D&D 5E Is the new setting Icewind Dale?

@Birmy pointed out this Reddit comment.

Add that to the image WotC put out with the upcoming announcement.

And they're selling apparel featuring a snowy owlbear.

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[Lem23]

The twist is, the PCs are the rats, who have to fight of waves of increasingly higher level adventurers.

That's just what I was thinking too, you beat me to the post.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

"Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline as well as accompanying new products plus tons of unique gameplay available on June 18, 2020."

The language is very unclear.

It's clear enough. The "setting and storyline" are one thing, that will have accompanying accessories. They are not two separate things.

Plus common sense dictates that out of four books in 2020 WotC are not going to make three of them setting books.

 

[Oofta]

The twist is, the PCs are the rats, who have to fight of waves of increasingly higher level adventurers.

Sounds like a variation of Mouse Guard. You might have to come up with a new label, maybe "Advanced Mouse Guard" to get around copyright?

 

[Parmandur]

I'm pretty sure the announcement is for an adventure in a new setting, not an adventure and a new setting.

We have already got two setting books this year, I would consider a third incredibly unlikely.

In context, and seeing the schedule for the weekend, I believe they are talking about Theros. Yes, Theros will already be out on Beyond and VTT, but they will still be ramping up for the book itself at that point.

However, at this point, a Fall Setting book is hardly implausible. WotC doesn't have a book diversity quota to fill, they can go all Settings moving forwards if that is what they think will sell.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

In context, and seeing the schedule for the weekend, I believe they are talking about Theros. Yes, Theros will already be out on Beyond and VTT, but they will still be ramping up for the book itself at that point.

However, at this point, a Fall Setting book is hardly implausible. WotC doesn't have a book diversity quota to fill, they can go all Settings moving forwards if that is what they think will sell.

It also looks like Perkins' game is set in Theros. It's called "Lost Odysseys" or something very Theros, can't remember exactly what.

 

[Parmandur]

Plus common sense dictates that out of four books in 2020 WotC are not going to make three of them setting books.

Nothing particularly to say they won't do that: we already have three back-to-back Setting books within nine months, no reason to think they won't do that again if it works. These books check all the content boxes, while having marketable themes.

 

[Burnside]

I would think that Neverwinter Nights or Planescape: Torment had IWD beat, but maybe you're right.

Planescape: Torment is now considered a cult classic and arguably the best of the Infinity Engine D&D games, but it was a financial flop and ended up being the only Black Isle/Bioware D&D game that got no expansions or sequels because of how poorly it sold.

Icewind Dale was very successful , second only to Baldur's Gate, and had two expansions and a sequel.

 

[Lem23]

Icewind Dale was very successful , second only to Baldur's Gate, and had two expansions and a sequel.

Wasn't ID a distant third behind NWN and BG?

Ah, yes, from earlier in this thread, the ID franchise sold just under 600K, the NWN and BG games sold over 2 million each.

 

[Burnside]

Wasn't ID a distant third behind NWN and BG?

I'm sure NWN did sell more - I was thinking strictly in terms of the Infinity Engine games (Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 2, Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale 2, and Planescape: Torment).

Icewind Dale very probably sold fewer units than NWN, but it may have actually been more profitable. It was a comparatively cheap game to make, re-using BG's engine & assets to make a much simpler hack & slash dungeon crawl game. NWN was way more ambitious and introduced the Aurora Engine, which was revolutionary at the time (although I kinda like the older games better personally).

 

[Gradine]

Didn't they also just release like, all of the old Drizzt novels on Humble Bundle? Including, most famously, the Icewind Dale trilogy?