D&D 5E How about this for 5E Campaign Settings: "Classic Worlds of D&D"

[Mercurius]

This could be considered Take 2 of this thread I started about a month ago. From that thread, and the Settings Tournament I ran (congrats to Greyhawk), I came to the conclusion that publishing new versions of old settings would not only be well-received, but a good thing. I was resistant at first, wanting a new setting to explore, but that's another matter.

As for 5E's setting(s), the only thing we know is that the Forgotten Realms will be central to 5E, possibly the default setting (whatever that means), and that Ed Greenwood is involved. There's been hints, or perhaps only speculation, that they have a clever way to support all time periods of the Realms, but that could just be a rumor. That's about it, I think.

So here's an idea: Go ahead and support the FR in whatever way seems right (although I'm not sure another round of supplements covering the same regions once again makes sense, but that's just me). That said, I'd also like to see the following:

Classic Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons - This would be a line of high quality hardcover books in the $50-60 range (maybe more) - similar in quality and size to the classic 3E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book, or Pathfinder's Inner Sea - a big, glossy, beautiful hardcover tome for each of the major campaign settings in D&D's history. By "major" I mean: Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Planescape, and Eberron. Other possibilities include Mystara, Dragonlance, and Ravenloft, but these would be the next round, if the first round is successful. After that they could do lesser known settings like Birthright and Spelljammer, Nentir Vale, Blackmoor, etc (wouldn't we love to see a fuller treatment of Nentir Vale/Nerath?).

Now realistically its hard to imagine them actually doing this for many settings. But what if they did one or two books per year, in addition to whatever setting is central to Next? So we could see something like this:

2014: Forgotten Realms
2015: Greyhawk, Planescape
2016: Dark Sun, Eberron
2017: Mystara, Dragonlance
2018: Ravenloft, Birthright
2019: 6th ed....just kidding (sorta)

But you get the point.

Why does this make sense? Because 5E is supposed to be the "edition for everyone," and that means all of the great worlds that have been created over the last 40 years. They wouldn't have to provide further support for these settings, except for in Dragon and Dungeon. And they could hire [MENTION=9849]Echohawk[/MENTION] to put together an appendix, which would be a guide to all product ever published on that world.

Now I'd personally love to see them do this and produce a new setting every year or two, but that doesn't seem likely. But one can dream...

Anyhow, what do you think? Would you spend $60ish (or $40ish on Amazon) on a beautiful hardcover once or twice a year on a classic setting? Do you think WotC would do something like this?

 

[Hussar]

I could see it being done well, but I could also see it being done very badly. After all, a lot of the settings went... erm... off the rails towards the end. I mean, do you include the Greyhawk wars in the big book of Greyhawk? Ravenloft saw a whole pile of revisions over the years. What period of Krynn would you look at? 5th Age Krynn? So on and so forth. For every person they made happy, there would be a bunch of others endlessly kvetching about how they did it badly.

 

[trancejeremy]

Anyhow, what do you think? Would you spend $60ish (or $40ish on Amazon) on a beautiful hardcover once or twice a year on a classic setting? Do you think WotC would do something like this?

The people interested in the classic settings almost by definition already have past products - so what do they get from the new one? A superficial recap of the setting and that's it. And they likely won't like the recap of the setting, since chances are good it's by someone who doesn't know the setting.

I mean, would I buy a new Mystara book by Bruce Heard? Heck yes. Would I buy one from the people currently at WOTC or their current usual freelancers? Nope.

 

[Incenjucar]

A short synopsis of the setting and the RULES required to run it (monsters, spells, items, etc) could be of use, but unless you have someone pouring their heart and soul into a setting, you're not likely to get as much out of it.

 

[Yora]

Isn't this the same idea they had planned for 4th edition?

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Like [MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION] mentioned (can't XP him right now), the names you gave us aren't one setting each.

Most prominent it's with the Forgotten Realms. You have 1e before the Time of Troubles, 2e before Dwarves became able to cast magic, 3e before the return of the other half of the world, and 4e before the Sundering thing. And what about the gods with their sometimes pretty short terms of office?

If you want to make the setting valid for all players, you'd have to cover all these eras.

 

[Quartz]

I really didn't like what they did with Dragonlance.

Anyway, I'd pay good money for a comprehensive Greyhawk reboot. Not only must the setting be rebooted and reinvigorated - advancing the timeline to Pluffet Smedger's day would be good - but it's got to comprehensively but concisely rationalise and cover all the lore from all the books and modules.

 

[Mercurius]

Dragonlance is an example of a setting that was "ruined" by the metaplot in novels. I didn't read past Legends, but didn't the timeline go another few hundred years with a couple more cycles of cataclysmic events?

But the point here--and this is also in response to @Jan van Leyden --would be to present the setting in its most classic form, as a kind of platonic archetype that can be used by DMs as they desire, or simply enjoyed as a beautiful book and enjoyable read.

So yeah, @trancejeremy , the key would be to bring in Bruce Heard for Mystara, or Hickman and Weis for Dragonlance, or use divinatory magic to consult with the spirit of E Gary to get the vintage Greyhawk vibe (or just steal liberally from the classic AD&D box set).

@Hussar , if I was in charge of developing this product line, I would have the writers create a later chapter, even an extended appendix, that provides an overview of later developments in metaplot, which could be offered as a possible future to explore. But the Greyhawk book itself would be dialed back to before the wars, Dragonlance to the Chronicles period, or at least after Legends, and FR to the graybox period.

@Yora , it is similar to 4E, but the key difference is that it wouldn't be updating the setting to 4E, but returning it to its archetypal state and creating the most beautiful product possible. Greyhawk fans have never had a full-blown, high production treatment of their setting. The most recent version, the 3e Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was a decent product, and still the most comprehensive Greyhawk setting book (afaik), but it didn't wow one with sensory delight like the3e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting or Pathfinder's Inner Sea World Guide.

The point here is to create a product that is both useful for 5e and for other editions, and as a commemorative product for collectors and fans of the setting.

 

[TwoSix]

If they did these books like this, I'd buy every single one.

1) No rules.
2) A lot of art, both classic and new.
3) Start at a classic point for the setting. For FR, pre-ToT. For Greyhawk, pre-Wars. For Dark Sun, pre-Prism Pentad. For DL, right at the point where the Chronicles start.
4) A detailed appendix of the timeline of the publishing history of the setting and major metaplot events of the setting. This would be a small section for Eberron, but a big section for Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms.

 

[TerraDave]

Its what they should do. The 3E (main) FR book is a good model. And my understanding is that it was a huge seller, even to people who bought 2E material.