D&D General What are the "dead settings" of D&D?

[Lanefan]

A reason/hook for people who don't plan on running the Realms to buy it. How does it expand the available rules or tools for D&D 5e?

It is itself the tool, and uses the core rules as written.

I'm assumng the market to be a) those who are intending to either run it stock or convert it to their own purposes, and b) those who are simply FR fans and who will thus buy it with or without intent of using it for a campaign.

If it's to have baked-in rules expansions (new spells, feats, etc.) as well, there's room to fit 'em in; but to me those would be the first things to be cut for space as FR is in theory a generic (and thus, core-based) setting.

 

[Mercurius]

I find myself bemused at talk of the importance of distinction in canon, because I've always viewed the entire corpus of D&D material as a toolbox: you take from it what you want, and construct your own world (and universe, if need be). I just don't see why it matters, except for organized play. No matter what WotC publishes, DMs can do what they want, even if that is to play by-the-book canon.

 

[Magister Ludorum]

I find myself bemused at talk of the importance of distinction in canon, because I've always viewed the entire corpus of D&D material as a toolbox: you take from it what you want, and construct your own world (and universe, if need be). I just don't see why it matters, except for organized play. No matter what WotC publishes, DMs can do what they want, even if that is to play by-the-book canon.

If find this amusing as well.

I LOATHE the Great Wheel cosmology, and have never used it in any game I've run since 1978. I always use some variation on the Myriad Spheres cosmology. Too much Michael Moorecock in my youth, I suppose.

 

[Mercurius]

If find this amusing as well.

I LOATHE the Great Wheel cosmology, and have never used it in any game I've run since 1978. I always use some variation on the Myriad Spheres cosmology. Too much Michael Moorecock in my youth, I suppose.

I don't hate the Great Wheel, but don't love it, and actually prefer the World Tree from 4E, which is closer to Western esoteric traditions.

 

[Magister Ludorum]

My loathing for the Great Wheel knows no bounds. I actually drew lines through it in my first AD&D PHB with an inkpen. (I was 14 at the time and was very impulsive).

The Great Wheel is the main reason why I couldn't get into Planescape.

My hatred of this cosmology is tied to my hatred of "alignment" as a game mechanic.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

My loathing for the Great Wheel knows no bounds. I actually drew lines through it in my first AD&D PHB with an inkpen. (I was 14 at the time and was very impulsive).

The Great Wheel is the main reason why I couldn't get into Planescape.

My hatred of this cosmology is tied to my hatred of "alignment" as a game mechanic.

Why do you hate it so much? I've only ever played 5e, so I've not really been exposed to the other planar-alignment versions before.

 

[Magister Ludorum]

Just my opinion, of course.

• I find it silly.
• It was obviously based on the alignment chart.
• It contains planes designed to fill in the gaps on the alignment chart.

I'm a voracious reader, and this cosmology seemed so shallow and pathetic compared to those I'd read in fantasy literature.

It seems more about game mechanics than flavor. I know that you can create flavor for it, but I never bothered to do so because it felt gamist to me.

It may be related to the fact that I have a strong dislike for "intelligent design" campaign settings where there are gods living in the planar suburbs who created everything from the worlds, to the races, to all magic (including arcane magic).

I have no need for planes where the gods live, since you can never prove that gods exist in my games.

I have no need for planes where souls go when they die, since I prefer a cosmology where souls are reused or recycled via reincarnation.

I have no love for generic D&D lore. I have always (from age 13 when I began running this game back in 1978) preferred to create my own cosmologies and lore.

Even when I ran in Greyhawk, I removed the Great Wheel from my cosmology, and I removed the gods as a tangible force in the world.

I don't have to do any of this with Eberron (which I occasionally run) since the gods are intangible and imperceptible in the setting, and the cosmology is different enough to be interesting.

 

[Aldarc]

It is itself the tool, and uses the core rules as written.

Not in how WotC now approaches a lot of these books. What new non-info dump tools would the book provide players and DMs?

 

[Hoffmand]

The great wheel is not integral to planescape. That’s just one generally accepted theory (very majorly accepted) of how the cosmos is structured. Could be wrong. All they really know is this this portal goes to this location sometime if it is open here at all. And it may move somewhere else.

 

[SkidAce]

... I always use some variation on the Myriad Spheres cosmology. Too much Michael Moorecock in my youth, I suppose.

Same here. I also emphasize MM's Law versus Chaos.