D&D 5E How should 5th edition introduce the remaining classic settings?

[The Glen]

I don't think WoTC will touch Mystara. The community is really attached to BECMI and they already do a very good job with the Threshold fanzine. The risk of doing it a disservice is too high. Letting Goodman Games do the Basic modules reprints with 5e adaptation is a far as they will go.

I think a lot of the Old Guard would be happy to get new material for the setting regardless of the format. Though I think wizard would be more inclined to try to make it somehow like the Capcom game because that was so successful. The biggest issue would be Wrath of the Immortals because that broke the setting in the fact that the materials printed after that box set didn't sell well at all. They might just go from the 1000 time line and pretend WOTI never happened.

 

[atanakar]

I think a lot of the Old Guard would be happy to get new material for the setting regardless of the format. Though I think wizard would be more inclined to try to make it somehow like the Capcom game because that was so successful. The biggest issue would be Wrath of the Immortals because that broke the setting in the fact that the materials printed after that box set didn't sell well at all. They might just go from the 1000 time line and pretend WOTI never happened.

Knowing a few of them after frequenting The Piazza old D&D forum for a decade, they would publicly tear their shirt off, cry how WoTC destroyed their beloved Mystara. Then secretly use all the bits and parts of Mystara 5e in their own BECMI games.

 

[The Glen]

You give them pod versions of the old books and they are happy as clams. The reborn page goes giddy if Wizards just sneaks in a single mention of mystara into 5th edition. But it's also really hard to get new players interested in a setting that's decades out of print.

 

[Jer]

I really think this is a "it depends on the setting" question.

Some settings I think they should just open up on the DM's Guild and let the fan productions take the lead. Mystara is a good example of this because there's a dedicated fanbase, but it's not huge, and honestly most of us don't need to have a 5e retread of material we already own. But it would be nice if there were an outlet for folks who have produced so much free fan material over the years to have a wider audience for their work like DM's Guild. (OTOH I have similar feelings about Greyhawk and I like how they handled it with Saltmarsh, so maybe if they did a compliation of B/X adventures like that and made the default setting Mystara with notes on how to tweak it for other settings I'd enjoy that).

OTOH Planescape should be an adventure like Curse of Strahd or Descent into Avernus. The "Great Wheel" is the standard cosmology, so it integrates with everything they've published for 5e and could be used by anyone. You can have your urban adventure, have a gazeteer for Sigil, have some backmatter where you link in other planes and then turn it loose on DM's Guild for folks to make supplemental adventures. I think that Planescape is sufficiently different from baseline D&D to merit an intro adventure but not so different that you need a whole setting book for it out of the gate. (I honestly think that Spelljammer is in the same camp - though I could also see a PDF release for it like the MtG Plane Shifts with pointers to 2e material available on DMs Guild).

Dark Sun is the one that IMO needs to have at least a setting book. In fact, arguably Dark Sun almost needs to be its own game because it's a setting that doesn't just "retheme" standard elements of D&D (like Eberron) it actually negates elements of standard D&D and adds other elements to it, requiring it's own set of supplemental rules to make it work - without a psionics system can you really say that you have Dark Sun? I can make the argument that having a Dark Sun standalone game or at least a Dark Sun PHB would be the "right" way to release the setting under the 5e rules. (This is also why I don't expect us to get a 5e Dark Sun anytime soon tbh.)

 

[atanakar]

You give them pod versions of the old books and they are happy as clams. The reborn page goes giddy if Wizards just sneaks in a single mention of mystara into 5th edition. But it's also really hard to get new players interested in a setting that's decades out of print.

What they really want is DMGuild access for Mystara. That would make them wet their underwear.

 

[The Glen]

What they really want is DMGuild access for Mystara. That would make them wet their underwear.

I'm just waiting for them to give me the word. I wrote this after my divorce, turns out I write better angry. But there's so much more you could add to it they also had the Red Steel, Savage Coast and Hollow World settings attached.

 

[Reynard]

I would like to see what folks could do on DMsGuild with some of the settings not likely to see new versions anytime soon. Being one of those kids that was introduced by way of BECMI, I would love to see community efforts on Mystara.

I also want them to open up Gamma World, too, but that's never going to happen. As someone that worked on a version of Gamma World, I would LOVE to get my hands on it as a DMsGuild creator.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Depends on the setting.

- For Planescape and Spelljammer, a book like Ravnica or Eberron.

- For Dragonlance, an Adventure Path and box set. NOT the OG adventure, though. A new adventure that is set a generation or two in the future of the setting, and brings the story of the setting full circle. Gods have been quiet for a couple decades, the gods of magic seem to be entirely absent as are Takhisis, Paladine, and Gilean. A new invasion is happening, rumors mostly in the region around Solace where the party meets, either a new dragon army OR the Golden Horde of New Ishtar, or something. Treat the War of The Lance as part of the setting's history. The Dragonlances were mostly destroyed during the loss of magic a few generations back, and will need to be forged again, while allies will need to be found.

- For Greyhawk, a reprint of multiple classic modules and a box set.

- Mystara, a book like SCAG, or a box set full of expanded and improved exploration rules, exploration oriented player options, etc.

 

[atanakar]

I'm just waiting for them to give me the word. I wrote this after my divorce, turns out I write better angry. But there's so much more you could add to it they also had the Red Steel, Savage Coast and Hollow World settings attached.
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That is awesome! My 14 Mystara Gazeteers are never very far when I home-brew a new campaign.

 

[The Glen]

That is awesome! My 14 Mystara Gazeteers are never very far when I home-brew a new campaign.

That's because Shadow elves are a new and unique take on Subterranean elves compared the drow. Replace evil with naive and add magical crystals plus purple birthmarks and you've got a great elven race