D&D General Sell me on the World of Warcraft setting

[CM]

The "Reforged" remaster of Warcraft 3 is getting just released an expansion campaign focused on the fall or Lordaeron and the rise of the Forsaken (undead). Lots of history to be found in that I'm sure.

Forsaken Kingdom

 

[Zardnaar]

Crafting is a major part of WoW, and I don't see why it couldn't work in a tabletop game. We'll have to wait and see whether the actual rules are good, but in theory it should be possible.

Ironically they cut crafting from D&D just as it was blowing up.
. We were crafting in the 90s in 2E.

 

[Seramus]

Well, as a RPG, sure, but the easily forgotten yet also massively successful Warcraft strategy games franchise before that had already laid the groundwork. And WCIII was especially cool as a strategy game which was almost an RPG too, with heroes that could progress and stuff.

Now I kind of wish there were a WC IV

My fault, I was using Definition 2 - "The entire Warcraft franchise" instead of Definition 1 - "World of Warcraft the MMO."

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Ironically they cut crafting from D&D just as it was blowing up.
. We were crafting in the 90s in 2E.

I don’t think that’s irony, I think it’s cause and effect.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

They did (i.e. remaster Warcraft III). It was ... not a success. The chant would have to be
RE-RE-MASTER IT!

RE-MASTER IT! (properly this time)

For what it's worth, they just shadow-dropped a new Warcraft III Reforged campaign called "Forsaken Kingdom" at Blizzcon a couple of days ago, along with a new "Definitive Edition" graphics mode that looks significantly less Raid Shadow Legends.

Haven't had an opportunity to delve into it personally, quite yet, but I'm hearing good things about the new campaign.

 

[Silam]

For what it's worth, they just shadow-dropped a new Warcraft III Reforged campaign called "Forsaken Kingdom" at Blizzcon a couple of days ago, along with a new "Definitive Edition" graphics mode that looks significantly less Raid Shadow Legends.

Haven't had an opportunity to delve into it personally, quite yet, but I'm hearing good things about the new campaign.

Holy smokes, just as I wad pleading for a WC IV

 

[lonewolf23k]

One fun thing about the Warcraft setting is that it should be relatively easy to add any new playable species you want, either by tying them to one of the existing ones, putting them in a previously unexplored corner of the map, or making them a newly created species.

Lizardfolk? Sounds like a variation on the Saurok.
Harengon? Faerie animal creations, perhaps exiles from the Emerald Dream?
Warforged? Make them more clockwork, and they're the latest creations of Gnomeregan!

 

[jayoungr]

Some of these require that you have an appropriate gathering profession (Mining, Herbalism, or Skinning), but cloth can be looted from most humanoids.

This may or may not be relevant, but over the past couple of expansions, only tailors can loot cloth.

I think this process as is is pretty hard to convert to a TTRPG because you don't get "targets of opportunity" from various herbs or veins the same way you do when playing an open-world MMO. You could abstract them to "foraging" while traveling or just give components a monetary cost so you can buy them in town.

That's more about the gathering than the crafting, though. You can have crafting rules without necessarily having gathering rules--although it would be great if they find a good way to do both.

One fun thing about the Warcraft setting is that it should be relatively easy to add any new playable species you want, either by tying them to one of the existing ones, putting them in a previously unexplored corner of the map, or making them a newly created species.

I hope the book will include a list of suggestions along those lines.

 

[overgeeked]

For me, it's two big things. One's shallow, the other's a bit deeper.

The art. I absolutely love the art style of the Warcraft video games and World of Warcraft. That chunky, overly broad shouldered, stupidly huge shoulder pad look just grabs my attention and won't let go. I love it. Same reason I love the Warhammer. The art just grabs me.

The factions. Azeroth is a fantasy kitchen sink with a bit of a tech glow up in places. It's broadly indistinguishable from other fantasy kitchen sinks. Except the war between the factions, the Horde and the Alliance, is front and center. It's central to the story of the setting.

Most other settings don't have that kind of instant hook built in. Eberron does with the Last War. Dark Sun does with survival and freedom vs the sorcerer-kings. But you don't find that in settings like the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk or Mystara, etc. Not knocking those settings, some of them are my favorites. I played in FR for years, for example, and it wasn't until Waterdeep: Dragon Heist that I'd ever even heard of the Harpers or the other factions presented there.

Why that's important, to me, is it immediately hooks the PCs and their actions directly into the main story of the setting. They might be low-level, minor players in the grand scheme of things, but they're throwing in, helping out with the larger effort. Instead of being a group of random adventurers killing a few rats in a basement somewhere for no reason, you're a group of random adventurers killing a few rats in a basement somewhere for the cause. This gives a kind of immediate context and hook into the larger narrative that's just compelling for me.

 

[jayoungr]

Except the war between the factions, the Horde and the Alliance, is front and center. It's central to the story of the setting.

Well, depending what era we're talking about. I don't know how much history the sourcebook will cover, but you could easily set a campaign during the War of the Ancients, for example. And once the Horde comes on the scene, the factions go through various phases of "hot" and "cold" war. Sometimes it's just skirmishes and espionage.

(I say this in order to assure people who aren't familiar with the setting that you're not limited to "war stories" in your campaigns, if that's not your jam.)