D&D 5E Is there even a new D&D setting?

Though we’ve been speculating about what the new setting recently pre-announced for D&D might or might not be (Icewind Dale being one suggestion), there's some doubt about whether it exists at all!

The press release that was sent out said:

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline as well as accompanying new products

The web page for the event says:

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new storyline as well as accompanying new products

The word “setting” is missing from the web page, but exists in the press release. The text is the same otherwise.

I don’t know which order the two were written in, or if the latter changed, or if the former contains extra information.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

For the return of the Dragonlance as one of the favorite D&D franchises this needs to be promoted, or a videogame, or a cartoon serie. But this can cause a conflict about canon. What if the scripters have got any idea but this means any retcon? For example kenders aren't so..... childish, or gullies aren't so stupid (only they are very bad to talk common languange and not their local dialect).

If the chronomances and times spheres come back to 5th Ed you can bet Krynn will have got a lot of "uchronies" created by the fandom, and someones published in DM Guild, and this would be right.

* A webcomic could be published about a boy from the real life who is shooted when he tried to save his crush and when we wakes up and opens the eyes he discover he has reincarnated into Sturm.

* When a new 100% original setting? Maybe when they need a totally new world where to add all the new crunch (PC races, monsters, base classes..).

I don't know why you are so hung up on chronomancers. They appeared in one TSR publication, and they only did because of a legal case against Mayfair games.

Dragonlance has time travel, but it has nothing to do with chronomancers.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Tangential, but man, I read those books 30 years ago and I just realized today that the Disks of Mishakal are a stand-in for the Book of Mormon. Well done, Tracy Hickman.

They're a stand-in for the actual disks Joseph Smith allegedly read the Book of Mormon from. And the whole setting is suffused with Mormonism, once you realise Kingpriest= Pope and Istar = Catholic Church. Ever wondered why the Plainsmen are so Native-American? It's tied into their connection to the Disks of Mishakal.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

They would tone down the Draconian thing, tone down the Dragonlances, and they removed alignment mechanics from the game. Which matters with moon magic.

Throw in a lot of races not existing in the setting and they'll probably redo Dragonborn into Draconians and mess it up.

If they were willing to replace phb with new options it could work. They don't need to 100% duplicate the AD&D mechanics but the red/white/black robes probably need some form of moon magic/alignment requirements to be faithful to the source material.

And if you don't join the wizard orders bad things happen.

Honestly, I don't know what you're on about. "Tone down the draconian"? In what way? People have been using them as player characters for the past 20 years. The mechanics don't need to be any different from the dragonborn mechanics, honestly. In fact I would hazard a guess that the dragonborn are pretty much draconians with the Dragonlance branding filed off.

Moon magic is not alignment-based, it is based on the order of wizardry you are in. Renegade wizards aren't affected by it, neither are novice wizards or sorcerers.

The things you claim are unsurmountable have already been achieved. More than fifteen years ago.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I love the idea of chronomancers and time spheres because they allow a lot of freedom to alter the lore. I suppose it's the best way to explain why there are some possible retcons. If the chronomancers are added as a new world in DM Guild fandom could publish lots of new ideas about their own mash-up of official lines.

The chaos war and the age of mortals changed Krynn a lot.

 

[Fenris-77]

Or you could just, you know, alter the lore. Canon is only canon to the extent that you need or want it to be.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

But my fear is if there are multimedia projects about the D&D titles then controversies about the canon could star, for example "Eh!, that in the teleserie didn't happen in the original book!". Scripters hired by Hasbro/Allspark/EnternaimentOne could have got their own new ideas about what could be added to the main plots. Maybe some retcons aren't only possible, but neccesary.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Honestly, I don't know what you're on about. "Tone down the draconian"? In what way? People have been using them as player characters for the past 20 years. The mechanics don't need to be any different from the dragonborn mechanics, honestly. In fact I would hazard a guess that the dragonborn are pretty much draconians with the Dragonlance branding filed off.

Moon magic is not alignment-based, it is based on the order of wizardry you are in. Renegade wizards aren't affected by it, neither are novice wizards or sorcerers.

The things you claim are unsurmountable have already been achieved. More than fifteen years ago.

Moon magic is based on the order of wizardry. The order of wizardry are heavily based on good and neutrality and evil. The moons too.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

But my fear is if there are multimedia projects about the D&D titles then controversies about the canon could star, for example "Eh!, that in the teleserie didn't happen in the original book!". Scripters hired by Hasbro/Allspark/EnternaimentOne could have got their own new ideas about what could be added to the main plots. Maybe some retcons aren't only possible, but neccesary.

Then make the new project a reboot. Old canon no longer relevant to be plundered and altered at will by the New creatives. If the new project is good enough and popular enough nobody who matters will care.

 

[Fenris-77]

But my fear is if there are multimedia projects about the D&D titles then controversies about the canon could star, for example "Eh!, that in the teleserie didn't happen in the original book!". Scripters hired by Hasbro/Allspark/EnternaimentOne could have got their own new ideas about what could be added to the main plots. Maybe some retcons aren't only possible, but neccesary.

That doesn't need to effect your table or game at all. The very idea of stable canon across multiple properties is kinda ludicrous anyway, and it doesn't really mean anything. The only thing that matters is what happens at your table. Worrying about official canon and retcons is, IMO, a waste of energy. If someone releases a show or whatever that has some cool ideas, great, use 'em, if not, ignore them. Canon controversies are tempests in a teacup. If you really examine why canon matters soooo much to some people, I think you'll find it has very little do with actually running or playing in a good game, and a whole lot to do with people wanting to maintain a level of system mastery with its associated perceived prestige, both of which are stirred together to form some sort of bastard pseudo-authority.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I don't mind the canon too much because I like to create my own bizarre mash-up, but I worry about something like the edition wars, or the controversy with the second and the last trilogies of Star Wars, with sections of fandom complain "that is not my SW".