What does a setting need to be "supported"

[Remathilis]

Great thread!

Personally, I prefer a campaign setting to have the bare minimum of support (think 1983 GH boxed set) and no more. The settings should have hooks that the DM fills in ... at least, that's what I like.

Nothing better than a hint that I can run with!

Which honestly is part of my question.

The 83 GH box, lauded as it is now, barely gives much info on the setting. Far less than, say, the Living Greyhawk Gazetter does. To me, it's about as complete as playing with just the SCAG, WGtE, or GGtR alone. Yet those products get labeled incomplete. So I am trying to figure out what the community would need for them to be complete. What is missing from them that is considered essential and would make the setting work without wikis, past supplements, or the like to work.

In short, what do we expect from a published campaign setting in 2019.

 

[Azzy]

What it takes for a setting to be supported really depends on the setting.

All settings need a basic introduction that describes the setting overall, as well as an overview of the nations, cultures, ethnicities, religions, etc. that are the primary focus of the setting book (most setting oly cover a small portion of the setting's world). There needs to be a balance of what is necessary for player to know and grasp about the setting and what their characters should know, and what the DM needs to know to run the setting without providing information overload (personally, I think that the player-facing material and DM-facing material should be separate—both to not overburden the player as well as keeping some surprises for the player). The Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron, IMO, does player-facing information really well. Also, a good map of the region the setting book covers is necessary, IMO—the 1e boxed sets for Greyhawk the and the Forgotten Realms got this right.

If the setting is going to have unique races, classes, equipment, monsters, etc. (like Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Eberron, etc.), then you also need to present that material as well. Enough of these sorts of things, IMO, would suggest to me splitting the player-facing material and the DM-facing material into two books if you want to do it right—otherwise you are crowding out one side or you're going to have a really big, expensive book.


For rereleasing a setting from an older edition, you can get away with not presenting as much detail (especially indepth detail) because you can point to prior products for the setting to compensate, but if that setting had unique mechanical elements (races, spells, etc.) it's imperative that you provide rules for such in the initial product (assuming there will be follow-up matrial for the setting).

Opening the setting up on DMsGuild would be extra nice.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Interesting perspective. Things don't work ALL that differently on Eberron (mechanically speaking); though Eberron adds new options (races, dragonmarks, etc) and redefines some fluff (mostly new spins on each race). There is nothing stopping you from making a dwarf fighter, human cleric, halfling rogue, and elf wizard in Eberron, though you might be missing some of the unique flavor of the setting. I certainly think Eberron is far closer to the FR "default" than something like Dark Sun, which usually requires you to toss half the PHB in the trash when playing.

Eberron works differently in some very vital ways, that require homebrewing and houseruling in order to work in 5e (at least, before the wayfinder's guide came out). For many, if not most, of us, you have to have the ability for characters to make magic items, to buy magic items from a craftsman in a city, and for much of the best magical "tech" in the world to be new, in order to play an Eberron game. XGTE helps with some of that, and the gap is pretty small now. IT's easy to see how a magical economy would treat a Wand of Magic Missile as an item that is common enough that most Last War veterans saw in use several times, in 5e Eberron, now.

Eberron also can't be played, for some of us, without certain playable races. Some still aren't supported, but Gnolls. But without Warforged, Kalashtar, Shifters, and Changelings, as well as playable stats for goblinoids and kobolds, and rules for dragonmarks, Eberron simply didn't exist in 5e, in an official capacity.

We made it work, with homebrew and the early UA article, before, but Eberron became 5e supported quite recently.

 

[Remathilis]

Eberron works differently in some very vital ways, that require homebrewing and houseruling in order to work in 5e (at least, before the wayfinder's guide came out). For many, if not most, of us, you have to have the ability for characters to make magic items, to buy magic items from a craftsman in a city, and for much of the best magical "tech" in the world to be new, in order to play an Eberron game. XGTE helps with some of that, and the gap is pretty small now. IT's easy to see how a magical economy would treat a Wand of Magic Missile as an item that is common enough that most Last War veterans saw in use several times, in 5e Eberron, now.

Eberron also can't be played, for some of us, without certain playable races. Some still aren't supported, but Gnolls. But without Warforged, Kalashtar, Shifters, and Changelings, as well as playable stats for goblinoids and kobolds, and rules for dragonmarks, Eberron simply didn't exist in 5e, in an official capacity.

We made it work, with homebrew and the early UA article, before, but Eberron became 5e supported quite recently.

I'm really just pointing out that Eberron, to someone not familiar with the setting, sometimes comes off as some strange setting that lacks common D&D tropes and is instead filled with mechanical robot-men, firearms, and magic/steampunk choo-choo trains; which is complete a mischaracterization of what Eberron is. You CAN use the PHB make just a normal PC in Eberron akin to the kind you find in Faerun, you just miss out on all the fun Eberron twists. You CANNOT make such a character in, say Dark Sun, which intentionally warps every element of the PHB.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'm really just pointing out that Eberron, to someone not familiar with the setting, sometimes comes off as some strange setting that lacks common D&D tropes and is instead filled with mechanical robot-men, firearms, and magic/steampunk choo-choo trains; which is complete a mischaracterization of what Eberron is. You CAN use the PHB make just a normal PC in Eberron akin to the kind you find in Faerun, you just miss out on all the fun Eberron twists. You CANNOT make such a character in, say Dark Sun, which intentionally warps every element of the PHB.

Fair enough!