D&D 5E Old settings coming back?

Patrick Lewis · Aug 31, 2013

Mystara, it's not been about since 2nd and yet its the Mystara stuff that's selling on drive through RPG. The Cyclopedia is often held up as the best single DND book, and it is still selling( in PDF that is). The known world is a straight forward setting for beginners....

Knightfall · Aug 31, 2013

For me, I want to see Birthright, Greyhawk, and Mystara official come back as full-fledged settings, as well as Spelljammer (in some form or another). My gut tells me we will see Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Eberron, and Ravenloft products, as well as Planescape.

Also, I hope WotC creates a new version of Kara-Tur that stands on its own.

Jester David · Aug 31, 2013

One other thing to keep in mind is that if WotC wants to retain their trademarks to old settings they will have to do something with them sooner or later. The big names are likely fine but the smaller content that hasn't been updated since the middle of second edition might be on the verge of being contestable.

Dragonhelm · Aug 31, 2013

Be careful that there isn't too much being read into some of these comments of late. I've worked with Margaret throughout the years, and she is always willing to work to keep Dragonlance alive. From my understanding, nothing is currently in the works.

My guess is that WotC will follow a path similar to Paizo, and focus on the one setting. We may see a second...maybe. I anticipate that if we do see other setting books, it may be along the lines of the original plan for 4e - one or two books a year. I'm okay with that, as I love the old 2e settings. What I don't want to see is the old settings completely abandoned.

Jester Canuck said:
Dragonlance and Ravenloft had 2nd Party support in 3e but it would be nice to have official versions.

The Dragonlance run by Margaret Weis Productions was official. It was officially licensed, and had Margaret Weis behind it. Many Dragonlance creators, including Tracy Hickman, worked on it. Wizards of the Coast reviewed everything before it went into print, and all gaming books had to follow the novels, which were produced by Wizards of the Coast.

Jester David · Sep 1, 2013

Dragonhelm said:
The Dragonlance run by Margaret Weis Productions was official. It was officially licensed, and had Margaret Weis behind it. Many Dragonlance creators, including Tracy Hickman, worked on it. Wizards of the Coast reviewed everything before it went into print, and all gaming books had to follow the novels, which were produced by Wizards of the Coast.

Right, which is why I said it was a 2nd Party Product (licenced), as opposed to a 3rd Party Product. It was sanctioned and rubber stamped, but that's still not quite the same thing as a WotC written, developed, and published product.

variant · Sep 1, 2013

I would like to see a lower magic and more gritty medieval campaign setting. There are already a lot of high fantasy, very large world, settings.

Dragonhelm · Sep 1, 2013

Jester Canuck said:
Right, which is why I said it was a 2nd Party Product (licenced), as opposed to a 3rd Party Product. It was sanctioned and rubber stamped, but that's still not quite the same thing as a WotC written, developed, and published product.

I guess I don't understand why having WotC tackle Dragonlance would be better.

Jester David · Sep 1, 2013

Dragonhelm said:
I guess I don't understand why having WotC tackle Dragonlance would be better.

Having the mechanics being written, designed, and developed by people who created the game system for one. While the fluff text of the 3e Dragonlance books (and the Ravenloft 2PP) was excellent, the mechanics were often a little shaky and unbalanced.
How many different versions of the Knights of Solamnia PrC were there again?

Oh, and not having books become Out of Print less than a year after release and becoming impossible to find.

JeffB · Sep 1, 2013

Jester Canuck said:
The Gazetteer published by the RPGA (also known as the driest campaign setting book ever released).

I would vote the Kingdoms of Kalamar book #1, but yeah...LGG is awful unless you just want a snoozefest history lesson for a campaign setting book.

They need to find and hire Carl Sargent, and Roger Moore again. I understand many do not like the WARS era story as originally penned by Zeb,but had FTA been any other new setting besides GH, it would have sold like gangbusters and praised by the masses- its a fantastic product that is full of utility. Roger's The Adventure Begins is also excellent and handles post Flight of the Fiends GH far better as a book of utility than the LGG did.

/tangent