D&D 5E 2022 WoTC Books?

[Azzy]

Honestly I am vexed that people believe this. I'm not saying you're definitely wrong, but... why...?

Dragonlance isn't a setting that can offer very much. It's a very middle-of-the-road, poorly world-built (sorry but it is), generic fantasy setting, which doesn't offer any particularly exciting new vistas for D&D, doesn't feature stuff that appeals to large groups of players in 2021, is based on books that were last popular with people just little older than me, so 40+, and thus 13% of the playerbase at max. It doesn't even have any new classes, or really any races that aren't already pretty well-dealt-with.

Except the ones that aren't. Also, Dragonlance is perfect for mass battle and war-facing rules.

It would also require a rework to get rid of problematic setting elements, and setting elements rules-incompatible with 5E, which would annoy the very people you'd apparently be targeting.

The novels will likely address/retcon some of the problematic issues.

Also, you know what WotC gets by boosting the sales of the new Dragonlance novel? Nothing. Zero. Zilch. They are not the publisher, and they do not benefit from it.

Depends on the terms of their licence.

Spelljammer is near-certain, but I will be genuinely surprised, at this point, if Dragonlance is one of the "4 classic settings". Also pretty disappointed because what a goddamn waste.

I think you're letting your dislike for the setting cloud your judgement. Time will tell. If I'm wrong, so be it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

@Ruin Explorer WotC did get a share of the advance for the books so I can imagine they'll get a share of the profits if only via licensing fees. I doubt they don't have some kind of profit percentage.

Can you give me a source for that? During the extensive discussion around the legalities of WotC blocking the novel, it was suggested that WotC did not, in fact, "have a profit percentage". I can't remember the source now but it was a convincing one.

Except the ones that aren't.

Gully Dwarfs and Kender or...? Honestly I'm interested to hear.

Also, Dragonlance is perfect for mass battle and war-facing rules.

No. Uh-uh. Nope. Dragonlance doesn't have particularly great stuff about war in the novels, just dragon vs. dragon combat. The actual battles are pretty vague, there's not a lot of sense of tactics or even combatants in some cases, there's no real sense of strategy and so on. It is not perfect for this. Literally any setting would be about equally suitable (DL would be more suitable for dragon-combat rules, I guess, if you wanted those).

The novels will likely address/retcon some of the problematic issues.

Yeah, and that doesn't stop the setting having to repeat all that and then cover whatever the novel doesn't cover, plus do things like shuffle Gully Dwarves under the rug.

I think you're letting your dislike for the setting cloud your judgement. Time will tell. If I'm wrong, so be it.

I don't think so. DL is sort of in the middle on my list of settings, rather than up the hated end (few official D&D settings are, and at least one of those is 5E). I've gone over this a bunch in various threads of a couple of years, but I don't see what it has to offer and no-one seems to be able to explain.

 

[TheSword]

I’ve said before but Candlekeep and Witchlight while interesting enough experiments in their own right, were too great a departure from what I want from an RPG. Particularly on the back of Avernus and Rime.

For adventure books, I really hope they rein it in a bit, take stock and go back to some tighter narratives. I want to get to know an area and the people inside it with more detail, rather than going on jaunts through hell, the fae realms, the frozen wastes, or 20 different places.

Episodic content is fine, but I don’t want to feel like I’m playing the D&D equivalent of Quantum Leap!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Maybe an updated version of the classic Dragonlance modules, or a reboot of these, and Spelljammer. I guess future UA about psionics, and maybe modern technology and firearms, and PC races from d20 Future and Gamma World.

My suggestion is to publish some playtest with some crazy idea for April's Fool, for example ha'ponies (halfing+pony centaurs) and cybertronians (transformers) as PC races.

 

[grimslade]

5E is not about the depth of anything. Depth is for the table to decide. What product from WotC went in depth before Avernus? I am eager to see what they do with the old campaign settings because Eberron was super surface level. There is also 40 years of back catalog to fill in the detail. If you are hoping for detailed Gazetteers, WotC is not the place.

 

[darjr]

@Ruin Explorer its in the lawsuit. I’ll dig it up later but FYI.

 

[pukunui]

Episodic content is fine, but I don’t want to feel like I’m playing the D&D equivalent of Quantum Leap!

Funny you should say that … because I’ve been toying with the idea of running a campaign that would be the D&D equivalent of Quantum Leap for some time now!

 

[GrokMonkey]

Hasbro now runs crowdfunding to finance their regular business activities?

This is trending off-topic, but they do have a self-described crowdfunding platform where they'll produce stuff if it gets enough preorder commitments. So far it's almost entirely just been some collectibles, but the process is actually how the new HeroQuest boardgame release happened.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Gully Dwarfs and Kender or...? Honestly I'm interested to hear.

Yeah, and that doesn't stop the setting having to repeat all that and then cover whatever the novel doesn't cover, plus do things like shuffle Gully Dwarves under the rug.

Gully dwarves are already un-shuffled out from under the rug in 5e, as there's one pictured in the illustration on page 30 of Fizban's, which is a very specific scene from Dragons of Autumn Twilight.

And, quite obviously, a very specific kender too...

 

[TheSword]

Funny you should say that … because I’ve been toying with the idea of running a campaign that would be the D&D equivalent of Quantum Leap for some time now!

Lol. There’s definitely a place for it. It would just be nice if it wasn’t every campaign book.

I’m currently running Age of Worms, Odyssey of the Dragonlords, and playing in Secrets of Saltmarsh. I love how the NPCs build on each other, grow, and you really get a feel for the place. Curse of Strahd was the same.