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.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

I think it's the same reason that Baldur's Gate 3 is such a contrast to WotC products, in virtually every way - there's blood, tears, sex, death, monsters and real horror and it's very much R-rated and aimed at grown-ups, and WotC is very much wanting D&D to be genuinely "family friendly". Not PG13 even - just straight-up PG.

So Dark Sun is gone, and it's not even the slavery thing, which could have been dealt with, it's because the basic issues the setting deals with - man-made climate change, societal oppression by elites, people rising up to challenge those things, and the general brutality of such a world is just not compatible with the conceptual PG rating WotC wants nowadays.

All due respect, but this is the same WotC that gave us Descent into Avernus and Rime of the Frostmaiden, which I would hardly consider "straight-up PG" subject matter in a lot of areas - not "for mature audiences only" either, necessarily, but hardly "PG". And while I haven't delved into them too much personally, Dragonlance is a war story and even Spelljammer's Light of Xaryxis poses the threat of world ending genocide, even if the consequences aren't particularly explored.

This is why we have a giant-focused book literally no-one asked for, when one focused on aberrations (who are very hard to make less than PG13 if you go into any detail on them) which would probably have been vastly more popular and usable. Because giants are easy to make completely PG and safe.

Alternatively, perhaps we got a giant-focused book because it let them give some attention to a creature group that otherwise doesn't tend to get much (and make them a fair bit more interesting in the process), while also letting them weave in and elaborate on some multiversal concepts to help push both their general "D&D Multiverse" focus and their new "First World" concept in particular.

It also doesn't preclude them doing a book on aberrations (or fiends) a year or two down the road.

 

[Reynard]

All due respect, but this is the same WotC that gave us Descent into Avernus and Rime of the Frostmaiden, which I would hardly consider "straight-up PG" subject matter in a lot of areas - not "for mature audiences only" either, necessarily, but hardly "PG". And while I haven't delved into them too much personally, Dragonlance is a war story and even Spelljammer's Light of Xaryxis poses the threat of world ending genocide, even if the consequences aren't particularly explored.

I think it is safe to say that WotC is aiming fort he same level of "mature content" we see in Star Wars and the MCU: peril, and even some ick, but nothing challenging.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Good.

What people call 'challenging' these days isn't.

 

[JDR]

I miss the old days when there were regular releases every month and their campaign worlds were well supported.

 

[Superchunk77]

It's a shame Dark Sun seems to have been ditched. That's the one I've been hoping for the most.

You're better off without it, judging by what was done to the other settings. Just use a fan conversion, there are many.

 

[Atomoctba]

I really wish they would stop calling Eberron steampunk. It is aetherpunk, which is both cooler and broader. By calling "steampunk-like" as a shorthand, Crawford is unintentionally limiting what I think is D&D best setting. I mean, is there even a Victorian trope in the entire setting? Or a single steam engine? Warforged aren't even clockwork, and airships are not the slightest bit like derigibles.

All that said, I might be inclined to give WotC money again if they put out a big campaign -- or better yet, an anthology -- set in Eberron.

I prefer "magicpunk"

 

[Reynard]

I get what you are saying, but I think you don't realize, almost no one knows or has ever heard of the term "aetherpunk". Outside of this board, I've never heard or seen it used. Marketing terns are usually more effective when people know what they mean, or when you put a lot of money into a new word so that people become interested in exploring what that word means. "aetherpunk" is not a word that at this time would be wise for WotC to invest in bringing to the public conscious. I suggest we accept that for the vast majority of the world, "steampunk-like" is a better marketing term that can help grow D&D, aetherpunk is not.

Aetherpunk is a well known enough term for it to create very specific outputs in AI generated art, suggesting that it is probably more well known than you think. It is also the genre definition of one of the most successful and lauded gaming adaptations of recent years, Arcane.

But, sure, maybe "aetherpunk" is obscure. "Steampunk" is just wrong, though.

 

[overgeeked]

You're better off without it, judging by what was done to the other settings. Just use a fan conversion, there are many.

It's a shame Dark Sun seems to have been ditched. That's the one I've been hoping for the most.

You already have most of what you'd need for Dark Sun by this point.

Give everyone a free feat and call it a Wild Talent. Use the thri-kreen race from Spelljammer. Half-giants are goliaths. You'd just need a mul. Templars are clerics and paladins of the sorcerer-kings. The psionic subclasses are lackluster, but usable. Reskin an existing class to taste. The hardest part would be tacking on defiling and weapon breaks...and they're both dead simple. Use the old defiling table from 2E and add a column for cantrips. You just need to decide what benefit defiling gives the caster. Top contenders are free upcast or access to metamagic. Weapon breaks can be opt-in or automatic. Auto break after a nat 20 seems punishing. Re-roll a nat 1 then break seems like a reward. Either way works. The only thing left is the monsters. Use Blog of Holding's 5E MM on a Business Card and homebrew your own. Athas is filled with mutations, so whatever random nonsense the referee comes up with is still perfectly suited to the setting.

 

[Reynard]

You already have most of what you'd need for Dark Sun by this point.

Give everyone a free feat and call it a Wild Talent. Use the thri-kreen race from Spelljammer. Half-giants are goliaths. You'd just need a mul. Templars are clerics and paladins of the sorcerer-kings. The psionic subclasses are lackluster, but usable. Reskin an existing class to taste. The hardest part would be tacking on defiling and weapon breaks...and they're both dead simple. Use the old defiling table from 2E and add a column for cantrips. You just need to decide what benefit defiling gives the caster. Top contenders are free upcast or access to metamagic. Weapon breaks can be opt-in or automatic. Auto break after a nat 20 seems punishing. Re-roll a nat 1 then break seems like a reward. Either way works. The only thing left is the monsters. Use Blog of Holding's 5E MM on a Business Card and homebrew your own. Athas is filled with mutations, so whatever random nonsense the referee comes up with is still perfectly suited to the setting.

I am sure you realize this, but that people can run Dark Sun (or whatever) with the tools on hand is not even slightly the point. People that want these settings want them because that means the setting is alive. And, more importantly, it means their preferences are validated.

 

[LordEntrails]

But, sure, maybe "aetherpunk" is obscure. "Steampunk" is just wrong, though.

Shrug, but its effective for marketing. Do you really think aetherpunk would be understood by the potential consumers who would be new to D&D? Is steampunk-like" really wrong? Or is it close enough for the target audience?

Sure, I could try to sell you a product to "reduce the inflammation of your upper respiratory track due to a self-limiting viral infection". Or I could just sell you "cough syrup".