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.

 

[Mercurius]

I just researched sales figures and Hickman and Weis have about 25 million books sold--which is similar to Feist, and a bit more than Eddings and Lackey. So not Jordan (60m) Martin (90m) level, and far below Rowling (500 million plus), but still huge.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I just researched sales figures and Hickman and Weis have about 25 million books sold--which is similar to Feist, and a bit more than Eddings and Lackey. So not Jordan (60m) Martin (90m) level, and far below Rowling (500 million plus), but still huge.

I wonder what the timescale of those sales are. I don't see many at book stores nowadays.

 

[Mercurius]

The other thing I would add about Dragonlance, to explicate the thematic difference, is that while it incorporates D&D tropes, it varies it more from the rules-as-written. An obvious example is kender, but also the the Solamnic Knights, Wizards of High Sorcery, Ogres/Irda, clerics, etc. The 1E rule-set didn't accomodate this so well, iirc, but 3E did a better job of it and I think 5E could do so quite well with sub-classes and such.

Edit: So if anything, DL is more categorically similar to Dark Sun, even if the themes and flavors are very different.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Well, I guess Dragonlance is probably more likely to get a setting book than Greyhawk or Mystara.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Look at all the hardcover adventures released so for for 5E. Every single one of them is either set in the Realms or starts in the Realms before veering off into Ravenloft or Avernus. There has not been a single hardcover adventure to support Eberron or Ravnica, and I doubt there will be one put out for Theros or Wildemount either. So whatever we get will start somewhere in the Realms, with Icewind Dale seeming likely, before potentially going somewhere outside the Realms, if it does at all. And if it does, the most likely is a portal to Sigil. Or maybe another of the Lower Planes? Maybe some Ice Devils and such to start and a trip to their home plane to deal with their bosses.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Well, I guess Dragonlance is probably more likely to get a setting book than Greyhawk or Mystara.

Hard to say. Mearls was really championing Greyhawk before his time-out, plus we got Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Even Mystara has gotten more side notes in the books than Krynn. But then, anything higher than zero is more. lol

Of all the settings owned by WotC, Dark Sun will likely be next, once they are more satisfied with the psionics rules. Greyhawk is probably stuck in some limbo because of Gail Gygax.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Hard to say. Mearls was really championing Greyhawk before his time-out, plus we got Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Even Mystara has gotten more side notes in the books than Krynn. But then, anything higher than zero is more. lol

Yeah, but Saltmarsh in the book isn't really designed to introduce Greyhawk. It was more meant to be a town that can be put in any setting. Sure, it's more than nothing, but it doesn't really count as Greyhawk IMHO. (Also, isn't Mearls not involved in D&D anymore?)

Of all the settings owned by WotC, Dark Sun will likely be next, once they are more satisfied with the psionics rules. Greyhawk is probably stuck in some limbo because of Gail Gygax.

I think Planescape is the most likely one to come next, though it's not truly a setting as it is a cosmology. Dark Sun is the most likely "true" setting IMO as well.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Look at all the hardcover adventures released so for for 5E. Every single one of them is either set in the Realms or starts in the Realms before veering off into Ravenloft or Avernus. There has not been a single hardcover adventure to support Eberron or Ravnica, and I doubt there will be one put out for Theros or Wildemount either. So whatever we get will start somewhere in the Realms, with Icewind Dale seeming likely, before potentially going somewhere outside the Realms, if it does at all. And if it does, the most likely is a portal to Sigil. Or maybe another of the Lower Planes? Maybe some Ice Devils and such to start and a trip to their home plane to deal with their bosses.

Yes, all the adventures will probably take place in Forgotten Realms. If they start making ones for the other campaign settings, it's not happening soon. Icewind Dale is probably going to be the start/setting of the next adventure. I don't think it will count as the setting they said in the announcement, but will have a gazetteer on it if it takes place in Icewind Dale.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Yeah, but Saltmarsh in the book isn't really designed to introduce Greyhawk. It was more meant to be a town that can be put in any setting. Sure, it's more than nothing, but it doesn't really count as Greyhawk IMHO. (Also, isn't Mearls not involved in D&D anymore?)

I thought you were posting in the big thread about Mearls being back from some other department and working on the books again. The thread the got derailed by all the Zak talk and locked?

I think Planescape is the most likely one to come next, though it's not truly a setting as it is a cosmology. Dark Sun is the most likely "true" setting IMO as well.

Yeah, Planescape is not a setting, but Sigil could be, so we may get the city and surrounding area next. That whole "if you liked the Ravenloft book" may not be referring to the mood, but to the being trapped there until you finished the adventure. Maybe we go from Icewind Dale to either Sigil or some other Plane and are trapped there until the adventure is finished.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I thought you were posting in the big thread about Mearls being back from some other department and working on the books again. The thread the got derailed by all the Zak talk and locked?

I don't think I was on that thread.

Yeah, Planescape is not a setting, but Sigil could be, so we may get the city and surrounding area next. That whole "if you liked the Ravenloft book" may not be referring to the mood, but to the being trapped there until you finished the adventure. Maybe we go from Icewind Dale to either Sigil or some other Plane and are trapped there until the adventure is finished.

They could do an adventure in Sigil, but I think Planescape will come mainly in Xanathar's 2.0, with probably a minor adventure in Sigil, like all setting books have. I assume the "if you liked Ravenloft" was referring to a possible Innistrad or Planescape book (but planescape because of the Shadowfell, where Barovia is located), but it could reference any upcoming product. It was very vague.