Spring's D&D Release Will Be Ship-Themed

So they talked about it a little bit on today's Fireside Chat. They mentioned that the full reveal are coming at a later date, but it will be a ship based product. It's almost done, but cover and title are not yet finalized.

Not much else was mentioned except some joke titles!

Not too surprising, given the UA, the upcoming seafaring comic book, the ship mini set, etc.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

...one example...

Moby Dick as a dragon.

"Age of Dragons", 2011 movie with Danny Globber.

 

[generic]

It could just be me, but does the name "The Falling Star" that has been given to the WizKids mini hint to the fact the adventure may be set in the Sea of Fallen Stars?

 

[Parmandur]

Thanks. Hopefully we get the details on this pirate product (place holder, we don't know what it is, only that it has a nautical part) before May, maybe Feb or March for an announcement.

The sea book is in final layout and should be at the printer within a month: that means it will be in stores March/April.

 

[Parmandur]

Are we talking real cultures or are we talking about game cultures that have been ignored for a long time?

Real culture could mean Indian Subcontinent culture, Chinese Culture, South East, Pacific Islander culture (which could really fit into a ship and Sailing book).

They were being cagey about it, but they were responding to a question about whether less Medieval Euripeanesque socities might be profiled in coming books: the answer is not only yes, but they apparently have expert input. They were clearly talking about 2020 products in terms of other cultures, the Sea book doesn't seem to be effected by this question: it doesn't seem to be Adventure or Setting material from their discussion. A hybrid "water rules" with generic "D&D" lore ("this is how Merfolk work, this is how Sea Elves work, etc') with mosnters is my bet.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

It could just be me, but does the name "The Falling Star" that has been given to the WizKids mini hint to the fact the adventure may be set in the Sea of Fallen Stars?

I do not understand how people keep making this mistake. WotC and/or WizKids did not invent The Falling Star. It was created by Chris Perkins long before he became a professional game writer. There is a nice, long article about the ship in the current issue of Dragon+, talking about how Chris Perkins created the ship back when he was a teenager and how it eventually became the design for the miniature. The ship was first announced at the beginning of August, so it was in the planning stages for months before that and, from the article, was in the planning stages before it ended up becoming a miniature of The Falling Star.

 

[Parmandur]

I do not understand how people keep making this mistake. WotC and/or WizKids did not invent The Falling Star. It was created by Chris Perkins long before he became a professional game writer. There is a nice, long article about the ship in the current issue of Dragon+, talking about how Chris Perkins created the ship back when he was a teenager and how it eventually became the design for the miniature. The ship was first announced at the beginning of August, so it was in the planning stages for months before that and, from the article, was in the planning stages before it ended up becoming a miniature of The Falling Star.

Yeah, that project was WizKids idea, not WotC: however, the book and ship have been in production a similar amount of time

 

[Derren]

...one example...

Moby Dick as a dragon.

Moby Dick and Hornblower is a bit different.
The "dragon" equivalent to Hornblower books would probably be the Temeraire books (His Majesties Dragon etc.), but even that would imo be hard to do in D&D.

 

[gyor]

I do not understand how people keep making this mistake. WotC and/or WizKids did not invent The Falling Star. It was created by Chris Perkins long before he became a professional game writer. There is a nice, long article about the ship in the current issue of Dragon+, talking about how Chris Perkins created the ship back when he was a teenager and how it eventually became the design for the miniature. The ship was first announced at the beginning of August, so it was in the planning stages for months before that and, from the article, was in the planning stages before it ended up becoming a miniature of The Falling Star.

Could The Falling Star name be a hint at the Sea of Fallen Stars.

 

[Parmandur]

Could The Falling Star name be a hint at the Sea of Fallen Stars.

I wouldn't bet on it, based on the Dragon+ article about the ship

 

[gyor]

For the record I don't think it's going to be an exclusively about the sea. What it might be is WotC's own Stronghold Book, after the success of Matt's book, which had Pirate ship stronghold, and Ma be they want a piece of that action.