WotC Why WotC SHOULD Make A New Setting

[Paul Farquhar]

if you have lived somewhere for years

If you have lived in a place for years you tend to notice just how fictional any version of that place in fiction is!

But from a practical (and an avoiding politics) point of view, I can’t see WotC doing a real world based D&D setting. And real world with the names changed (Sikargow, Planet Erf) the default assumptions become D&D, rather than real world. You need to explain how an internal combustion engine works, or automobiles default to running on magic.

 

[Remathilis]

Ravnica and Eberron have these.

Pretty much every D&D setting has these.

Where are the Dresden files set? Chicago? A city in a far off land that I am never likely to visit and know very little about. Baldur's Gate is more familiar to me than Chicago. There really isn't any difference between a fictional location and a real world location that you only encounter through fiction.

The use of death knights, including a prominent tragic villain death knight, proves Dragonlance is a gothic horror setting and really no different than Ravenloft.

 

[humble minion]

Dragonlance is a gothic horror setting and really no different than Ravenloft.

Dragonlance is a MELODRAMA setting which is why a magnificent Gothic cliche like Lord Soth fitted in so perfectly, because Gothic horror tends to be as melodramatic as hell. Big drama, big romance, big coincidences, big villains, big revelations, big destinies.

That's why SotDQ missed the mark so badly plot and theme-wise. Dragonlance, when done properly, isn't a war story. Or if it is, it's a war story like Gone With the Wind rather than Band of Brothers. The war is a backdrop to the personal drama, it isn't the focus of the plot.

 

[Corinnguard]

If you have lived in a place for years you tend to notice just how fictional any version of that place in fiction is!

But from a practical (and an avoiding politics) point of view, I can’t see WotC doing a real world based D&D setting. And real world with the names changed (Sikargow, Planet Erf) the default assumptions become D&D, rather than real world. You need to explain how an internal combustion engine works, or automobiles default to running on magic.

Plus, reality can be stranger than fiction.

True. However, you won't have to invent every aspect of your setting if you base it off what you known in RL and your players will be assuming that nearly everything in the setting is something they consider familiar initially.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'll try to clarify where I'm coming from.

I don't want any single company (whoever they are) to dictate my happiness with RPGs. I love the whole hobby. I love lots of different RPGs and lots of different products from lots of different companies (including WOTC). The strength of this hobby comes from that incredible range of designers, producers, companies, and products.

I don't buy the idea of "official D&D". That's just a trademark -- not the spirit of the game. WOTC bought thr trademark along with TSR. Hasbro bought it with WOTC. You could buy it if you had enough money.

D&D 3rd edition and D&D 4th edition were "official D&D". After they were no longer with WOTC the design leads of those games got together and made the D&D they wanted — 13th Age. That's their D&D.

Many argue that Old School Essentials better captures D&D more than D&D 2024. We can disagree on it, but I can certainly see where they're coming from. Old School Essentials (and Dolmenwood) is certainly closer in mechanics and feeling to BX D&D than D&D 2024 is. Does Dolmenwood count as "official D&D"? It's more compatible with the longest-running form of D&D than anything WOTC has made.

If one dismisses the products of the people who worked at WOTC or the previous products of the people who now work at WOTC as being not "official D&D", I think they're really limiting their view of the hobby and now they're just fans of a trademark and a big corporation, not the actual game.

I’d let go of “official D&D” as a criteria for seeking a good setting. WOTC can and has made great settings. So have lots of other publishers.

Official is objective.

Those can be good dnd, but whether they are official is a question with an objective answer.

Sure. And they have.

Dude why are you trying to prescribe other people's wants?

If so.eone likes what the dnd team has been making, and wants to see them specifically make a new full standalone setting and not just an adventure location that never gets touched again, that is valid.

It also doesnt indicate any ignorance of 3rd party settings or any lack of love for those settings.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

The last new setting they had, they dumped despite it actually being quite good, because 4e wasn't well-received. I will die on the hill that Nentir Vale was a great setting, actually had Dragonborn and Tieflings that fit in seamlessly (unlike how Tieflings kept their 4e look in 5e instead of going back to the 3.x style), had a pantheon that was so interesting Matt Mercer took it whole cloth for his own world, and had a nice traditional sword & sorcery feel to it ("points of light").

They should 100% IMHO have done a brand new setting for 5e and kept Forgotten Realms the classic style that people knew and loved, instead of making it the default and shoehorning in almost everything there.

It's a real shame they dumped that setting (along with pretty much every other good part of 4e). Though I do suspect that it might have been a bit gritty for modern audiences.

I disliked most things about 4e, but WotC decided to throw out all the good along with the bad.

 

[Remathilis]

Dragonlance is a MELODRAMA setting which is why a magnificent Gothic cliche like Lord Soth fitted in so perfectly, because Gothic horror tends to be as melodramatic as hell. Big drama, big romance, big coincidences, big villains, big revelations, big destinies.

That's why SotDQ missed the mark so badly plot and theme-wise. Dragonlance, when done properly, isn't a war story. Or if it is, it's a war story like Gone With the Wind rather than Band of Brothers. The war is a backdrop to the personal drama, it isn't the focus of the plot.

Nope. It's horror. Let's look at the board.

Death knights? Scary.
Dragons? Very scary.
Kender? Absolutely terrifying.
A world without gods? Cataclysm? Endless war? Horrifying.

Dragonlance is gothic horror. I'm sure nobody would torture the definition of horror to prove otherwise.

 

[Corinnguard]

It's a real shame they dumped that setting (along with pretty much every other good part of 4e). Though I do suspect that it might have been a bit gritty for modern audiences.

I disliked most things about 4e, but WotC decided to throw out all the good along with the bad.

You keep what works for the majority of players and DMs, and you improve or get rid of what didn't work.

WoTC didn't do this when they went from 3e to 4e. They tried to redesign everything that was D&D back then.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Nope. It's horror. Let's look at the board.

Kender? Absolutely terrifying.

I regret taking a sip of water while reading this comment.

 

[Corinnguard]

Kender? Absolutely terrifying.

Only if you and the Kender are in an empty, locked room and there was nothing else for the Kender to do.