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.

 

[Hutchimus Prime]

I kid, though I rather like the MtG settings. I hope for at least Planescape and Dark Sun. For the last option, the other settings can fight to the death cage match style. Other settings enter, one setting leaves.

The D&D brand survived the Dungeons & Dragons movie.

Correction...it survived the Dungeons and Dragons movieS!

 

[CleverNickName]

For a Mystara campaign setting, I'd pay three times what I would pay for any of the other "classic" settings.

 

[Remathilis]

If I was to hazard a guess...

• Ravenloft seems a no brainier, with only Innistrad being any competition to it. We were promised more Vistani products, after all, and the last UA was very gothic...
• Planescape with a side dish of Spelljammer. Some sort of out-there adventures beyond the scope of reality. I still think Spelljammer is more likely going to be harvested for it's better parts rather than reprinted.
• Dark Sun, in the vein of the 4e reboot rather than the 2e box set.

I could see Greyhawk get another regional/anthology book like GoS as well.

 

[TwiceBorn2]

I'm pretty certain WotC will play this safe and go with the three most popular, and so far unreleased classic settings, being;

D&D Monthly Survey | Dungeons & Dragons

dnd.wizards.com

1. Ravenloft
2. Dark Sun
3. Planescape

In Wizard's own surveys, these are the top 3. That may have changed since then, but I doubt it. They also are all differentiated enough from "base D&D" that publishing a full setting book complete with lore, new DM rules, and new player rules, will be pretty easy (at least compared to something like Greyhawk).

You might also get some merging of settings into one book... I could see Planescape and Spelljammer sharing the same book, or Ravenloft and Innistrad in a "horror settings" book.

Ravenloft specifically has a huge slew of Domains of Dread beyond Barovia that haven't been looked at much in 5E, and the designers have mentioned how they want to revisit concepts like the Vistani.

And personally, although Greyhawk and Dragonlance are great, they make more sense as locations for adventure compilations in the vein of Ghosts of Saltmarsh.

I must have been living under a rock and was not aware of those survey results. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, based on that info, I think you may be right... and I am pleasantly surprised that Ravenloft ranked as highly as it did in the survey (I thought for sure that Dark Sun would have claimed the top spot). The merging of Planescape and Spelljammer also seems plausible.

 

[Hutchimus Prime]

The only thing that makes me hesitate there is that we did see that Birthright guidebook recently, out of nowhere. Also, we know there's a Mystara guidebook out there just waiting for WotC's blessing.

just curious where is/was the birthright guidebook?

 

[OB1]

Assuming that WoTC still wants genre to define campaign settings, and that the classic settings that they are reviving need to fit into them, I could see something like this.

Epic High Fantasy - Planescape/Spelljammer
Fairy Tale Horror - Ravenloft/Shadowfell/Feywild
Post Apocalyptic Survival - Dark Sun

 

[MockingBird]

Isn't there a YouTuber, and I thought ive seen him post here before, that made his own Mystara source book? Can't think of his name but he's got a legit hardcover campaign guide he made himself.

 

[Jiggawatts]

Bring on Dragonlance, a wonderful setting that needs more love. The Knights and Wizards of the setting are among the best done concepts of those fantasy archetypes. It has a epic feel that just resonates.

Also I'm in favor of a combined Planescape/Spelljammer setting, brings together all the concepts of extraplanar adventuring.

And then Dark Sun, while not my personal cup o tea, I understand its appeal with many, should probably be the third.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Not gonna be Greyhawk--there isn't much to add that FR doesn't already have except different fluff. And possibly removal of stuff (like no dragonborn in Greyhawk). No way they are going to do that.

Not gonna be Ravenloft. CoS already pretty much covered that.

I foresee Dark sun, SpellJammer, and Planescape.

Maybe Dragonlance, but I am less confident in those.

 

[Bitbrain]

Isn't there a YouTuber, and I thought ive seen him post here before, that made his own Mystara source book? Can't think of his name but he's got a legit hardcover campaign guide he made himself.

Glen Welch.

He’s on this forum. Goes by The Glen.