WotC Why WotC SHOULD Make A New Setting

[Maxperson]

Ed Greenwood wrote about Elminister, Mordenkainen, and Dalamar visiting him at his house, thus Krynn, Oerth, and the FR are all part of the same Urban Fantasy extended universe.

Yes, but this Urban Fantasy is harder to reach.

 

[SlyFlourish]

A fine patron of Sly Flourish posted this to our SF Patreon Discord server where Chris Perkins talks about the burden of the legacy of D&D.

“There’s no pressure of a 50-year legacy [at Daggerheart]. When you’re on D&D,” Perkins told us. “You have a responsibility to its legacy. You can go in new directions and do new things, I mean, it’s not shackles literally, but with a game that doesn’t have 50 years of expectations behind it, all those expectations have yet to be conceived. And so that’s just a different place and a fun place to find oneself.”

The legacy of D&D does come with some limitations on creativity that Daggerheart simply doesn’t have yet. “There are certain, I guess you’d call them sacred cows that you have to respect [with D&D]. If you twist the game too far, you get something that is not going to resonate with fans, whereas the Daggerheart fans are just like, ‘Just give us stuff. Whatever you got. We’re ready. Bring it on.’”

I think WOTC also has the burden of being part of a huge publicly traded company as well. They can't run the same sorts of experiments the rest of the RPG community can do and it's why I believe most of the innovation in RPGs isn't happening there.

The 50 year legacy of D&D and the weight of the crown hold WOTC back from making the sorts of big moves I'm seeing all throughout this thread.

 

[Remathilis]

A fine patron of Sly Flourish posted this to our SF Patreon Discord server where Chris Perkins talks about the burden of the legacy of D&D.

I think WOTC also has the burden of being part of a huge publicly traded company as well. They can't run the same sorts of experiments the rest of the RPG community can do and it's why I believe most of the innovation in RPGs isn't happening there.

The 50 year legacy of D&D and the weight of the crown hold WOTC back from making the sorts of big moves I'm seeing all throughout this thread.

I can absolutely see their point. While I wish D&D had a mono setting, I understand completely that there is no way WotC could or would abandon the Forgotten Realms or Eberron. Likewise, I don't imagine any new settings are going to stray far from the core assumptions. No matter how many people would want a low magic, grim and gritty sword and sorcery setting, WotC isn't going to do that. Nor should it; that kind of niche is better served with smaller companies who have more agility and aren't beholden to the forces WotC is.

 

[mamba]

I think WOTC also has the burden of being part of a huge publicly traded company as well. They can't run the same sorts of experiments the rest of the RPG community can do and it's why I believe most of the innovation in RPGs isn't happening there.

if anyone can afford to experiment it is the guys with the 50% profit margin and the most sales by an order of magnitude or so.

That they aren’t shows that they are risk averse more than it shows an inability to, they simply do not need to given their position in the market

 

[Plaguescarred]

New campaign setting would be cool indeed!

When WoTC did a setting fan-made contest in the beginning of the century where Keith Baker's EBERRON won, the 2nd place was also pretty good apparently IIRC.

WoTC why not release it or do another of those contest?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

New campaign setting would be cool indeed!

Until you read it and decide it’s not the setting you wanted. Also see: Radiant Citadel.

WoTC why not release it or do another of those contest?

Why not? Because it’s expensive and WotC have no commercial need for any new settings.

 

[Plaguescarred]

A chance they didn't think that way back when or else we would have never get EBERRON so i'm really glad we did get it released.