally Noble Knight, etc.

I’m starting to feel bad about sending Amazon money, they really don’t seem to have anything other than profit in mind. Miniature Market offers reasonable discounts with a good selection. Powell’s are also good though they’ve had employee issues too. I imagine Hawaii makes things more pricey, but at least the view is nice

 

[Philip F Goding]

No, there is a lot more to it than that. Adventuring is a dangerous profession - most don't live long. But being a peasant farmer isn't much better. Threats are more likely to be human and morally ambigous than always chaotic evil monsters.

It was a dangerous profession and you had lots of henchmen and hirelings. This way if your character died you could just take control of whomever you put next in commend and there were people to pull you out of the dungeon and get a Raise Dead or Resurrection done. They were especially important if you didn't have a group of friends available to play also. In those early days we mostly were slogging through and cleaning the monsters out of ruined castles, towers and dungeons near a town. You might also deal with whatever monsters were in the forests or wilderness between the town and these places. There might also be some intrigue in the town itself to deal with. If some elements didn't like what you were doing you might have to deal with an assassin. A lot of community development and service unless you wanted to play villains. For most of my own characters it was a way to survive as they were in a bad situation or traumatized and they had some skills in fighting or magic or being sneaky. You could fight and kill monsters without getting in trouble in a town in fact they even might pay you for it. If you were good enough you survived and you might even make some friends.