WotC Strixhaven sounds like it'd be a nice mini-setting for D&D

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well, I don't really agree that Strixhaven actually fits the evidence that much (beyond owlfolk, I don't think the UA actually matches Strixhaven much).

Right now my going theory is that this UA is for a July book that combines the dragon-themed and fey-themed UA into a Volo's/Mordenkainen's style monster book. The biggest break from the norm here would be that it would contain some class options, but I find that an easy jump to make if they are on-theme.

The 3E Draconomicon included a lot of player options. So it's just about which norm they're following.

It's certainly possible this is a monster book, but the combination of dragons and faeries doesn't feel like a natural one to me.

I understand -- and agree with -- the reasons it's unlikely to be Strixhaven, but couldn't this be Eldraine? Arthurian setting with faeries and dragons?

 

[Parmandur]

The 3E Draconomicon included a lot of player options. So it's just about which norm they're following.

It's certainly possible this is a monster book, but the combination of dragons and faeries doesn't feel like a natural one to me.

I understand -- and agree with -- the reasons it's unlikely to be Strixhaven, but couldn't this be Eldraine? Arthurian setting with faeries and dragons?

Eldraine would be quite perfect for a D&D treatment. worth noting as an aside, the main "viewpoint" characters from the Eldraine set are the new students and "viewpoint" characters in the Strixhaven story (such as it is).

However, that would be a violation of precedent in other ways: the Magic Settings so far have tied into the current Card game, though Theros was a little late due to the Pandemic. Doing a book for Eldraine this far out, with no return to Eldraine in sight, would be as odd in a way as doing a whole new Setting like Strixhaven.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

The 3E Draconomicon included a lot of player options. So it's just about which norm they're following.

It's certainly possible this is a monster book, but the combination of dragons and faeries doesn't feel like a natural one to me.

I understand -- and agree with -- the reasons it's unlikely to be Strixhaven, but couldn't this be Eldraine? Arthurian setting with faeries and dragons?

Eldraine makes a lot more sense to me from a thematic view, but I do agree with @Parmandur that it would be odd for them to release that when there is no Eldraine card set incoming.

Now, just for fun, let's say that the Hasbro Overlords have demanded there must be cross-promotion between D&D and MTG. If that's the case, we've gotten;

• Ravnica (2018)
• Theros (2020)
• Forgotten Realms Card-Set (2021)

I'm not certain that even if Hasbro is demanding more cross-promotion, that this means a MTG setting must come this year. The above pattern suggest maybe a MTG book every two years, and now we have a MTG card-set with a D&D setting, this would be a rapid ramp-up of crossed products.

 

[cbwjm]

There's definitely some sort of break of precedence brewing here, but that is a specialty of WotC lately.

To beat the dead horse, the points we have towards future D&D products right now:

UA Dragon Subclasses: a Monk who has learned mystical secrets from Dragons, and a Ranger who has a pet Drake and some Dragon themed powers. Strixhaven has Elder Dragons who run organizations of mortals to whom they have taught mystical secrets. We don't know much more than that about the Dragons in Strixhaven, but the material fits like a glove, while notably not fitting with any other Setting that I am aware of.

If looking specifically at MtG settings, the dragon UA content makes me think it is related more to a possible Tarkir setting.

 

[Parmandur]

Eldraine makes a lot more sense to me from a thematic view, but I do agree with @Parmandur that it would be odd for them to release that when there is no Eldraine card set incoming.

Now, just for fun, let's say that the Hasbro Overlords have demanded there must be cross-promotion between D&D and MTG. If that's the case, we've gotten;

• Ravnica (2018)
• Theros (2020)
• Forgotten Realms Card-Set (2021)

I'm not certain that even if Hasbro is demanding more cross-promotion, that this means a MTG setting must come this year. The above pattern suggest maybe a MTG book every two years, and now we have a MTG card-set with a D&D setting, this would be a rapid ramp-up of crossed products.

I don't think that Hasbro cares about whether they cross over or not, the initiative came from James Wyatt on the "front lines" so to speak. Though, based on what they've said, they are planning to ramp up collaboration, so time will tell.

 

[Parmandur]

If looking specifically at MtG settings, the dragon UA content makes me think it is related more to a possible Tarkir setting.

I would agree, just taken in isolation. However, the timing of the Magic card Sets in combination with the Fey Lineages (which appear to be for the same book based on their standard development pipeline) make Tarkir seem implausible, given that none of the Fey portions fit Tarkir.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm not certain that even if Hasbro is demanding more cross-promotion, that this means a MTG setting must come this year. The above pattern suggest maybe a MTG book every two years, and now we have a MTG card-set with a D&D setting, this would be a rapid ramp-up of crossed products.

The Forgotten Realms set makes me wonder if there's finally going to be an entry level, larger-scale Forgotten Realms book coming this year. Give the MTG folks an easy on-ramp, since it's unlikely that all of them will know the older "Sword Coast" book is a Forgotten Realms book in the same way as, say, "Laeral Silverhand's Guide to the Forgotten Realms" might broadcast that. (I say Laeral, because WotC thought it would be worth putting her name on the dice set last year, rather than you know who.)

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I guess Eldrain will come back the next year, and this time also as the new setting, and also I think Hasbro wants a new D&D setting more family-friendly as hook for the new generations. Hasbro wants to sell their own BabyYoda/Grogu Gregory Frogeater toy. And I am surprised because they have said nothing about antropomorphic ponys. I guess it's a serious challenge to design a antropomorphic horse head, enough cute to sell dolls, but also enough cool and realistic for a tone more young adult.

* I gifted "Tiny Dungeons" to my niece and when I ask her to create her first PC she choosed as race.....a (female) lizardfolk! I guess because after watching "Jurasic World" she loves dinosaurs.

Strixhaven has been designed as a hook for Harry Potter's fandom (and other titles as "the worst witch" or Disney's "Owl House"), and this is not wrong. The key is to create an interesting product, and here WotC's goal is to produce a rich lore enough open to allow homebred new stories by the own fandom.

* New species of dragons may broke easily the world building. Next to the giants they are one of the most powerful creatures. Even if they aren't conquerors or tyrants they can become traders diguised as humans... and they could controll the economy of complete countries.

I wonder about the dracolyte as a new class, with subclasses for each dragon (metallic, chromatic, planar, gem, lung..).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would also be curious to hear how Ravnica sold versus Theros. I don't play MTG and have no stake in either setting. But Theros had stuff that I immediately saw value in -- Hellenic D&D? Hell, yes. I bought the satyr race as a standalone purchase on D&D Beyond and, if there wasn't a 5E Ptolus coming in a few weeks, I would likely have talked myself into buying the whole book and using the leonin stats for Ptolus' litorians.

Ravnica doesn't have an obvious hook to me in the same way.

But other MTG settings, like Strixhaven or Eldraine? They have hooks I can understand at a glance and, unlike Innistrad, they cover settings that aren't already covered by D&D. (Yes, I know there's a bit of conceptual space between Innistrad and Ravenloft, but the Venn diagram of those two settings has a lot of overlap.)

If Theros sold dramatically better than Ravnica (and I never hear of anyone other than a single actual play podcast using Ravnica, for whatever that's worth), WotC may be looking at adding other flavors to officially supported D&D while also picking up whatever number of MTG fans who might come with them.

(I also think a MTG-facing starter box makes a lot of sense. Make that entry ramp as easy to get onto as possible.)

 

[Parmandur]

I would also be curious to hear how Ravnica sold versus Theros. I don't play MTG and have no stake in either setting. But Theros had stuff that I immediately saw value in -- Helenic D&D? Hell, yes. I bought the satyr race as a standalone purchase on D&D Beyond and, if there wasn't a 5E Ptolus coming in a few weeks, I would likely have talked myself into buying the whole book and using the leonin for the litorians.

Ravnica doesn't have an obvious hook to me in the same way.

But other MTG settings, like Strixhaven or Eldraine? They have hooks I can understand at a glance and, unlike Innistrad, they cover settings that aren't already covered by D&D. (Yes, I know there's a bit of conceptual space between Innistrad and Ravenloft, but the Venn diagram of those two settings has a lot of overlap.)

If Theros sold dramatically better than Ravnica (and I never hear of anyone other than a single actual play podcast using Ravnica, for whatever that's worth), WotC may be looking at adding other flavors to officially supported D&D while also picking up whatever number of MTG fans who might come with them.

(I also think a MTG-facing starter box makes a lot of sense. Make that entry ramp as easy to get onto as possible.)

Don't have exact numbers, obviously, but Ravnica is the single most popular Magic Setting among fans, by a wide margin for that matter, and it's pretty consistently selling well on Amazon. Right now, Theros is 2,708 in Books while Ravnica is 3,331. GGtR is outselling all of the Zelda art books, and other RPG games.