D&D 5E WotC: 5 D&D Settings In Development?

WotC's Ray Winninger spoke a little about some upcoming D&D settings -- two classic settings are coming in 2022 in formats we haven't seen before, and two brand new (not Magic: the Gathering) settings are also in development, as well as return to a setting they've already covered in 5E. He does note, however, that of the last three, there's a chance of one or more not making it to release, as they develop more than they use.

Two classic settings? What could they be?​

So that's:

• 2 classic settings in 2022 (in a brand new format)
• 2 brand new settings
• 1 returning setting

So the big questions -- what are the two classic settings, and what do they mean by a format we haven't seen before? Winninger has clarified on Twitter that "Each of these products is pursuing a different format you've never seen before. And neither is "digital only;" these are new print formats."

As I've mentioned on a couple of occasions, there are two more products that revive "classic" settings in production right now.

The manuscript for the first, overseen by [Chris Perkins], is nearly complete. Work on the second, led by [F. Wesley Schneider] with an assist from [Ari Levitch], is just ramping up in earnest. Both are targeting 2022 and formats you've never seen before.

In addition to these two titles, we have two brand new [D&D] settings in early development, as well as a return to a setting we've already covered. (No, these are not M:tG worlds.)

As I mentioned in the dev blog, we develop more material than we publish, so it's possible one or more of these last three won't reach production. But as of right now, they're all looking great.

Of course the phrase "two more products that revive 'classic' settings" could be interpreted in different ways. It might not be two individual setting books.

 

[OblivionDrive]

If -that- is the case, and they're not going to expand on planar locations and stuff (Since that material already exists across various items) how are they going to fill a book with just Sigil stuff? That would be like them putting as much focus on the singular, titular, city as they put into all of the domains of Ravenloft combined. There's just not enough Sigil for that, I don't think. At least not without deep diving through allllll the Planescape materials TSR put out.

There are 16 Planar Factions. Giving each one a two-page spread would still be only 32 pages. And it's not like Planescape had a massive quantity of unique class identities. There were definitely a few class kits as I recall... Could do a boatload of Races? But the majority of the boxed set is planar maps, a DM's guide to the Planes, the -Player's- guide to the Planes. And then the map of Sigil's Torus, of course. But sigil in the boxed set took up about 50 pages. So that'd be 82 between it and 2-page-spreads for all the planar factions

What do you do with the other half of the book?

I could see them doing it as an Adventure Path, perhaps. With all the setting-material tied to the adventure. But as a core sourcebook? No. I don't forsee an entire book devoted exclusively to Sigil.

I mean they already did a full 128 page book on just Sigil for 2e (In The Cage: A Guide to Sigil) and to my recollection that was with no real mechanical crunch (my copy isn’t close on hand and it’s been a while since I’ve paged through) - just descriptions of locations, NPCs and stuff about how the city itself works.

Once you add in factions, races, subclasses, etc, plus DM advice on running planar stuff, there would most definitely be enough content to fill a whole book with Sigil as the main focus if they really wanted to.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I mean they already did a full 128 page book on just Sigil for 2e (In The Cage: A Guide to Sigil) and to my recollection that was with no real mechanical crunch (my copy isn’t close on hand and it’s been a while since I’ve paged through) - just descriptions of locations, NPCs and stuff about how the city itself works.

Once you add in factions, races, subclasses, etc, plus DM advice on running planar stuff, there would most definitely be enough content to fill a whole book with Sigil as the main focus if they really wanted to.

I think we are also forgetting how they would probably throw in the Outlands, and a lot more detail on the Outer Planes as well.

 

[Parmandur]

If they do a "Kylie's Guide To Sigil" for 5e, don't forget that there were three 2e books dedicated to Sigil: In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil; Uncaged: Faces of Sigil; and The Factols' Manifesto. They could probably fill an entire modern hardcover with info from those three books. The factions (which would probably be more like three pages each) and possibly even some sects would be described, and they would have to use the Renown system with them, like with Ravnica. Plus there are non-Faction factions (like touts). Each of the six wards would be fleshed out with at least two pages each. If they lean into the idea that Sigil employs extradimensional space, they can go hog-wild and create little bits of the other planes inside the City, and those would need space as well.

Add in some races: bariaurs, probably a reprint of the gith and the genasi (and I live in hope they'll include para- and quasi-genasi), expanded tieflings, planetouched based on Law and Chaos. Maybe even a few weirder races. I mean, Planescape had living mathematical equations; I'm sure they can develop a few really weird PC races. And then, probably a couple of archetypes, especially in the form of cleric domains and new warlock and sorcerer archetypes, and hopefully a few martial archetypes as well.

Plus, they'd probably have to bring in the piety system a la Theros; it might be from the DMG, but it would almost certainly be expanded for a setting where the gods are so important. Add in some monsters (plenty of room for fiends and celestials, and probably for a few aberrations and fey as well) and some NPC statblocks. They could possibly also treat the Gate Towns as Sigil's "suburbs," if they wanted to--I think it would be really neat if they did.

Edit: Plus spells, magic items, and trinkets.

Plus, don't forget space for art.

They could easily fill a 250-page or even a 300-page book with just Sigil (they did it with just one section of Ravnica, after all). I don't think they'll do a Sigil-only book, though, unless they were planning on also putting out a Manual of the Planes. Which would be awesome, of course, but unlikely.

All this: I don't mean just an All-Sigil book, but a combo Sigil and Manual of the Planes, ala the 1E MotP. With player, Gazateer and monster info...that's a lot of material.

 

[Parmandur]

I think we are also forgetting how they would probably throw in the Outlands, and a lot more detail on the Outer Planes as well.

Yeah, I thinknittotally doable.in a book similar to Eberron...bit it doesn't need to pad pages.

 

[Faolyn]

All this: I done enough mean just an All-Sigil book, but a combo Sigil and Manual of the Planes, ala the 1E MotP. With player, Hazateer and monster info...that's a lotnof material.

Yeah; it's much more likely that they'd produce a combined Sigil/Manual of the Planes. I'd love it if they made two books, but it's not likely.

 

[ersatzphil]

All this: I done enough mean just an All-Sigil book, but a combo Sigil and Manual of the Planes, ala the 1E MotP. With player, Hazateer and monster info...that's a lotnof material.

Speaking as someone who was a huge Planescape fan in the 2e era - I suspect this is what we're most likely to see, with the caveat that it seems unlikely to me that it'll be 'Planescape' branded. In this Sage Advice, Crawford mentions that all the designers are huge Planescape nerds, and how now Planescape is baked into D&D directly, rather than being a setting. I suspect that's the direction they'll take: traveling the planes is something inherent to D&D itself, rather than a specific campaign setting.

edit: I'm personally holding a candle for a theoretical planes book to be titled "Shemeshka's Guide to the Wheel".

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Speaking as someone who was a huge Planescape fan in the 2e era - I suspect this is what we're most likely to see, with the caveat that it seems unlikely to me that it'll be 'Planescape' branded. In this Sage Advice, Crawford mentions that all the designers are huge Planescape nerds, and how now Planescape is baked into D&D directly, rather than being a setting. I suspect that's the direction they'll take: traveling the planes is something inherent to D&D itself, rather than a specific campaign setting.

edit: I'm personally holding a candle for a theoretical planes book to be titled "Shemeshka's Guide to the Wheel".

So long as they put the Factions in. The proper Factions from the original Planescape, and give them like, actual descriptions and art (preferably DiTerlizzi art) and their slightly simplistic but engaging philosophies, I wouldn't riot if this happened.

 

[Parmandur]

Speaking as someone who was a huge Planescape fan in the 2e era - I suspect this is what we're most likely to see, with the caveat that it seems unlikely to me that it'll be 'Planescape' branded. In this Sage Advice, Crawford mentions that all the designers are huge Planescape nerds, and how now Planescape is baked into D&D directly, rather than being a setting. I suspect that's the direction they'll take: traveling the planes is something inherent to D&D itself, rather than a specific campaign setting.

edit: I'm personally holding a candle for a theoretical planes book to be titled "Shemeshka's Guide to the Wheel".

Yeah, but Sigil is still a specific place.

 

[ersatzphil]

So long as they put the Factions in. The proper Factions from the original Planescape, and give them like, actual descriptions and art (preferably DiTerlizzi art) and their slightly simplistic but engaging philosophies, I wouldn't riot if this happened.

This actually speaks to my main point of disappointment with the new Ravenloft book - the art felt like the same art we'd see in a Forgotten Realms book. I miss how distinct the old campaign settings felt purely from the art direction.

I'm a calm man, but Planescape without DiTerlizzi is as good a reason to riot as any.

 

[Staffan]

Politely; did you mean "routes" or "rudders" when you said rutters?

I'm not the person you're replying to, but I'm pretty sure they mean rutters.