So, anyone else write up their setting and realize how bland it it?

[Zappo]

Yeah, when I reached question 6 I almost... nah, can't say I almost gave up, but I did take it into consideration. Up until then, I was thinking "Wow! This setting is soooo different from all the others! Unique!". On question 6, I thought "Well, there are so many unique things, like for example... uhm... eerrr..."

Then, I realized that Telsa (working title) is actually very different from FR (or DL or GH or whatever) - only, those differences are more in the style and mood than in any particular feature. Oh, there are certain unique features, but they are secondary to the overall theme. It has been very hard to convey what sets Telsa (working title) apart from FR in just a few lines. I hope I did well.

 

[Virginia Wilde]

Nah, mine is spicy, like curry, or tikka masala, but I really don't think it's what they were looking for. Too bad, though. I guess I'll have to publish it myself.

 

[kenjib]

I never even started with my homebrew. Instead I created a new idea with elements drawn from the homebrew but with a couple of twists added to give it a unique feel.

A good world doesn't have to have a unique twist or feel to be good. I'm not a big fan of gimmicky settings. It's the details that make it good. Unfortunately the details are the exact things that you can't put into a one page submission.

Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Kalamar, Dragonlance, Scarred Lands, etc. - in my opinion none of these have anything about them unique enough such that they would stand out of the pack in a compelling way (world filled with dragons and world in aftermath of a war of the gods are not really all that original). I feel fairly certain that none of these worlds would have made the first cut in this contest were they submitted. That doesn't mean that they are boring though.

I think that the way in which this contest is structured will have an interesting impact on what type of winner we'll see. I imagine it almost has to be something strange and gimmicky like Planescape, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, etc. Otherwise it would be very difficult for any particular entry to stand out from the pack. Unfortunately, these gimmicky types of settings don't have the same mass market appeal (and thus profit potential) that a more generic setting would. I think it's an interesting quandry. You're not going to put a fresh face to 3e by rolling out an unusual setting.

I suppose we'll find out eventually, although I suspect that we won't know anything about the 3 (or so) winners of the contest for at least a year, probably more like a couple of years. Whatever we learn about the 7 runners-up should give us some kind of indication though.

 

[Zappo]

I think that the way in which this contest is structured will have an interesting impact on what type of winner we'll see. I imagine it almost has to be something strange and gimmicky like Planescape, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, etc. Otherwise it would be very difficult for any particular entry to stand out from the pack. Unfortunately, these gimmicky types of settings don't have the same mass market appeal (and thus profit potential) that a more generic setting would. I think it's an interesting quandry. You're not going to put a fresh face to 3e by rolling out an unusual setting.

I think the winner will be a bland fantasy setting, with just enough uniqueness to differentiate it from FR. Certainly nothing like Planescape, Ravenloft or Spelljammer. The reason is that WotC wants a medieval fantasy setting, as they have declared. DL, FR, GH... all of them have made millions of dollars: they just want another one.

 

[MJEggertson]

...those differences are more in the style and mood than in any particular feature. Oh, there are certain unique features, but they are secondary to the overall theme...

That is the case with most settings, or the good ones, if you ask me. A setting isn't about rule lawyering or modifications, but providing a setting. An environment that the game takes place in. Modifications to the rules or adjustments to the race/class/whatever structures are secondary if they're important at all. What makes a good setting is how unique the ideas, the politics, the conflicts are.

What sets Ravenloft apart form Greyhawk or the Realms has very little to do with supplemental rules or even a different map. Its the atmosphere, the politics, the general feel you imagine when you play in such an environment. If a setting doesn't provoke my mind into imagining something new in any of these areas, the setting is not worth the paper it's written on, if you ask me.

If what you say is true, Zappo, about the style and mood, then you probably have a very good candidate. Like you say though, the trick is conveying it in such short space.

 

[Tom Cashel]

I think that the way in which this contest is structured will have an interesting impact on what type of winner we'll see. I imagine it almost has to be something strange and gimmicky like Planescape, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, etc. Otherwise it would be very difficult for any particular entry to stand out from the pack.

There's always high-quality, polished, evocative prose combined with economy of words to make an entry stand out...

 

[Zappo]

That is the case with most settings, or the good ones, if you ask me. A setting isn't about rule lawyering or modifications, but providing a setting. An environment that the game takes place in. Modifications to the rules or adjustments to the race/class/whatever structures are secondary if they're important at all. What makes a good setting is how unique the ideas, the politics, the conflicts are.

What sets Ravenloft apart form Greyhawk or the Realms has very little to do with supplemental rules or even a different map. Its the atmosphere, the politics, the general feel you imagine when you play in such an environment. If a setting doesn't provoke my mind into imagining something new in any of these areas, the setting is not worth the paper it's written on, if you ask me.

If what you say is true, Zappo, about the style and mood, then you probably have a very good candidate. Like you say though, the trick is conveying it in such short space.

That is exactly my opinion, too. I don't really care about having Faerun with more landmass. I just hope that I've been able to convey the theme in such a short text, and that the reviewers like it.

 

[jollyninja]

i found it amusing that everyone on these boards made jokes about a potential "ninjaworld" all the while i was thinking, perhaps if i write up a decently written "ninjaworld", wotc will realise that if so many kids made a ninjaworld, they would probably buy a decently written one. and really, when WotC asks the question "what do we want?" the answer will allways be money! sadly even the jolly one could not find a way to make "ninjaworld" not suck.

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

Actually, I was amazed at how cool my ideas sounded when fully fleshed out on paper. Why would anyone submit something bland on purpose?

 

[Ace]

So, has anyone else written up their setting for the WotC call for submissions only to realize how bland it it?

I stared at that question 6 about what's new or different and it ocurred to me that there really wasn't much unique about the whole thing. I have a Roman twist to the empire that dominates the area of the world the players are in , but that's hardly new and only a little different. I have a Monotheism (really a henotheism, I guess) and that's different, but it doesn't really seem to do much to make the setting seem exciting when I put it down on paper. It's really a very generic setting, for the most part.

I suppose I'll have to get to work on a more exciting world one of these days.

I sure did. of cours in the case of my game word bland is a feature not a bug.

Since the world was designed to accomodate anything and everything without breaking something has to give