Dark Sun D&D Campaign Setting
In a discussion about how TSR changed some of the base assumptions of Planescape late during the 2e AD&D era (with the removal of the factions as legitimate political powers in Sigil, instead being banned and having to operate outside of sigil or secretly through the now resurgent guilds in Sigil), many people described how they saw major changes to established settings like this (and the changes to the Dark Sun setting for example) as being an issue of “throwing out the baby with the bathwater”.
Personally I think major changes to a setting like this are a boon to players and game masters.
In my opinion, changing a game setting through supplements is a great idea. It allows game masters and players to decide which VERSION of a setting they like best.
Prefer the “changing world” of Dark Sun 2 to the “quest for survival” of Dark Sun 1? No problem. Pick the one you prefer and play it.
Same thing for every setting. This particular change allows GMs who weren’t fond of the existing structures of Sigil to play in a more chaotic, changing Sigil without having to deal with people telling them “that’s not how it works”. And the GMs who love the original factions and setup of Planescape can just ignore this material.
Don’t like the disarray of the Imperium after the assassination of Emperor Strephon by Duke Dulinor? No problem, you can play in a pre-assassination environment instead of following that part of the Traveller timeline.
Fourth Corporate War get in your craw and ruin CyberPunk for you? Ignore it! Or do you want a more military style of game with more open fighting between the corporations? Then run with it.
Multiple versions of a setting are a boon, not a bane. Take a setting and look at it in two or more ways, different ways to play and enjoy your favourite game.
For a good example of this, look at the Star Wars universes. People don’t bemoan the variety of different universes available to play in – instead it becomes a huge selection of different timelines that you get to pick from to play in a setting more to your liking. Don’t want lots of Jedi, and like playing in a setting where the good guys are vastly outnumbered? Rebellion era! Need more Jedi and politics? Rise of the Empire! Even more Jedi, not all on the same side? Knights of the Old Republic! Every change to the setting is not an attack on the other settings, it’s a new choice in game style that you can play or ignore.
Hmm…I’m not sure I agree with this one.
It’s one thing to publish “setting supplements” for a particular game line (for example: Rebellion era versus KOTOR era). It’s another thing to publish supplements that alter existing settings.
This disagrees with me on multiple levels:
- player/consumers have expectations based on purchased products.
- “tweaking to taste” of settings is a traditional right of individual game groups, now being usurped as variable “canon”
- publishing companies could be creating actual original product, rather than re-writing old product (cannibalizing)
Anyway, that’s just my opinion.
I think quite a few more people would agree with you if the old settings didn’t get completely abandoned. In the Star Wars example, you still see things printed that pertain to the different eras. In most settings, once the publishers decide to make a jump in the timeline, you never see any more supplements for your favorite time in the past again.
Personally, I’d love to see pre-Spellplague 4E material for the Forgotten Realms, but I doubt it will ever see the light of day because WotC has advanced the timeline and won’t return to that earlier age.
Yeah, this is the side of the issue where I stand alone it seems – I prefer campaign settings and games that are not actively “supported” by the publisher.
Nothing makes me happier than knowing that I won’t have to deal with new published material for a setting I run a game in. I wish all publishers would publish a small number of books for a setting (three seems to work for me) and then if they insist on still using that setting, they should change it pretty drastically and publish books for the “new” version of the setting, letting those of us who like the old version play in peace.
In theory I agree with you.
Practically it becomes a bit more tricky. Player expectations being what they are it becomes difficult hearing, “but that’s not how it goes…”
In terms of none supported campaign setting I am in complete agreement as it does away with this problem.
Another example is Paranoia’s Crash/Reboot, which spelled the end of that version of that version of the game.
I totally get what you’re saying. Widespread changes in a setting is equivalent to having a second setting, similar but different.
However, I think I’m going to go with JB on this one. The difference, for me, is this: Faction War (or Paranoia Reboot, or whatever) isn’t a stand-alone setting. It’s a supplement for an established setting. So there are two possibilities:
1) I’ve been a fan of the setting for a while, and this supplement just up and destroyed that setting.
oe 2) I’ve got to digest a setting, then throw out those details to match this supplement I want to play.
Canon-changing supplements can be interesting for groups that have been playing in the same setting for a long time, making everything old new again. That’s great. But as new products respect only the new status quo, and older products are less and less in print, it becomes difficult to cater to both players who didn’t make the canon change (because they liked the setting fine before) or are trying to come in late (but there’s so much backstory, they can’t get a handle on the setting).
Maybe it’s just a matter of starting the whole thing from scratch as Planescape 100 Year Later, it’s own setting with its own supplements, while Planescape 1.0 keeps getting products. Whichever line proves less popular can be phased out.
See, I don’t mind changes in setting, so long as they are interesting and well done (which is of course, a matter of opinion). I like, say in Traveller, that I have a host of different settings with a similar baseline, to play with.
Perhaps: In a perfect world, RPG companies would release games without rules and provide rules for each “era” via their websites. For example WOTC could have released the new version of Forgotten Realms with only setting “fluff” and then released PDF(s) online which gave rules/npc’s, etc. for 4e, 3.5, 2e, etc. Making the books seem (or be) valuable to more than just 4e groups.
Just a thought.