chatdemon
First Post
Well yall, with the possibility of a multitude of new settings springing up either deirectly from or as a byproduct of the WotC settings contest, the future looks bright indeed for those who haven't yet found a perfect little niche for their creative endeavors. Players, DMs, and armchair designers alike are jumping at the chance to get their homebrew featured as the next big thing.
But what about those of us who did find a niche? Tekumel, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, Mystara, Birthright, Darksun, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Kalamar, Scarred Lands, Lankhmar, Daemonforge, Umbragia, Dusk... The list goes on and on. Most of these settings had lots of support from their fans and/or loving devotion from their creators that made them great. Hell, fan support even brought Greyhawk back from the dead!
Whats my point, you're probably thinking right now, right? Well, let me explain. I sat down today to ponder some of the homebrew ideas I've had over the years, and tried to cobble them together into a cohesive setting. I kept asking myself, self, what do you want to devote the next few months to writing? What do you want to create? The answer was simple. I want to write Greyhawk material, just like I've been doing, along with others, for quite some time in the online community. A community that's been segmented over and over as the years have passed until there is really only a small handfull of us left that are actively creating fan material. The Living Greyhawk stuff people are working on is great, it's just too limited in scope. What Joe Writer in New Jersey is working on for the RPGA setting may be the coolest thing since Gygax penned the setting, but will fans like me who aren't in his area ever see it? Not Likely.
Now we're faced with another fragment of the diwnlding community of active fan developers setting off for greener pastures and the lure of cold hard cash. It makes me sad. I hate to think that all the work of those who came before me in the online crowd, and the work of my peers and I now will be disregarded and abandoned because WotC laid a fat paycheck on the table.
So I beg you, all of you, no matter what setting you love, think about you're love for that setting. Would the hobby in general be better served by you writing up a ten page document on some cool addition to the existing world you use? In most cases, I think it would. Of course, there are people whose homebrew campaign world is their true love, and to them, I say go for it, get the fruits of your labor published and enjoy the paydays. This isn't meant to sound like a anti-WotC rant. I think their contest could be a good thing in the end. What I'm worried about is the vast pool of fine writers who will divert their attention to this event and away from whatever setting they've loved for years. I'm worried that a lot of them will get discouraged if they don't win and be reluctant to post even fan material or houserules in the future.
So, if your first love is Greyhawk, come join us and write for greyhawk, if you're a Planescape fan, I'm sure sites like the mimir would love to have you on board. Please folks, don't let the hype and the snowball in hell chance at a small fortune suck the lifeblood out of the fan material that to many of us is all the setting info we'll ever need.
As you can guess, I'm not going to enter. Don't take that as my attempt to Pooh-Pooh the thing and play the antagonist though. I truly wish those who do enter the best of luck, and applaud their efforts. I also applaud, however, those who hear me and decide to get those keyboards moving and write up even a tiny email post to the mailing list for their setting of choice and try to add their creative two cents somewhere it really counts; in the imaginations of their fellow players.
But what about those of us who did find a niche? Tekumel, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, Mystara, Birthright, Darksun, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Kalamar, Scarred Lands, Lankhmar, Daemonforge, Umbragia, Dusk... The list goes on and on. Most of these settings had lots of support from their fans and/or loving devotion from their creators that made them great. Hell, fan support even brought Greyhawk back from the dead!
Whats my point, you're probably thinking right now, right? Well, let me explain. I sat down today to ponder some of the homebrew ideas I've had over the years, and tried to cobble them together into a cohesive setting. I kept asking myself, self, what do you want to devote the next few months to writing? What do you want to create? The answer was simple. I want to write Greyhawk material, just like I've been doing, along with others, for quite some time in the online community. A community that's been segmented over and over as the years have passed until there is really only a small handfull of us left that are actively creating fan material. The Living Greyhawk stuff people are working on is great, it's just too limited in scope. What Joe Writer in New Jersey is working on for the RPGA setting may be the coolest thing since Gygax penned the setting, but will fans like me who aren't in his area ever see it? Not Likely.
Now we're faced with another fragment of the diwnlding community of active fan developers setting off for greener pastures and the lure of cold hard cash. It makes me sad. I hate to think that all the work of those who came before me in the online crowd, and the work of my peers and I now will be disregarded and abandoned because WotC laid a fat paycheck on the table.
So I beg you, all of you, no matter what setting you love, think about you're love for that setting. Would the hobby in general be better served by you writing up a ten page document on some cool addition to the existing world you use? In most cases, I think it would. Of course, there are people whose homebrew campaign world is their true love, and to them, I say go for it, get the fruits of your labor published and enjoy the paydays. This isn't meant to sound like a anti-WotC rant. I think their contest could be a good thing in the end. What I'm worried about is the vast pool of fine writers who will divert their attention to this event and away from whatever setting they've loved for years. I'm worried that a lot of them will get discouraged if they don't win and be reluctant to post even fan material or houserules in the future.
So, if your first love is Greyhawk, come join us and write for greyhawk, if you're a Planescape fan, I'm sure sites like the mimir would love to have you on board. Please folks, don't let the hype and the snowball in hell chance at a small fortune suck the lifeblood out of the fan material that to many of us is all the setting info we'll ever need.
As you can guess, I'm not going to enter. Don't take that as my attempt to Pooh-Pooh the thing and play the antagonist though. I truly wish those who do enter the best of luck, and applaud their efforts. I also applaud, however, those who hear me and decide to get those keyboards moving and write up even a tiny email post to the mailing list for their setting of choice and try to add their creative two cents somewhere it really counts; in the imaginations of their fellow players.
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