D&D General If I had the D&D/WotC Worldbuider job, I would... (+ thread)

[overgeeked]

First seven things I’d do.

1. Bring back Dark Sun.

2. Bring back Mystara.

3. Bring back Nentir Vale.

4. Hire Latin American writers and artists to create a new, better, and standalone version of Maztica.

5. Hire Middle Eastern and North African writers and artists to create a new, better, and standalone version of Al-Qadim.

6. Hire Indian writers and artists to create a new Indian myth- and history-inspired setting for D&D.

7. Hire Japanese anime and manga writers and artists to create a new anime- and manga-inspired Japanese fantasy setting for D&D.

 

[Charlaquin]

The first thing you would have to do is figure out what "narrative consistency" means in terms of tone. You can't have both BG3 and HAT both be equally valid expressions of D&D if you want any sort of narative consistency. You are going to need to narrow the potential breadth, and that would make it look a lot more like the MCU as an example: there are some movies that are a little more serious than others, but generally they all have the same pallette and feel.

If you do that with D&D, I think you need to go closer to HAT than BG3, just for wide audience appeal. (HAT feels like a MCU movie to me.)

As to the question of whether this means heavy on the metaplot as others suggested in the original thread: i don't think so. Rather, lore is embedded in many, many elements of D&D and I think the job would look a lot more like continuity editing. So the next thing i would do is a major audit for WotC's lore from everything they have published or produced for 5E and slash and burn until I had the definitive lore bible for the multiverse. Where we found multiple versions of a thing, I would settle on one. That bible would then rule everything going forward. When an old elements was reintroduced or new element created, it would get checked against the bible, and then added to it.

I mean, you’re right, but it sounds more like you’re answering “what will WotC actually want their new world builder to do?” instead of “what would you want to do if you were D&D’s world builder?” Realistically there’s no way any of us would be able to do half the stuff we wish we could do in such a position. But to my understanding the point of the exercise is more to engage in the wish-fulfillment fantasy of “if you got to be in charge of D&D creatively” than to discuss realistically what the job will actually entail.

 

[Reynard]

I mean, you’re right, but it sounds more like your answering “what will WotC actually want their new world builder to do?” instead of “what would you want to do if you were D&D’s world builder?” Realistically there’s no way any of us would be able to do half the stuff we wish we could do in such a position. But to my understanding the point of the exercise is more to engage in the wish-fulfillment fantasy of “if you got to be in charge of D&D creatively” than to discuss realistically what the job will actually entail.

I think people are answering this question as if it were my "you're in charge of D&D" thread. I don't think that's the question here. I understood the question to be "what would you do to achieve WotC's goals?"

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The return of the chronomancers and adding the "time spheres", something like the "wildspaces" of Spelljamer but with alternate timelines of classic worlds.

A mixture of Dragonlance and Dark Sun.

The vermeil from Red Steel/Savage Coast could appear in different wildspaces, and even portals by cinnabryl could be used to travel toward other "crimsontainted" zones.

A new setting where you could add martial adepts and incarnum soulmelders.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think people are answering this question as if it were my "you're in charge of D&D" thread. I don't think that's the question here. I understood the question to be "what would you do to achieve WotC's goals?"

To me, there’s a difference in that being in charge of D&D is a lot broader than being in charge of D&D’s worldbuilding. The former includes like broader strategic direction, release scheduling, mechanical choices, etc. Worldbuilding is narrow than that, really only focused on settings and maybe how they relate (or don’t relate) to each other. But, I think limiting the discussion to what WotC’s actual goals are instead of what you’d like to do if you had complete creative control is… well, just a much less interesting discussion.

 

[Black Dougal]

Expand the Forgotten Realms past the Sword Coast. I miss the larger world.

 

[Reynard]

To me, there’s a difference in that being in charge of D&D is a lot broader than being in charge of D&D’s worldbuilding. The former includes like broader strategic direction, release scheduling, mechanical choices, etc. Worldbuilding is narrow than that, really only focused on settings and maybe how they relate (or don’t relate) to each other. But, I think limiting the discussion to what WotC’s actual goals are instead of what you’d like to do if you had complete creative control is… well, just a much less interesting discussion.

I see what you are saying, but I think constraints often make these sorts of discussions more interesting than the usual wish fulfillment fantasies.

 

[Scribe]

There's no need for D&D to be homogenous. Witchlight is a deliberately whimsical Feywild adventure. Baldur's Gate 3 is a body horror-fueled meditation on the nature of identity and faith. It would be nonsensical and incoherent for them to share a tone.

I agree.

Fundamentally however, a metaplot (which is what this whole thing seems to be about) or shared world, with such wildly divergent takes on what the vehicle (D&D) for telling that story is? Just breaks down.

It makes for a confusing message, all imo of course.

 

[J-H]

I would probably do a broad-based poll to see what sort of setting everyone is actually playing in right now.
WOTC? Homebrew? If Homebrew, which published setting is it closest to (Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Greyhawk/FR, etc.)?

I think quite a few of us run our own setting or setting-agnostic and aren't interested in more setting/lore material. Is it really worth publishing more if it's only going to be used by 15% of the community?

 

[Zaukrie]

I would probably do a broad-based poll to see what sort of setting everyone is actually playing in right now.
WOTC? Homebrew? If Homebrew, which published setting is it closest to (Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Greyhawk/FR, etc.)?

I think quite a few of us run our own setting or setting-agnostic and aren't interested in more setting/lore material. Is it really worth publishing more if it's only going to be used by 15% of the community?

They seem to think so, it they wouldn't be hiring someone