D&D 5E If WotC Did A New Setting Search

[Reynard]

If WotC decided to conduct a new Setting Search like the one that resulted in Eberron (the best D&D Setting, IMO) now for 2024 5E, what sort of settings do you think would make the top 3? By "sort of" I mean aesthetics, subgenre, tone, influences, etc...

Separately but related: what would you pitch?

 

[Stormonu]

I will fight you on Eberron being best until my last, dying breath. After two editions, I now kinda like it, but I would not put it forward as best.

...That said, it's one of those things that I'd rather see what folks are capable of putting forth before narrow anything down, as that would limit creativity.

As for what I would pitch, I think WotC has enough "kitchen sink" fantasy realms, and I'd like to see them try some that are willing to have a strong unifying theme. I'd put forward my latest work Dragons Must Die. However, I very much doubt WotC would be interested in picking it up as it's a restrictive instead of permissive campaign setting.

 

[Mind of tempest]

why do they not do more of these contests?

 

[Reynard]

First, I would drop any pretense of medievalism. One of my pet settings is one in which parallel worlds feature prominently, where each world has the same geography but diverged at some point in the past. And for different worlds that divergence point is at different times. So the "fey realm" parallel diverged a very long time ago and the convergence points are primeval forests and other natural wonders. Another world might have diverged at a time of the collapse of an ancient magical empire and the convergence points are ruins that exist on both the "prime" and that world. Creatures and characters can travel between the worlds at those convergence points, and sometimes do accidentally.

 

[bedir than]

why do they not do more of these contests?

For the first five years of 5e they probably didn't have the staffing.
Then there was a global pandemic that shifted business plans dramatically.
And now the much expanded staff is focused on the 50th anniversary push of 5.1e.

It would make sense in 2026 or so

 

[Scribe]

By "sort of" I mean aesthetics, subgenre, tone, influences, etc...

What would make it? Probably a bunch of hopepunk that I would have zero interest in.

 

[bedir than]

What would make it? Probably a bunch of hopepunk that I would have zero interest in.

They probably wouldn't undercut a current product (Radiant Citadel)

 

[Scribe]

They probably wouldn't undercut a current product (Radiant Citadel)

That's more an adventure pack though right? It could just be a full on expansion into a full setting.

 

[bedir than]

That's more an adventure pack though right? It could just be a full on expansion into a full setting.

It could be a setting, but a contest that resulted in the people who were already employed by WotC to create such a setting would likely result in lawsuits

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think the top 3 would have some traits in common;

1. Inclusive and diverse
2. The evil can’t be a species treated as monolithically evil, it must either be wholly inhuman or a culture/empire made up of people who are also featured on team good guys
3. No crapsack worlds. There are good guys, there is hope, not everything sucks, the world is worth saving

That all being said, I think we would see;

1. A pseudo-future setting with real magitech that’s closer to Kamigawa meets Buck Rogers in space than to Eberron.
2. A world based in the myth and lore of a culture that D&D doesnt really represent often, written by people with ties to that culture/cultures. my hope would be basically the Mediterranean, Norther Africa, and Southwest Asia so Arabian peninsula, Persia, the Lavant, etc influenced heavily by the Muslim Golden Age. The feel of Saladin Ahmed’s stories is already very D&D, that’s a good starting point
3. Something deeply weird but charming, like Radiant Citadel but more expansive and deeper

What I’d put forth would be either;

• A draft of my Islands World concept, where the planet has no islands bigger than the islands of Indonesia and it’s surroundings with maybe 1 exception that is Australia sized, with floating sky islands and very limited airship tech is experiencing a tech revolution in the time of the setting canon. Dragon Temples dot the islands, with 9 Great Dragon Temples spread out over the world. The crisis that is slowly building is that the great dragon temple are coming back to life as ancient draconic constructs in response to an ancient evil rising. There is a Great Hunt that has been called, though no one knows who sounded The Horn. Monsters are rising, and so are heroes, and the great weapons and other items of legend are being found by Hunters seeking glory, wealth, or simply to make the world safe again
• The other idea might be Space Fantasy! Which is basically the magitech one I listed above. Aether ships in space, acknowledge spelljammer but state that these aren’t spelljammers, and that “space” is bound within the realms of the small galaxy known as the [chimera or serpent or dragon or other monster name that the galaxy looks like] and it’s 9 known planets, factions, aetherpunk aesthetic, etc