WotC setting search winner - Eberron

[woodelf]

Well, if you look at the pictures, the riding dinosaur is called a "Clawfoot". And it's got this nice sickle-shaped claw on the foot, and the quote says "Clawsfoots are disturbingly fast, even with riders".

To me, that says Velociraptor. So perhaps different names for the dinosaurs.

Damn Jurassic Park!

A pony-sized bipedal, pack-hunting, bird-hipped dino with a giant sickle claw on its hind feet? Deinonychus, known for decades.

A wolf-sized bipedal, pack-hunting, bird-hipped dino with a giant siclke claw on its hind feet? Velociraptor, first discovered about 15yrs ago (it was a new discovery when Crichton first wrote Jurassic Park).

I got no problem with them wanting to biggify the villains for the movie. But, given that there is a more-well-known cousin of the velociraptor, virtually identical in general appearance and behavior, and about the size they made the villains, why they couldn't use its name i just don't understand. In the interests of education, if nothing else.

So, rant aside, the "clawfoot" they're riding looks like it could be a renamed Deinonychus--it's way too big to be a renamed Velociraptor.

 

[TheAntiSummit]

Okay I was new to DnD with 3e and I keep hearing some settings that I haven't seen in 3e spoken of with equal reverence and disdain. If some people could just explain briefly what the gimmick ( the catch, the thing that makes you love it or hate it)is for Dragonlance and Spelljammer, I would really apreciate it. Or if I should ask in a seperate thread, I can do that to, just say the word.

 

[drnuncheon]

The important thing all along has been to find ways to work together. When WotC has felt the need to change something I like, I've always been able to help come up with something that I believe is as good or better than the original, instead of just sulking about it and ending up with something I hate.

So...is the stuff that was originally in there that didn't get used covered under your NDA? Or can you share that with us?

I got no problem with them wanting to biggify the villains for the movie. But, given that there is a more-well-known cousin of the velociraptor, virtually identical in general appearance and behavior, and about the size they made the villains, why they couldn't use its name i just don't understand.

Because velociraptor sounds way cooler than deinonychus, silly.

J

 

[Spatula]

Okay I was new to DnD with 3e and I keep hearing some settings that I haven't seen in 3e spoken of with equal reverence and disdain. If some people could just explain briefly what the gimmick ( the catch, the thing that makes you love it or hate it)is for Dragonlance and Spelljammer, I would really apreciate it. Or if I should ask in a seperate thread, I can do that to, just say the word.

Spelljammer: D&D in space. It's "fantasy space" however; it doesn't share much of anything in common with real-world physics. Not so much a setting as an expansion to (and a way to connect) all the other campaign worlds.

Dragonlance: A setting based on the host of Dragonlance D&D novels. Dragonlance on the surface appears to be similar to a vanilla D&D world, but there are a whole bunch of little things that set it apart.

 

[Psiblade]

I am interested in the setting because it does seem a little off the beaten to death path of Forgetten Realms, Dragonlance, and Greyhawk like settings. My two current favorite commercial settings are Scarred lands and Ravenloft. I will wait to reserve judgement until I see the setting.



-Psiblade

 

[Gargoyle]

So you can gauge customer response? Maybe, more than being a chance for the fans to find out abou the setting, this was a chance for WotC to find out what the fans liked/disliked. After all, it should still be fairly early in the development cycle--easy to change emphasis at this point (such as how much they talk about the dinosaurs, or how much page count they spend on magitech feats).

You could be right, but I think the main reason for it was to create a buzz. After I protested that they weren't answering our questions, Bill Slaviscek compared the seminar to a movie trailer. That's why I was huffy in the earlier post. Audiences at movie trailers don't expect to have questions answerd...they expect to be teased...we were at a seminar with a Q&A section, and hardly any questions were answered. I'm not mad or anything...but our expectations and the expectations of the community here weren't met by the lack of info. We still don't know what this world is really about, and that's frustrating.

All that said, I know WOTC reads these boards, and they do consider our feedback. But I think it will be used to improve their marketing of this campaign world, not the actual design. I very much doubt that they are going to say "Well, the dinosaur thing didn't go over well, lets cut that section down to 20 pages..." If they did that, I'd be highly disappointed. I want a compelling campaign that they believe in, not some Hollywood studio schlock that is made to appeal to the widest audience around. Now if they use the feedback to improve their marketing...I think that would be wise.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Okay I was new to DnD with 3e and I keep hearing some settings that I haven't seen in 3e spoken of with equal reverence and disdain. If some people could just explain briefly what the gimmick ( the catch, the thing that makes you love it or hate it)is for Dragonlance and Spelljammer, I would really apreciate it. Or if I should ask in a seperate thread, I can do that to, just say the word.

Dragonlance: Hate. Primarily because anything outside of "what the heroes of the books do" is all-but undefined.

Spelljammer: Love: What's not to love about fantasy space space? Especially carried out in the way that it was - crystal spheres, the phlostigon etc.

Hate: "and it tacks onto all the existing worlds like this". Unfortunately this included all sorts of worlds which never mentioned spelljammers, so they had to think up the great spelljammer conspiracy (ie - that spelljammers never talk about spelljamming with groundlings). Giant space hamsters.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

I've been watching boards all over the place, and I cannot believe some of the things I've seen when it comes to this campaign world.

Intolerance, bordering on a psychotic frenzy is rampant. Come on, the book isn't even out yet, and some people are acting like Mr. Baker just crapped on thier battlemat during a game.

I've seen insults, what-ifs, and everything else.
Sour grapes here and there. Whole posts of it. It's like a vinegar vineyard in some places.

So it's different.

GOOD!

I'm sick of the pseudo-medieval European crap that keeps getting shoveled out. Maybe it's time someone took the rules and tried to see how far it could go. I'm sick of the "world full of morons and crappy European architechture" that permeates so many campaign worlds.

I'm sick of low magic settings, INCLUDING Forgotten Realms.

People have said WotC won't have the guts to try something innovative, and when they try, a lot of those same people try to stuff everyone in a meat grinder.

Personally, I'll wait for more info before I make the decision.

And frankly, I'll use the train rules.

I'm tired of no technological/mystical science advancement.

 

[Desdichado]

A pony-sized bipedal, pack-hunting, bird-hipped dino with a giant sickle claw on its hind feet? Deinonychus, known for decades.

A wolf-sized bipedal, pack-hunting, bird-hipped dino with a giant siclke claw on its hind feet? Velociraptor, first discovered about 15yrs ago (it was a new discovery when Crichton first wrote Jurassic Park).

Coupla nitpicks -- Velociraptor was discovered in the 40s or 50s when the first Mongolian expeditions (mounted by Soviet scientists and Polish scientists) went out that way. They're also more like collie sized, not pony sized. Deinonychus was more wolf-sized. The larger ones, discovered just recently, are Utahraptor and Megaraptor. Also, all of the above are Maniraptoriformes, which is very clearly nestled in the Saurischian lineage of dinosaurs, i.e., the lizard-hipped. Although ironically, it's believed that actual birds evolved from relatives very close to the Velociraptor group, and the actual bird-hipped dinosaurs are an evolutionary dead-end.

 

[Mirth]

I gave up on reading this thread a few pages ago (too much whining over something that hasn't even been released for my tastes), but I remember someone was looking for the original WotC Setting Search Thread(s) on ENWorld. I had them both bookmarked, so here ya go:

WotC Setting Search Thread #1 (the BIG one)

Thread #2

Don't know if these were already posted or not.

To steer this post back on topic, I'm always looking for new and exciting spins on the same old tired cliches, so I'm all set for Keith to impress me.

Jay