D&D 5E D&D "Core" Settings

DMZ2112 said:

You left Nerath off this list, but I'd put it at close to 90%.

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Nerath/Nentir Vale was left off because its an odd non-setting setting. Yes, it has a lot of proper nouns attached to it, but it really never had a consolidated source of information: no map, no real history, very sketchy info. (And yes, I know it was designed like that on purpose). Furthermore, it cannibalized a LOT of names and places from D&D history (Isle of Dread Tomb of Horrors, Pelor, Bane) which makes it even harder to establish as its own "thing". So I have a hard time really standing out as a "setting" strong and proud next to Faerun or Eberron because they'd have to fill in A LOT of gaps to make it anything more than an implied default. I actually put it up there with Elsir Vale or Thunder Rift; maybe some modules might use some of those names in them, but I seriously doubt they are going to go through the hassle of filling in the blanks when even Greyhawk and Mystara already have maps and scores of sourcebooks to mine through.

TarionzCousin said:

It's insufficient for my purposes. FR Adventures has great summaries and maps of over a dozen cities. I've used those many times.

Greyhawk Adventures doesn't.

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Greyhawk Adventures is not a "core" setting product. It is an ancillary supplement and kind of a bridge product between 1st and 2nd edition AD&D.

The Greyhawk campaign setting product that folks need to look to are:
Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (replaced original boxed set with 591 timeline). Despite the name has little to do with the events of the Living Greyhawk campaign. It is the full setting treatment.

Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins (first treatment on 591 timeline; kind of an update product for From the Ashes but can be used with Greyhawk Player's Guide if you don't have Ashes.)

From the Ashes (replaced original boxed set with the post Greyhawk Wars timeline; a full setting treatment).

World of Greyhawk (original setting treatment in folio or boxed set format).

DMZ2112 said:

I'm with Morrus. Shenanigans. No way Mike Mearls doesn't know how to reach Weis and Hickman. Closer to 50%, and only because of its popular history.

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Reportedly, TH pitched a novel to WOTC (I think a reboot of sorts?). So it is entirely possible this is the "No comment" stage of negotiations and determining viability. IIRC there was also a rumor of a conversation with MH, I think it was in a news article here about WOTC contacting key persons from each setting about 6 months ago?

Then there was the AintItCool article with the author WOTC was wooing to do Dragonlance for 4th edition, so if they were keen on it for 4th, I'd be surprised if they were now disinterested.

DL's a strange bird, the money was always in the novels. The campaign setting's problem was always that the novels made PC's second rate heroes because the setting was always dominated by something the novels resolved. War of the Lance is a good example, not really much for people to do since the Heroes of the Lance are going to solve the world-ending problem. What they need to do is leave the world in a state where grand adventures can happen for players. If they can do that, I'd predict Dragonlance equals Forgotten Realms in popularity.

They actually got it into that state at the end of War of Souls, and setup alot of great material in the succeeding novels. They even managed to avoid killing that state with the Dark Disciple series and left it in a pretty interesting state (Other than Mina). Unfortunately, the new Hasbro rules prevented it from being taken advantage of.

Morrus said:

The term used was "key", not "core". I think that implies something slightly different; genre lynchpins. So Greyhawk, Realms, and DL all cover the high fantasy category - FR is the key setting there. Ravenloft is a key setting because it covers another genre, as do Dark Sun and Eberron.

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I don't see Eberron that much different from the Forgotten Realms or even Greyhawk. I still consider it in the default high fantasy category.

My bet is that Forgotten Realms is the only one you will get printed 5E product for. Implied support of older campaign worlds is being covered by DND Classics. Not necessarily a bad move.

Remathilis said:

Nerath/Nentir Vale was left off because its an odd non-setting setting. Yes, it has a lot of proper nouns attached to it, but it really never had a consolidated source of information: no map, no real history, very sketchy info. (And yes, I know it was designed like that on purpose). Furthermore, it cannibalized a LOT of names and places from D&D history (Isle of Dread Tomb of Horrors, Pelor, Bane) which makes it even harder to establish as its own "thing".

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For you, perhaps. But it all depends on to which setting those cannibalized parts now belong in the eyes of the developers. You point out that it was designed to be vague, but the reason for that is that it was designed to be the poorly defined world in which D&D and AD&D were both set before 1980-81. It was designed to replace. It is the ultimate reboot. Possession is 9/10ths of the law -- and Nerath possesses.

Rygar said:

Reportedly, TH pitched a novel to WOTC (I think a reboot of sorts?).

(snip)

Then there was the AintItCool article with the author WOTC was wooing to do Dragonlance for 4th edition, so if they were keen on it for 4th, I'd be surprised if they were now disinterested.

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I can't find any reference to the Hickman pitch, but /holy crap/ the author they were courting for the Dragonlance reboot was apparently /Jim Butcher/. I don't read the Dresden Files, but I don't deny their impact on the modern fantasy fiction market. If he is to be believed (and why wouldn't he be), negotiations got pretty far before he backed out because the move didn't have Weis and Hickman's buy-in.

That is /fascinating/. Rebooting Dark Sun is one thing, but rebooting Dragonlance is another thing entirely. That really gives me hope that Wizards might be moving away from the evolving persistent world model that has caused such grief for the last 30 years.

What they need to do is leave the world in a state where grand adventures can happen for players. If they can do that, I'd predict Dragonlance equals Forgotten Realms in popularity.

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That's funny. I have never had that problem, running Dragonlance, but I feel like super NPCs are a huge problem in the Forgotten Realms. I guess it's just a matter of perspective.

While I don't suspect that we'll see Greyhawk any time soon, I could see it getting developed for the 50th anniversary.

DMZ2112 said:

For you, perhaps. But it all depends on to which setting those cannibalized parts now belong in the eyes of the developers. You point out that it was designed to be vague, but the reason for that is that it was designed to be the poorly defined world in which D&D and AD&D were both set before 1980-81. It was designed to replace. It is the ultimate reboot. Possession is 9/10ths of the law -- and Nerath possesses.

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It worked well for what it was supposed to be: a vague setting implied in the core rules to replace generic monikers (God of the Sun/Pelor, Empire of tieflings/Bal Turrath) much like how Greyhawk is implied throughout AD&D 1e's core rules and Mystara is implied in BECMI's box sets. The major difference is that Greyhawk has a proper map, dozens of supplements, and a defined timeline and history. So does Mystara. Nerath does not. Its completely possible (even if financially impractical) to create a setting sourcebook that could detail those two worlds, but Nerath would have a LOT of blank area to fill. If Next was using an implied setting, I could see Nerath working again. But since they are going setting neutral/Realms default, I don't see a point to Nerath as a major amount of work would need to be done to fill in the gaps.

I would like to see a gritty low magic medieval European setting.

Remathilis said:

Nerath does not. Its completely possible (even if financially impractical) to create a setting sourcebook that could detail those two worlds, but Nerath would have a LOT of blank area to fill. If Next was using an implied setting, I could see Nerath working again. But since they are going setting neutral/Realms default, I don't see a point to Nerath as a major amount of work would need to be done to fill in the gaps.

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Nerath actually had a source-book written for it. Wizards cancelled it about the same time they delayed Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium and also cancelled the Class Compendium. If they were interested they could do a quick edit on it and put it up for sale at dndclassics.com.

Warunsun said:

Nerath actually had a source-book written for it. Wizards cancelled it about the same time they delayed Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium and also cancelled the Class Compendium. If they were interested they could do a quick edit on it and put it up for sale at dndclassics.com.

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I do think it's odd they never at least digitally sold the Class Compendium and Nentir Vale Gazetteer. I mean, they really were done, had already posted a preview of the Class Compendium, they were both in typsetting already...why not release them?