WotC WotC needs an Elon Musk

[Remathilis]

I once advocated for a Mordenkainen's Guide to the Multiverse book. A book that did nothing but provides a quick overview of each setting in D&D and then all the relevant mechanical conversions. So an Eberron chapter would just have races and dragonmarks. The Dragonlance chapter would have kender, the knighthoods and draconians. And so on. Just enough to provide a sample of the setting and then guide the interested parties to DMsGuild to buy the older books.

I'm sure that won't happen now, but I'm still up for an MTG version of that book.

 

[gban007]

To be honest, they don't even need updating to be useable.

Agreed, few things I would want, but accept that the market for this is so low it isn't worth WOTC doing:

1: if having time jump like FR has had, update the information on regions to reflect what the up to date world looks like - is Citadel Adbar still in same state as last time or not? Some regions faced some devastation etc.

2: if any mechanical stuff in there - like NPCs statted, unique spells / magic items - if they could be updated as well to latest edition would be great.

3: outside of that, just being to easily get the existing documents still in print would be good - for some of these books I prefer the physical copies, and very hard to get hands on these at a reasonable price anymore - if DMsGuild had Print on Demand for these it would be great - looking at the comments on the main campaign setting, a number of people asking for that In this latter instance, not expecting any updates, just reprints as such.

 

[Scribe]

So you're fine with buying the exact same book every edition in order to get some mechanical updates to the world? Very strange, IMO. I'd rather have different takes on the setting to allow me to use my imagination and tailor the world to my own desires.

Considering the time gap between editions? Yeah, pretty much.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Considering the time gap between editions? Yeah, pretty much.

What about in the modern day, where you can just buy the mechanical parts you want on D&D Beyond while ignoring the rest of the book? Why not just do that? Or do you still want the rest of the book to be the same, even if you're not going to use it?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Aren't all those campaign setting books still available in PDF or print on demand? Is there a reason they need to be redone?

I admit I don't really care about setting books but I understand why they don't redo them. First, it seems unnecessary. Second, they will have limited appeal.

But they also set up a barrier in some cases. Since I never really cared much for the books, it could be a bit intimidating when other players could rattle off details on every organization we came across. This edition is all about lowering barriers, not raising them.

I don't accept the idea that we should have less lore, because if we have more some people won't know all of it and will be made to feel bad somehow. Better just to barely have anything to hang your setting on.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Personally, I think the only thing really needed for older settings is mechanical support (races, subclasses, spells, monsters, etc.) that isn't already offered by existing material. And those don't need to be put in a setting-specific book necessarily. Between that and older edition material, we'd be golden.

Mechanical support would be nice.

 

[Scribe]

What about in the modern day, where you can just buy the mechanical parts you want on D&D Beyond while ignoring the rest of the book? Why not just do that? Or do you still want the rest of the book to be the same, even if you're not going to use it?

I deal in dead tree products, I dont do digital that can be changed on a whim after I have purchased it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

In my experience, it has become increasingly apparent that a lot of fans of older settings want WotC to copy-paste the entirety of the older setting books they like with just updated mechanics. They don't want the books or settings "redone" or "updated" for new editions, they want the same books just with the mechanics of the edition their group is currently playing.

Which I don't personally agree with because I feel that every edition is a new opportunity to find a new way to experience a world, but I can certainly understand people that already like what they had and just want a rules update.

That is basically what I want yes.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I deal in dead tree products, I dont do digital that can be changed on a whim after I have purchased it.

Okay, let's continue the thought experiment a bit. What if WotC didn't change anything about the mechanics for the products you want the 5e mechanics for? Would your opinion change?

 

[Micah Sweet]

So you're fine with buying the exact same book every edition in order to get some mechanical updates to the world? Very strange, IMO. I'd rather have different takes on the setting to allow me to use my imagination and tailor the world to my own desires.

I can tailor the world on my own. Rules are harder.