D&D 5E Campaign settings in 5e

[Knightfall]

I want to see the return of both Planescape and Spelljammer. I want them to get full overhauls from a mechanics point-of-view, especially the monsters for the two settings. Perhaps a single monster book for each setting ala the Dark Sun monster book for 4E -- but meatier. Don't do these setting right away, however. Yes, give us a Manual of the Planes, but take a long view approach to both settings. Fit in the classic worlds and an option to include Eberron.

And I want Mystara back. A full revival of the world and all it entails. WotC needs to go all out for this one. Do the research. Study the setting. Ask the fans. Playtest the hell out of the world. Give fans the option to playtest the mechanics of the world. Keep the setting's uniqueness including the Hollow World.

I also vote for a Birthright refresh even though I didn't get into it during the 2E era. A great setting to build large-scale warfare rules around. Major playtest should have several releases before the main book/boxed set is available. Will create a buzz for the world. Re-release the novels for the setting along with new books written by the best writers.

Greyhawk needs to get redone. Start from the beginning. Reboot the world as Gygax first envisioned and then provide options to add on to the world with material from later releases. Make it glorious. New fiction needs to be written. Make its re-release a major event. The revised setting must take into account the Chainmail setting. Another region to use for the playtest of large-scale warfare rules. Perhaps start the playtest of the rules with Greyhawk and then fine tune the system for release with Birthright.

Even though I love both Dragonlance and Dark Sun, don't do them right away. Those settings need to be playtested a lot. The same goes for Ravenloft. Build a new version of Ravenloft that takes all D&D worlds into consideration.

A new campaign world: Give us something new for 5E. Go all out. Create the next great D&D world that will blow everyone away.
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Wildcards: Al-Qadim, Council of Wyrms, Ghostwalk, Jakandor, Maztica, Nerath, and Kara-Tur. One core book for each of these settings might be enough. Design the FR sub-settings with other worlds in mind. Don't limit the placement of the settings to Toril. Since the previous Oriental Adventures books are such iconic references, 5E should likely have a rules-based OA sourcebook.

Wildcard 2: Redo the idea of a historical setting based on Earth. Combine all the 2E historical books into a single campaign option. Playtest the hell out of it. Let the fans playtest it too. Given options for making the world more magical. Could be a basis for developing a 5E version of Urban Arcana, or something similar.

 

[Charles Wright]

I would also like to see setting books that are generic but give you options to use on a theme (much like they did with "Heroes of Horror").

 

[carmachu]

For example, I would like to see them ape Pathfinder's approach. Paizo release 2 APs a year, if one AP isn't your cup of tea, you'll only be out 6 months before the next one (and two back to back APs are usually very thematically different).

Gods no, please don't ape paizo's AP release. Some of the AP's are swing and misses. I'd rather spend more time on adventures and settings. Some of their products feel rushed.

I would like it if Wotc would release their settings and support them on a 6th month basis, so for the first 6 months, its all forgotten realms, campaign setting, player's guide, monsters and adventures. Forgotten realms not your bag? No problem, Greyhawk is only 6 months away. When they finally do all their settings, they could rotate back round with new material and adventures and such.

How would you guys like it done?

Each of those settings are just as big and wide as paizo's. Right now it looks like FR is the star of the show. Lets see what happens there before they start bouncing from setting to setting.

 

[Mercurius]

Touche sir, that is indeed what I asked. Perhaps I should have put a qualifier in the op about how one wold want it done were they in the "hot seat", factoring in market place realities.

Otherwise my my original proposal for how I would like it to be done would be thus:

"campaign box sets for all! Featuring maps, booklets and lots of other trinkets. Yes they are back!!!"

"Factoing in market place realities" makes it a very different question. And I like your would-have-been proposal of box sets for all...I mean, why not?

To me it is an interesting question: If WotC were going to produce a deluxe box set say for $50 of X campaign setting, how many sales would they get? I mean, if it were Greyhawk, couldn't they manage 10-20K sales? At least? Certainly Spelljammer or Birthright would be on the low-end and maybe not worth it from a market place point of view.

One of the reasons, though, that I think they should focus on--go all in on--a new setting is that I have a hard time imagining WotC designers getting uber excited about the Realms or Dragonlance or Greyhawk, and a vibrant setting needs excitement. Why not create something new and get excited about that? That would better succeed, I think, because writers would be more excited to explore a new domain than to re-hash the old.

Now for me the best-case scenario is both: On one hand, start a "D&D classic worlds" line that updates an old setting maybe once or twice a year, starting with the Forgotten Realms then going to Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Planescape, etc. I imagine a deluxe hardcover or, even better, a box set, would suffice. Maybe some of the lesser known settings could be licensed out.

While that is happening, have a second line which would be detailing a new world, whether Nerath or something else, and doing it in a similar fashion to Golarion - 64-page supplements, starting with a general gazetteer, then exploring different regions, with a big ole' hardcover coming out at some point as a campaign guide.

This isn't what I think will happen, butwhat I want to happen.

 

[transmission89]

Gods no, please don't ape paizo's AP release. Some of the AP's are swing and misses. I'd rather spend more time on adventures and settings. Some of their products feel rushed.



Each of those settings are just as big and wide as paizo's. Right now it looks like FR is the star of the show. Lets see what happens there before they start bouncing from setting to setting.

I didnt mean ape their actual APs. I meant their half yearly focus on products. Like for example, they released Jade Regent, and for those 6months it was coming out, there were other products to support it.

So for example, forgotten realms campaign setting in January, til July, it's forgotten realms all the time, adventures, monsters and support writes ups and stuff, July, kicks off. With the Ravenloft campaign setting release...

 

[transmission89]

"Factoing in market place realities" makes it a very different question. And I like your would-have-been proposal of box sets for all...I mean, why not?

To me it is an interesting question: If WotC were going to produce a deluxe box set say for $50 of X campaign setting, how many sales would they get? I mean, if it were Greyhawk, couldn't they manage 10-20K sales? At least? Certainly Spelljammer or Birthright would be on the low-end and maybe not worth it from a market place point of view.

One of the reasons, though, that I think they should focus on--go all in on--a new setting is that I have a hard time imagining WotC designers getting uber excited about the Realms or Dragonlance or Greyhawk, and a vibrant setting needs excitement. Why not create something new and get excited about that? That would better succeed, I think, because writers would be more excited to explore a new domain than to re-hash the old.

Now for me the best-case scenario is both: On one hand, start a "D&D classic worlds" line that updates an old setting maybe once or twice a year, starting with the Forgotten Realms then going to Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Planescape, etc. I imagine a deluxe hardcover or, even better, a box set, would suffice. Maybe some of the lesser known settings could be licensed out.

While that is happening, have a second line which would be detailing a new world, whether Nerath or something else, and doing it in a similar fashion to Golarion - 64-page supplements, starting with a general gazetteer, then exploring different regions, with a big ole' hardcover coming out at some point as a campaign guide.

This isn't what I think will happen, butwhat I want to happen.

Oo I really like that idea. DnD classic line as well as something new being continuously developed. Shame they probably won't .

 

[77IM]

With the leaked list of the next round of books

Where can I find this list? My google-fu is no match.

I rather like the 4e fire-and forget approach, especially if they combine it with a mega-adventure. That gives DMs enough material to last a while, without Wizards committing to maintain multiple settings long-term.

 

[Mercule]

Greyhawk needs to get redone. Start from the beginning. Reboot the world as Gygax first envisioned and then provide options to add on to the world with material from later releases.

This. A thousand times this. I don't know why, but I've never cared for Forgotten Realms. In many ways, I've accepted that the Realms have become the default setting for the rules, but I'm still unlikely to run a game in that setting. Greyhawk, on the other hand, was really fun. I suspect a lot of that had to do with Gygaxian prose more than the internals of the actual setting, though, so it might not actually work in practice.

There are really a couple levels of support a setting can be given.

Explicit setting - Other games do this, but D&D doesn't. I'm only including it because I think a) it's completely antithetical to D&D and b) trying to support any setting beyond a certain level pulls enough resources from other settings that this becomes a subtle, de facto outcome. For example, if Dungeon publishes generic adventures, and the vast majority of stand-alone modules are set in the Realms, where does that leave the Eberron player?

Implied setting - Gygax did this in 1E very well. They tried it in 3E and it was hit and miss. I really, really want to see an implied setting, though. This is where random PHB/DMG examples come from and where the bulk of modules take place. Even for the Starter Set, I don't think the inclusion of the Realms serves as well as Greyhawk or Nentir Vale would have. That said, the Realms could work, they'd just have to be less "Realms-y". There may be larger maps of the whole thing, but the details are vague (or ignorable) enough that it doesn't matter.

Full support - This is what Forgotten Realms has had since at least 2E: Full campaign sourcebook, multiple regional sourcebooks, modules, etc. This can only be supported if there's a big enough fan base. The assumption always was that the "vanilla" setting would get this support, and I'm fine with that, if the fan base is willing to pay for it. My gut says this is something of a stone around the game's neck, though.

Ideally, I'd do Forgotten Realms (fan favorite) and Eberron (personal favorite).

Realistically, I don't think any setting should have full support.

Ongoing support - This looks a lot like Full Support, but without a ton of sourcebooks. Publish a sourcebook and enough module support to keep campaigns going. That could be dedicated adventures (or paths), predictable (monthly, quarterly, etc.) material in Dungeon, or just really well done conversion notes for "generic" modules. One sourcebook a year would be normal, but that could vary.

Ideally, I'd probably throw Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Birthright, and Dragonlance here.

Realistically, Forgotten Realms and Eberron.

Marquis publication - AKA "one-off" settings. These would get a nice, complete, hardcover sourcebook. It should have enough info to make it a viable choice for newcomers as well as old fans. Some settings might have enough fan loyalty and/or material that a second sourcebook could be published (e.g. Krynn has a second continent). It would be nice if every one also got an adventure path; could see some groups doing an annual rotation of the Marquis setting and adventure path.

Ideally, almost everything that's gotten at least this much, before, and a couple new settings.

Realistically, I think Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Planescape, and Dragonlance could manage this. Kara-Tur/Oriental Adventures, Birthright, and Spell Jammer (despite my personal disdain) might make good later entries. I'd also love to see a couple of new ideas.

Gazetteer - Could be an actual gazetteer, a single large article or short series in Dragon, or something else. This is really just enough to provide conversion/updates for old fans or people who can get their hands on previous source materials.

Ideally, only things like the Vikings handbook (and others in that series) would get this treatment, but it would be a great way to do fragments of worlds.

Realistically, almost any out-of-print setting should get at least this. It could even be a test run to see how a marquis run would be received.

 

[AmmiPierce]

Where can I find this list? My google-fu is no match.

I'm a new poster and I can't post links yet, but there was a list of products FRP Games leaked on the front page of EN World on Thursday, it's in the update with the Feats page. There was a book called 'Princes of the Apocalypse' and a book called 'The Adventurer's Handbook'. It wasn't a big list.