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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 6398741" data-attributes="member: 22779">Just to roll back to a fairly minor point.  I do disagree with Pemerton on what primarily defines a setting in an RPG sense.  Setting is defined, in RPG's primarily by canon.  Sure, things like theme are part of it too, but, it's the setting canon that separates one setting from another.  Thematically, there aren't a huge number of differences between Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms - they are pretty close.  But, they are different settings.  You won't find Harpers in Greyhawk and a FR campaign that never references Waterdeep, Harpers or any of the other big name parts of the setting wouldn't really be recognizable as Forgotten Realms.Imagine playing a Call of Cthulu campaign that never once references The Mythos.  Would it be recognizable as CoC?  Gothic horror maybe, but certainly not CoC.  Same as trying to run Ravenloft without the Lords of Dread or The Mists of Ravenloft.  Pretty hard ride there.  Settings are defined by canon and it's the consistency of that canon that keeps a setting going.  Changing canon in a setting always carries costs with fans.Take something that's a pure resource - the Random Dungeon tables in the 1e DMG.  No one would ever question adding or subtracting from those tables.  If I expanded those tables to include a bunch of other elements, no one would bat an eye.  Fantastic - it's now a better resource (at worst, people might not like it because they don't like what I added, but, no one's going to complain that I'm not being "true to the history" of a random encounter table.)Resources are never defined by canon.  They can be more or less useful, depending on the quality of writing and whatnot, but, they are what they are.  A tool you use to create something else.Settings are not tools.  They are the "something else" already completed.  And because they are a finished (for a given value of finished) product unto themselves, it becomes harder to change them.  Think of it this way, I've heard all sorts of people talk about wanting to go back to the original boxed set version of various settings because they want to reboot that setting, typically using a new rules system.  I've never, ever heard anyone wanting to go back to the original Random Dungeon Creator tables as a goal to reboot campaign creation.</blockquote>

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