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.

 

[Reynard]

The way you are all ignoring Jakandor is just proof of its inevitable release.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Indeed! I'm sure there are all sorts of NDA's floating out there about Wizards' upcoming products. That being said, that statement is the last recorded official one, and anything else remains speculation. Not that I wouldn't love to see Hickman and Weis involved in some new Dragonlance content.

You mean like the explosive popularity of 5E? That quote is from the beginning of 5E and very few people, if any, could have seen the way 5E has taken off.

 

[Hatmatter]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but:

Spelljammer is dumb.

Obviously, I kid. But boy do I hope they give it a major makeover and tie it to planar travel rather than crystal spheres and phlogiston. Sail the Astral Sea, fighting off dreadnaughts and Githyanki pirates is so much more appealing to me than pseudo-Victorian "sci-fi" (in the loosest sense of the term).

But, weirldy, WotC has not been returning the angry voicemails I have been leaving, so they will probably keep it dumb just to spite me personally.

I like it.

 

[Hatmatter]

To be fair, I think Dark Sun is a longshot for this exact reason. A lot of DS fans claim they don't want "Forgotten Realms in the desert" and will very heavily push back on perceived changes to the Lore. There was a big outcry about 4e's vision of Athas allowing too much magic and new options (like tieflings). I also don't think WotC would be to interested in or successful selling a book that reads like a DM's ban list, including much of the PHB, just to satisfy the hardcore fans.

My gut feeling tells me the opposite. I think they are at the point where they are comfortable stretching their legs a bit with the game. They aren't out anything by publishing a book that severely limits standard options while presenting other ones. I mean if they want to say no Dragonborn (merely an example) or whatnot, they can...there are presently many settings wherein a character can play a Dragonborn. They did not seem troubled by limiting many racial options for Theros...it was the correct call and they made it and the book is quite good. I think Dark Sun will be out within 18 months. We can compare notes then and see who was more correct. Call me crazy, but I trust the creative folks at Wizards to handle Dark Sun correctly.

I also think (and hope) a Spelljammer is coming. That is a crazy evocative and super fun milieu in which to run adventures. I did it a lot back in the 1990s and it never got old.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Crazy theory: Does '3 settings' necessarily mean '3 products'?

I'd say Dark Sun is a pretty safe bet for one, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do a Spelljammer/Planescape hybridization that 'technically' counts as both while being a single product or branding item.

 

[Staffan]

Dark Sun just isn't happening. Its just not profitable and to do it right, would require a lot of reworking of existing classes and mechanics, and monsters. Something that is not easily fit into a 300 page book.

The original Dark Sun box consisted of:

Rules book: 96 pages covering new/modified races and classes, new proficiencies, what monsters from then-published materials were appropriate, changes to magic, and assorted other rules stuff.
The Wanderer's Journal: Another 96 pages of mostly "fluff", but with some new monsters at the end.
A Little Knowledge: Split into three parts, the first being a 16-page book that's mostly a short story but also has two pages of monsters and an explanation of how the flip-book adventure format works, a 24-page half-size book of player handouts, and another 24-page half-size book of the actual intro adventure.
Two poster maps: one of the Tyr region (double-sided, color on one side and black & white hex grid on the other) and another of the city of Tyr.

While you definitely saved a bunch of pages by also requiring the Complete Psionics Handbook instead of including psionics rules, the idea that you wouldn't be able to do something similar in 320 pages today is ridiculous.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but:

Spelljammer is dumb.

Some people like the Forge "threefold model" of gamist/simulationist/narrativist RPG design. Personally, I prefer the retro/stupid/pretentious model. And I fully admit that Spelljammer hits a complete bull's eye in the "stupid" part of that. That's why I love it.

Now, you can add some "pretentious" to the Spelljammer cocktail to make it more serious, but that should be something used sparingly. I think the stupid probably works when it's Pratchettian in nature – the people of Discworld don't see their world as humorous, it's only we who do that. The same should go for Spelljammer.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Some people like the Forge "threefold model" of gamist/simulationist/narrativist RPG design. Personally, I prefer the retro/stupid/pretentious model. And I fully admit that Spelljammer hits a complete bull's eye in the "stupid" part of that. That's why I love it.

Now, you can add some "pretentious" to the Spelljammer cocktail to make it more serious, but that should be something used sparingly. I think the stupid probably works when it's Pratchettian in nature – the people of Discworld don't see their world as humorous, it's only we who do that. The same should go for Spelljammer.

I think the embracing of some silliness in Spelljammer was closer to the goofy antics of most D&D table play style. It recognized the gonzo going on at many D&D tables and didn’t hide from it. It was too much for some who wanted their D&D to be serious business and no silly.

But 5e did get a Giff!

 

[Mecheon]

2e Dark Sun and 4e Dark Sun are both good settings. They're just different settings. Don't let the name confuse you.

I mean, they're the same setting, its just 4E Dark Sun knew where to stop and also not to kill off all of its villains in novels.

But, I think people are overestimating how much needs to be done in a Dark Sun book.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

While 100 pages was a generous prediction on how many pages all the player material for races and classes would be in a Dark Sun book, I think it's closer to 60 pages needed, even if that included a full Psion class writeup. The Psion if it's in such a book is going to be using spells just like many other classes, and maybe it needs about 30 new spells, but it would also use existing spells like Charm Person, Telekinesis or Hallucinatory Terrain.

 

[Staffan]

While 100 pages was a generous prediction on how many pages all the player material for races and classes would be in a Dark Sun book, I think it's closer to 60 pages needed, even if that included a full Psion class writeup. The Psion if it's in such a book is going to be using spells just like many other classes, and maybe it needs about 30 new spells, but it would also use existing spells like Charm Person, Telekinesis or Hallucinatory Terrain.

Yeah, I did a thought (heh) experiment a while ago about using the sorcerer chassis for a psion, and I came to the conclusion that while it would suffice for a psion, I don't think there is enough psi-like stuff in the PHB spell lists to make a class with plenty of breadth. But you could certainly use it if you were to, say, "fake" a psion for a one-shot or something.

I just hope they don't go overboard on the far realm-related stuff for psionics. 2e and 3e psionics were fairly "clean", and that's what the main two settings where psionics features (Dark Sun and Eberron) is based on. While I can certainly appreciate aberrant beings using psionics, that should not be the main thing defining psychic stuff.