D&D 5E 3 Classic Settings Coming To 5E?

On the D&D Celebration – Sunday, Inside the D&D Studio with Liz Schuh and Ray Winninger, Winninger said that WotC will be shifting to a greater emphasis on settings in the coming years.

This includes three classic settings getting active attention, including some that fans have been actively asking for. He was cagey about which ones, though.

The video below is an 11-hour video, but the information comes in the last hour for those who want to scrub through.



Additionally, Liz Schuh said there would be more anthologies, as well as more products to enhance game play that are not books.

Winninger mentioned more products aimed at the mainstream player who can't spend immense amount of time absorbing 3 tomes.

Ray and Liz confirmed there will be more Magic: The Gathering collaborations.

 

[Parmandur]

I think Planescape, Dark Sun and Greyhawk are probable, with Dragonlance as a spoiler.

I love that more anthologies like Ghosts of Saltmarsh are in the cards, that book was great.

 

[TwiceBorn2]

Spelljammer has been hinted at and teased so often that I can't see it not being one of the ones he's talking about. Spelljamming vessels have already appeared in a couple of adventures, including the current Rime of the Frostmaden, and a spelljamming vessel plays a major role in the upcoming Baldur's Gate III video game. It just seems logical with all the attention that a formalized updated ruleset is upcoming. The question is whether it is enough to support a full setting book on its own, or perhaps be combined with an adventure (this is my bet, given how Rime of the Frostmaden combines adventure, setting, and bestiary) or as part of an overall Planescape book.

Dark Sun seems to have enough of a fan following and interest that I see it coming soon too, especially once the psionic ruleset is finalized.

As for the third? Planescape seems logical - again there's long-term fan interest, and it's something that can tie into just about any 5e game (other than those that deliberately eschew the default planar structure of the edition). Greyhawk of course also has that long-term fan interest, but, as much as I would love to see it, I'm not sure they've found that defining factor they say they need to separate it out as its own thing...

I think you're probably right.

I'm not a fan of Spelljammer and would rather see either Greyhawk or Ravenloft as the "third" classic setting, but I think WotC may want to see if Spelljammer can capture some of Paizo's Starfinder players. That, and for some reason, I think space hamsters would resonate more with a younger audience than would a full-on gothic horror setting (Ravenloft) or classic sword and sorcery setting (Greyhawk).

Sadly, I think that even Dragonlance stands a better chance than either Greyhawk or Ravenloft because of the success of the novels... and who knows, maybe WotC even sees it as most likely to attract mainstream audiences if made into a movie series (I have a feeling that may be in the works... no source to go on, just idle speculation)? And if that's the case, then they may as well start building some hype for DL now...

That said, I would take Dragonlance over Spelljammer. But that's just personal preference...

 

[Mecheon]

I'm not a fan of Spelljammer and would rather see either Greyhawk or Ravenloft as the "third" classic setting, but I think WotC may want to see if Spelljammer can capture some of Paizo's Starfinder players. That, and for some reason, I think space hamsters would resonate more with a younger audience than would a full-on gothic horror setting (Ravenloft) or classic sword and sorcery setting (Greyhawk).

Honestly, I don't think we're gonna see a full on Ravenloft any time soon. Strahd sold well and, I reckon they'll just leave it there.

Greyhawk on the other hand, well. It being 'Classic sword and sorcery' is someone that I think folks are still debating over in that Greyhawk thread so I'd say staying away from Greyhawk until you can dial down its theme, because 'Classic sword and sorcery' is not Greyhawk's theme. Its more Dark Sun's if anything.

Spelljammer, Dark Sun and Planescape each have their own distinct theme (Age of exploration but in space for Spelljammer, swords and sorcery for Dark Sun, and plane-crossing adventures for Planescape) that make them stand out as big unique things.

Dragonlance? I still reckon it had its chance in 3E and absolutely blew it. FR's absolutely dominated it in this day and age, and I don't know if its different enough to drag out in a big form when we're getting as few books released as we do. Especially because its view of Good and Evil would be torn to absolute shreds

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

As long as Greyhawk and Mystara aren't on that list, I'll be happy.

Imagine that. Other people getting stuff you’re not interested in!

That being said, if one wanted to start a Greyhawk or a Known World campaign, they could use the old books and start playing right now.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think Planescape, Dark Sun and Greyhawk are probable, with Dragonlance as a spoiler.

I love that more anthologies like Ghosts of Saltmarsh are in the cards, that book was great.

Lets look at the clues:

We have seen nautaloids in BG3 and RotFM, but they are refluffed and plane traveling vessels. I expect to see a merged Planescape and Spelljammer setting.

The drive to come up with a functional version of psionics asap seems to me to be driven by a desire to do Dark Sun, which frequently tops polls.

I suspect Greyhawk will be fleshed out via those anthology books, rather than a setting book. It was originally "core rules + adventures" anyway. RotFM makes it clear WotC aren't afraid to plug sales of earlier edition supplements, which they continue to market as PDFs.

As for Dragonlance, I think it's absolutist approach to good and evil put it at complete odds with WotC's current direction. Thus, at this time, (and regardless of the settings intrinsic merits or popularity) make it less likely than Oriental Adventures!

 

[NiClerigo]

In relation to future MtG crossovers, I really hope we get an Eldraine D&D book. It hits Feywild and chivalry notes, and is an MtG world I really enjoy reading about

 

[humble minion]

Honestly, I don't think we're gonna see a full on Ravenloft any time soon. Strahd sold well and, I reckon they'll just leave it there.

Yeah, I largely agree here. Ravenloft has always had some excellent adventures but has had trouble making an actual setting out of them, given there were so many different technological levels and disparate real-world-rip-off cultures. 3e did it best, but still had problems. If we do see more of Ravenloft in official WotC products, it'll probably be another strongly themed adventure module rather than an actual setting guide. Perhaps something gaslamp-styled set in the more quasi-Victorian Mordent/Richulemont/Lamordia/Paridon area of the setting.

But i doubt even that will happen. They really went out of their way to include pretty much every possible Gothic horror trope in Curse of Strahd (with the possible exception of mummies), there's not a huge amount of conceptual ground left untrodden. And Frostmaiden seems (to someone who hasn't read it) to be a quite horror-heavy module that's been set in FR rather than Ravenloft. So not only has WotC released a horror module very recently, but they didn't even feel the need to situate it in the traditional 'horror' campaign world. Yeah, it'll be a while before we see Ravenloft again i think.

 

[Aldarc]

Hmmm....three classic settings, huh? So probably Dominaria, Zendikar, and Innistrad.

 

[Jadeite]

As for Dragonlance, I think it's absolutist approach to good and evil put it at complete odds with WotC's current direction. Thus, at this time, (and regardless of the settings intrinsic merits or popularity) make it less likely than Oriental Adventures!

Dragonlance has lots of corruption and redemption going on. And the "good" races of dwarves, elves and humans have a rather shady history (most of it due to pride). Dark Sun, Spelljammer and Planescape are still far more likely.

 

[Bitbrain]

To avoid getting hopes up too much, giving classic settings a close look might not mean setting books like we saw with Exandria, though Exandria/Wildemount was cited as getting great feedback. But it might also mean an adventure anthology set in the setting. Maybe its a year of online articles for the setting. I'm actively trying to lower my hopes, if you can't tell.

After Ghosts of Saltmarsh, I would argue that adventure anthologies is a good way to go for 5e Greyhawk.

Forgotten Realms gets an Adventure Path detailing specific regions, most other settings get a hardcover Campaign Guide, and finally Greyhawk gets Module Anthologies detailing specific regions.