D&D 5E Is the new setting Icewind Dale?

@Birmy pointed out this Reddit comment.

Add that to the image WotC put out with the upcoming announcement.

And they're selling apparel featuring a snowy owlbear.

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[Parmandur]

I'd vote for an adventure in Icewind Dale but a separate setting. Just my guess.

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It is not something I would have imagined 9 months ago, but the end of year release could easily be another Setting book along the linea of Eberron or Theros....

 

[Prakriti]

The early previews of Baldur's Gate 3 have been quite positive; I wouldn't be surprised if there are already plans for an Icewind Dale game (it's the next best known electronic property).

I would think that Neverwinter Nights or Planescape: Torment had IWD beat, but maybe you're right.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Yeah, that looks like Icewind Dale. Definitely not what I wanted, but I'm sure they'll write something good.

Weirdly, a few D&D YouTubers on lore have released videos recently with the Crystal Shard (an item closely tied to Icewind) as the subject. Could be a coincidence, but maybe they hear stuff in the pipeline.

There are still some loose end villains from the Crystal Shard plotline. Crenshinibon, the Crystal Shard, was destroyed, but the 7 liches who were part of it were released. The remnants of the shard also merged with a red dragon and mind flayer to form the Ghost King, some strange Shadowfel entity.

Could be entirely separate from those and entirely new, or maybe revisit those threads.

 

[Lem23]

If this is true, I hope Icewind Dale is the setting of the new adventure, not the setting of the new setting book.

Still hoping for Dark Sun...

Dark Sun isn't a new settng though. It's an old one.

 

[Parmandur]

I would think that Neverwinter Nights or Planescape: Torment had IWD beat, but maybe you're right.

I genuinely wasn't sure about the, so Ives done some digging:

• for Planescape, "In 2017, Brian Fargo estimated the game's lifetime retail sales as roughly 400,000 units" worldwideper Wikipedia, which was considered fairly disappointing even if it is a cult classic.
• for Neverwinter Nights, "Discounting its expansions, the original Neverwinter Nights ultimately sold 2.2 million copies, as of 2007"
• for Icewind Dale, it had sold 580,000 by 2006 for just the USA, and was in 2006 ranked the 74th best selling PC game of all time. The expansion pack and sequel did well, too.
• for Baldur's Gate, the first game sold $2.2 million by 2003

So, BG is the top dog, NN is number 2, and Icewind Dale was the third bear selling of that style of game.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, that looks like Icewind Dale. Definitely not what I wanted, but I'm sure they'll write something good.

Weirdly, a few D&D YouTubers on lore have released videos recently with the Crystal Shard (an item closely tied to Icewind) as the subject. Could be a coincidence, but maybe they hear stuff in the pipeline.

There are still some loose end villains from the Crystal Shard plotline. Crenshinibon, the Crystal Shard, was destroyed, but the 7 liches who were part of it were released. The remnants of the shard also merged with a red dragon and mind flayer to form the Ghost King, some strange Shadowfel entity.

Could be entirely separate from those and entirely new, or maybe revisit those threads.

Over the years, I have noted that there is a slight uptick in social media activity on a subject WotC is working on before it is announced. These products have hundreds of playtesters, and some of them blog or have YouTube channels...

There was a huge amount of chatter about Undermountain leading up to the announcer of Dragon Heist, for instance...

 

[Mepher]

Dark Sun isn't a new settng though. It's an old one.

And following that logic, neither is Icewind Dale. It's just a small part of one of the most overdone settings in D&D.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Over the years, I have noted that there is a slight uptick in social media activity on a subject WotC is working on before it is announced. These products have hundreds of playtesters, and some of them blog or have YouTube channels...

There was a huge amount of chatter about Undermountain leading up to the announcer of Dragon Heist, for instance...

This one abotu a month ago;


And this one week ago;


The latter I found especially odd, as that person doesn't normally do videos on artifacts.

 

[Fenris-77]

I do love a good bout of breathless speculation. I'd actually be very pleased if there was something in involving the Ghost King.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Icewind Dale is a setting, a discrete region where fantasy stories are told. It's certainly, of course, part of the larger Forgotten Realms setting, but it is not inaccurate to refer to Icewind Dale as a setting.

It's also "new" in the sense that we have not yet visited Icewind Dale in a 5th Edition D&D gamebook.

So it was just my imagination that part of Storm King's thunder took place in Icewind Dale?