The default campaign world - new article

[mhensley]

The default setting in 3E listed no cities, no place names, no kingdoms, not even any terrain. For all we know it already was a points of light setting!

If that's the way it's going to be in 4e then why bother mentioning it at all since it will have zero impact on the text? I assumed that if they were actually making an effort to point out this new concept, then it would play a bigger role or at least get reflected in one of the books where they actually do have cities, kingdoms, and terrain.

I imagine that it will make it's presence seen mostly in the modules that are published by wotc.

 

[Kaodi]

I like it. I think that it bodes well for heroes who become " name level " , that the implied setting is very open and dangerous, waiting for them not only to clear it, but conquer it. When you combine that with less reliance on magical items, that means that heroes ought to be able to afford to build or refurbish their own strongholds without putting a serious dent in their capabilities.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Points of Light by Rich Baker
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drdd/20070829a

Ok... this is a surprise. And, after my first shock, I really liked the idea.

"Another implication of this basic conceit of the world is that there is very little in the way of authority to deal with raiders and marauders, outbreaks of demon worship, rampaging monsters, deadly hauntings, or similar local problems. Settlements afflicted by troubles can only hope for a band of heroes to arrive and set things right. If there is a kingdom beyond the town’s walls, it’s still largely covered by unexplored forest and desolate hills where evil folk gather. The king’s soldiers might do a passable job of keeping the lands within a few miles of his castle free of monsters and bandits, but most of the realm’s outlying towns and villages are on their own."
Cheers!

Folks, I wouldn't read too much in it.

The specific paragraph you cited gives a handy solution to the "I'll report the villain to the baron" problem, which is a decent idea.

The big advantage of the isles of light concept is that you can slot in nearly anything you want without your hair turning gray due to problems with the consistency. Do you want to eradicate a town in your adventure? You're welcome, the next town doesn't care about it. You want something inside a dormant volcano in the midst of a large swamp? Just give some wilderness a fitting name and plug it in there.

If you want to remain consistent in a world like FR, Eb, or GH, there are certain thing you can't do - at least not the easy way.

The original 3.0 adventures didn't tell you any name or setting, they were destined to be put anywhere, in any setting. The same will hold true for the 4e generation; only without Hawkers asking WotC about the implications on their world.

---
Huldvoll

Jan van Leyden

 

[Li Shenron]

Last I checked, the 3.5e design assumed...
...magic-users were common. They made a lot of magic items, and you could buy them anywhere.
...high level adventurers were common. You could find them if you needed them.

Cheers!

This didn't seem to me an assumption in 3.0 tho...

To me it felt like the gaming community got progressively used to these 2 ideas during playing. Maybe because after seeing tons of books with magic items and prestige classes (which means high level characters), we started to believe that ALL that stuff exists in every setting. Perhaps even hearing about thousands of other groups' games has increased the feeling.

Now it's easy to reset the game, but let's see if these assumptions don't resurface after a couple of years.

 

[shilsen]

D&D in the Warhammer Fantasy world. Sounds great!

That's precisely what it sounded like to me. And even though I'm likely to stick with Eberron, which has a very different feel to it, I think it's a nifty idea for the default campaign world.

 

[Njall]

This didn't seem to me an assumption in 3.0 tho...

To me it felt like the gaming community got progressively used to these 2 ideas during playing. Maybe because after seeing tons of books with magic items and prestige classes (which means high level characters), we started to believe that ALL that stuff exists in every setting. Perhaps even hearing about thousands of other groups' games has increased the feeling.

Now it's easy to reset the game, but let's see if these assumptions don't resurface after a couple of years.

Well, the standardized rules for magic items creation helped in that respect.
If creating magic items is that simple, why shouldn't your PCs do it when they can? And if it's so easy for your PCs, why should it be harder for any NPC in the campaign?
Furthermore, when you need to hand out tons of +1 longswords and +2 chainmails to ensure your monsters/npc are an adequate challenge for the party, the assumption is that they can buy those items somewhere.
When the core rulebooks assume that your party is balanced against most appropriate CRs presented in the Monster Manual only if they're fully decked in magic items, the DM is almost forced to make them available to the party

 

[Li Shenron]

I personally would rather it be this "points of light" (4e) than a core setting that assumes there is a trade in magic items in every town with a decent gp limit (3e).

I would prefer it too, but I don't think that people will stop playing like that because of the "new" default assumption settings.

One more thing to consider is the availability of knowledge. Listening to what people say in online forums give me the impression that everyone plays so that when you need to know something (anything) you just ask the town's high level cleric or wizard or consult the local library and like you were in 21st century NYC you'd know the answer in 5 minutes.

 

[Tharen the Damned]

The Default Setting is a good Setting for New DMs and DMs that don't want to read through dozens of Setting Books or write down a long Setting History.
This is like the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.
And in such a Setting there is always room for an ancient empire just behind the Mountain Range or a Metropolis on an Isle west of the continent.
This is less a Setting than a mostly Blank Canvas with enough colour for the DM to paint his own picture.

 

[Doug McCrae]

You could still have the likes of the Byzantine Empire in such a setting, but it's a distant entity. The PCs operate in the 'points of light' section of the world, the equivalent of the Black Forest, mostly wilderness infested with wolves, bears, lions and worse.

 

[Baby Samurai]

The PCs operate in the 'points of light' section of the world, the equivalent of the Black Forest, mostly wilderness infested with wolves, bears, lions and worse.

Yep – Barbara Streisand!