Whats in your Setting!

[Ampolitor]

OK I plan on putting out a setting for 4E when I can, but since I have like a year now before that can happen, what do you guys want to see in a setting? Do you want a traditional setting with great history and locations or do you want something new like what Eberron had? Im trying to see if a traditional setting would even be worth putting out. What do you want to see if you were to pick up a new setting. What would you want a designer to put in it to convince you to buy it? I've seen a lot of new settings but not many have really caught my eye with the exception of a few. (Midnight IMO was brilliant)
Do you want a setting with Elves, dwarves, humans and Halflings or do you want dinosaurs and airships? I'm just trying to get a feel for what you would want to see to make a good setting.

 

[Ampolitor]

Hmmm

nothing?

 

[Flynn]

You might want to bring this up over in the 4E section. There is a higher concentration of ENWorlders there that are dealing with similar thoughts and concerns, and are more likely to give you some feedback based on their own considerations.

Just a thought,
Flynn

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

If you intend it for actual publication, here are my two cents:

I want something that gives me a reason to look at this setting. What distinguishes it from all the other published settings out there? In other words, why should I spend my limited free time reading more about this setting - let alone using it - and not on Forgotten Realms/Eberron/whatever products?

And just saying "it has new races/classes/spells" is not going to cut it. I want major themes that permeate the setting - ideas and concept that resonate in every part of it.

This is independent of the "traditional"/"novel" divide. Traditional settings can truly shine as long as you pick the right themes. Ptolus, for example, is comparatively traditional, but it nevertheless comes across as a convincing and beautifully realized setting.

So think carefully about your themes. For instance, if you you want to focus on "political intrigue", I want lots of urban power centers, a multitude of organizations with hidden agendas, and lots of backroom dealings and morally dubious situations even for the good guys. If the theme is "A World At War", I want nations with massive armies ready to clash and a conflict of truly epic proportions. In both case, I want the author to do his research and read all he can about historical periods that exemplify these themes.

In other words, give me a setting that is about something. If I just want a generic setting with lots of room to explore, I'd just use the Forgotten Realms whose multitudes of authors have created something that an individual author can't really compete with. But if the central premise of the setting is something that hasn't been explored much before, I am game.

 

[GreatLemur]

Do you want a traditional setting with great history and locations or do you want something new like what Eberron had?

The last thing the world needs is another generic D&D setting distinguished only by its history, pantheon, and map. If I'm going to even look at a setting, it's gotta be at least as different as Eberron. Frankly, I'd even say Eberron played it too safe, with its whole "Everything in D&D has a place here" ethic.

That said, I'm a worldbuilding pervert who's unlikely to ever buy somebody else's campaign setting, anyway, unless it happens to come with a bunch of mechanics I'd like to steal (example: the extremely cool spellcasting variants in the Black Company and Thieves' World settings). So maybe you shouldn't listen to me.

 

[Nyaricus]

I think that in order to make your own campaign setting, you need to have a passion for your material, and you need to be able to covey that to your audience. However, some worldbuilders make a setting only for themselves, so you have to watch out for that as well - you have to make it accessible.

One thing which is mentioned a lot on ENW is DMs who wished WotC monsters matched up with their real-world counterparts better. Instead of "you come across a minotaur. Roll initiative." You would say "You've just stumbled across the lair of the Minotaur! Roll initiative!" Keep those old legends alive.

I dunno, another thing is having a strong theme. A strong theme could include:

* Eberron's whole "a place for everything" + pulp fiction themes + some slight steampunk leanings.
* Ravenloft's gothic horror
* DragonLance's romantic fantasy + gods-forsaken realm
* Dark Sun's post apoc + magic is outlawed
etc etc

So, just find a strong theme or three and run with it. You can do wonders with that sorta stuff.

cheers,
--N

 

[Martian Agitator]

If I were you, I would NOT use Eberron as a model. It's a grab bag setting, so it does a lot of this okay, but nothing well.

To reiterate what everyone else is saying, keep it tight.

Don't be afraid to make bold design decisions. I still haven't seen a setting that brought back class/race restrictions, and I really liked them - they add a lot of flavor to each race. Planescape is one of the most beloved settings because it's always way, way over the top. The advice everyone here is giving you is to reject vanilla, but do it for a good, strong theme.

I'd love to see a Greek or Roman era setting. No chainmail or plate, no polearms except spears, but big, big shields. Also, a civilization vs nomads theme would be cool. Lots of temple politicking. A system of bloodlines to represent descent from the gods. And Monsters would have to be BIG.

That could be the theme right there: monsters rule the wild areas and the bright sword of civilization has come to cleave them from the world. So perhaps monster dominated "kingdoms" rule most of the world and there is only one small country to fight the darkness; their only allies are an untrustworthy trading folk who live far across the sea. That's sort of hard to mix with general Greek and Roman themes, but general Roman themes are usually gigantic wars and taking over the world, so maybe it works.

 

[jgbrowning]

My setting has chocolate. My setting has peanut butter. My setting is good.

joe b.