WotC Why WotC SHOULD Make A New Setting

Whizbang Dustyboots · 2026-03-28T17:30:53+0000

Frozen_Heart said:
Nerath has always been my favorite core setting, but I feel it goes directly against what a modern audience wants. Modern DnD is bright, high magic, well populated, and cosmopolitan.

Nerath was by definition a 'points of light' setting, where civilisation is a guttering flame which could go out any minute.

I love grim and gritty settings, and it's partially why i have no interest in forgotten realms. But that's not the direction in which modern dnd is going in.

Why not put them on different continents on the same world? That way groups could move between the two tones (with difficulty) if they wanted something different.

Paul Farquhar · 2026-03-28T17:56:38+0000

Frozen_Heart said:
Nerath has always been my favorite core setting, but I feel it goes directly against what a modern audience wants. Modern DnD is bright, high magic, well populated, and cosmopolitan.

Nerath was by definition a 'points of light' setting, where civilisation is a guttering flame which could go out any minute.

I love grim and gritty settings, and it's partially why i have no interest in forgotten realms. But that's not the direction in which modern dnd is going in.

More significantly, it has minimal brand recognition.

Remathilis · 2026-03-28T18:05:57+0000

Paul Farquhar said:
More significantly, it has minimal brand recognition.

From a purely gamist perspective, it would have been a good choice if for nothing more than being a fairly modern take on D&D tropes and would be wide enough to fit everything into it.

From a marketing perspective, Forgotten Realms all day long.

The problem is that the Realms can only be expanded so much before it breaks. A lesson 4e's version learned and the current Forgotten Realms book just manages to skirt. There just isn't enough room left for a dragonborn nation or widespread warforged production. Which is why stealing the best from it to give to a Nerath like over setting would have been a better solution.

But i know that none of that is happening, so we'll keep playing in a bunch of fractured worlds rather than a unified setting.

Paul Farquhar · 2026-03-28T18:36:42+0000

Remathilis said:
There just isn't enough room left for a dragonborn nation or widespread warforged production

There is still a completely unexplored continent on the other side of the planet (not XXXX, that was Discworld). Plus the rest of Realmspace, which could be considered part of the same setting. And I don’t think anyone has conclusively proven that Toril isn’t hollow!

LuisCarlos17f · 2026-03-28T19:12:38+0000

Nentir Vale/Nerrath was designed intentionally to be a sandbox. If you wanted you could have add more planets in its wildspace. And it had got a lot of "Warcraft" vibes. I don't mean this was wrong but..

A new setting by professional creators can't be only a "theme park". It has to be source of inspiration for multiple stories and these can't be too linked to one main group of heroes.

Urban fantasy is an option but a right worldbuilding should allow more options. For example "World of Darkness" is mainly "Urban Fantasy" but other places for adventures are also possible.

A new setting needs its own setting of identity. It is like the lot of MMORPGs that there are in the videogame market. Several years after a lot are closed. Why should I play this instead that? Stop to think a moment. What are the most popular videogames franchises whose IPs created less five years ago? And we are talking about videogame industry, where more people are hired for profesional worldbuilding. Why should I pay for the worldbuilding when I can create a homemade mash-up borrowing from different fandom wikis as source of inspiration? Even we could ask some AI to design the setting.

RuinousPowers · 2026-03-28T19:31:20+0000

Ed Greenwood wrote about Elminister, Mordenkainen, and Dalamar visiting him at his house, thus Krynn, Oerth, and the FR are all part of the same Urban Fantasy extended universe.

doctorbadwolf · 2026-03-28T19:31:55+0000

Frozen_Heart said:
Nerath has always been my favorite core setting, but I feel it goes directly against what a modern audience wants. Modern DnD is bright, high magic, well populated, and cosmopolitan.

Nerath was by definition a 'points of light' setting, where civilisation is a guttering flame which could go out any minute.

I love grim and gritty settings, and it's partially why i have no interest in forgotten realms. But that's not the direction in which modern dnd is going in.

As someone who loves bright worlds and cosmopolitan worlds, i disagree.

I think PoL-Land would sell really well, because while it is "dark" in between the points of light, those points of light represent and present a world the player characters can strive to protect and even expand. It is not a world where hope is in short supply, but a world where both hope and danger are in high supply.

It is also a world wherein some of the "dark" isn't even evil, it is just wild, and even the Shadow can be heroic or evil, as can civilization. Thst diversity of moral quality in each segment of the world is, i think, a huge positive for the modern audience.

Scribe · 2026-03-28T19:32:05+0000

RuinousPowers said:
Ed Greenwood wrote about Elminister, Mordenkainen, and Dalamar visiting him at his house, thus Krynn, Oerth, and the FR are all part of the same Urban Fantasy extended universe.

lol I reject this completely, the multiverse is a flawed concept that really doesnt improve anything.