From the Dragon’s Mouth: Favorite Campaign Settings
Featuring Dave Gross, editor of Dragon Magazine
Sunday, July 4, 2000
WizO_Ginger: Okay, everyone, welcome to Wizards Presents, with Dave Gross, editor in chief of Dragon magazine, here to discuss favorite settings, and what makes them that way.
TheDragon: Ah, favorite settings. Mine might still be Al-Qadim, though Chris’s house campaign is pretty great, too.
WizO_Ginger: Any opening comments, Dave?
TheDragon: Starting soon (I don’t want to claim which issue, since the art’s not in yet), we’ll be covering most of the “inactive” campaign settings with at least a small tidbit each issue. We don’t have an official name for it yet, but we’ll be printing little “Transmissions”-style adventure hooks for Al-Qadim, Birthright, Ravenloft, Planescape, Spelljammer, and of course the Realms and Greyhawk. Aside from that, we’ll also do a campaign-related article from time to time, if it fulfills two requirements: 1) It’s a great article, and 2) It’s useful to people who have nothing but the core rules.
WizO_Ginger: Sounds great, Dave. Okay, Blud, go ahead.
BLUDGEON: What is your favorite science fiction setting?
TheDragon: My favorite SF setting? For a game? Or in general? Either way, it’s a tough question. My knee-jerk reaction is Star Wars, but there are a lot of others that I love. The Blue Planet setting is pretty fantastic (though I’m not as big a fan of the rules). While it’s goofy, I have a soft spot for the Star Frontiers world, since it was the only campaign in college where I got to play instead of DM. I love the Dune setting, too.
WizO_Ginger: Blud, your comment?
BLUDGEON:Blue Planet could easily be made a world in the Verge.
TheDragon: Absolutely. I think that I’d play Blue Planet with the d20 system, if I weren’t playing so much D&D right now.
HRDWarrior: I like the worlds published by TSR/WOTC. My favorite is Dark Sun, because the races and magic system break the stereotype. Others like Birthright (or so I am told) also have unique magic systems. If the DMG is about tailoring campaign worlds, why is there no discussion of alternate magic systems in the 3E DMG?
TheDragon: HRD: Yeah, one of the coolest things about the campaign settings is that they all break the core rules a little bit. The first 3rd Edition iteration of that trope will be in the upcoming ForgottenRealms update, which looks really cool so far. It’s very close to the core, naturally, but it expands the rules in interesting ways. I like the way sha’irs and mandatory kits in Al-Qadim bent the rules, too, and I still haven’t quite made up my mind how to ‘port them to 3E. I haven’t read the DMG front-to-back yet, but I believe it does address alternatives to the magic system. Don’t take my word on it, though.
Riffington: First, a comment: I hope leaving Dark Sun and Mystara out of that blurb above was unintentional :) . Second, will there be articles on how to convert the specifics of certain settings over to 3E? I’m thinking mainly of Dark Sun Preservers, Defilers and priestly classes, as well as Al-Qadim priests and sha’irs.
TheDragon: Riffington: I do have Dark Sun hooks, so no worries. I tried to get some for Mystara, but it hasn’t come through yet. I’ll keep looking for someone good to write them. As for conversion articles, maybe; it depends entirely on whether I can get good ones that are still useful to core 3E players. If they’re useful only to DS fans, then we might find some and make them web site uploads.
Riffington: The comment is about alternative magic systems... since Wizards will be releasing class books (including at least two classes per book), perhaps they’re putting alternative systems in the wizards book.
TheDragon: Riffington: Not to my knowledge, but it’s possible. A good alternative magic system would make for an interesting article proposal in about eight months, after you’ve had time to check out the current system.
BLUDGEON: Will you be accepting submissions for those Transmission-style story hooks?
TheDragon: BLUDGEON: Yes, though I have them lined up for most settings for the next year. I’m definitely open to seeing Mystara queries.
Riffington: Yet another comment from this corner... Bruce Heard seems to be pretty active on the Mystara mailing List (at least he was a while ago while I was on it). He’d probably be a good source of Mystara hooks (assuming you haven’t already asked him). Ann Dupuis would probably be good too (she wrote Poor Wizard’s Almanac 3 and Joshuan’sAlmanac, which are chock-full of current events which make good hooks).
TheDragon: Bruce is an excellent choice. Sadly, he was too busy when I asked him. I might ask again, if he has more free time. Ann is another good suggestion; I’ll have to find her contact info.
WizO_Ginger: Okay, folks, Dave the Brave has decided not to use protocol for the rest of the chat. So, send your questions and comments as you will. PLEASE stay on topic with D&D at least.
megathonii: Anything more going on with Council of Wyrms? I like the idea of playing with dragons.
TheDragon: No CoW articles or products in the works, though I might like to see some article queries for that topic, if they’re useful to everyone.
Bombastus: Do you think the D20 license, and all the new gaming materials/settings it will produce, will affect Dragon’s coverage of popular settings? Will you cover popular D20, non-WotC settings?
TheDragon: For now, Dragon is D&D only. We’ve discussed how to deal with d20 games in future, but we don’t have a committed plan yet. We might put d20 information in a supplement, a special issue, or maybe in the regular magazine one day, but probably not soon. As for non-WotC d20 games, we haven’t decided that yet, but it’s an interesting question, especially since at least one of the (secret) d20 games coming up is a personal favorite of mine. :)
guest42: Why was Sigil created?
TheDragon: Why was Sigil created? I don’t think I have an answer for that one, but I’m glad it was. :)
Riffington: Sigil was probably created so there would be something that could work as a relatively safe “home base” in a planar campaign.
guest37: Are you planning on releasing a DL campaign setting using the 3E rules or is it gonna be Saga forever?
TheDragon: The future of Dragonlance is still a secret, but I think it’s safe to say you’ll see D&D-related Dragonlance coverage in the magazines in the relatively near future.
Markkus: As head of Dragon, you must get your nose in about everything from TSR/WotC. My question is: What is the future of the ”Marvel Universe” as a game? I feel really bad when I buy a game and find out it won’t be supported a month later.
TheDragon: I don’t know of any upcoming Marvel products, and that’s as much as I’m able to say. There’s the X-Men card game coming up soon, but beyond that, I can’t say. That might be a good question to ask the R&D guys in a few months.
HRDWarrior: Will you accept an article converting the Dragonlance SAGA or an ArsMagica magic system to 3E? What legalities would be involved?
TheDragon: I don’t think I’d be interested in an Ars Magica/D&D article, but you might be able to change my mind if the guys who own Ars Magica were game for it, and it seemed useful to D&D players.
BLUDGEON: Why was it an X-Men game instead of a MarvelUniverse game?
TheDragon: Probably because the X-Men are so popular and the movie is coming out this summer. Makes sense to me. :)
BLUDGEON: So WotC is doing things just to be jumping on the bandwagon?
Bombastus: Will Dragon allow some of the new D20 startups to purchase advertising space?
TheDragon: I can’t speak for our ad director, but I imagine that d20 products would have no problem getting advertising.
guest35:Realms seems to be the setting being pushed right now, with DL possibly in the future. Is Realms the more popular setting? Did they base this decision on sales of setting materials?
TheDragon: We did a survey earlier this year, Guest35. Realms was by a huge margin the most popular setting. Greyhawk was around half as popular. Any other setting was less than half as popular as Greyhawk, so there you go. It’s a matter of demand.
guest33: What was the original D&D setting?
TheDragon: Well, that depends on who you ask. It’s either Gary Gygax’s Greyhawk campaign or Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor.
Markkus: Any big changes for Dragon or Dungeon magazines?
TheDragon: Yes, very big changes! The graphic design of both magazines just underwent an overhaul. Dungeon will be bigger and full color, while Dragon will be mostly the same but with a few neat tweaks here and there, plus a lot of articles by well known authors who haven’t necessarily written much for us lately. And cool freebies, like games, CD ROMs, poster maps, and other neat stuff in many issues. I hope you like the new design. It’s much more contemporary, pretty edgy and new.
Bombastus: What kind of setting-related articles are you looking for? (I mean those written by freelance writers, not by staff writers.)
TheDragon: First, though you didn’t ask, I know, almost all of our articles are by freelance writers. We don’t actually have staff writers, except that the editors contribute a few pages each month. As for setting articles, mostly we want non-setting articles, stuff that’s useful to any player or DM. But you can propose any setting-related article that’s also useful to those who don’t have the campaign material.
guest35: How have sales of the archive CD been? (Am I allowed to ask that?) Have you considered making the texts of the articles available on the web?
TheDragon: I don’t know the numbers, but I do know that the sales weren’t enough to encourage us to make annual updates. We probably won’t see another volume of it.
Riffington: Why is the online subscription only available in the US?
FirstChAoS: Dave, any new settings in the world for 3E or only FR,GH, and maybe DL being revived?
TheDragon: There are no short-term plans for a new D&D setting. That’s all I can tell you tonight.
Riffington: Jim Butler said that they’ll make a DS setting for 3E, but you won’t hear anything about it until 2002 at the earliest (and probably later). That was half a year ago, though... they can have changed their minds about that, and they can change their minds in the future.
TheDragon: As a player and DM, I’d agree with you, since I also have diverse tastes. But we have to address our readership, which (survey says!) generally likes the Realms, their own campaign world, or Greyhawk, pretty much in that order.
HRDWarrior: Dave, going back to the issue of the various settings, could you suggest that in future editions of D&D they separate the biological aspects (save bonuses) from the cultural aspects (bonus with slings, bonus vs. giants, underground detection abilities). A halfling raised by humans is not going to necessarily have rock pitching, and a dwarf raised in a swamp will probably not know anything regarding underground detections.I think the Complete Dwarves Handbook and the Complete Thieves Handbook were on the right track with racial skill tables and moving dwarf detection abilities to the non-weapon proficiency system.
TheDragon: Well, I think the system works well as it is, without adding that level of complexity, but the Realms sourcebook coming out next year does address it in a slightly different manner. I can’t steal the thunder from the FR designers, but you should ask them that question in a few months, when they’re online.
guest35: Going back to the survey about favorite settings: how detailed did the questions get? Did you get specific answers as to why Realms was the clear favorite?
TheDragon: No, we didn’t ask detailed questions about setting preferences last time. We might, on the survey after the next one. And that should give you plenty of incentive to fill out our next survey, eh? :)
FirstChAoS: What makes you like your favorite setting above all others?
TheDragon: Tough question, Chaos. If I stick to my usual favorite, Al-Qadim, I’d have to say it’s two things in general: Excellence of execution and richness of setting—especially since it’s so exotic.
Riffington: Any news on KODT?
TheDragon: None yet. We’re still waiting for the guys in ties to work things out.
Bombastus: Dave, one more wannabe question...what about setting-specific races and/or classes...or do those have to have general uses as well?
TheDragon: Aw, rats. Bombastus, it depends entirely on the article. I can’t answer that question in general, because my answer would be different depending on the specific proposal. Let’s just say that I think it could make for a good article, depending on the specifics.
I guess I have a few questions for you folks, too. What is your #1 favorite setting?
WizO_Ruffle:Dragonlance.
Bombastus:Forgotten Realms
guest46:Dragonlance
guest35: Yeah—Dragonlance
BLUDGEON:RAVENLOFT!!!!!!!!!!
HRDWarrior:DarkSun followed by Al-Quadim, Kara Tur, and Ravenloft
FirstChAoS:Planescape.
Markkus:ForgottenRealms for me.
TheDragon:Ravenloft is probably my #2 setting, including Masque! Dragonlance fans: Did you come to the setting through the game or the books? And do you play? If so, D&D or SAGA?
guest46: Books.
WizO_Ruffle: Through the books and D&D.
Riffington:Dark Sun and Al-Qadim are my favorites, though I can see good points about them all (though very few of those about DL).
guest35: I played, before SAGA, and I came to the game through my group (who I believe got the novels first).
FirstChAoS: (RL is my #2 setting too).
TheDragon: And, to be honest, I’m still a bit of a Realms fan. Especially since I’ve seen bits of the new edition, which looks fan-freaking-tastic.
Bombastus:FR playtester here... It ROCKS!
HRDWarrior: It’s not my favorite, although I do like it. I played the D&D version and was disappointed with SAGA (although I liked the magic system and wanted something similar in 3E)
Markkus: What does look so good with the 3E FR?
TheDragon: The Realms is a big, big place, and I have two bookshelves to prove it. One of the things I like best about the new edition is that it knows what information is most important and puts it all in the core book. Also, I think it capitalizes on the 3rd Edition rules in some very cool ways, which unfortunately I can’t describe for you tonight, since I still like my job.
Markkus: Any scoops?
TheDragon: The historical reference books are some of the few 2nd Edition books I’m sure to keep.
WizO_Ruffle: Ok guys, it is getting late and it is a holiday weekend, lets have a nice thanks to Dave for being a good guy and staying late with us!
Bombastus: Thanks Dave!
Markkus: Thanks Dave, keep up the very good work.