Sword of Spirit
Legend
Although the leak about an "Adventurer's Handbook" might throw a bit of a wrench into this (should it amount to an actual splatbook), I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts.
Their general strategy seems to be to support a story line that lasts for a few months, and carry it into a transmedia experience. I'm strongly suspecting that any supplements that can come out at a time that works well with the storyline will come out at that time, and they will avoid as much as possible shooting out orphan crunch books.
Mike Mearls said that the DMG includes material similar to the environmental books of the past (Wilderness Survival Guide, Dungeoneer's Survival Guide and their descendants), includes mass combat, etc, so we know he's trying to get stuff into it rather than trying to leave stuff out of it, and it shows us that combining as much material as possible into a single book may be a goal of this edition. Tyranny of Dragons coming out in two hardcovers rather than a string of smaller books is further evidence of such consolidation.
Prediction
For the first storyline of 2015, they will likely stick with FR. I would guess that they would put out the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting as the associated supplement, but the leak about an Adventurer's Handbook throws doubt on that. If there is such a handbook, it sounds as if it may be an uber-supplement, sort of an Unearthed Arcana aimed at players. If that is the case, it implies they have more content that they couldn't fit into the PHB but think is worth putting out there for players. I'm guessing we will see more equipment, backgrounds, feats, and perhaps subclasses, spells, maneuvers and other options. This is wild speculation based on the unconfirmed title of a book, of course.
With 2 to 3 storylines per year, the next one after that is also likely to be FR. If they put out a Kara-Tur story, they could justify Oriental Adventures for the supplement.
After that they'll probably be ready to move on--likely to Eberron. I'm assuming that the popularity of the setting will determine how many storylines they will set in it. Along with Eberron we will hopefully get a Psionics Handbook. Not so much for the sake of Eberron as much as because it needs to come out early in the edition cycle due to the popularity of Psionics, and because they need it out before Dark Sun.
After Eberron we'll most likely get Dark Sun, although we might get Dragonlance. Greyhawk, Mystara and the rest aren't even contenders for early settings.
If the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting isn't coming out with the first storyline of 2015, that perhaps hints that they are planning on waiting until after they've finished messing with the worlds via the storylines to publish a campaign setting. This is good, as it means they aren't going to keep pushing metaplot on you after you get the campaign setting book. They finish it up before making the book.
Now, I'm much less confident about this prediction than I am on my others. I'm giving it a 38% likelihood. The thoughts other than the labeled prediction are just speculating out loud based on trends, rather than predicting.
Their general strategy seems to be to support a story line that lasts for a few months, and carry it into a transmedia experience. I'm strongly suspecting that any supplements that can come out at a time that works well with the storyline will come out at that time, and they will avoid as much as possible shooting out orphan crunch books.
Mike Mearls said that the DMG includes material similar to the environmental books of the past (Wilderness Survival Guide, Dungeoneer's Survival Guide and their descendants), includes mass combat, etc, so we know he's trying to get stuff into it rather than trying to leave stuff out of it, and it shows us that combining as much material as possible into a single book may be a goal of this edition. Tyranny of Dragons coming out in two hardcovers rather than a string of smaller books is further evidence of such consolidation.
Prediction
- Two or three storylines per year, each with two adventure books (as Tyranny of Dragons).
- One campaign setting or other supplement per storyline.
For the first storyline of 2015, they will likely stick with FR. I would guess that they would put out the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting as the associated supplement, but the leak about an Adventurer's Handbook throws doubt on that. If there is such a handbook, it sounds as if it may be an uber-supplement, sort of an Unearthed Arcana aimed at players. If that is the case, it implies they have more content that they couldn't fit into the PHB but think is worth putting out there for players. I'm guessing we will see more equipment, backgrounds, feats, and perhaps subclasses, spells, maneuvers and other options. This is wild speculation based on the unconfirmed title of a book, of course.
With 2 to 3 storylines per year, the next one after that is also likely to be FR. If they put out a Kara-Tur story, they could justify Oriental Adventures for the supplement.
After that they'll probably be ready to move on--likely to Eberron. I'm assuming that the popularity of the setting will determine how many storylines they will set in it. Along with Eberron we will hopefully get a Psionics Handbook. Not so much for the sake of Eberron as much as because it needs to come out early in the edition cycle due to the popularity of Psionics, and because they need it out before Dark Sun.
After Eberron we'll most likely get Dark Sun, although we might get Dragonlance. Greyhawk, Mystara and the rest aren't even contenders for early settings.
If the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting isn't coming out with the first storyline of 2015, that perhaps hints that they are planning on waiting until after they've finished messing with the worlds via the storylines to publish a campaign setting. This is good, as it means they aren't going to keep pushing metaplot on you after you get the campaign setting book. They finish it up before making the book.
Now, I'm much less confident about this prediction than I am on my others. I'm giving it a 38% likelihood. The thoughts other than the labeled prediction are just speculating out loud based on trends, rather than predicting.
