D&D 5E 3 Classic Settings Coming To 5E?

On the D&D Celebration – Sunday, Inside the D&D Studio with Liz Schuh and Ray Winninger, Winninger said that WotC will be shifting to a greater emphasis on settings in the coming years.

This includes three classic settings getting active attention, including some that fans have been actively asking for. He was cagey about which ones, though.

The video below is an 11-hour video, but the information comes in the last hour for those who want to scrub through.



Additionally, Liz Schuh said there would be more anthologies, as well as more products to enhance game play that are not books.

Winninger mentioned more products aimed at the mainstream player who can't spend immense amount of time absorbing 3 tomes.

Ray and Liz confirmed there will be more Magic: The Gathering collaborations.

 

[Mecheon]

But I am leaning to hoping WotC does not do Birthright because MCDM’s 5e Kingdoms and Warfare product is being designed right now and I want it to sell well!

There's a part of my brain that goes "Well, WotC threw their hat into the Greek-themed settings after Odyssey and Arkadia, so....." when I read this. So.... If they were to throw their hat into that ring, Birthright is an obvious "This is where we can throw those sort of rules" thing

I'm still inclined towards Dark Sun, Planescape and Spelljammer as they're huge on the individual flavours, but I'm sticking to Birthright being the wildcard in all of this

 

[Laurefindel]

With the Baldur's Gate III trailer showcasing the illithid nautiloid, so basically Spelljammer is a "must have" on the tabletop for 5e. And if not, then we all better just boycott Wizards of the Coast over epic trolling in the CRPG.

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If WotC take boycott damage for trolling, do they regenerate?

 

[Parmandur]

Wizards has been awfully silent about anything and everything to do with Greyhawk, and given the drama going on with Gail Gygax and folks from the OSR crowd, I'd bet we don't see anything Greyhawk any time soon, if ever.

So I'll just repost what I said on Twitter:

It'll be guides for Mulhorand, The Sea of Fallen Stars, and Shadowdale.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Mordenkein's Time, Tasha's Cauldron...hardly quiet.

 

[Adderwild]

This one is easy.

1. Ravenloft. Already been announced and Wizards has been making a lot of Ravenloft like announcement lately.
2. Spelljammer. They've been dropping a lot of Spelljammer stuff in recent modules and Bulder's Gate 3 has some Spelljammer in there. Plus it allows Wizards to sell more books because it bridges settings. Its been 30 years since the last Spelljammer book and nostalgia alone will sell a ton of books.
3. Dragonlance is out because its not owned by Wizards, but a 3rd party drop, like Wildmount could happen.
4. Greyhawk is exactly like the default setting, Forgotten Realms and can just be reprinted from old editions on DMsGuild.
5. DarkSun would require a completely new PHB and Monsters Manual and is very niche. This makes it cost prohibitive. This makes me sad.
6. Planescape is possible and would finally give us more planer stuff. It also bridges settings which would sell more books. The problem is that Spelljammer does too, and I doubt they'd want two settings that serve the same function.
7. Birthright became Eberron. So no.
8. Forgotten Realms. The Sword Coast Adventures Guide (SCAG) was a rushed garbage book with bad mechanics and very little content. Now that the SCAG is no longer Adventure's League legal, they are going to want a book for their default setting.

My bet for the three settings:
-Ravenloft
-SpellJammer
-Forgotten Realms

My reasoning is because these three have the highest Return on Investment. TSR would just rush to print 50 supplements a year and they went bankrupt because of it. Wizards is far more focused on profits and not just niche desires.

 

[Adderwild]

Darksun, Dragon lance, Greyhawk, Plane Scape, Spell Jammers and Ravenloft come to mind for classic settings. At least if they go for the popular ones. Picking only three will be difficult. My bet would be Darksun (psionics), Plane Scape (planes can be associated with any setting after all) and the last is anybody's guess. I wish for Greyhawk but the others are just as likely.

DarkSun would require a new Player's Handbook, and all new Monster's Manual just for that setting. They couldn't sell enough copies to justify releasing any Dark Sun products. I like Dark Sun too, but it just isn't happening.

 

[Adderwild]

I would say Dark Sun and Planescape will definitely happen. Past that, I'd say it's between Dragonlance or Greyhawk.
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Dark Sun would require a new PHB, and Monster's Manual. Dragonlance isn't owned by Wizards. Greyhawk is too similar to the default Forgotten Realms and can be printed on the DMsguild from old editions since it has no unique 5e mechanics.

 

[Parmandur]

DarkSun would require a new Player's Handbook, and all new Monster's Manual just for that setting. They couldn't sell enough copies to justify releasing any Dark Sun products. I like Dark Sun too, but it just isn't happening.

Not really, one book like Rising from the Last War would suffice.

 

[Nikosandros]

Dragonlance is owned by WotC. I don't know where the idea that WotC doesn't have the full rights to all Dragonlance IP comes from.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I fully expect these all to be one-off books. One book of high-view setting material, some player-facing material, some monsters, some magic items, perhaps a short adventure. This is what they've done for Ravnica, this is what they've done for Wildemount, this is what they've done for Eberron.

And thus... if they are doing "classic settings", they are going to do the three that have the most opportunities for the other stuff than just the high-view setting material. With that thinking, what makes the most sense to me is Planescape / Spelljammer... essentially 5E's version of the Manual of the Planes. There would be a section about Sigil, there would be a lot of talk about spelljammer ships and space-faring between planes, and you'd have all the DM material for monsters, magic and the like. And Tasha's Cauldron has been going all-in on player-facing material related to the various planes, so it connects up to it.

Second one would be Dark Sun. Again, Tasha's begins the delve into psionics and Dark Sun would follow up on it. It is also the setting (like Eberron) that has already gone through a recent update for 4E, and thus has a much larger footprint in the D&D gaming populace. Writers for D&D have already written and designed for Dark Sun in the last decade and thus the ideas and concepts are still relatively fresh in people's minds, as it the art design. It also doesn't hurt that the new Dune movie will be coming out in 2021, with potentially the second one a couple years after that, so desert adventuring has some standing in pop culture.

Third one? Honestly I think it has to be Greyhawk. It is the original D&D setting, and if we're talking 40th Anniversary of D&D stuff, I don't see how they would ever choose something else. Now yes, I understand the complaint that it's "too vanilla, like the Realms"... but that would only matter if they were going to do a full line of setting product. But they aren't. They'll do a single book. And if you are going to do a single "classic setting" book, I just honestly cannot see how they would ever choose Dragonlance or Ravenloft over Greyhawk (and I'm not even considering Birthright or Mystara.) I mean look at everything they have released for 5E... whenever they offer up things from the various settings-- like lists of gods, locations where adventures can be set, heckm even the names of products-- Greyhawk is front and center. Finally, you add in the fact that Mike Mearls is one of the biggest fans and has recently moved back over to the design team but we haven't heard one hint of what he's been actually doing... gives me the belief that there is a potential for a true blue fan spear-heading the design. We had Keith Baker as Eberron's champion through Rising's process... Mearls would be Greyhawk's.

 

[whimsychris123]

Dark Sun would require a new PHB, and Monster's Manual. Dragonlance isn't owned by Wizards. Greyhawk is too similar to the default Forgotten Realms and can be printed on the DMsguild from old editions since it has no unique 5e mechanics.

I don't agree that Dark Sun would require more than one book, and the idea that WotC doesn't own Dragonlance is factually wrong. And honestly, I don't care how "generic fantasy" a setting might be. If there's demand, then WotC will produce it.