So Order of the Stick setting for D&D 5E next year?

[gameogre]

I mean they said new setting released next year but they already own it and it hasn't ever been released.....Come on, it could be O.o.T.S. and I would be thrilled! Prob not I admit it because its never what I want but it could be.....

Come on lets take it as a certainty and fill the internet with chat about it so they do it!

[Kish]

If WotC owned the OotS setting, Rich wouldn't be able to make comics about it.

It is possible that they will be releasing the setting he made that was runner-up to Eberron. If it is, I anticipate many people's brains exploding at the revelation that Rich Burlew can make campaign settings entirely unrelated to stick figures.

[gameogre]

If WotC owned the OotS setting, Rich wouldn't be able to make comics about it.

It is possible that they will be releasing the setting he made that was runner-up to Eberron. If it is, I anticipate many people's brains exploding at the revelation that Rich Burlew can make campaign settings entirely unrelated to stick figures.

I'm pretty sure when asked about making the setting of the comics in the past he pretty much said he couldn't because WOTC owned the setting because he submitted it when they did that contest that produced Eberron.

I think he can make comics from it but not release the role playing setting as they owned all submissions from the contest(a really bummer deal if you ask me).

In fact if my frail memory holds true I think it was the runner up setting to Eberron.

[lunaticfringe]

Didn't he have to sign an NDA forbidding him from releasing any info about his 2nd place setting? I feel like creating a comic set in it would violate that.

I think it has more to with creative freedom. If he defines the World in a rulebook he would feel pressured to stay within those definitions.

Have you ever spent time in the OotS section of the forums? I wouldn't wish Rich's fans (myself included) on my worst enemy...That's a lie, I totally would.

[dejarnjc]

By OOTS universe do you mean a D&D universe where everyone is aware of the rules? Never thought I would want this but suddenly I do, very much so.

[Kish]

I'm pretty sure when asked about making the setting of the comics in the past he pretty much said he couldn't because WOTC owned the setting because he submitted it when they did that contest that produced Eberron.
No.

He has, however, said when asked to reveal details of the setting he submitted that he can't reveal anything about it because WotC owns it...which would include making comics about it.

Rich Burlew submitted a setting to the contest. It was the runner-up, meaning it came within one place of being published instead of Eberron. WotC owns it. OotS has nothing to do with that setting, except being written by the same person. Be excited about the prospect of WotC releasing a setting written by Rich if you want, but don't confuse that setting with OotS.

[Jasdoif]

He has, however, said when asked to reveal details of the setting he submitted that he can't reveal anything about it because WotC owns it...which would include making comics about it.

Rich Burlew submitted a setting to the contest. It was the runner-up, meaning it came within one place of being published instead of Eberron. WotC owns it. OotS has nothing to do with that setting, except being written by the same person. Be excited about the prospect of WotC releasing a setting written by Rich if you want, but don't confuse that setting with OotS.Since I happened to see this....



Will you ever be sharing the zanier ideas that never made it into print? :smallbiggrin:No. I've asked if I could throw them up on the website and been told that I can't. I'm contractually bound not to publish them. They're owned by WOTC now even if they never see the light of day, along with my Setting Search setting.

Oh boy. OK, here goes:

First, I want to say that I am happy with the deal that I got from WOTC regarding my campaign setting. I was paid $40,000 US for it, which is way, WAY higher than the standard rate for WOTC work. I know, because I did several other books for them, some of which took just as much time and energy as my setting and paid less than 1/10th the amount. In fact, a colleague once came up to me at a convention and asked how it felt to be one of the highest-paid RPG designers of all time for a single piece of work-for-hire. Creating IP and then getting paid for it is standard practice, and it's not like anyone else who created RPG material for WOTC is getting royalties.

Second, I knew what I was getting into when I applied to the contest. I created that piece of IP for the contest, knowing that it could end up sitting in a drawer someday. I'm fine with that. If I want to create and publish a setting, I'll just invent another one. Specifically, I did not send WOTC any ideas that I was deeply attached to, so the fact that they own it in no way impedes my ability to create now.

Third, as mentioned, the setting has nothing to do with OOTS. At all. It's not the OOTS setting, it shares nothing in common with the OOTS setting. The OOTS setting did not even exist until I started writing OOTS, about a year after I turned in my manuscript for the setting search. As a corollary, I did not "buy back" my rights to the Dragon magazine strips; they were always mine. My contracts specify that Paizo only ever had first publishing rights, as evidenced by the fact that OOTS comics do not appear in the PDF versions of Dragon magazine (because that would have required a separate contract).

Fourth, please do not contact WOTC or Hasbro on my behalf. I appreciate the sentiment, but it's really for me to decide whether or not to attempt to negotiate with them for the setting's IP. I choose not to do so at this time, largely because I believe that there would be little point. If anything, any attempt to contact them is likely to result in them being more interested in holding on to it.

Fifth, regarding seeing parts of it, you already have. While I can't give specifics, rest assured that I could list a dozen or so ideas (and at least one recurring mechanic) that have popped up in various 3.5 sourcebooks after the setting search that originated from my world. And that's not even counting more subtle influences. The one thing I can say, because WOTC employee James Wyatt already let it out of the bag years ago: The death-worshipping elves of Arenal were a suggestion WOTC staff made to Keith Baker to add into Eberron after the contest was won but before the book was published. The core idea, however—death-worshipping elves—was lifted by WOTC from my setting. (Note that Keith did not know this at the time, and his elves are still VERY different from mine.) So, they have been getting their money's worth out of the purchase all along; it hasn't so much been sitting in a drawer as cannibalized, at least while 3.5 was still going. I daresay that if my setting were released today, a lot of it would seem very been-there, done-that as a result.

So, to sum up: Contacting WOTC to try to buy my setting is a horrible, horrible idea that will cause trouble, could not possibly succeed, and would be vaguely disappointing afterward. Please, let sleeping campaign settings lie.

[R.Shackleford]

By OOTS universe do you mean a D&D universe where everyone is aware of the rules? Never thought I would want this but suddenly I do, very much so.

I ran a campaign that was essentially .hack//sign. Everyone was stuck in the game world as their avatar characters.

It made it fun. The non-hero/villain NPCs (townsfolk) would be employees of the company and would have to keep working so their families would be paid in the real world (they are stuck in the game too).

So, the players ran into a jacked up on steroids type male half-orc barbarian that was being played by a 10 year old girl. She was actually on her dad's account when things went south and now she was stuck in this fantasy land... So she freaked and raged when people got too close. The party ended up finding her a home to be part of :) (originally she was meant to be a guide but a player insisted that they find her a home so I ran with it lol).

[gameogre]

Ok so I was 100% wrong about wotc and OOTS! Thats great!

HOWEVER, then just why has no one ever released or fan created this setting for D&D?

Like holy cow why doesn't the fans at least work together to build this setting? Who wouldn't want to use it for at bare minimum a great humor oriented series of adventures?

I'm Picturing playing roll20 with tokens made from the hand drawn tokens you can buy on the front page and simple color OoTS style battlemats.

It would be EPIC!

Picture all the monster and character tokens made with http://www.giantitp.com/Images/products/OOTS50_7in72dpi_RGBds.png type pictures!

[Morty]

Might be because the setting is, by the author's own admission, a paper-thin pastiche only developed for the purposes of the comic and nothing more. If you tried to use it without the characters and writing from the comic, it'd just be a very generic and by the numbers D&D world.

[Stray]

Why Rich hasn't released it? He did consider it, some of the materials from it were printed as extra content it some of the books, but it didn't work out. I suspect lack of time. And the window of opportunity to do it has passed. The OotS is deeply entrenched in 3.5E ruleset, in the meantime we had 4th edition and we are deep into 5th right now, even Pathfinder (the so called 3.75E) is near the end of it's lifecycle and incoming 2nd edition with drastic changes of the rules. No man ever steps in the same river twice.

Why fans didn't release it? Because it's Rich's IP and it's not ours to highjack. It's one thing to make fan setting for book or a movie owned by faceless corporation, it's other thing to do so when creator is browsing the very forum we discuss it on. Seems rude. Also, as Morty said, by design there is little detail to this world, it's hard to write about adventuring in Somewhere without authors input.

[Anymage]

In addition to the basic "Rich isn't interested and it's his IP", two more strong stances against.

First, as long as the comic is still ongoing, releasing more world detail would both reveal and lock in elements that may prove authorially inconvenient later. Detailing the western continent before the BRitF strips were even released would have tipped his hand for massive fan speculation, and/or resulted in him writing something down just to push it out the door at that point. When writing, it's a lot easier to not be bound by excessive canon.

Second, when IP succeeds because it focuses on certain characters in the world and the writing staff makes them fun to watch, your players probably won't be playing those characters and almost certainly won't include the involved writers. Nothing stops you and your players from cribbing the personalities of OotS characters and putting them in your game, the change from single author comic to multiplayer game and the fact that Rich isn't at your table means that it just won't be the same.

[dejarnjc]

Hmm I don't even want the OOTS universe tbh because it is, as mentioned, pretty bare on details and probably won't ever be released until AFTER the comic concludes.

Nevertheless, I've decided what I really want is just a self-aware, semi-goofy, fantasy universe for players to play in. It'd really fit with the game I run for my college friends since they prefer goofiness over seriousness anyway. Should be easy enough to homebrew right? Problem is is that I'm nowhere near as clever or funny as someone like Rich. It'd be great to have a playful setting guide for something like this.

[rahimka]

and the fact that Rich isn't at your table

Until I read this, I think my mind had blocked the very idea of playing at the same table as Rich out of sheer despair that I know it will never actually happen. But-oh-dear-god I would give ANYTHING to have Rich as my DM (or a even as a player I suppose, but if I'm dreaming, why not dream BIG).

Where's the damn IFC when you need them?!

[RedMage125]

No.

He has, however, said when asked to reveal details of the setting he submitted that he can't reveal anything about it because WotC owns it...which would include making comics about it.

Rich Burlew submitted a setting to the contest. It was the runner-up, meaning it came within one place of being published instead of Eberron. WotC owns it. OotS has nothing to do with that setting, except being written by the same person. Be excited about the prospect of WotC releasing a setting written by Rich if you want, but don't confuse that setting with OotS.


Since I happened to see this....
Rich Burlew quote

I was going to bring that up. I remembered seeing somewhere that some of KB's ideas got folded into Eberron.


I mean they said new setting released next year but they already own it and it hasn't ever been released.....Come on, it could be O.o.T.S. and I would be thrilled! Prob not I admit it because its never what I want but it could be.....

Come on lets take it as a certainty and fill the internet with chat about it so they do it!

Didn't the designers already state that the 2019 5e setting would not be a "new" setting? So that means it's going to be one that has already existed in D&D somewhere. Based on what's been released as playtest material, I would say Eberron, but some of the material that's been recently published in books suggests Spelljammer. But IIRC, Spelljammer did not sell very well under TSR (the glut of setting that all had loyal followings of people that liked them a lot, and therefore did not buy other setting books is, arguably, what killed TSR). So it may not be.

For my preference, I would like to see Eberron or Dark Sun. Dark Sun, however, would pretty much require them to finish psionics. Spelljammer and Planescape intrigue me, as I have never properly played either.

But back on topic, I don't think OotS world is distinct enough from "Core Assumptions" to warrant a setting book.

HOWEVER, if RB would release some kind of Gazeteer for his setting, I'd buy it, certainly.

[Anonymouswizard]

Why fans didn't release it? Because it's Rich's IP and it's not ours to highjack. It's one thing to make fan setting for book or a movie owned by faceless corporation, it's other thing to do so when creator is browsing the very forum we discuss it on. Seems rude. Also, as Morty said, by design there is little detail to this world, it's hard to write about adventuring in Somewhere without authors input.

Expanding on this, you can run a game in the OotS world just like you can run a game in the Star Wars world, as long as it's just your group. I'd recommend not to discuss it on this forum, because it is Rich's forum, beyond the very high levels of 'we're playing a game and spent time in Azure City' or the like. I know people have done just that, and more power to them.

The problem comes when we release material for public consumption. This is in no way legal advice, but something like 'I made a Dashing Swordsman prestige class' seems to be okay. However a fan setting wouldn't be, as it's using somebody else's IP instead of being inspired by it. Now we can go into much more detail, but in short the idea is 'personal use good, distribution bad'.