WotC What classic setting SHOULD WotC publish and why?

[Nefermandias]

People keeping asking for Spelljammer and Planescape, but I'd rather get a 5E adaptation of the material from The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea from 4E.

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It essentially reimagined the Astral Plane as a cross between Spelljammer and Planescape by having islands in the Astral Plane, some of which were divine realms and some of which were independent from the gods (or were remains of dead gods themselves), as well as various ships piloted by all manner of beings: githyanki, a new race called the quom who scoured the plane for the remains of their goddess, angels, devils, etc.

The gods also had their own Astral fleets of dominion ships that their followers used to enact their god's will through the Astral Sea. The gods of Celestia, for example, had dominion ships complete with dragon roosts meant to patrol the Astral Plane and search for those lost souls in need of aid, such as the souls of people who were supposed to end up in an Outer Plane but instead somehow got stranded on an island (with some islands having entire communities of lost souls who occasionally come under attack from githyanki, devils, servants of evil gods, or even wandering aberrations or demons).

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Adventures in the Astral Sea include searching for lost islands and ships, fighting off pirates, dealing with the unusual locals of various Astral communities, and searching the remnants of former divine realms fallen into ruin (such as the White Desert of Shom, formerly under control of the goddess Ioun) for lost treasures and forgotten knowledge.

It also seems like it would be trivial to inject more aspects of Planescape and Spelljammer into this take on the Astral Plane. One could keep the Outer Planes separate, but have islands that have somehow "broken off" from various Outer Planes drifting throughout the Astral. 4E also had a similar locale in the Elemental Chaos (which technically is still mentioned in the 5E DMG but never brought-up elsewhere), so it wouldn't be hard to also incorporate locations from 4E's take on the Elemental Chaos as shards of the Elemental Planes that have ended up in the Astral somehow.

EDIT: I found a list of locations in the Astral Sea from official 4E publications. I thought I'd share some of the most interesting (IMO) ones:

• The Cloud Court: A stepped pyramid formed from solid clouds where the emperor of the couatl reigns.
• The Constellation of Eyes: This strange astral dominion, a sphere of reflective crystal orbited by countless massive, curved mirrors, is home of the nerras, a bizarre race that can see and move through mirrors.
• Kalandurren, the Darkened Pillars: Once a peaceful, well-ordered domain of shining castles and noble warriors, Kalandurren is now a ruined landscape where dark powers squabble over the choicest plunder. The Doomguard controls a stronghold here called Citadel Exalhus.
• Mutas: A free city inhabited by mortals. Its metal buildings ring the inside of a sunken structure that drops into the dim depths of the Astral Sea. According to legend, Mutas formed from a drinking goblet the god Moradin once tossed into the Astral Sea after hearing news that disgusted him.
• The Tower of Law: A bastion of the Mercykillers.
• The White Desert of Shom: A desert dominion of the mysterious race known as the Illumians who have passed into myth. Great sphinxes safeguard the domain, and the ruined City of Philosophers contains darkened vaults of lore lit only by the glowing runes that encircle the heads of Illumian mummies.
• Worldships: Pieces of a ruined divine dominion rebuilt into ships by a race known as the Quom. They search the Astral Sea for more pieces of their ancestral home so that it can one day be restored.

I love the 4e cosmology, I really do. It boggles my mind when people come to the internet to say 4e lore sucked.
That said, I don't think they should merge the World Axis with the Great Wheel. It's better to keep them both separated and independent imo.

 

[Nefermandias]

Please delete.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Should, from a business standpoint? Aside form a flippant "whichever will sell the most books" I think the answer is Dark Sun, because I feel it will sell the most books: it can both appeal to existing players by offering new options, and bring in new players by offering a new (well, so-old-it's-new) fantasy aesthetic.

Want, from a "which one would I buy?" standpoint: I want good, complete ship rules, because I like ships. So Spelljammer or Astral Sea, or some mashup containing one of those.

 

[Faolyn]

Personally, I hope they don't go Planejammer. Not only did Planescape and Spelljammer have such very different feels to them, but you simply don't get the same sort of hazards in Wildspace or the Phlogiston than you do in the Astral.

 

[OB1]

Used to think they should do a Planescape/Spelljammer hybrid, now I think they should be two products.

Spelljammer AP - Get caught up on a ship heading to 4-6 classic settings (opening them to DMs Guild) and provide the basic rules necessary to keep on 'jammin after.
Planar CSG - Like other recent CSGs, focus about 1/3 on Sigil and then do a gazetteer for the other planes along with rules for the Powers.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Personally, I hope they don't go Planejammer. Not only did Planescape and Spelljammer have such very different feels to them, but you simply don't get the same sort of hazards in Wildspace or the Phlogiston than you do in the Astral.

Planescape should be a setting book, while Spelljammer would be better suited as half-setting book, half-adventure, much like Descent into Avernus or Curse of Strahd.

 

[Faolyn]

Planescape should be a setting book, while Spelljammer would be better suited as half-setting book, half-adventure, much like Descent into Avernus or Curse of Strahd.

Only "problem" is that Spelljammer has so many really weird monsters that it'd be hard to stick them in such a book.

I disagree that CoS was half-setting. Unless you say it was half-Barovia, in which case OK. It didn't even touch upon the rest of the setting at all.

 

[cbwjm]

WotC keep talking about how the setting is the multiverse so I'd like to see a Planescape setting book to help realise that as the actual setting. No hurry though, I have all the old 2e stuff so can run my own version of it.

Darksun I think would be a good addition, they seem to be doing settings that are different from the main Forgotten Realms setting. Theros, Ravnica, Eberron, and now Ravenloft all have a different feel than the standard fantasy of FR that I think settings which also capture a different feel would be brought out before a setting like Greyhawk or Dragonlance, much as I would love to see a Dragonlance book.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Dark Sun. Give us full psionics you cowards!

WotC has made it pretty clear that psionics are just going to be a type of psychic spells in 5E, with or without Dark Sun.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The Nentir Vale got split as meal between Exandia and FR, leaving nothing but bones and leftovers. RIP.

You keep saying that, but never explaining it.

Where did Marshals go? Where did the bloodied condition go? Where are all the remaining 4E monsters? Where are the fallen empires of dragonborn and tieflings?