WotC Setting Search News

[kenjib]

It's interesting you say that Undead Pete. My prediction during all of the speculation beforehand was that they were looking for something only subtly different from the standard tropes -- something with just a little twist to breath life into it but still mostly something that people are familiar with. I didn't think that any of the really "out there" proposals had much of a chance. I've only seen this one proposal here, but it does affirm my prediction. It seems the perfect blend of originality and familiarity and, the clencher, really good writing skills that show WotC that the author can produce quality material and follow through on the ideas, which is actually more important than the idea itself, I think.

Great job FFG team. I wonder how many of the 11 were amateur submissions.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I was working on a setting that shared countless similarities with Midnight.

In the end, the player in me beat out the publisher: I am such an admirer of FFG's prior work, and the description of the Midnight setting in general, it was easy to decide that I'd rather play in Midnight than compete against it.

I would have to say, of all the books that I know are in development, this one excites me the most.

Of course I can't help hoping that Midnight will be open for outside development...


Wulf

 

[Undead Pete]

If course, I have yet to publish a dirty limerick, much less a campaign setting, so who am I to say anything...

There once was a Demon named Orcus
whose minions would never call him "Your Dorkness".
He was known to be fond
of shaking his Wand
and turning them all into corpses.

What?? No comments on my limerick?? I wrote it after midnight last night. I was sure someone would pipe up.

 

[tarchon]

I was disappointed to see that it wasn't as original as I expected from one of the top 11. Maybe I'm just being too critical, but I wonder how the committee made its decisions. Their job seems even harder than I had earlier imagined now.

I have to agree with Undead Pete. Same cornflakes, new box. Neither puzzling nor unexpected.

 

[RSKennan]

I am an amateur with hopes of going pro, and I also made it to the second round. Congratulations FFG. I have to admit that I suspected that all of the selected settings would be set in "the golden age".

Here's my thread:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27793

One last thing. I too had plans of publishing. Maybe we could get in touch? It seems that we are on much the same page with our settings...

I know this is probably a little too forward, but it's worth a shot



<edit: fixed typo on "amateur", it was annoying me.>

 

[Psion]

Wow... y'know what? I took a look at their submission . It doesn't resemble the "ice age world" that I considered submitting... but it does resemble my current game world... yeah the one that I would never consider submitting because it was "too lived in."

Frex:
A secret society of enigmatic shapeshifters, the elusive Black Circle works subtle treacheries and dark intrigues to corrupt the good and noble from within.

In my campaign, they are called the Dark Circle.


Magic is the lifeblood of the world, the primal essence of creation that flows through all living things and wells in the bones of the earth.
(...)
Magic courses throughout the earth, but its flow is not without pattern. It eddies and pools, creating ancient places of power that channel and change the magic coursing through them. Some of these magical nexuses


In my world, I call the primal magic force "the flow", which extends through all living things, and courses across the landscape in rivers (ley lines) which converge at "nexuses."

Of course, I don't claim my ideas are totally original (and am not claiming they copied me -- I learned a long time ago a lot of the same ideas settle in a lot of fantasy worlds) -- I have my inspirations as I imagine the FFG folks do. But I still find it interesting how familiar parts of it seem.
And find it aggravating that I dismissed submitting my primary campaign world out-of-hand. Sigh.

 

[Maraxle]

I was disappointed to see that it wasn't as original as I expected from one of the top 11. Maybe I'm just being too critical, but I wonder how the committee made its decisions. Their job seems even harder than I had earlier imagined now.

I've felt that way about all of the semifinalist ideas that I've read so far. At least I know that my submission(s) failed not because of lack of quality, but because I didn't use the phrase "golden age."

 

[Plane Sailing]

Interesting the parallel with Robert Kennan, another semifinalist http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27793

Both are set in empires reaching their pinnacle, Dawn and Morningstar... I wonder whether the other 6 semi-finalists were in a similar vein or this is just random chance?

Dawnforge: It is a land where familiar and beloved races and archetypes are reaching the pinnacle of their glory and wonder. It is a vast and rich realm where newborn nations are still islands of civilization in a dark and unexplored wilderness sea. The world of DAWNFORGE is a land where the greatest deeds have yet to be done and epic heroes are wrought in the crucible of legend.

Morning Star: Now is the Golden Age: The great empires have not yet fallen. Humans have just come into their own, and dragons and mythical beasts abound. Wondrous and terrible magics, constructs, and creatures are being created everyday. Spellcasters push the limits of possibility further and further... Thraxis is a world still finding its destiny, where anything is possible. Over time the players will be able to see how the effects of their characters’ actions ripple outward.

{edit}
Also see Gary Pratt from Kansas (wizardoftheplains) in his thread here http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27785

The Sunset Kingdoms: Aspects that set the Sunset Kingdoms apart from other fantasy settings include -- A vibrant, eclectic mix of cultures that are near the height of their ‘golden age’...

Hmmm. Another name which carries a daytime metaphore, another golden age setting... But is this a pattern amongst all 11 semi-finalists, or just those that didn't make it to the final? Time will tell!


Congratulations to all of these guys for getting that far.

What was it like to produce the 10-pager? Difficult to keep down to spec, or easy to provide the scope and details?

Cheers

 

[tarchon]

I am an amatuer with hopes of going pro, and I also made it to the second round. Congratulations FFG. I have to admit that I suspected that all of the selected settings would be set in "the golden age".

Oh yeah, what an exalted idea...

 

[RSKennan]

I had never heard of "Exalted" when I wrote my one page submission. I was just thinking "where hasn't WIZARDS really gone yet?" I came up with "The Golden Age". When they called to say I had made it to round two, I went over my submission to see which elements had likely drawn WotC's attention. I still know very little of Exalted, except to say that it seems they went in a very different direction than I did. Just as there is plenty of room for the post (or mid) Dark Ages model for a fantasy setting, I believe that there is plenty of room for The Golden Age.