D&D 5E Any story/flavor tweaks you'd like to see?

[Mouseferatu]

Now that we have a vague sense of the rules, there are certain story details I'd really like to see changed. For instance:

1) I want Vecna back as a fearful ancient lich who may or may not still exist; not as a god.

2) I'd like to see Eberron kept separate from the Great Wheel cosmology.

3) I'd like to see the differences between settings (FR, Greyhawk, Eberron, etc) emphasized, not smoothed out.

4) GIVE ME BACK ANTHRAXUS!!!!!!!

Ahem.

I'm sure others will occur to me, but... Any overall story/lore tweaks you'd like to see?

 

[Abstruse]

I'm pretty sure Eberron will be part of the wheel, or at least part of Planescape considering various things (bring back Chris Avellone and Colin McComb!!).

Frankly, I just want my Ravenloft back...with Ari Marmell at the helm...and I will be championing that personally. By which I mean harassing Mike relentlessly until it happens...

 

[Mouseferatu]

It's just, Eberron's unique cosmology is integral to the setting, IMO. Putting it in the same planar setup as all the other settings was one thing I didn't care for in 4E.

As for the Ravenloft part, no comment.

 

[Savage Wombat]

As for the Ravenloft part, no comment.

Ooh... is this a paying gig, perchance?

 

[Mouseferatu]

I don't want to give people the wrong idea. My "No comment" wasn't meant to be any sort of hint that this is happening.

It was more, "I would like it to happen, but I'm distancing myself from any potential annoying of Mike."

ETA: Besides, I'm doing a lot more fiction these days. I'd love to develop (or just be involved in) a new RL line, but it could prove tricky to schedule.

 

[Raduin711]

I want lots of inspired campaign settings like 2nd edition had.

While new classes are great to make players salivate, I think lots of unique settings are ideal to inspire potential GM's.

3rd and 4th I think they were a little too careful to make their settings samey so a given adventure module could be played with any of the established settings. "How to play this module in forgotten realms and not Dark Sun"... bleh! Make more modules, make more settings!

 

[GX.Sigma]

I want lots of inspired campaign settings like 2nd edition had.

While new classes are great to make players salivate, I think lots of unique settings are ideal to inspire potential GM's.

3rd and 4th I think they were a little too careful to make their settings samey so a given adventure module could be played with any of the established settings. "How to play this module in forgotten realms and not Dark Sun"... bleh! Make more modules, make more settings!

I have a feeling it'll be like the movie industry: WotC will stick to big-budget, mainstream, lowest-common-denominator adventure paths, and smaller companies will be more diverse/specialized.

 

[Shemeska]

2) I'd like to see Eberron kept separate from the Great Wheel cosmology.

I'm completely with you on this one.

Eberron was designed from the outset with its own unique planar structure, and it was never intended to fit into the Great Wheel, so out of respect for that setting I think it would be a poor idea to force it to comply to a different cosmology (be it the 4e World Axis, or the Great Wheel).

 

[Shemeska]

2e/3.x tieflings in their spectacular diversity need to be presented as the standard, default notion of what tieflings are, and the 4e tiefling should be presented as a specific, true-breeding subrace thereof, much like fey'ri were a specific breed of elven tiefling. The playtest idea of presenting the 4e race as tieflings and the 2e/3e tieflings under a different name as "planetouched" needs to be quietly swept under the carpet, especially given that planetouched in 2e/3e itself referred to other races besides tieflings (aasimar, genasi, etc). It risks confusing people and it's avoidable.

Similarly it would be awesome to see some of the other planetouched races such as genasi and aasimar be presented as faithfully to their roots (and the bulk of their publication history and word count) as possible, and where appropriate to present 4e versions as optional variants or subtypes.

5e has the chance to really leverage the D&D specific IP in its various campaign settings, especially when there's the option to link them together 2e-style. You're going to be judged against how 2e implemented the same idea however, and some seriously imaginative giants in the field crafted that particular playground, building upon what 1e started with the MotP and elsewhere. Know that material and bring in folks that worked on it in the first place or that cherish it. There is little that I wouldn't do to be able to play in a 5e Sigil, or play around with 5e yugoloths as a freelancer. Just saying.

 

[Abstruse]

I don't want to give people the wrong idea. My "No comment" wasn't meant to be any sort of hint that this is happening.

It was more, "I would like it to happen, but I'm distancing myself from any potential annoying of Mike."

ETA: Besides, I'm doing a lot more fiction these days. I'd love to develop (or just be involved in) a new RL line, but it could prove tricky to schedule.

Also, back when Ari was on my podcast, we talked about how Ravenloft was his White Whale of game design, aaaaalmost getting to work on it multiple times.

Plus I want Ravenloft and can't think of anyone better to work on it!!

I also want Jim Butcher to reboot Dragonlance (there's enough timetravel tomfoolery in that setting to justify it). This was something that was in the works and Butcher had worked on some notes, but when he found out that neither Hickman nor Weis were consulted, he dropped out. Apparently, he was going to base Raistlin on Dr. Gregory House.