What would it take for you to be interested in a new (not reprint or rehash) setting?

[Sir Elton]

Atlantis and Eberron are fine for me, right now.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Given the number of settings out there, is there something that a publisher could release that's not a reprint/rehash/recreation/update of a previously available setting that would make you interested in picking it up?

If so, what sort of setting would it be?

It would be an Avadnu sort of setting.

Actually, it would be Avadnu.

 

[MerricB]

Given the number of settings out there, is there something that a publisher could release that's not a reprint/rehash/recreation/update of a previously available setting that would make you interested in picking it up?

If so, what sort of setting would it be?

Produced by Wizards of the Coast, with support.

Can't say I'd get it, but that's the absolute requirement.

Cheers!

 

[Khairn]

Well supported and well written. Eberron won me over by doing just that.

QFT

If its supported, preferably by the publisher, (but as in the case of Midnight and Against the Shadows a passionate fan site can also do the trick) then it would have a big leg up when compared to many new settings.

Well written is a must, but it doesn't necessarily have to be some shockingly different setting to get my money.

Just think back to the first time you read A Game of Thrones by GRR Martin. What on the surface was a generic medieval style setting with warring princes, back-stabbing nobles and an evil threat from the far north ... became something much greater. Even yet another Tolkien-esque style world could be a fantastic setting to play in the hands of the right author. (i.e. Midnight)

 

[Heathansson]

Medieval Fantasy Klingon homeworld.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Either only humans as a playable race or introduce playable races unique to the setting, in place of - not in addition to - the D&D core races.

Interesting, my homebrew has MANY playable races (more than 30) but many of them are unique and others would be considered monsters in most settings. I also rejiggered the population distribution schemes to play down the PHB races and altered them rather significantly from the PHB versions. Example: Just dealing with one PHB race. Humans are rare outside their coastal fortress-cities on one particular continent where they have been locked in a nihilistic vaguely WH40K war for thousands of years with the endless goblinoid hordes. Mechanically humans are on par with MM Bugbears in their stats and HD(thousands of years of unending war and magical manipulation has hardened them) and given them the age category chart of elves(don't all the myths say that the heroic precedessors of the first ages lived very long lives?)

Low magic or no explicit magic - everything 'magical' could be explained as pre-human superscience or smoke and mirrors. On the flip side, magic isn't explicitly ruled out, either.

Looks like the exact opposite here as I find I emphasize magic and its power even more than the standard. Almost all the larger city-states(no nations in my setting most it gets is city-states) are rules by magocracies of one sort or another. Magic is obvious and powerful, it doesn't stand out it screams "RESPECT MY AUTHORATIE" and people listen.

Steampunk or Pulp superscience, and a late 19th- to mid-20th century tech level. Pretty much anything between the US Civil War and World War 2 is fine, tech-wise.

Again interesting, what do you think of varying technological levels? Some particular areas have higher tech than others, the ancient Nagai empire(really a collection of loosely allied city-states that used to be an empire but still uses the name) is rather advanced but it's also decayed and decrepit beyond belief. The closest to this are the Humans where some of their devices have become quite steampunk in a very wierd equal mix of fantastic science and magic fashion without really being magitech.

Archeotechnology far outstripping that used in the modern world.

Two particular city-states are actually built around ancient spaceships that carried their ancestors to the land of Siluria. Both are thousands of years old and no longer really function except at the most basic levels. There is a toppled giant empire that had rather high technology(they created several of the standard races of the setting as servant creatures and eventually these created races and their racial gods sabotaged the empire into a slow and messy collapse) which can occasionally be found in ruins but it usually isn't in working order any more and even if it is might not be of any use to PCs.

Lost cities/temples/spaceships covered with jungle and crawling with a mix of robots or golems and savage beasts. Possibly some undead, too.

Lost ruins are fairly standard, Siluria is an old place, lots of ruins. More often filled with "savage beasts" or more likely savage tribal barbarians than robots though.

Multiple scheming factions, possibly living in floating cities, manipulating events from their secluded lairs.

Well I have entire floating islands and several of them have communities of varying sizes on them, including the most influential trade capital of the setting north of the Eeeee city-states. Scheming is fairly standard for the city-states. Since I based them on the principle that rule is by exerting personal power and the ruler is always the most powerful it means interested parties have to kill their way to the top and scheming backstabbing mage guilds make for good hooks.

Optional but major plusses:

A Dyson Sphere as the setting. A Ringworld works, too. I want the PCs to be able to hop on a prototype jet plane and still not be able to cover even a tiny amount of the available area.

Got that one flat-out my friend, Siluria has been a Dyson sphere since my brother initially created the first small part of it in about 1982 or 83 after reading some science-fiction book. I've expanded liberally on it since I took it over in maybe 87? 88? when he graduated and left me all his books and notes when he left home. Flavor has shifted a great deal across that time too.

Super robot-style mecha, probably the products of whoever built the Dyson Sphere/Ringworld.

Haven't done super-mecha yet probably won't but hey it's a Dyson sphere so at least I know if I want to I've got the room!

Lovecraftian horrors for the super robots to fight.

Haven't really done Lovecraftian horrors either but they really wouldn't fit. Given that in Siluria the Gods and Goddesses actually physically inhabit the setting wandering about it and living in its environments. (I use Dicefreaks rules for them) The Lovecraftian horrors wouldn't last long with that sort of power to lay down the Off-My-Turf! Smackdown.

 

[JVisgaitis]

For me (and this should come as no surprise) it has to be something new and unique that I haven't seen before. I've been playing for 20 years and I'm pretty jaded. If I see another Tolkenesque setting, I'll commit Seppeku.

I really would be happy with a redone Dark Sun as we never played it all that much. And gods no, not that imposter that was in Dragon and Dungeon. Give me a hardcover and don't try and turn it into another kitchen sink setting. And bring back Brom!

Actually, it would be Avadnu.

Heh. Someday... And maybe sooner then you think.

 

[arscott]

Things that might make me interested in your setting:

1) My friends dig it. Let's face facts--Between cool stuff from yesteryear and my own ideas, I don't really need a new setting, and probably can't afford one anyway. So the best way to get me into your setting is by having my friends GM a game of it.

2) Mastery of (and willingness to work within) the game rules. Again, ideas are cheap. It's the melding of good ideas with solid expertise that I'm paying for. This especially means no "teleport just doesn't work in this dungeon" style cheats. I'm definitely not paying for you to artificially limit the abilities of my character just because you're too lazy to take his consider the sort of things he can do when writing your book.

3) A reason for every flavor element. When I ask "Why do your elves live in the forest?" you'd damn well have a better reason than "because that's how they're described in the PHB". I expect every setting element you include to have a carefully considered place in the game. And if, after that careful consideration, if you can't make something fit, then throw it out.

4) Distinctiveness. Something has to make your setting original. It could be a radical departure from the status quo, as in Dark Sun. But it can also be minor riffs on the familiar. Eberron is similar in many ways to classic settings like Greyhawk or the Realms. But the relatively minor differences make it stand out.

5) Fey. There's a huge folkloric an mythological tradition behind the fairies that rivals that of dragons. But the scaled beasts get a spot in the game's name, while the fair folk sit at the kid's table in every major setting. Using these guys as a major power in your campaign is going to earn you lots of points in my book.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

5) Fey. There's a huge folkloric an mythological tradition behind the fairies that rivals that of dragons. But the scaled beasts get a spot in the game's name, while the fair folk sit at the kid's table in every major setting. Using these guys as a major power in your campaign is going to earn you lots of points in my book.

In addition to they Fey, I really want to see a campaign setting based on the Medieval Player's Handbook. That is, one that is based on those magical rules. In other words, a d20 Fantasy that is faithful to Mediæval legends, sagas, ballads, etc. without shoehorning in the standard D&D tropes.

It's been said here many times that D&D best models the D&D genre. Mongoose did a good job with the Conan RPG. Now it's time to see a proper Occidental Adventures.

 

[Hussar]

Modules. Lots of them. I would much rather see a new setting come out in the vein of Dragonlance or the Goodman Games DCC's. Gimme the modules first and THEN give me the setting. Use the modules to cast the setting - 5 or 6 module adventure arcs, standalones, mini-adventure collections for dropping in.

That's how I would like my campaign settings packaged in the future.