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.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Which is the very point of the argument--Curse of Strahd, whatever its merits (I found it unimpressive on a readthrough), is not in 'continuity' with the 2E or 3E incarnations of the setting. For most people, that doesn't matter, but there are a few of us who prefer the earlier to the latter, and it shouldn't be considered 'the same' when it isn't.

I'm sorry to be the first to break this to you, but "continuity" is not a thing in D&D. Every edition the cosmology and organization of the settings is revised, and things previously "canon" are suddenly not.

Take for example, Asmodeus. Every edition his origins seem to change; sometimes he is a fallen angel, other times he was a scaled snake called Ahriman, and whether-or-not he's a god constantly shifts with little explanation.

So if you are truly trying to find what is "canon" (and I do not recommend this, as canon has little meaning in D&D) only material that is published in 5E is worth taken seriously; everything published before has dubious accuracy in "canon" terms.

 

[Aldarc]

I can't speak for Ath-kethin's advisor, but there is a series of YouTube videos that discusses some the issues.

Much appreciated.

 

[The Glen]

There's 7 settings left that aren't in the guild. They've all got strengths and weaknesses. Some are far more likely than others, for various reasons.

Birthright: The Kingdom Manager Setting

• Unique playstyle with you leading actual kingdoms from the start.
• Western style while avoiding being the kitchen sink that the Forgotten Realms is notorious for.

• Missing several races that are core in PHB
• Not a popular setting as it came during the TSR Death Spiral and have the unenvious task of replacing Greyhawk and Mystara

Dark Sun: The Post-Apoc setting.

• Very distinctive style
• Adds a level of difficulty many players enjoy
• One of the few settings supported in 4th edition so better known that most.

• Lacking several PHB races as a major plot point
• Contains numerous themes that WOTC is shying away from like slavery and genocide
• 5E can't seem to get psionics right, which is a major point of the setting.

Dragonlance: The Epic Quest Setting

• One of the most popular D&D settings of all time
• Numerous races got their influence from Dragonlance
• Heavily supported in past versions

• Missing numerous PHB races
• Outside the War of the Lance the setting has been a bit stagnant.
• Has Kender

Greyhawk: The Gritty Setting

• One of the best-known settings.
• Vibes with the popularity of more grounded stories like Game of Thrones before it got bad.
• Huge back catalog of adventures

• People have a hard time distinguishing it from Forgotten Realms
• Reputation for being stagnant

Mystara: The Exploration and World Building Setting

• 3 settings in one with the Red Steel and Hollow World additions
• Second largest supported setting behind Forgotten Realms, including numerous classic modules
• Very well known because of the Capcom video game

• Not considered on equal terms as the other settings by WOTC
• Countries are based on real-world equivalents, something that has offended people in other settings.
• Missing several PHB races or replaces them with their own distinctive version

Planescape: The Interplanar Setting

• Offers a diverse style of gameplay the likes of which no other setting can even approach.
• Renowned for its superb worldbuilding and backstory.
• Offers a way for crossovers all over the Multiverse without making it seem forced.

• Can be a little too weird for people just wanting a regular game.
• The Faction War nuke ruined the setting for a lot of people.

Spelljammer: The Ships in Space Setting.

• Unique and memorable theme
• Easy for crossovers
• Popular between old and new players

• Theme can get repetitive quickly
• Too similar to Planescape for theme, and nowhere near as supported as Planescape
• Can get too silly for some players.

 

[Staffan]

While it's not particularly likely to happen with any of the "upcoming three", one thing I'd love to see would be a fire-and-forget setting that's basically designed to run a single campaign which then irreparably changes the nature of that setting. Original Dragonlance would sort of fit with this – I'm not super familiar with DL, but my understanding is that the world is a very different place after the War of the Lance. This would allow them to have a campaign that truly goes epic, without having to worry about the setting still being usable afterward. Other big adventures are usually either about relatively small-scale stuff or about either preventing something from happening or restoring a lost status quo.

The only D&D example I've seen of something like that would be Odyssey of the Dragonlords, which presents a setting where a prophecy is about to come to fruition and the PCs find themselves in the middle of these things.

 

[OB1]

@The Glen re: the issue of supported races in some of the settings, I do think it's telling that MOoT heavily restricts available races, so I don't think that would be a mark against the possibility of an update.

I think Dragonlance makes more sense as a large AP (maybe 2-3 books?) than a setting, for the exact reason that it's best played as an epic quest. I'd also say that Planescape/Spelljammer could be shoved together into one Gonzo setting, for those (like me) who enjoy wild and weird. Greyhawk checks both gritty and nostalgia, and so could be a good fit for the 50th anniversary.

 

[The Glen]

@The Glen re: the issue of supported races in some of the settings, I do think it's telling that MOoT heavily restricts available races, so I don't think that would be a mark against the possibility of an update.

You're not going to find me arguing against excluding races from settings. What you leave out is just as important as what you put in. But for some people it's a deal-breaker. Of the seven mentioned above, of the four settings that aren't catch-alls only Greyhawk has drow. Dragonlance, Mystara and Birthright don't have them. From my experience writing Mystara that's a major no-no. Every setting has to have every option or you're doing it wrong. Even if you explain that the race/class isn't a good fit. For Mystara it already has the gurral, cammas, kazzak, wallaru, sis-thik and carnifex as humanoid reptilian races. Makes the Dragonborn redundant. But I've gotten pushback for mentioning that.

 

[whimsychris123]

Dragonlance: The Epic Quest Setting

• One of the most popular D&D settings of all time
• Numerous races got their influence from Dragonlance
• Heavily supported in past versions
• Missing numerous PHB races
• Outside the War of the Lance the setting has been a bit stagnant.
• Has Kender

Kender as a drawback? I think not, sir!

Dragonlance has many flaws. Chiefly among them being that the setting is so closely tied to the novels that it would be difficult to feel like you aren't side characters of a bigger story. The setting is also a bit...how do I put this delicately...cheesy.

That said, if Dragonlance became a published setting for 5e for which we could design things in the DMs Guild, I would be over the moon happy and feel like a kid again. It's the one I hope they choose.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

It's possible you know more about all this than I do; my statements are based on observation rather than data.

It's true that the 1e-2e change had no novelization, but then the official 2e DL setting was the new Taladas.

I find it challenging to believe that Weis & Hickman proposed a new trilogy that ended with the Chaos War and TSR brass took that as inspiration to plan the whole SAGA system, but I suppose it's possible.

War Of Souls was clearly a means of "fixing" the SAGA misstep and returning Dragonlance to the D&D fold. Again, it's possible that the story idea came from Weis & Hickman and WotC brass fell in step, but I find that challenging to believe. Especially since Weis & Hickman were only ever "in control" of the stories during the DL Legends series AFAIK, which had no in-game tie in.

Again, I haven't even asked Margaret Weis about all this (which would be easy enough to do, honestly), but it's a remarkably consistent pattern that fits the data at least from a longtime customer's viewpoint.

War of Souls was definitely driven by Weis and Hickman. Hickman was the one who came up with the "fix" (Takhisis stealing the world) and changed several elements of then current DL to conform to his new idea.

• Khellendros goes from being a DL native dragon (SAGA and AD&D) to another alien dragon-like the rest of the overlords.
• Mina's character arc is completely rewritten (Ask Steve Miller what happened there).
• The dragon overlords go from being gorgeous and awe-inspiring creatures to disgusting abominations (Beryl is compared to maggots at one stage).
• Palin was never Master of the White Robes. (In SAGA he was, just before the dissolution of the Orders of High Sorcery, as well as Master of the Conclave)
• Sorcery is destructive, corrupting magic (In SAGA it was the natural ambient magic of the world).
• Lord Soth randomly is in Nightlund and still ruling it despite the SAGA material saying the place was abandoned and Soth nowhere to be seen.
• The Shadow Sorcerer is revealed to be Takhisis (in SAGA material it was very strongly suggested the Shadow Sorcerer was Malys. I guess that's not technically a contradiction).

I've left out things that could be just a progression of the timeline (Sorcery suddenly failing, for example). Point is the novels have driven Dragonlance rather than the gaming material for a long time, probably since Dragonlance: Legends was published. SAGA wasn't mandating the world get blown up in Summer Flame - Weis and Hickman did that, and then the RPG team tried to pick up the pieces.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

It's true that the 1e-2e change had no novelization, but then the official 2e DL setting was the new Taladas.

Only for a few years, before the Tales of the Lance (1992) which moved it back to Ansalon.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Mystara has got Red Steel/Savage Coast(pirates and mutants) and Hollow World (dinosaurs and ancient civilitations) and it was known by more people thanks Capcom's arcades.

If my suspects about a "multiverse crisis event" were true, then we could find with a retcon or reboot of all the D&D worlds, for example allowing opened doors to PC races and base classes.

Maybe there is a good reason to explain the "reboot" of Ravenloft, a time-loop caused by the dark powers, and even some troubles because some dark-lords could send other people for time-travel.

UA had got some playtesting about subclasses linked with the planes, and I guess this could be a clue of Planescape returning before Spelljammer.

The faction war was ended in Sigil by order of the Lady of the Pain but we should rebember the gate-towns.

Spelljammer offers monster and PC races, and then I guess the sourcebook would be like other monster compedium. Hasbro would dare to publish a mobile videogame based in this line. I wouldn't dimiss planewalkers from Magic: the Gathering causing troubles in Spelljammer. The crystal spheres could allow a reason to explain where certain races come from.