D&D 5E Which of these settings do you want to see for D&D Next?

I'm more than a bit surprised (but pleased) by how popular Planescape seems to be in this poll. I have to wonder that if WotC did use it, whether they'd try to fit into whatever the core cosmology of 5e (if anything) ends up being or whether it would have its own unique cosmology based on the 2e form of the Great Wheel

As for my choices, I voted for the following:

• Forgotten Realms. I'm a big fan of the setting and don't see that changing anytime soon. Of course, that's slightly cheating since we already know it's supported.
• Greyhawk. There's some overlap with FR here but given 5e's approach of appealing to old-school fans I think it's an important inclusion. Plus, I think there are significant enough differences between Greyhawk and FR to make it worthwhile.
• Planescape. My favorite of the "weird" settings, though I never actually played it since I first started playing about a decade ago. But I've read a lot about the setting and think it's a shame it was dropped after just one edition of support.
• Eberron. This was very popular in 3e and was pretty well-supported for 4e. If WotC feels up to supporting more than three settings, this seems like a given to me.
• Dark Sun. Never played it and don't know much about it, but it has a lot of fans and seems unique enough to warrant a place as one of the "weird" settings. Plus, it's apparently great for psionics-heavy campaigns, which none of the other settings really are.

Tricky question. I ended up voting for what I think would be best for the business of uniting the various D&D crowds. I think taking a broad brush and bringing out support in the form of an adventure for 5 different settings in the first year or so is important. Forget the setting book for now, just get 5 good starter adventures that showcase important thematic differences.

The order that I'd release them would be:
* Forgotten Realms - I don't enjoy much of it, but it's the most popular setting
* Greyhawk - to have any chance of bringing a lot of AD&D players back, they need to do this right away. it's probably the most important of the 5 to get right.
* Mystara - for the BECMI crowd, but the least important of the 5 for business reasons (even though it's my personal favourite)
* Dragonlance - lots of fans out there that would not be swayed by Greyhawk support alone
* Eberron - another extremely popular setting that would bookend year 1

I voted Other for Al-Qadim, because I really like the setting and think it's due for a comeback. And I'm always a sucker for something new.

(I also voted for Nerath support, but I'm second-guessing myself now because covering the 5 others should give plenty of western-fantasy adventures.)

I voted for a fairly diverse number of options, but not quite everything...

First of all, I do think there ought to be a new setting developed for 5E, though I suppose it could be a mistake for the same reason I am not a fan of Nentir Vale: a new setting can fall into the trap of being a mere outgrowth of the conceits of the edition, in which case its usefulness outside of that edition is lessened. But they should try, in any case. They cannot (likely) do any worse than Nentir Vale in my mind, at least.

Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms I voted for because they are both of such historic importance to be non-optional.

Eberron is my personal favourite D&D setting, and it is recent enough and has had enough attention devoted to it already that it would probably be a shame to not keep pushing it, even if just a little.

Mystara, on the other hand, is a major throwback to the old days, an area which is covered well by Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms. But because 5E is supposed to be unifying I think it would be good for it to see some love. It is pretty much the most classic alternative setting in D&D (as in similar but different).

Dark Sun, Planescape, and Ravenloft were voted in by me because they are all settings with a strong theme that lies off the beaten trail. They are all well known niche settings, most of which have been supported in some way in recent years.

Nerath is not a setting I know much about or are particularly fond on, but it is indisputably the iconic 4E setting, and I think it should be maintained for the people that do love the current edition. Unfortunately, I do not think it is of much use to anyone outside those who really enjoy 4E and all of its conceits, like the central role of Dragonborn and Tieflings in having ruled the old empires.

As for settings I did not vote for...

Jakandor, Ghostwalk, and Pellinore are just so small and far outside the mainstream D&D consciousness that I think it would be a wasted effort to try and revive them.

Birthright and Spelljammer are settings for which I appreciate the core idea, but which have pretty much had their day in the Sun and are already being covered by other settings. In Birthright's case, I do not think that it should ever be thought that you need to have a whole setting devoted to lordship, but rather it should be an element that can fit into any traditional style of setting. If you want to emphasize that stuff, it might be better to have a place for it in a new setting. In Spelljammer's case, I think it is more a question of Planescape already having a handle on the world-hopping niche. And I say that as someone who likes the setting and is glad to have the Polyhedron issue where it is treated.

And Dragonlance... oh, Dragonlance... I am just in that group of people who, rather controversially (see Morrus' thread for a fleshing out of the topic) thinks that Dragonlance is a world that is best left to the novels. It had its chance recently under the direction of Margaret Weis, and I do not think WotC could really be expected to do any better with it. It is really one setting too many in a crowded space that includes Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Mystara. If I were going to support it, I think I would have to drop support for Mystara.

I support any setting that has not been published in 3e or 4e, but I'm mainly pushing for entirely new settingS, with an s, plural, multiple new worlds and cosmologies to explore. Now that would be fun.

Greyhawk for me and a brand new setting for everyone else.

Here's a crazy idea - they could cram all the settings together on one planet (or a lot of them).

Greyhawk can be one continent, FR another, and Mystara is basically North America (it's actually a lot like Earth, but most the described countries are on North America)

It's happened before - Kara-Tur was originally in Greyhawk (in the OA book anyway), and Blackmoor has been located in both Greyhawk and Mystara (and its own setting).

But I think Greyhawk can easily be subsumed into another setting. I played during the supposed Greyhawk era (77-'85 or so), but none of the places ever really stuck in the head - the dungeons and the personalities do.

I'd love to see support for all the settings - or as many could be done.

The ones I'm interested specifically in are:

Forgotten Realms
Greyhawk
Birthright
Mystara
Planescape
Ravenloft
Dragonlance
Dark Sun
Eberron
Al-Qadim
Masaharapa
Spelljammer

I didn't like Maztica and Karu-Tur very much; they felt too much like real-world analogs. And Horde just never clicked with me.

At the same time I'd really like to see a new campaign world. For ex, one that mixes Atlantis, Rome a little bit of India, Africa and Europe all together. With a looming, puppet-master-like Cathay presence in the background. Multicultural, but with the Europe parts being very small.

trancejeremy said:

Here's a crazy idea - they could cram all the settings together on one planet (or a lot of them).

Greyhawk can be one continent, FR another, and Mystara is basically North America (it's actually a lot like Earth, but most the described countries are on North America)

It's happened before - Kara-Tur was originally in Greyhawk (in the OA book anyway), and Blackmoor has been located in both Greyhawk and Mystara (and its own setting).

But I think Greyhawk can easily be subsumed into another setting. I played during the supposed Greyhawk era (77-'85 or so), but none of the places ever really stuck in the head - the dungeons and the personalities do.

Click to expand...

That would, I think, cause the ultimate setting war for all time. Fans get testy enough about their settings and their lore as it is - you wouldn't want the kind of huge retcon that would involve.

Also, certain settings like FR and Greyhawk have incompatible cosmologies. Greyhawk is set on a flatworld ala the Discworld books, whereas FR's on a globe.

All of them - to the extent that D&D should be able to support any fantasy setting.

I wouldn't necessarily play in many of them (only really Planescape sparks my interest), and it wouldn't neceassarily be good business to release loads and loads of settings (I'm not qualified to say), but 5E should have a design goal of being a generic fantasy game.

Almost anything but Eberron.