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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 3523946" data-attributes="member: 172">I've been pinged... let me gather a few notes here...Okay, I can see that I didn't give the topic the essay-like depth it might have deserved.Really, I think that this factor has more to do with it's perception in the audience of a setting's would be fans than the actual in-milieu scope of the conflict.Regarding Greyhawk, Odhanan may be on to something about classic status giving it a benefit that no other d20 setting is ever going to have. That said, I don't think it's the whole story. When we were gaming in Greyhawk as teens, we always made a big deal of the Scarlet Brotherhood. Further, I think that the classic module series set in Greyhawk (like Slavers, Giants, and Drow) were strongly associated with the setting and became a locus for shared experience in the setting.Forgotten Realms, when it was growing, had the Time of Troubles, but conflicts between certain deities and nations were always highlighted and important, such as the machinions of Grazzt, the Shar/Selune conflict, as well as the threat of the Zhentarium and the Drow/Dales conflicts.I think that having lots of little conflicts that have the potential to be used by the DM is not so much the same thing as having a larger, more crucial conflict that will likely be used as a central identifying feature of a setting among different groups, and thus build a shared experience regarding what the setting is really about.I don't want to come across as asserting that this is the one litmus test for whether or not a setting will be successful. I will rephrase to say that I do believe a strong central conflict is a major factor in the success of a setting, and one that Spelljammer lacked that might have given in more enduring and widespread acceptance.Market position and word of mouth will play parts as well, but among those settings that persevered against the odds and gained a significant and enduring following, I notice that the pronounced nature of a central conflict. Midnight, anyone?</blockquote>

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