D&D 5E D&D's Classic Settings Are Not 'One Shots'

In an interview with ComicBook.com, WotC's Jeremy Crawford talked about the visits to Ravenloft, Eberron, Spelljammer, Dragonlance, and (the upcoming) Planescape we've seen over the last couple of years, and their intentions for the future.

He indicated that they plan to revisit some of these settings again in the future, noting that the setting books are among their most popular books.

We love [the campaign setting books], because they help highlight just how wonderfully rich D&D is. They highlight that D&D can be gothic horror. D&D can be fantasy in space. D&D can be trippy adventures in the afterlife, in terms of Planescape. D&D can be classic high fantasy, in the form of the Forgotten Realms. It can be sort of a steampunk-like fantasy, like in Eberron. We feel it's vital to visit these settings, to tell stories in them. And we look forward to returning to them. So we do not view these as one-shots.

- Jeremy Crawford​

The whole 'multiverse' concept that D&D is currently exploring plays into this, giving them opportunities to resist worlds.

When asked about the release schedule of these books, Crawford noted that the company plans its release schedule so that players get chance to play the material, not just read it, and they don't want to swamp people with too much content to use.

Our approach to how we design for the game and how we plan out the books for it is a play-first approach. At certain times in D&D's history, it's really been a read-first approach. Because we've had points in our history where we were producing so many books each year, there was no way anyone could play all of it. In some years it would be hard to play even a small percentage of the number of things that come out. Because we have a play-first approach, we want to make sure we're coming out with things at a pace where if you really wanted to, and even that would require a lot of weekends and evenings dedicated to D&D play, you could play a lot of it.

- Jeremy Crawford​

You can read more in the interview at ComicBook.com.

 

[Velderan]

Or gee, go back to boxed sets? I mean, that's basically what the Beedle and Grim versions are (as is the coffin-box for Curse of Strahd) - softcovers with pull-out maps and a "monstrous supplement". Hell, I bought the B&G Eberron set so I'd finally have a boxed set for Eberron.

Save the multiple book format for actual multiple books like the 3 core or the player supplement they did with Xanathar's, Tasha's and Monsters of the Multiverse.

I do hope they learned a painful lesson on Spelljammer and won't undercut content for future campaign settings (though they're probably laughing all the way to the bank after Van Richten's and Spelljammer).

I actually like the concept of the multi book format for a setting. 1 book for player facing content, 1 book for lore and monster stat blocks, and another for the adventure so it's easier to reference a monster or bit of lore while running the adventure. It just sounds like the Spelljammer book skimped on material, though I don't have the book to judge for myself. The page count would have given me cause for concern if I had been interested in it though.

 

[Velderan]

We'll just have to wait and see. Spelljammer had lots of shiny previews too.

Which has nothing to do with raw page count. You can't sprinkle magic preview dust and get some people to not notice the 3 books had less pages than many of the single book releases, which I remember people being concerned about before the Spelljammer set came out. Planescape does have a higher announced page count so that may be why some folks are less concerned about whether the material will be worth it.

 

[Demetrios1453]

The higher page count might be alleviating some concerns about how much material is in it.

Also, they are being noticeably very transparent on what it contains. Unlike Spelljammer, where more ship rules and info on various systems were assumed to be in the set, but weren't.

(That doesn't mean that some of those who haven't been paying attention won't still try to raise a stink that the other planes besides the Outlands aren't going to get much, if any, coverage. But at least we know that ahead of time - and that's a relatively minor complaint as long as Sigil and the Outlands are fully covered).

 

[Velderan]

Also, they are being noticeably very transparent in what it contains. Unlike Spelljammer, where more ship rules and info on various systems were assumed, but not in the set.

That's smart, considering the set is shrink-wrapped. I've bought a few books because I was able to flip through them and see things I might be able to use. When the Spelljammer set came out, I wasn't interested because Spelljammer has never appealed to me but it didn't help I couldn't look through the books to see if something might end up being useful.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's smart, considering the set is shrink-wrapped. I've bought a few books because I was able to flip through them and see things I might be able to use. When the Spelljammer set came out, I wasn't interested because Spelljammer has never appealed to me but it didn't help I couldn't look through the books to see if something might end up being useful.

I'm sure the inability for a FLGS customer to see what they're buying prior to purchase was part of the calculation that led to using that format.

 

[overgeeked]

I actually like the concept of the multi book format for a setting. 1 book for player facing content, 1 book for lore and monster stat blocks, and another for the adventure so it's easier to reference a monster or bit of lore while running the adventure. It just sounds like the Spelljammer book skimped on material, though I don't have the book to judge for myself. The page count would have given me cause for concern if I had been interested in it though.

Yeah, exactly. The books are teeny tiny and filled with art. They are 64 pages. Maybe 2/3 of that is text. And the font size is large print compared to older editions. There barely anything there.

 

[Stormonu]

I'm sure the inability for a FLGS customer to see what they're buying prior to purchase was part of the calculation that led to using that format.

When GW does this by shrink-wrapping the books, it annoyed me - and I stopped buying. When WotC starts doing it, it gives me pause, and does make me wonder what they're bothering to keep us from looking at.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The higher page count might be alleviating some concerns about how much material is in it.

Previews too, it's clear Planescape has alot more substance to it and more cohesive setting, but one so interconnected with everything else who can combine it with just about everything, including Spelljammer.

The things I'm most looking forward to is the Gatetowns and the rest of the Outlands, the new spells, and finding out what the Planar Energy Exchange is.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Yeah, exactly. The books are teeny tiny and filled with art. They are 64 pages. Maybe 2/3 of that is text. And the font size is large print compared to older editions. There barely anything there.

NO.

Incorrect.

This "fact" about the font sizes keeps being brought up, but it is demonstrably untrue. 5e fonts are significantly smaller than the original 2e fonts. Here is a picture of one of the 5e Spelljammer books alongside the 2e Realmspace book (the only 2e Spelljammer product I have readily available, but all Spelljammer 2e products had the same huge font size). As you can see, the font for the 2e product on the right is noticeably bigger than the 5e font on the left. And 2e Planescape font sizes were even worse...

 

[JEB]

To be fair, while the shrinkwrapping for the boxed sets is certainly inconvenient, I don't think there's likely a nefarious intent there. Boxed sets generally (be they books or games) tend to be sealed up in some way.

(I suspect more likely the switch to boxed sets was so they could increase the perceived prestige of the print products, as well as helping them justify a noticeable price point bump.)