WotC What classic setting SHOULD WotC publish and why?

[Paul Farquhar]

or you can just make it smaller.

If it was small, there wouldn't be any space.

 

[Mind of tempest]

If it was small, there wouldn't be any space.

that is not how objects in the 8 directions work but I like the pun.
less than a solar system is too small more than twenty systems and you pushing the ability to build a setting.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

that is not how objects in the 8 directions work but I like the pun.
less than a solar system is too small more than twenty systems and you pushing the ability to build a setting.

I would say 20 systems was an awful lot of setting to build! And isn't very big if you build it in 3 dimensions (Traveller sticks to 2). The point of having players work for a faction is you don't have to build the whole universe, just the mission system(s). Then you can build those in more detail.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I would say 20 systems was an awful lot of setting to build! And isn't very big if you build it in 3 dimensions (Traveller sticks to 2). The point of having players work for a faction is you don't have to build the whole universe, just the mission system(s). Then you can build those in more detail.

20 is the cap you could realistically do for a setting before a pure random generator is needed, thus it being difficult is understandable.

 

[Faolyn]

Which would be the point in merging it with Planescape.

I think you'd need brand new factions then. With Planescape, the factions are the direct result of being in a setting that is literally both the home of the gods and the afterlife, and alters itself based on the thoughts and emotions of the creatures that dwell within.

Spelljammer could use some factions of one sort or another, but there's no reason for people to care all that much about the meaning and purpose of reality and how to bend it to your will when there's more pressing problems at hand, such as the giant screaming head that's shooting fireballs off the port bow, setting your ship on fire, and fouling all your air.

 

[Steampunkette]

The two settings that should be released before the end of the year are Dark Sun and Spelljammer.

We're -probably- getting Dragonlance, though, much to my chagrin.

Ravenloft is an amazing campaign setting because it plays with Fantasy in a -different- way. Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Greyhawk, Birthright. All of them use a Fantasy Setting with High Fantasy Tropes and High Fantasy Action. Though, I'll admit, at least Eberron aims for something wholly different in it's Magepunk Fantasy.

But Athas? It's as different from Faerun, Oerth, and Krynn as Ravenloft is! A whole setting where Arcane Magic is wicked and dangerous, where high fantasy steps aside in favor of Mad Max Postapocalyptica and Sword and Sorcery styles. It would be -vastly- different, and thus provide younger players (Over 50% of D&D's players are under 30) with a whole slew of new experiences and ideas for their games.

Spelljammer, similarly, would provide sooooo much new material, new ways to use old material, and new ways to use -new- Material that is on it's way. Yes, Planescape would allow for a similar flexibility, but just slap Sigil in the center of the Multiverse as a port of call for the Spelljammer characters and go off. Especially since it would add a whole heck of a lot of vehicular systems and a "Space Pirate" flair to the Astral Sea.

Sadly, I think we're getting Krynn because Weiss and Hickman had a serious problem with WotC last year. Which means either Dark Sun or Spelljammer is going to hit the wayside.

 

[Stormonu]

The more this goes on the more i'm intrigued about a version of this Planejammer where Sigil meets Star Wars!

However given whose in charge of Sigil is it possible for her to have been imprisoned allowing another foe to assume control and begin turning the astral sea into their Galactic Empire?

Nautiloids come to mind I'm not sure who could possibly be a good enough nemesis to pull off something like this do any of you know of any possibilities if this is even possible?

Just use the githyanki and the Lich Queen for the Empire (Lich Queen = Palpatine, Githyanki in white plate = stormtroopers, Dead gods = Super Star Destroyers/Death Star). The Lady of Pain becomes Mon Mothma…A rogue modron as R2-D2/C3P0?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Grandad was the devil is a perfectly decent character hook - it works for Neeshka. Traveller from another plane works fine for Haer'Dalis. A PC can be anything without having to have "anything" be a significant presence in a setting. Player Character exceptionalism is an a priori assumption.

But why should all tieflings have to be like that?

 

[Scribe]

But why should all tieflings have to be like that?

Who said they do? It's not implied at all.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Then you simple divorce Spelljammer from the old settings. Reference Torilspace, Greyspace, Krynnspace, and... Ebberspace(?), but don't flesh them out; just sidebar 'em. Then what I would do is:

Include a series of Random Planet Tables and Random Solar System Tables.

Then, have a series of Random Planet Inhabitant Tables, with the idea that--like with most SF settings--each planet would only have a small number of sentient species. One table for races, another for tech level.

Then, just focus on major locations in space, like the Rock of Bral.

I think my issue with Spelljammer is just that I don’t like the phlogiston and crystal spheres and the whole cosmology. I want the material plane and it’s space to be space like Star Wars with even more fantasy.

Idont want to visit Krynnspace, I wish the whole idea of Krynn being part of the same world as FR and thus forcing Eberron in there too would die and never return, but if I can’t have that I’ll settle for a setting that is more treasure planet and less...well, less spelljammer.