D&D 5E Will 5e D&D re-claim its campaign settings.

[PatriotofKarrnath]

Well I think psionics are coming in some capacity. Some of the other stuff would definitely need mechanical updating to 5E.

The idea that people shouldn't have to make this stuff...well, I get that in theory...it'd be great if WotC was able to accommodate all the settings people want to see. I don't blame anyone for wanting to see the setting they like updated to the new edition of the game.

But in lieu of that happening...I think they've done the next best thing by giving us an edition where most of the mechanical needs of the settings are pretty easily replicated.

Time will tell. If the sales continue to support further products, then eventually we will get to more settings. My gues is that the more different or niche a setting is, the more unique, the sooner it will be seen.

Something to think about with us Ebberon folks is it was the first "new" setting of 3rd ed, and one of only three really done for 4th (FR, dark sun being the others) since the WOTC era, we have been a part. It really feels like 5th just dropped us cold and only FR matters.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I think you are a bit off the mark in regards to the purposes of the Weis & Hickman books; as far as I can tell, every time the setting was re-wrecked to usher in a new edition of the game, Weis & Hickman were brought in to novelize it and add some legitimacy to the change.

When TSR wanted to push their new SAGA system game, Weis & Hickman were brought in to novelize it as Dragons of Summer Flame so fans would go along. That didn't work out too well, so when WotC needed to "fix" Dragonlance and make it work again with the 3rd Edition rules, Weis & Hickman were brought in again to write it all up and make it pretty (The War of Souls).

I guarantee that if Dragonlace is rehashed as an official 5e setting, we will see a new book or three by Weis & Hickman to explain the changes (i.e., presence of a different kind of dragon dudes and half-demon guys running around, plus all of a sudden almost everybody can cast spells for some reason).

Okay, thanks for the breakdown. Dragons of Summer Flame was the last novel I really remember, and it had more the feel of an ending rather than a beginning. I know there was later stuff, but I was only ever aware of it minimally.

If Dragonlance is updated for 5E, I wouldn't be surprised if you're right, and we see Weis and Hickman again. Especially since the Hickmans were involved with Curse of Strahd. But I would be surprised if Dragonlance was a setting that they wanted to visit so soon into the edition.

Something to think about with us Ebberon folks is it was the first "new" setting of 3rd ed, and one of only three really done for 4th (FR, dark sun being the others) since the WOTC era, we have been a part. It really feels like 5th just dropped us cold and only FR matters.

Sure, I get that. I think that fans of many settings feel that way. I mean, Spelljammer fans had that happen to them at the jump from 2E to 3E, so that's like 16 or 17 years without their setting being supported. The idea of anyone feeling that way stinks.

My comments are more about what I expect based on my (admittedly rudimentary) understanding of business and what I see as the plan that WotC has.

 

[Mouseferatu]

As others have suggested... What's wrong with a small mechanics document for settings like Eberron or Dark Sun? All the old edition material is available, and most of the flavor/history/story/politics/regions/etc. haven't changed. A couple of bucks for "Here are the races, new items, new spells, Dragonmarks, etc., and here's a link to the 3E and 4E setting books" should suffice, should it not?

(And I say this as not just a huge fan of, but a contributing author to, many Eberron books in 3E and 4E, and Dark Sun in 4E.)

 

[hawkeyefan]

As others have suggested... What's wrong with a small mechanics document for settings like Eberron or Dark Sun? All the old edition material is available, and most of the flavor/history/story/politics/regions/etc. haven't changed. A couple of bucks for "Here are the races, new items, new spells, Dragonmarks, etc., and here's a link to the 3E and 4E setting books" should suffice, should it not?

(And I say this as not just a huge fan of, but a contributing author to, many Eberron books in 3E and 4E, and Dark Sun in 4E.)

I'd like for them to do that. My guess as to why they do not is that even an effort like that would require an investment of resources they feel are better focused elsewhere? Spending time and effort on setting conversions probably doesn't stand to make much money?

My guess is that those of us who are fans of the older settings already have the old material, so conversion docs probably wouldn't even create a large enough increase in the older edition PDFs that are for sale. Or at least they don't expect that it will.

I also think that the DMsGuild also impacts that decision. Despite the restriction that material be either setting neutral or specifically FR, it's pretty easy to create a collection of races that would fit a setting. Folks could put out a "Desert Races" product with a thri-kreen, half-giant, and half-dwarf races. They could then follow that up with a gladiator class product. So why produce free content for folks when the community very likely can do so? And then there's always the possibility that they decide to open up certain settings to the Guild, which would only make such products more prevalent.

Or they could produce a small document and perhaps release it on the Guild and charge a small fee for it, as you suggest. I like the idea and would be all for it. Aside from a possible question of profitability, the only reason I can think why they don't do that is that maybe they want to keep those settings in the trunk, so to speak. They want to build the brand up a bit without having to rely on past settings as much. Then they could release something like an Ebberon Adventurer's Guide when they think the time is right, and until then they don't want to release anything for the setting. Pure conjecture on my part, of course.

Do you have any ideas why they wouldn't release a product like you describe? Like I said, I am purely guessing at all this...I imagine you have a good deal more understanding about this stuff.

If you had to guess, what do you think the reason would be?

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

As others have suggested... What's wrong with a small mechanics document for settings like Eberron or Dark Sun? All the old edition material is available, and most of the flavor/history/story/politics/regions/etc. haven't changed. A couple of bucks for "Here are the races, new items, new spells, Dragonmarks, etc., and here's a link to the 3E and 4E setting books" should suffice, should it not?

(And I say this as not just a huge fan of, but a contributing author to, many Eberron books in 3E and 4E, and Dark Sun in 4E.)

To be frank, what I'd really like to see for Eberron is the rules released in an official book so Eberron might become an option for AL play, but unfortunately I think that they are sticking with solely FR for that.

I wouldn't expect the setting to advance, so the fluff in the 3.5 and possibly more relevantly 4e books works fine. (Although I'd reserve the right to ignore some of the less consistent elements of the some of the splatbooks.)

The details in the UA article covered the major mechanical differences adequately, although I know a lot of Eberron fans are likely to houserule changes to them. I'd like a more polished version of them in a more official format.
Psionics isn't necessary, but is an important element of the setting if you choose to make it such, but that may already be in the pipeline.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Do you have any ideas why they wouldn't release a product like you describe? Like I said, I am purely guessing at all this...I imagine you have a good deal more understanding about this stuff.

If you had to guess, what do you think the reason would be?

All sorts of possibilities, some of which you covered. There's still a decent amount of labor and cost to go into a pro-level PDF. But they also might be waiting to see if there's a market to do something bigger with the setting later. There are plenty of good reasons--for sales, for branding issues--to wait and only do something with the setting if they can go big.

Plus God only knows how many possible reasons I'm not even thinking of, since I'm a creative, not a business type.

 

[hawkeyefan]

All sorts of possibilities, some of which you covered. There's still a decent amount of labor and cost to go into a pro-level PDF. But they also might be waiting to see if there's a market to do something bigger with the setting later. There are plenty of good reasons--for sales, for branding issues--to wait and only do something with the setting if they can go big.

Plus God only knows how many possible reasons I'm not even thinking of, since I'm a creative, not a business type.

Hah yeah, that's more my lens too, but I try to imagine the business aspect as best I can. Thanks for the insight.

I think that they're holding on to these with the plan to try and do somrthing big with them when they feel the time is right, as you mention. Until then they don't want to provide much.

Only time will tell though.

 

[RotGrub]

Something to think about with us Ebberon folks is it was the first "new" setting of 3rd ed, and one of only three really done for 4th (FR, dark sun being the others) since the WOTC era, we have been a part. It really feels like 5th just dropped us cold and only FR matters.

I'd say that the FR fans also feel left out in the cold. As I understanding it the SCAG doesn't exactly make them happy. I do recall reading how antsy some folks were getting before the SCAG was released. They were all expecting an update on the sundering and couldn't figure out why nothing was forthcoming.

 

[PatriotofKarrnath]

I'd say that the FR fans also feel left out in the cold. As I understanding it the SCAG doesn't exactly make them happy. I do recall reading how antsy some folks were getting before the SCAG was released. They were all expecting an update on the sundering and couldn't figure out why nothing was forthcoming.

Having bought it, I can see why, other than the shoddy craftsmanship, there was not much really in it regarding what happened. It seemed like a slate cleaning of the spellplague and then go.

 

[GreyLord]

Something to think about with us Ebberon folks is it was the first "new" setting of 3rd ed, and one of only three really done for 4th (FR, dark sun being the others) since the WOTC era, we have been a part. It really feels like 5th just dropped us cold and only FR matters.

Try being a

1. Dragonlance Fan,

Or even worse,

2. An Oriental Adventures Fan.


They gave us hope about 1 in the playtest (kender and all) and then took it all away.

With Oriental Adventures...we had official 3e support, but not really a hint in 4e and nothing in 5e thus far (of any real support for it). This is something that has a fantasy background for almost a third of the world's population (more than the European portion of the world which is the basis of D&D's default fantasy settings) and yet...no support for us (probably with good reason though, not enough sales=not as much support most likely).

If they released Dragonlance, OA, or Dark Sun (DS WAS supported in 3e to a limited degree, and in 4e, so no complaints there) I'd snatch it up in an instance.

But they have to think about what will have the greatest appeal to the greatest number of people (aka sales), especially with the limited amount of releases they are doing.