D&D 5E Mike Mearls did an interview for Escapist Magazine and reveals PHB classes, races, and much more

[Ruin Explorer]

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE No.

I actually liked the concept of Eladrin (regal, more fey-like, magical) but an entire race that could teleport at will (well, once every 5 minutes) stretched my credibility too far. The world-building implications of such things hurts my heart.

I like 4e tieflings. I like dragonborn. I liked goliaths, shifters, and even warforged. Just no blink-elves...

I think the issue could be resolved just by making it an optional ability, and saying that they "rarely" possess it or something. It's not like LOS-teleports are rare in D&D settings anyway. At least this one can't scale castle walls or the like (or teleport through them - it's LOS-only, and I don't think it works through keyholes or the like either, though I forget). Plus if they did all have it, you could design MAGNIFICENTLY obnoxious cities full of 20-foot gaps so they could titter at the peons.

 

[fjw70]

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE No.

I actually liked the concept of Eladrin (regal, more fey-like, magical) but an entire race that could teleport at will (well, once every 5 minutes) stretched my credibility too far. The world-building implications of such things hurts my heart.

I like 4e tieflings. I like dragonborn. I liked goliaths, shifters, and even warforged. Just no blink-elves...

Blink-elves, I love it. I think I am going to use that.

 

[Snapdragyn]

Its odd how D&D seems to really lack any publicly recognizable villains.

Tiamat is probably top of the list, and most of her Brand Marketing was done by the Mesopotamians.

Don't forget the Dread Gazebo!

 

[Rygar]

First off, you haven't linked to the figures you're providing.

Second off, from what you've said, you and Morrus are not comparing like-with-like. You and Morrus are apparently comparing "All Dragonlance Novels ever" (which is what the 22+ million figure is for, from my research) to "FR Novels written by RA Salvatore".

Come off it. That's obviously a false comparison. If we compare all FR novel total sales to DL novel total sales, who do you think is going to come out ahead? Given RA Salvatore by himself apparently has moved nearly 50% as many books as the whole DL series.

Also, please note that I prefer DL fiction to FR fiction, and I think RA Salvatore is a hack when it comes to everything but fight scenes so this isn't one I want to see the FR win on. But it will win. By miles.

Perhaps more importantly, the FR is still selling, still making bestseller lists. Like, this year. 2014. I don't know when DL last made a best-seller list, I can't find any info on that, but I'm guessing it wasn't this decade, and was probably before the middle of last decade.

Further, all the whining people do about "Drizzt clones" (totally valid whining, I used to whine about it as a DM back in the day!) shows that Drizzt and his ilk are very popular. They're what people want to play. I will also say this - I've never seen a "angsty" Drizzt-clone. Ever. I've seen plenty of Drizzt-clones, but every single one of them dumped the "angst" factor. Many of them dumped it for "no personality whatsoever", but that's teenagers for you. Hell, I saw more angsty Tanis-clones (I may or may not have played one of these. I cannot confirm or deny!).

In the end it doesn't really matter what we think, but WotC aren't idiots. If they're making FR the default and putting Drow in the main book, hating on that really is peeing in the wind, because clearly WotC think that is what sells, and as they explained, the only reason that they didn't do this in 3E and 4E is because they were "afraid of the backlash". I think now they've realized the backlash will be largely limited to "Older Males On the Internet", and maybe it won't be so bad.

As for Orcus - he's the definition of niche - tons of villains are better-known and better-liked. That people on ENWorld might like him lots (thread suggests that they actually do not, actually!) rather proves my point - ENWorld is just one of several D&D communities, all with different likes and dislikes (I like ENWorld, but I can't pretend it's more representative than GiantItP or Dragonwhatsit or RPG.net or whatever).

Actually, it's very possible that Dragonlance novels outsold FR. RA looks like he was involved with about 39 FR novels, and Wikipedia indicates FR had about 70. So RA's numbers should account for at least 50% of the sales if not more, so there's a very good chance FR is sitting at only 20 million-ish. Given, this is very rough math, it does indicate the possibility that FR hasn't caught up with DL yet.

The only reason FR is still selling and Dragonlance isn't is because the rules that caused the creation of 4th edition also caused WOTC to be unable to claim Dragonlance novels as part of D&D's revenue because they didn't directly support a setting's adventure storyline. At least that's what insiders stated years ago when the line was cut. I believe both the Dark Disciple series and Taladas series made best seller lists, but I'll have to go research that.

Making FR default is dangerous, there very well could be backlash. Without any other settings on the horizon, making FR the default means that if you weren't a FR person you're on your own. That could cause people who might've bought in to wait for more settings, or it could cause major disparity between Core book sales and adventures, or even worse it could cause rejection of 5th edition as a whole due to the belief that all adventure and accessory material will be designed around FR. Of course, it could also turn out that it doesn't matter, I guess we'll have to wait until next year to find out.

 

[GSHamster]

FR also has the advantage in computer games. Baldur's Gate, the current Neverwinter game.

Dragonlance had some good videogames, but they are very old now.

Mearls seemed to be pretty sure that they needed a default setting, that adventures worked better if that was the case. FR has the most name recognition of any setting, and is popular in both novels and computer games.

I am not a great fan of the Realms, but it seems to be the best choice.

 

[Morrus]

Mike Mearls did an interview for Escapist Magazine and reveals PHB classes, r...

First off, you haven't linked to the figures you're providing.

Second off, from what you've said, you and Morrus are not comparing like-with-like. You and Morrus are apparently comparing "All Dragonlance Novels ever" (which is what the 22+ million figure is for, from my research) to "FR Novels written by RA Salvatore".

Come off it. That's obviously a false comparison. If we compare all FR novel total sales to DL novel total sales, who do you think is going to come out ahead? Given RA Salvatore by himself apparently has moved nearly 50% as many books as the whole DL series.

I haven't compared anything with anything, and have no interest in doing so. I merely pointed out that the claim that there are only three popular Dragonlance books is clearly nonsense.

 

[variant]

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE No.

I actually liked the concept of Eladrin (regal, more fey-like, magical) but an entire race that could teleport at will (well, once every 5 minutes) stretched my credibility too far. The world-building implications of such things hurts my heart.

I like 4e tieflings. I like dragonborn. I liked goliaths, shifters, and even warforged. Just no blink-elves...

Aren't those basically Star Elves, minus the teleportation?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

The only reason FR is still selling and Dragonlance isn't is because the rules that caused the creation of 4th edition also caused WOTC to be unable to claim Dragonlance novels as part of D&D's revenue because they didn't directly support a setting's adventure storyline. At least that's what insiders stated years ago when the line was cut. I believe both the Dark Disciple series and Taladas series made best seller lists, but I'll have to go research that.

This sounds like a bunch of complete and utter nonsense, I have to say. Literally none of that, is, on the face of it, believable or logical. It sounds like a sort of conspiracy theory, so you're really going to need to cite that. Also, I'm pretty sure neither TSR nor WotC were the publishers on at least some of the DL books, though I could be wrong on that.

Also, er, no, the FR does not have "70" books. Where on earth are you getting that from?! It's not even slightly true! They had 75 by 1996. 191 by 2006. 279 as of 2014 by my count from here:

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_novels_in_order_of_publication

Feel free to recount, I could be off, but it ain't by much.

So, no, it doesn't seem very plausible that DL outsold FR, here. Plus, I still see new FR novels in mainstream bookshops (as well as older Drizzt stuff) - the only Krynn ones I regularly see are the main trilogy, and often even that is absent.

Making FR default is dangerous, there very well could be backlash. Without any other settings on the horizon, making FR the default means that if you weren't a FR person you're on your own.

Which is different from other edition-changes how? Generally the only "setting on the horizon" at an edition-change is the FR, and there's either no or a very weak setting implied in the books (Greyhawk with 3E, which wasn't really supported, and PoLand/Nentir Vale with 4E).

That could cause people who might've bought in to wait for more settings, or it could cause major disparity between Core book sales and adventures, or even worse it could cause rejection of 5th edition as a whole due to the belief that all adventure and accessory material will be designed around FR. Of course, it could also turn out that it doesn't matter, I guess we'll have to wait until next year to find out.

That really doesn't sound very different from any other edition change. If I waited for my chosen settings to come out in 3E or 4E, I'd still be waiting, because no-one ever re-did Taladas or Planescape (Zeb Cook forever!).

I haven't compared anything with anything, and have no interest in doing so. I merely pointed out that the claim that there are only three popular Dragonlance books is clearly nonsense.

Fair enough, I'll leave you out of this, though I do wonder how many of those 190 were really "popular" (some, I imagine, made best-seller lists, but I have no idea of the proportion).

 

[TheBlueKnight]

Making FR default is dangerous, there very well could be backlash. Without any other settings on the horizon, making FR the default means that if you weren't a FR person you're on your own. That could cause people who might've bought in to wait for more settings, or it could cause major disparity between Core book sales and adventures, or even worse it could cause rejection of 5th edition as a whole due to the belief that all adventure and accessory material will be designed around FR. Of course, it could also turn out that it doesn't matter, I guess we'll have to wait until next year to find out.

Please forgive my totally newbish question. I ask in all honesty. What keeps people from using settings other than FR with 5E?

I understand that there will be rules differences with older materials and that NPC and Monster stat blocks and mechanics might need some converting. But assuming (I know, I know) that there will be conversion guidance in the 5E core books, I have to ask, is it particularly onerous to have to use an older Campaign Setting Guide?

I have only experienced homebrew D&D as a teen and more recently Encounters and trying my hand at DMing the 4E Starter Set and DM Kit adventures. I have never been attached to a campaign setting I suppose.

Is there a slowly progressing timeline for all the different settings like I have seen with Forgotten Realms during D&D Encounters? Is the apparent lack of forthcoming published adventures in different settings much of a problem?

Again I ask in all honesty. I have been away from D&D for many years until recently after having played as a teen (right as 2E was coming out, but we were playing Basic) and am finding myself swept up in excitement for 5E. I have also begun reading the Drizzt novels and find them fun fluff. My knowledge of D&D lore, again, is rather minimal.

 

[Remathilis]

Aren't those basically Star Elves, minus the teleportation?

Fine with me