D&D 5E If WotC asked us which setting we wanted next what would you choose?

[Knightfall]

Lets pretend that WotC made their own poll/survey asking D&D 4e fan the following question: What D&D setting do you want to see next for 4e?

The question would be an official survey that fans could take online or that could be filled out as cons such as Gen Con or DDXP. You could even fill out a ballot on Wednesday nights during D&D Encounters. It would be conducted over an entire year.

What setting option would you choose? Would you ask for a classic setting to be revised or for WotC to make something new?

You also have the option to vote "none of the above."

Also, would such a survey truly work or would it be skewed too much towards the online community?

Opinions? Comments? Suggestions? Threats?

Knightfall

 

[Knightfall]

Here are some links to the more obscure ones...

Mahasarpa
Web Enhancements - Oriental Adventures

Tale of the Comet
TSR Dungeons & Dragons Archive: Odyssey: Tale of the Comet

Thunder Rift
Dungeons & Dragons Archive: Thunder Rift

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Greyhawk
Mystara
Something new and NOT like Eberron or FR, so in other words, ACTUALLY new.

Not necessarily in that order, either.

 

[TerraDave]

I voted for a few, but I would love to see something like a 4E version of Masque...or other modernish horror or fantasy that was not Urban Arcana.

 

[Shroomy]

I voted for Greyhawk and Mystara, but I also like non-traditional (i.e. non-Western) fantasy, so Al-Qadim, Kara-Tur, and Urban Arcana made my list. I would also like to see a new setting.

 

[Riastlin]

Honestly, not really sure. Personally, I think that I would almost want something completely new. After all, anything that's been done before can already be fairly easily recreated as it is. I don't need an official WotC 4th Ed. product to run Kara-Tur or Ravenloft for instance. I can just take the old material and apply it as needed.

I'd like to look for something that really is more or less completely original (which is a fairly difficult task at this point I realize). What I liked most about Eberron in 3.5 was that it really did seem different (to an extent) from anything else. I think maybe I'd lean toward either something along the lines of a gothic horror (realizing of course that both Cthullu and Ravenloft share a certain amount of similarity here), an island-based setting (i.e. archepelago), or maybe a "Hell on Earth" feel where demons and such are running around everywhere similar to the Genesis of Shanara series by Terry Brooks.

Not sure if any of the settings you list mirror these or not though as I am not familiar with many of them.

 

[Dausuul]

New setting. I'm tired of retreads.

 

[jonesy]

Blackmoor. Or Mystara with Blackmoor. Or Mystara with Blackmoor and Hollow World.

Or, The Known World.

Revisions might be fine if they advanced the setting to a near future and stayed true to the established material. Depends.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

1) Ravenloft
2) Al-Qadim
3) Dragonlance

My favorite has always been FR, but I really love these others too.

 

[Lancelot]

Tough question. Here's what I voted, and why...

Settings I didn't choose:

• Mystara/Hollow World/Red Steel (all Mystara, really): Sadly, there is nothing that WotC could put out that wouldn't be seen as a disappointment by the Mystara grognards. The Mystara Gazzeteers are hundreds (thousands?) of pages of fluff and detail on this setting, and they're largely system-agnostic. We don't really need 4e Mystara, just like we didn't need 2e or 3e Mystara. Further, I'd be the first to admit that a modern take would just come off a little bit hokey: "So, yeah, the Arabian desert culture lives next to the Norse Vikings. The Romans are directly south of that. The Native Americans and the Mongols are just west of the Vikings. You've got the Scottish liches living with the French wizards, and they're just north of the Italians. The Indians are slightly west of them..."
• Al-Qadim: They're not going to do another desert setting so soon after Dark Sun, despite the thematic differences.
• Krynn: Nothing WotC could do here would satisfy the angry masses. Roll it back to the War of the Lance, and ignore the masses of history since? Stay with the current timeline, and the massive confusion of Krynn-shaking events over the last 200 years? Roll it forward 100 years? There is no satisfactory answer that would both attract new players (simplified world-view) and allay the fears of the experienced.
• Greyhawk: See Krynn, above. Plus, and I hate to say it given my love of the setting, it's just too generic. Where's the hook? Nostalgia, sure. But really, it's not Dark Sun or Eberron. It's a traditional fantasy setting.

What DID I vote for?

• Planescape: More out of love for the setting, than a belief that they should do it. There is already much planar information provided in 4e (three hardbacks, so far). We already have a wealth of 2e Planescape splatbooks that can be adapted to either 3e or 4e (or Pathfinder, or anything else). It really doesn't need to be re-done as a setting. However, my love for Planescape is so strong that I'd still buy anything... anything... that WotC released for the setting.
• Ravenloft: Probably the best choice out of the remaining nostalgia settings. It brings something new to the game - horror, terror, multiple highly evocative villains, constrained dominions with difficulties in traveling between them, tarot cards, etc. There is plenty of mechanical content that can be updated to 4e. Also, there will be less resistance towards either rolling back the setting or providing a new take on it. The Ravenloft domains have always been quite independent. You can shake them up or drop some of them without really hurting the setting as a whole.
• Nentir Vale: They already have a good basis; it should be easy to expand out the setting. Plus, I buy into the argument that Nentir Vale is the New Mystara. The Vale feels very like Karameikos used to feel - you've got some woods over here, and there's a Keep on the Borderlands, and some goblins live here... Expanding out the Nentir Vale campaign world could "feel" very similar to what the old Expert Rules and X1 - Isle of Dread did for Karameikos.
• New Mass Market Setting: The Hobbit (future movie tie-in), Mass Effect or Fallout (using updated Gamma World ruleset), etc. I voted for this simply because I believe it's good for the hobby. It will attract new (younger?) players, which is always good for the longevity of role-playing in general.