D&D 5E Is there any indication that WotC will launch a new setting?

[CapnZapp]

So tell me again why WotC needs to do this when we've already got a schmozzle (the proper plural term for a lot of settings) of settings in print, right now?

Because people want their fave old existing TSR setting, not some brand new unknown third-party product?

Just a guess...


Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[Morrus]

Because people want their fave old existing TSR setting, not some brand new unknown third-party product?

Just a guess...

A prison of their own making.

 

[Hussar]

Because people want their fave old existing TSR setting, not some brand new unknown third-party product?

Just a guess...


Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

See, that's the thing.

"We want settings"

"You have settings. Lots of them. No one is buying them."

"NO, we only want specific settings"

"But, we have a back catalogue of all that material. It's a fairly simple thing to translate that into 5e."

"NO, that's not good enough. We need YOU to update all that material AND we want all new stuff too."

"But, no one buys it. We will lose money on this. We aren't going to do it."

"WOTC sucks. They don't listen to their fanbase. I'm quitting D&D".

Talk about damned if you do.

 

[CapnZapp]

See, that's the thing.

"We want settings"

"You have settings. Lots of them. No one is buying them."

"NO, we only want specific settings"

"But, we have a back catalogue of all that material. It's a fairly simple thing to translate that into 5e."

"NO, that's not good enough. We need YOU to update all that material AND we want all new stuff too."

"But, no one buys it. We will lose money on this. We aren't going to do it."

"WOTC sucks. They don't listen to their fanbase. I'm quitting D&D".

Talk about damned if you do.

You must have me confused with someone else.

I am not someone who is holding my breath for a 5e Greyhawk or Al-Quadim or whatever. I'm just explaining what those people want.

Rationalizing why they won't be getting what they want is the easy part, especially if you yourself doesn't have a need in this department.

 

[CapnZapp]

A prison of their own making.

If you mean TSR/WotC created their own problem by issuing many worlds, I kind of see your point.

If on the other hand you meant to dismiss gamers who remain loyal to their TSR world of choice, for which the advice "you could just update your old gazetteers to 5E yourself" or, even worse, something like "you could just switch to a 5E ed 3PP world" is useless, well... let's just say I really hope it's the first

 

[Morrus]

If you mean TSR/WotC created their own problem by issuing many worlds, I kind of see your point.

If on the other hand you meant to dismiss gamers who remain loyal to their TSR world of choice, for which the advice "you could just update your old gazetteers to 5E yourself" or, even worse, something like "you could just switch to a 5E ed 3PP world" is useless, well... let's just say I really hope it's the first

Your hopes remain dashed, sadly. I have little sympathy for the anti-3rd party position and actively oppose that philosophy. This game and this site were founded on those principles.

 

[CapnZapp]

Your hopes remain dashed, sadly. I have little sympathy for the anti-3rd party position and actively oppose that philosophy. This game and this site were founded on those principles.

You're confusing "I love Al-Quadim|Eberron|Birthright|..." for your "anti-3rd party position", I'm afraid. This has very little to do with one's opinion on Primeval Thule or some other 3PP setting.

Trying to read you as charitably as possible, I do agree that one solution for these people could be if WotC opened up Al-Quadim (or whatever) for DM's Guild usage. (I would say "licensed it out" except I don't think that's realistic - there's no money in it, and WotC wouldn't just give out the license for free - not unless we're talking about their own walled garden, that is).

<aside>
I really hope you aren't losing sight of the first and foremost purpose of this site: a friendly neutral place for news and discussion of Wizard of the Coast's products for their Dungeons & Dragons game. You have certainly earned the opportunity to use this traffic to nourish your own 3PP effort, but I certainly hope you will always remain aware that plugging your own products too hard or branching out too wide risks losing your core audience.

You certainly do not want to alienate your visitors for wishing to stick to official products only, if not because that's what we come here for, then because that's a far cry from actively trying to deny everybody else the 3PP products they want, as you seem to believe. I have certainly never argued against the OGL or DM's Guild, and in fact, I whole-heartedly embraced Ryan Dancey's original policy back in the d20 days. I have nothing against EN Publishing, as long as it doesn't get in the way of D&D News and Discussion.

So with all due respect as a "visitor to your house", Morrus - please back the off the pushy attitude.

Best Regards,
one of your faithful visitors for the last fifteen years or so
Zapp
</aside>

 

[Morrus]

I really hope you aren't losing sight of the first and foremost purpose of this site: a friendly neutral place for news and discussion of Wizard of the Coast's products for their Dungeons & Dragons game. You have certainly earned the opportunity to use this traffic to nourish your own 3PP effort, but I certainly hope you will always remain aware that plugging your own products too hard or branching out too wide risks losing your core audience.

You certainly do not want to alienate your visitors for wishing to stick to official products only, if not because that's what we come here for, then because that's a far cry from actively trying to deny everybody else the 3PP products they want, as you seem to believe. I have certainly never argued against the OGL or DM's Guild, and in fact, I whole-heartedly embraced Ryan Dancey's original policy back in the d20 days. I have nothing against EN Publishing, as long as it doesn't get in the way of D&D News and Discussion.

So with all due respect as a "visitor to your house", Morrus - please back the off the pushy attitude.

I cannot acquiesce to your request. As I have for nearly 20 years now, I will continue to strongly champion the cause of third party publishers, a position which I hold dearly and which was the very founding principle of this site before it took on Eric Noah’s news beat. Without third party publishing, this site would not even exist; and so I will continue always to argue against any positions which I feel discourage the use of third party products.

You are welcome to disagree, but don’t tell me what positions I am allowed to argue. Hell, it was just a mild 6-word comment supporting third party publishing, which you’ve now escalated into an “issue” which has now taken over the thread.

And, even more important, you do not get to silence people who post things you don’t agree with. And you especially don’t get to tell me what opinions I may express in conversation or try to bully me into silence. Your correct remedy is to respond with a counter argument or ignore it. Silencing it is not one of your available options.

 

[akr71]

There has been all kinds of speculation and some inference but zero indication of a new setting coming from WotC any time in the near future.

Would I buy such a thing if it were produced? Yes, if it was about one of the small handful of settings I'm interested in... which is likely where the problem lies - too many settings to choose from, so there's no way to please most of the players. As others have said - settings from previous editions are easy to convert on your own. I have been playing in a Greyhawk campaign for 18 months and not once has our DM lamented that there is no 5e source material for the setting.

 

[Mercule]

I genuinely don't understand why this is so important to so many people. Unless you need AL legitimacy, why not just adapt some stuff from a previous edition? Settings are mostly fluff and monsters; fluff can be taken directly and there are plenty of guides out there on adapting monsters. I'm borrowing bits of 2e, 3e and 4e adventures in my 5e campaign.

A couple of reasons:

1) I want someone else to do the work for me. I really don't want to have to convert all the Eberron bits and pieces to a new system -- and they do need converted as many are built with 3.5 assumptions. While I enjoy the creative aspect of gaming, D&D is attractive compared to other systems because a lot of the mechanics are done for me. Otherwise, I'd just use Fantasy Hero or Savage Worlds.

2) Part of the inherent character of D&D is that it's not tied to a specific world. It's a toolkit with a certain flavor. So, to spend so much effort on one setting is changing the character of the game in a way I do not like.

3) As a fan of some of the other published settings, not having any shelf space means that they have been exiled to Siberia and will fade into obscurity. Even if Eberron isn't the one that gets published, simply having multiple settings on the shelf makes it apparent to newcomers that other settings exist and might be worth investigating.

4) I specifically dislike the Realms. While I've done some reflection and can confidently say I'd be unhappy with any setting being where the Realms is now, it is worth calling out that D&D becoming tightly coupled to the Realms taints the entire game, in my eyes.

They've been pretty clear that most D&D games are actually homebrew settings - developing new official settings is not actually something the majority of the player base wants, so they're moving away from it.

On my more cynical (or less naive) days, I tend to think that moving the market share of homebrew is one of the internally explicit goals of focusing on the Realms. Why worry about the 20% of folks who play one of there's more opportunity for profit by getting at least part of the 60% who build their own to accept the Realms as part and parcel of the D&D package.

This, more than anything, is probably what I hate the current "brand management" so much.