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While the new rules are neat, without a good setting to roleplay in, the rules don't mean as much. All the D&D settings are what make D&D "D&D" rather than a generic fantasy RPG.

Everyone has their favorite setting, and part of the problem with having multiple settings is it does split the fan base. I play Planescape, but not Birthright. Someone else plays Dark Sun and FR. Another plays Ravenloft.

Those players would expect "Support". As in more material. But, it's difficult to produce material for all the worlds every month.

Having said that, one of TSR's strengths was the world building. Many books were light on crunchy rules, saving those for the core books and were very heavy on the fluff. I was reading my Alternity Stardrive book, and was amazed at how much in-game information it contained. No rules, or if there are rules, very, very few. Sure, there are tables, but those are stuff such as distances between all the star systems and so on.

Many of my Eberron books are like that, as are my Planescape books. And many of my FR books.

I was reading my Alternity Stardrive book..

Notice I said reading. The book was very readable, unlike rule crunchy books which aren't very easily read. One of the long standing complaints I've seen is how a "rulebook" isn't really readable. Of course not, it's a book of rules.

I think back to the old Red Boxed BECMI rule set. (Not the Rules Cyclopedia which admited it wasn't a good way to learn the game- it was just a refrence guide.) The rules were taught, but they were couched in a story. After five pages of story, you're told to roll a saving throw, and read the ending page based on the result. The ending was also a page of story, rather than a breakdown of the rules.

One of my hopes for D&D Next is once the rules on how to play are nailed down, some serious focus on creating story, and settings and different worlds is examined.

Just a few thoughts.

Dec 26, 2012 -- 6:26PM, crazy_monkey wrote:

Personal opinion...

I've been writing History of D&D blogs for a while now and, while the setting support was amazing, it also created an interesting case of product bloat; a dozen products in a month to support the various D&D settings during the 2nd Edition era.

So, while I'd love to see all the old settings make a come back, I think the best way to get back to the story of those worlds is via online articles in Dragon and adventure support in Dungeon.  Then just pick a different world each month, with December devoted to smaller articles covering some of the less popular and more obscure settings.

January - Planescape
February - Greyhawk
March - Dragonlance
April - Spelljammer
May - Forgotten Realms
June - Dark Sun
July - Eberron
August - Nentir Vale
September - Birthright
October - Ravenloft
November - Mystara
December - Minor Worlds

Or something like that.  That's what I'd like to see anyway.  Not sure how realistic it would be.                    

I think that would be a great, but I would also like to see additional book support too.  Maybe a campaign setting update book, dragon and dungeon articles yearly as you suggest and then an additional splat book yearly, but 6 months or so from the Dragon & Dungeon articles.  So you get something every 6 months +/-

It is true that readability varies from person to person.  For some of us, crunchy rules text reads like a math textbook.  For others, setting fluff reads like a history textbook.  Either way, reading textbooks is pretty darn boring for a lot of folks.