DnDNext, Modular Games, and Setting

When a new edition of the world's most popular role playing game is announced, people react. Boy, do they react...

I'm uninterested in stoking the fires of the edition wars with this post. If you're looking for flaming of a given edition or play-style, you're going to be disappointed. I was curious about another aspect of releasing a "modular" game system.

To be sure, the concept of a modular role playing game system is not a new idea. Take a look at Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying core rulebook, any edition of Steve Jackson Games' venerable GURPS, Hero Games' HERO System, Green Ronin's True20, or Savage Worlds. Each of these are useful and entertaining games.

My question: Should a core rulebook for a game include a default setting?

Several of these previously-mentioned games do not have settings included in their core books. (I think HERO might be the exception there.) Would a modular RPG benefit from having a solid, well-defined setting in their core rules books?

I feel that, given DnD's tremendous popularity, it will need somewhere solid into which the casual tabletop gamer can drop their spell-slinging mystics and thugs with axes. DnD4e's default setting was the Nentir Vale (borrowing heavily from previous editions' settings later in their development). DnD3x's default setting was Greyhawk, but it seemed to suffer from an editorial push to be generic enough that it didn't outshine the rules the game presented in the three core books.

Regardless, I'm curious about the kind of balance that authors feel should be created between a system and setting in a "generic" or "modular" game.

All the best games integrate elements of the setting into their rules. The things on your character sheet should mean something in the world your character lands in. An Orlanthi shaman won't have spells to summon fire elementals. The Knights of the Blue Rose will be expected to arbitrate disputes in the outlying areas of the kingdom, regardless of their arcane or martial abilities (or even their ability to speak the local language). You can tell how successful an Investigator in Call of Cthulhu is by comparing their number of encounters with the Mythos and their Sanity score.

To get this level of detail, in a potentially "generic" rule set, could be an editorial challenge. Done well, the integration of these two parts of game-craft should show inventive / creative types how to apply the core rules to their own settings.

At least that's what I'm hoping for.

[BRP] Chronicles of Future Earth, the setting that almost was...

Sarah Newton is more creative and prolific in her writing than anyone has a right to be. I was brought into her development of the The Chronicles of Future Earth via quiet PM on the BRP Central forum, and was astonished.

This release from Chaosium is only about one-third (one-quarter?) the material Sarah had intended to shoe-horn between its covers. She's documented a far-future world populated with miracle technology, sorcery, and an Immortal God-Emperor ruling The Venerable Autocracy of Sakara. The monstrous Gene Wolfe vibe makes me squee.

Add to this that the Autocracy's capitol city Korudav is approximately five times the area of Glorantha's Pavis (including the Rubble!), and you'll begin to sense the tremendous breadth of setting here. I've seen her full-maps of a re-envisioned Urth, not just the snippet included in this release. I am happily paging through my copy of this now (purchased from Chaosium's website - in the interest of full disclosure), and am enjoying fitting this wonderfully unique bit of gaming into my imagination.

My hope is that this supplement will prove popular enough that Chaosium looks upon the scraps on their cutting-room floor with future interest. I haven't spoken with Sarah Newton much (since I deleted my Facebook account), but I wish her well with her new position at Cubicle 7. Given her momentum for the project two years ago, and the horrid time she endured waiting for the manuscript to see the light of day, I can only imagine she's moved on. Ah well.

Fun facts to know and tell: there's an adventure set in TCoFE already in print! Take a look at Sarah's submission in the BRP Adventures book. Yeah, I'm obsessive. So what?

[Wanderer] Old-school Traveller hack

Thanks to PSMangus, I've gotten bitten by the Wanderer bug... Kevin and I have begun writing, and it feels very good to apply some love to this venerable game system.

The Traveller boxed set was the first gaming item I ever bought for myself. It was amazing. The text was laid out differently than the Dungeons and Dragons material my friends were caught up in, and with a minimum amount of art the whole artifact evoked the image of the far future really well. It will be a real challenge to describe a Fantasy RPG with well-written text. One I'm looking forward to.

I can already feel a different "mood" take over when I think about PSMangus' Dreamer concept. H. P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands works have kept me entertained for years. The names, places, and exotics of that realm just beg for a gaming implementation too. I'm a fan of Chaosium's efforts in this direction, but feel that the BRP version of the game calls up shades of it's Elder sibling and taints what could be a tremendously unique setting. Using the tricks of presentation the original Traveller material taught us would be ideal for this setting!

Something just a little different from the sanity-smashing juggernaught that is Call of Cthulhu.

Who knew, all these years on, those little black books would be causing such a ruckus?