You are D&D's Bible Keeper - What do you do?

[painandgreed]

Make everything accessable, either through the SRD or at least print it in sourcebooks. A single setting book for the various genres would do: Greyhawk, Planescape, Spelljammer, etc.

In said books, style would follow much like the original box set of FR. Lots of rumors, and plot hooks provided and they would be marked as whether they would be altered by the metaplot later or be off limits to such changes so that DMs could work them into their own campaigns without fear of rehashing or future developments confusing their own work.

Hire editors, and then seek out writers to do novels and make sure the editors keep the writers for including things that are too stupid, mess too much with the settings, make their characters too powerful, or otherwise would make things troublesome for DMs.

Wait for the next rules edition and then update the setting books, being careful not to step on the rumors and plot hooks that were marked off limits in the previous setting book.

 

[Ry]

A lot of these Bible Keepers seem to be straying into 4E design territory...

I think I would have to come up with a good origins story for dragons - the mythology of dragons needs to be integrated with the rest.

 

[Mercule]

I'd ensure there is no solid "D&D" history. That's for settings, not the system.

If someone ever came up to me and said, "Hey, the origin of dragons in D&D is X," I would probably laugh. FR has a history and backstory. Planescape has a history and backstory. Greyhawk and Eberron have histories and backstories. D&D is just a collection of rules.

Heck, I don't even consider the PHB pantheon to be D&D. Those are Greyhawk, but included as a baseline.

Speaking of the various settings, though, I'd be tempted to discontinue FR. I probably wouldn't, but only because some vague business smarts would get in the way.

Edit: On thinking about it, I do like some of the "implied history" materials, though. Mainly just as ideas. I just strongly object to any implication that my not using, say, the origin legends from Hordes of the Abyss is somehow "changing" things. That's a great book, with great ideas, but there is no D&D canon.

 

[crazy_cat]

*snip* .... but there is no D&D canon.

QFT.

 

[James McMurray]

I'd stick the Mind Flayer, Beholder, and other similar creatures into the SRD where they belong. People love those races, so they'll be sure to buy more SRDs if they're in there.

 

[Mouseferatu]

People love those races, so they'll be sure to buy more SRDs if they're in there.

I can't tell if this is a joke or not... It is a joke, right? Right?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Kill the drow.

I'd be tempted to discontinue FR. I probably wouldn't, but only because some vague business smarts would get in the way.

So, if you were to be put in charge of D&D, you'd make enemies and hurt your own sales at the same time? Good plan!

If you need some more ideas on how to increase the size of the mob that would come after you, just drop me a line, I can help you out there.

 

[catsclaw227]

I can't tell if this is a joke or not... It is a joke, right? Right?

What do you mean, Ari? I buy a box of SRD's whenever a new set comes out.

 

[Nightfall]

You're kidding right? I'd make D&D the Scarred Lands!

 

[Kae'Yoss]

there is no D&D canon.

Monster write-ups without any background material would be a very boring read, though.

I guess If I were in charge, I'd do something about that.

It might be a nother (half-) core book: The Greyhawk Campaign Setting. It would contain the setting's background material, like geography, NPCs and so on. Maybe even some very setting-specific thigns, like Regional Feats or something.

But the other core books would contain explicitly labeled GH material as well: Most of the fluff would be labeled as GH material. This contains the information about creatures' society (and creation history), the races' fluff, the pantheon listed under the cleric's description, even some spells.

Is I said, I'd label everything that is specific to GH as such, and the core books would explain how these things, though specific to GH, can be assumed to apply to other settings unless those settings' books (or the GM, in the case of homebrew) say otherwise.

Then, instead of a single campaign setting, I'd have several campaign core books - one for players (with new rules, and how the races/classes/spells and so on differ from the core critters) and another where the rest of the stuff is in - geography, DM advice, that sort of thing.


The other way I'd consider would be the same as above, except that instead of Greyhawk, I'd create a completely new setting as standard, something that can serve as standard - no stuff too funky and all that. The two big settings, FR and Eb, would be out of the question - and is designed specifically for the new edition in mind.