What other settings should get the FR treatment?

[ProfessorCirno]

Your personal preferences aside, there is no reason why a Planescape version set in the current cosmology couldnt work. The fact that you like the current version doesnt mean a new version would be terrible or a mockery of the old.

Except that Planescape was literally created based entirely on the great wheel and the series of alignments. There's a LOT of narrowed eyes over the idea of a Planescape based on the new cosmology because it IS an incredibly radical change, and one that does not bode well for the setting. To put it another way, imagine if they made a new Spelljammer, but without the space. No more going into space. Instead, it was stuck on one world, and you sailed in the oceans. Sure, I suppose it could technically work, and undoubtedly there would be people going "FINALLY, a setting for Spelljammer that makes sense! I've been houseruling out the space since the dawn of time!" But overall, it simply doesn't work with the setting.


Not that it matters, as 4e is ironclad about "Find thing, kill thing, loot thing," which is about as opposite as you can get from Planescape, which is why I, personally, don't think we'll be seeing a 4e version of it. And if we do, it will be one that makes people weep. Not in a good way.

 

[dm4hire]

I think Planescape is getting touched in the Planer Handbook and most likely will become the campaign setting for Epic Heroes.

As for time jumps go; why does it have to be into the future?? Why not pull a Star Wars and do an Old Republic style campaign based on one of the old settings. Dark Sun presented at the rise of the Dragon Kings would be interesting. It would allow them to include everything with the knowledge a lot of stuff will become extinct eventually as the Dragon Kings cause the destruction of the planet turning it into the desert world it will become.

I also think they should have held another contest for a new setting, knowing that they were going to revamp FR and ECS means they had two years after the announcement before they would need to present a campaign not related to those two. A new setting would be totally 4e and would start an interesting trend of player created worlds related to D&D via contests.

 

[jdrakeh]

As for time jumps go; why does it have to be into the future?? Dark Sun presented at the rise of the Dragon Kings would be interesting. It would allow them to include everything with the knowledge a lot of stuff will become extinct eventually as the Dragon Kings eventually cause the destruction of the planet turning it into the desert world it will become.

Fabulous call! There are too many post-apocalypse or post-catastrophe settings. Let's see one that takes place during the big event!

 

[Greg K]

What about rejuvinating widespread interest in a property that is no longer in print? If it was merely a matter of re-releasing the old content verbatim, the PDFs of old D&D settings currently made available by WotC should be RPGNow bestsellers. They aren't.

You left out the possibility that what people wanted was a product that had statblocks updated for 3e and was printed. Plus, not everyone buys online. Perhaps people that would have been attracted to the old material with updated mechanics are only exposed to products local book chains or hobby shop.

 

[jdrakeh]

You left out the possibility that what people wanted was a product that had statblocks updated for 3e and was printed. Plus, not everyone buys online. Perhaps people that would have been attracted to the old material with updated mechanics are only exposed to products local book chains or hobby shop.

Actually, I didn't leave anything out. I said "If it was merely a matter of re-releasing the old content verbatim. . ." — the situations that you posit address more than that, including consumer unwillingness to buy unprinted products, refusal to play the currently supported edition of D&D, an inability to shop online, etc. As for 3e updates, I also said:

I think there is a very good chance that more people would be willing to pay for a Dark Sun or Planescape that was updated for use with a currently supported rule set than they are to pay for a bunch of information that doesn't work with either of the two currently most played editons of D&D*.

If you check the footnote, I mention 3.5 specifically (which is largely backwards compatible with 3.0).

 

[Greg K]

I suppose that I should be fully awake before reading and responding to posts

Actually, I didn't leave anything out. I said "If it was merely a matter of re-releasing the old content verbatim. . ." — the situations that you posit address more than that, including consumer unwillingness to buy unprinted products, refusal to play the currently supported edition of D&D, an inability to shop online, etc. As for 3e updates, I also said:



If you check the footnote, I mention 3.5 specifically (which is largely backwards compatible with 3.0).

 

[BluSponge]

None. Creating a "time line jump" and "reinvisoning" a setting has no real benefit other than trying to sell a new setting under a recognizable trademark. Just create a new setting and call it something else rather than trying to retrofit/blowup/add random elements to existant settings.

Agreed. They tried this tact with Greyhawk and did nothing but fracture their audience. Greyhawk: the Adventure Begins and the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer both did what they could to reconcile the two camps, but even today you still have sizable groups who prefer one to the other.

WotC originally intended to do the same with Eberron, but faced an even larger revolt from fans of that setting than those of FR (who should be used to arbitrary campaign events that they didn't ask for and their players had no part in by now).

If, as I've heard occasionally here and there, the main purpose of the timeline jump in FR was to "reset the canon" so players (and writers) weren't required to know the full scope of the setting's history, why isn't the converse true? Thus, why not reset some of these campaigns to year zero again? A Greyhawk or Dark Sun set that basically goes back to the roots. You can always publish a comprehensive timeline in Dragon for those who want to a) play through the events in their own campaign, or b) want to set their events after the most recent slew of novels.

Basically, any artificial movement of the timeline, or blowing up the world, risks losing audience. And with WotC's three book model, the losses will be both more pronounced and easier to shoulder. So why not just turn back the dial, get retro, and open things up to folks who want a bit of everything?

Tom

 

[drothgery]

Wheel of Time:
- You can't jump it 100 years, but you could update it to catch up with the storyline. Converting to 4E would also be really good for imagining all of the different fighting techniques with powers.

Yes. Definitely needs an update, though if it's done, it needs to be released sometime between the hardcover release of Sanderson's A Memory of Light (he says on his blog that he's about 50% done) and shortly after the paperback.

 

[dm4hire]

WoT would definitely be better under 4e than d20. Though I don't know if channeling would work using the power system. They do a lot of channeling throughout the books but going from per day to at will would be a big start. Perhaps borrow from Star Wars saga and make part of the weave a skill check and then the rest feats and powers.

 

[Darrin Drader]

None. Creating a "time line jump" and "reinvisoning" a setting has no real benefit other than trying to sell a new setting under a recognizable trademark. Just create a new setting and call it something else rather than trying to retrofit/blowup/add random elements to existant settings.

This.

I feel that major timeline jumps and other means of hitting the reset button are a cheat to the existing fans of the setting. If you can't figure out how to make the setting interesting anymore, or it has become too complicated, or whatever, then it is perfectly acceptable to move the timeline ahead a few years. If that doesn't solve certain problems then retire the setting for a while until fresh inspiration strikes.

The problem I see with the new FR is that it really isn't a recognizable successor to the original setting, which has spanned for something like 20 years. I've never been a fan of nuking worlds, so I disliked the changes they made to Dragonlance after the war of the lance as well.