D&D 5E WotC's Nathan Stewart Teases New D&D Setting Book in 2019

No real details, other than denying that it will be Spelljammer, but in the latest Spoilers & Swag episode Stewart stated straight up that another hardcover setting book is coming in 2019:

"Nathan Stewart, the senior director of Dungeons & Dragons and Avalon Hill, made the announcement on his monthly "Spoilers & Swag" Twitchcast yesterday. 'Next year for our annual releases I can confirm there will be a setting book,' he said. 'A new setting book. A book that we have not created that is for a D&D setting.'"

I'd speculate, given the Settings mentioned in the recent marketing survey and what is listed in the DMsGuild, that the likely options are from the following, given we got Magic this year and Stewart has previously said they are not working on a new setting right now:

- Dark Sun
- Dragonlance
- Eberron
- Greyhawk
- Planescape
- Ravenloft

https://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/11/03/dungeons-and-dragons-new-campaign-setting-book-2019/

 

[gyor]

I'm not sure the bulk of the audience at this point is going to be "alienated" by not having a whole lot of concern over "canon" in the game. They've had several years apparently selling very well without much concern for canon. Why, now, would it suddenly become alienating?

Lots of fans are concerned with FR canon, that is why Lore You Should Know episodes are done.

 

[lkj]

My interpretation would be, "A book we have not written yet" or possibly "A book we have not done before at all"

Which would mean, in the first case, not Eberron because even an expanded Eberron book would still be partly the guide they've already released on DM Guild, same with Ravinica.

In the second case would mean a wholly new setting, not one published before. At this point we should remember that they still own the rights to the number 2 and 3 settings from the contest that Eberron won. There is always the slight possibility that someone there decided to start a fresh setting and will dust off one of those.

But I think the most likely intent was to say that they have not actually started on the book yet at all. "We're going to do this, we have not already written it and are not just sitting on it for scheduled release windows."

Yeah. Having finally watched the segment, I wouldn't put too much stock in the nuance of his phrasing. Seemed to me he was struggling to get the words out for what he wanted to say and that phrase came out. It definitely wasn't a prepared statement.

AD

 

[FastidiousMonk]

Hopefully it is Star Frontiers.

 

[Jester David]

True: they have been bending over backwards to avoid that, which seems to be working well so far.

I just remember Rich Baker talking about the Realms in 2009 or 2010, and how they remade it with the Spellplague based heavily on complaints of people who didn’t play in the Realms, and just assumed Realms fans would accept the changes and keep playing in the setting because it was the Realms.
They just took it for granted the fans would respond favourably and keep playing in the world.

I'm not sure the bulk of the audience at this point is going to be "alienated" by not having a whole lot of concern over "canon" in the game. They've had several years apparently selling very well without much concern for canon. Why, now, would it suddenly become alienating?

True.
But we’re not talking about a general product but a (theoretical) FR product. Fans of canon will be a higher percentage of the audience.

 

[SuperSam888]

I'd wanna see more FR such as Kara-Tur, Thay, Mulhorand, Maztica, Al-Qadim, Zakhara, Malatra, and more.

Dark Sun and Planescape would be epic.

As for MtG Settings, I think Theros or Kamigawa or Tarkir would be really cool, as would more fleshed out and detailed setting guides for Innistrad, Kaladesh, Amonkhet, and Ixalan.

I wish Spelljammer was a possibility.

No matter what it is, I hope it is cool and exciting. I'm hyped!

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I'd wanna see more FR such as Kara-Tur, Thay, Mulhorand, Maztica, Al-Qadim, Zakhara, Malatra, and more.

Dark Sun and Planescape would be epic.

As for MtG Settings, I think Theros or Kamigawa or Tarkir would be really cool, as would more fleshed out and detailed setting guides for Innistrad, Kaladesh, Amonkhet, and Ixalan.

I wish Spelljammer was a possibility.

No matter what it is, I hope it is cool and exciting. I'm hyped!

Considering they are finally introducing MtG worlds into D&D, and considering the baggage past versions of Kara-Tur/Oriental Adventures have, maybe Kamigawa will become the 5E version of an Asian-themed setting. Or maybe Kamigawa and Amonkhet combined into one product, giving us the East Asian and West Asian theme in one book and never touching Kara-Tur or Al-Qadim at all for 5E. Though without reading up on the history and stories set in those two, I have no idea if they are more or less stereotypical or problematic.

 

[gyor]

Considering they are finally introducing MtG worlds into D&D, and considering the baggage past versions of Kara-Tur/Oriental Adventures have, maybe Kamigawa will become the 5E version of an Asian-themed setting. Or maybe Kamigawa and Amonkhet combined into one product, giving us the East Asian and West Asian theme in one book and never touching Kara-Tur or Al-Qadim at all for 5E. Though without reading up on the history and stories set in those two, I have no idea if they are more or less stereotypical or problematic.

At most the baggage that Kara Tur has is the use of Oriental which now considered unPC to say, so they will likely just call it Kara Tur in the future, just as the SCAG called it Kara Tur.

And Kara Tur as part of the Forgotten Realms is more popular then most D&D settings in it's own right, separate from Faerun, never mind Kamagawa which is far from one of the most popular MtG settings. The best Kamagawa can realistically expect is that Kara Tur borrows some of it's more interesting races.

And Zakhara, the Al Qadim setting, is nothing like Amonkhet, there is to my knowledge no Egypt analog in Al Qadim, the Egypt analog in FR is Mulhorand and it's daughter states like Thay in Faeran.

Al Qadim is a fantasy version of middle ages Islamic Caliphates, but Polytheistic, the closest you get to that in MtG is the Infinate Rahiahs, and I think we all know Rabiah isn't coming back, hence why it's the anchor of the Rabiah Scale.

Neither Kara Tur nor Zakhara (Al Qadim) are "problematic" (I really loath that word now), no cheesy stereotypes that are insulting, no complaints coming from Asian or Middle Eastern peoples have been leveled at them, and the over 100 year jump in timeline can be used to improve them anyways.

 

[Shasarak]

I would change that to: Because in spite of having a large an extremely loyal fan base, WotC have admitted that they don't understand what the setting is about and think that the AD&D 2nd Ed iteration of the setting was a good representation of that setting when the real appeal of that world really lies in the amazing Gazetteer series and the BECMI rulesets, something WotC has even applogized for.


But yeah, it surely won't be Mystara.

If Matt thinks that Mystara is silly then Spelljammer would blow his mind.

 

[gyor]

If Matt thinks that Mystara is silly then Spelljammer would blow his mind.

Although it won't be Mystara, I do think that Mystara will come when they figure out the best way to sell it to new fans. I've only read one Mystara novel, that and some Wikipedia articles are my only experience with it, but I did enjoy the novel.

 

[gyor]

Okay I think it's useful to list of WotC settings.

Forgotten Realms: Subsetting Faerun (partial check) Kara Tur, Al Qadim, and Maztica and the seeds for more.

Mystara

Eberron (partial check)

Ravenloft (partial check)

Ravnica (soon to be check marked off)

Darksun

Spelljammer

Planescape

Dragonlance

Greyhawk

Council of Wyrms (might really be a subletting of another setting)

Birthright

And I will add the three MtG setting that could get hard cover books.

Alara

Tarkir

Theros

Nentir Vale