D&D 5E (2024) WotC Should Make 5.5E Specific Setting

[UngainlyTitan]

I do not think 5e24 needs a setting book.
Forgotten Realms works well enough, however I would not be averse to a Book of Settings where one could compile and expand on those interesting MtG settings (or make new ones) that came out early on in 5e's history.
Those were pretty cool and unique (not every race was represented in each setting) and there was great art.
As someone who does not play and follow MtG I absolutely loved those.

Personally, what I would like, is a book where the setting is outlined in a small number of pages, similar to the DMG but a number of more detailed locations for each setting, accompanied by a bunch of one-page adventures.
May themed about some adventure premise. Perhaps a low level planar portal based adventures with a number of prime and planar locations with adventures and maps.

 

[Maxperson]

I'm sorry. I honestly have no idea how to parse this. This is in now way actually related to anything I said. I really have no idea what you are trying to say here.

I'm saying that every D&D setting is based on the PHB. When you look at communities where the PC's are likely to either start from, or go to, they are pretty much comprised of the PHB races. The settings are built on the PHB races. Since we now have a couple more PHB races than we did before, then a 2024 D&D setting should incorporate those new races, in the same way that all the other settings have incorporated the PHB races.

At no point am I talking about players. I must have missed something here and I'm very confused.

The problem is that you are talking about the demographics of core book settlements, which of course will have demographics that place the core races as primary. They are talking about the setting demographics, which includes the entire known world and all the humanoid settlements, cities, tribes, etc. in it. In short, you're looking at a limited subset of the setting demographics and @Paul Farquhar is looking at the entire setting.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

they are pretty much comprised of the PHB races

They are pretty much all human (with a small number of other species as minorities) settlements in the vast majority of published materials. But that isn’t representative of the world. Orcs are a core species, and in most settings a group of orcs will avoid human settlements and visit orc settlements instead. Reskin your adventure as appropriate.

Player characters are exceptional. This is a core assumption of D&D. 8% of the population are not warlocks. 9% are not tieflings. The people who populate the planet in no way resemble a party of adventurers.

In addition, a core assumption for any D&D setting is that new PC species will be added. So the appearance of a species that no one has ever heard of before must be a common enough occurrence to pass without drawing much attention. “So, you call yourself a womble do you? Pleased to meet you - we have a monster that needs slaying.”

 

[Remathilis]

And yet, every single D&D setting does EXACTLY that. Oh, look, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, on and on... we have a majority of humans, then elves, then dwarves, then halfings and gnomes. Gee, almost directly pulled from the PHB. Yup, you have the odd "monstrous" states like Pomarj or various parts of Forgotten Realms, but, overall? Pulled straight from the PHB.

Part of the issue is that old demihuman design paradigm where the classic PC races got homelands and monsters spring up from the ground already patrolling dungeons. And even then, gnomes, halflings and sometimes dwarves get the short end of the stick (pun intended) when it comes to having full nations. I think I can count on one hand the number of gnome nations. Primarily, humans and elves get full nations with dwarves getting isolated mountain holds, and then everyone else gets the equivalent of scattered villages. Their are exceptions (Mystara, Krynn and Eberron being the biggest examples) I will admit.

The one reversal from the Spellplague I wish wasn't undone was the Dragonborn nation from Abeir coming over whole cloth and replacing Unthur. Yes it was hamfisted, but I liked the Dragonborn being aliens who came over and were stranded on a new world and had to navigate nation building over again in a familiar homeland with unfamiliar neighbors. Undoing that forced them back into "scattered tribes and villages" trope.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

upon deciding to play a dragonborn or an Aasimar, you weren't immediately forced to be from "far away parts"

Aasimar aren't from anywhere. They exist because some dirty deity got up to some hanky panky with someone's distant ancestor (Zeus, stop pretending to be a shower of gold, I know it's you). There is no land of the aasimars.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Personally, what I would like, is a book where the setting is outlined in a small number of pages, similar to the DMG but a number of more detailed locations for each setting, accompanied by a bunch of one-page adventures.
May themed about some adventure premise. Perhaps a low level planar portal based adventures with a number of prime and planar locations with adventures and maps.

Exactly.
When I saw those MtG mini-settings my mind immediately went to Stargate and have my players explore them all. You have a 350-page Book of Settings you can get a lot of mileage out of that with future supplements and DMsGuild content.

 

[Parmandur]

Personally, what I would like, is a book where the setting is outlined in a small number of pages, similar to the DMG but a number of more detailed locations for each setting, accompanied by a bunch of one-page adventures.
May themed about some adventure premise. Perhaps a low level planar portal based adventures with a number of prime and planar locations with adventures and maps.

I would love a sequel to the Radiant Citadel that gave a treatment to the individual Settings similar to Adventures in Faerûn: give us a low prep series of one pagers thwt allows for full Campaigns or mix and match campaigns across the worlds tied to the Citadel.

 

[Yaarel]

I'm saying that every D&D setting is based on the PHB. When you look at communities where the PC's are likely to either start from, or go to, they are pretty much comprised of the PHB races. The settings are built on the PHB races. Since we now have a couple more PHB races than we did before, then a 2024 D&D setting should incorporate those new races, in the same way that all the other settings have incorporated the PHB races.

D&D settings can be diverse. The purest D&D setting is DM homebrew. Adding or removing a species for a particular setting is D&D.

D&D 2024 added species to core. Whether Human or Elf, or Awsimar or Gnome, is in play depends on the setting.

If the goal of a particular setting is to situate every player option in the 2024 Players Handbook, that is understandable . "D&D" is much more than this.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Well, if it was to me, I think a DnD 5 setting would indeed support some cosmopolitian places where all the PHB species (and even some from expanded rules perhaps) have homes.

Maybe the setting could be based on the discovery of a new continent and people from the Old Nations are migrating to this new continent, seeking new opportunities. (Maybe it's not continents, but other material planes or whatever, but I prefer continents), or escaping war, famine or other calamities in their home world. Maybe the new home is also the home of lost civilizations, but definitely also full of monsters and dangers, so ripe for adventure, and people that go out into the unknown are needed.

The settlements and early nations that are formed hail from all all the species/ancestries. They haven't all forgotten their roots, but maybe they are a bit ambivalent of them - they are going away for a reason - and they are learning to work together, and they start getting more and more distant from their origin countries. But there is also plenty of source for conflicts, no one wants to miss out on the opportunities that are waiting out there.

 

[Maxperson]

Well, if it was to me, I think a DnD 5 setting would indeed support some cosmopolitian places where all the PHB species (and even some from expanded rules perhaps) have homes.

Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, Planescape, Ravenloft, Eberron, Exandria... I'm tired of official cosmopolitan settings where all the races have homes.

Give me something more unique, where they don't all live. Where the rules of play are slightly different for setting reasons.