D&D 5E D&D Needs New Settings

[Eltab]

Is love it if they did Bottle City. A whole city trapped in a bottle in the dungeons of Greyhawk castle.

First there is the "small" matter of untangling the Rights of Gygax...

 

[Tonguez]

Game of Thrones subcontinent but without the "only the nasty can prevail" social undercurrent. Kingmaker and Power of Faerun offer places to start with setting-specific rules for Being a Ruler. Might bring up 'build a fortress' (or palace) rules too.
Goal to introduce the 1e vibe to a new audience - old-era level titles indicated you could run organizations, not just be a permanent freelancer.

I was reading through the DMG ‘Adventure Tiers’ write up after reading this and it struck me that the Tiers already hint at this shift in focus from individual to region to realm focus over an adventurers life, so theres certainly room for it.

Theres already a D20 adaption of Game of Thrones that iirc discusses approaching the game through a standard “Band of Heroes” style vs a more troup-focussed ‘Noble House’ approach. It also iirc uses an Influence mechanic that allows you to invest influence in NPCs, Houses and Organisations in order to call in favours, issue commands and use organisation resources.

I wonder too if using Blades in the Darks’ approach to seperating ’House’ Planning and Character Engagement could help.

 

[der_kluge]

If you dial the magic level up so far, it almost becomes indistinguishable from sci-fi.

I thought I read something that they were going to revisit some of the old settings? I'd like to see an updated Planescape, and I don't know why they don't publish an actual Greyhawk book. Perhaps it's too bland. I've never really found it to be all that interesting, but I think it would sell reasonably well, since it kind of is the default setting.

I always thought Masque of the Red Death was a really cool setting. Something set in Victorian era would be really cool, too. Otherwise, I got nothing.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I think there is an opened door for the return of the Mask of the Red Death because this is a franchise relatively easier to be adapted into an action live production by Entertainment One. But today fiction about the Victorian age may needs to obey some new rules about being politically correct. I read there were plans about a second spin-off set in Asian, and maybe it is still possible. I dare to say there is space for a third spin-off set in the pulp age.

But a lot of playtesting will be necessary to find the right power balance with XIX century firearms. Other matter is 3PPs can create their own gaslight fantasy. My suggestion? To create a D&D fantasy gaslight with fictional countries, at least because players would rather to use fantasy races as tieflings and no French is complaining about Richelieu as big bad guy/antagonist.

Other option would be an alternate "real world" where fantasy races always lived with the humans, and a different list of historical characters, for example dragons and giants ruling kingdoms and empires.

 

[jayoungr]

I always thought Masque of the Red Death was a really cool setting.

I think there is an opened door for the return of the Mask of the Red Death

Masque of the Red Death/Gothic Earth has already been remade for 5E:

Masque of the Red Death Player's Guide - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Masque of the Red Death Player's Guide - Gothic Earth, first revealed in 1994 with the release of the Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales boxed set, allow

www.dmsguild.com

 

[Blue]

Rather than starting from some sort of high concept setting, I'd like to see something built around 5e itself and its quirks. Eberron was a setting that leaned into the assumptions of 3rd Edition D&D, particularly magic items and item creation. Likewise Nentir Vale/Nerath was a setting that essentially formed around the assumptions of 4th Edition D&D. I would ideally like to see a new setting that leaned into 5e D&D's assumptions. Exandria is not that setting, as it was built from a hodge-podge of 4e & PF1 & 5e assumptions.

As long as it's something new and fresh. Nentir Vale/Points of Light wasn't. Where as Eberron, part of the setting search was "it must include everything in D&D" (so no Dark Sun-type option), but even goblins and common races and such they put a fresh spin on.

 

[Aldarc]

As long as it's something new and fresh. Nentir Vale/Points of Light wasn't. Where as Eberron, part of the setting search was "it must include everything in D&D" (so no Dark Sun-type option), but even goblins and common races and such they put a fresh spin on.

I would quibble that Nentir Vale wasn't new and/or fresh, and it did have a place for everything that was part of (4e) D&D, giving them an explicit place in its mythos. That's actually one of the greatest strengths IMHO of the Nentir Vale setting. Everything tied into the overarching meta-narrative mythos of the setting.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I mean an official sourcebook of the Masque of the Red Death, not by 3PPs.

I am afraid WotC doesn't want to publish a new setting if it is not linked with Magic: the Gathering or another famous franchise, at least when all the crunch of 5th Ed about new classes, races and monsters to be totally ready.

I imagine Nentir Vale as other transitional setting, in the sense of a "planar nexus", a place what (sometimes) can be visited by people from the crystal spheres. something like a continental size version of Sigil, the city of the doors. Of course these planar gates aren't constant and sometimes groups of explorers are sent to try discover new planar gates. This would allow all from the D&D multiverse to be added into Nentir Vale.

 

[Blue]

Then how about I make another proposal? I would like to see another setting like Dawnforge. If you don't know, Dawnforge was one of the finalists for the setting contest that Wizards held and Keith Baker won with Eberron. But Dawnforge was meant to be something of a prequel to the "default world" that D&D presumes.

Heh, that's a bit like my entry to the setting search. Basically the "prime material" is a vast eternal chaos until someone sets their mark on it. Then it slowly forms and settles down. So there would be the core, where it's normal D&D. But all of the frontiers are literally able to have varying laws of magic and such order is getting imposed, and iof you wrest control over an area you can redirect it's forming some until it finally settles down and becomes permanent. So the frontier is full of warlords (dragons, actual warlords of various races, sects of gods) all trying to claim an area by projecting authority onto it and make it settle down into the vision of the world they wish.

 

[Blue]

I would quibble that Nentir Vale wasn't new and/or fresh, and it did have a place for everything that was part of (4e) D&D, giving them an explicit place in its mythos. That's actually one of the greatest strengths IMHO of the Nentir Vale setting. Everything tied into the overarching meta-narrative mythos of the setting.

I don't disagree with this. What I disagree with that we need one of those for 5e. Because any overarching mythos is already FR-ified.