What setting-specific materials should become generic?

[Jhaelen]

You can have an unique setting by simply excluding things instead.

Yep. It's part of having a particular 'theme' for your campaign. I've found that certain kind of limitations help to enhance a setting - if they're well thought out.

 

[Klaus]

I will disagree here, as Soth's story is so tied to Dragonlance that it is hard to imagine him in other worlds.

Lord Loren Soth was a shining paragon of knighthood and valor, until the day he fell in love with an elf princess. Rumor has it he arranged for the death of his human wife, so he could be with his elf paramour, and they married soon after.

Plagued with guilt, Lord Soth prayer for a chance to redeem himself, and the gods gave him a fleeting vision of a mystical cataclysm. Armed with such knowledge, Lord Soth and his 13 kinghts rode forth to stop the event.

But on the road he met his wife's handmaidens, who poisoned his heart with rumors of his elf wife being unfaithful to him, and of the child she gave birth not being his. Mad with jealousy, Lord Soth abandoned the gods-given quest and returned to his castle, intent on confronting his wife.

As he entered his bedchambers and struck down his wife, the cataclysm hit, obliterating entire nations. Soth's castle, Dargaard, was engulfed in flames, killing all within. But this was not the end of Lord Soth.

Cursed by his wife's dying breath, Soth arose as a death knight. His 13 retainers became skeletal warriors. And the elf handmaidens that fed his jealousy are now spectral banshees, keening every night the story of Lord Soth's fall.

 

[SkidAce]

This. Very very much this.

One of the worst things that can happen to setting specific material is to have it diluted, watered down, and stripped of its original details and context in order to make it generic.

While you are entirely correct...if you are playng in a well crafted homebrew that includes bits an pieces, the original setting is not affected, so no harm no foul.

But like the OP is asking, if you take setting specific material and put it into "official" core DnD, then the original setting loses flavor.

So I agree to a point.

 

[Dragonhelm]

And with them come talk of furries.

I'm sorry, but this is a furry-free zone.

See, that's the thing I hate about playing animal-men. I think of it as, "Hey, these guys look cool." Then all the furry talk starts, and I'm just weirded out.

Besides, its not the first time they ripped him from Krynn and put him in a completely unrelated setting just for the sake of ginning up a few sales, right?

*puts fingers in ears*

La la la la!

Seriously, though, I didn't mind Soth in Ravenloft, though other Dragonlance creators aren't fond of the idea. James Lowder did a great job tying the novel into Dragonlance continuity. Though he moved on elsewhere, Soth was still entrenched in Dragonlance lore.

Would that be the case if he showed up in the Realms or Eberron? I doubt it.

 

[Shemeska]

While you are entirely correct...if you are playng in a well crafted homebrew that includes bits an pieces, the original setting is not affected, so no harm no foul.

But like the OP is asking, if you take setting specific material and put it into "official" core DnD, then the original setting loses flavor.

So I agree to a point.

Yeah, my original post was about the watering down and serial-number-filing of setting specific material by WotC or any other 'official' instance. Someone doing it in their home campaigns is perfectly fine and honestly normal, but it's when for instance WotC does the same thing in print with an enforced vision for the game itself that I feel something is lost from the original material, sometimes bordering on disrespect for the setting in question.

 

[AllisterH]

Seriously, though, I didn't mind Soth in Ravenloft, though other Dragonlance creators aren't fond of the idea. James Lowder did a great job tying the novel into Dragonlance continuity. Though he moved on elsewhere, Soth was still entrenched in Dragonlance lore.

.

You know, I never really understood the disgust/hatred of Soth in Ravenloft.

If there is one NPC after Strahd who earned a domain, it was Soth given what he did.

Now, VECNA in Ravenloft made no sense as I never got an impression there was any romantic/gothic tragedy in his backstory.

 

[Rechan]

I'm sorry, but this is a furry-free zone.

See, that's the thing I hate about playing animal-men. I think of it as, "Hey, these guys look cool." Then all the furry talk starts, and I'm just weirded out.

In my experience, you can't play an animal-guy without being accused of being a furry.

 

[Dragonhelm]

In my experience, you can't play an animal-guy without being accused of being a furry.

There's a certain truth to that. I wonder if that mentality is what keeps some of Mystara's unique races from making appearances in other worlds.

 

[Klaus]

There's a certain truth to that. I wonder if that mentality is what keeps some of Mystara's unique races from making appearances in other worlds.

It is.

Which is a shame, actually.

To remove the "furriness" of the races, you have to:

- Portray them as realistically as possible, in art, and remove nearly all traces of cartoony expressions.
- Give them a culture of their own, and not having them behave like their animal counterparts. Demon-worshipping gnolls, samurai rakasta, swashbuckling lupins and mystic tortles are good examples.
- Avoid having anthropomorphic versions of every animal under the sun. One, two races are fine. All of them, not so much.

 

[Dragonhelm]

It is.

Which is a shame, actually.

To remove the "furriness" of the races, you have to:

- Portray them as realistically as possible, in art, and remove nearly all traces of cartoony expressions.
- Give them a culture of their own, and not having them behave like their animal counterparts. Demon-worshipping gnolls, samurai rakasta, swashbuckling lupins and mystic tortles are good examples.
- Avoid having anthropomorphic versions of every animal under the sun. One, two races are fine. All of them, not so much.

And yet shifters made the jump from Eberron to mainstream D&D. I guess the difference being that shifters at least appear to be part human. With them around, I doubt we'll see rakasta or lupins any time soon.