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!

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.
 

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Mercurius

Legend
Dragonlance is dead. I don't see it coming to 5e anytime soon. It's just not different enough from Forgotten Realms to be brought back.

I disagree on this for a few reasons.

One, at some point WotC will probably try to get a TV series made, and the Chronicles-Legends sequence seems as good as any for source material. I'm not saying it is the likely route they'd go--probably more likely is that they'd create a new story in the Realms that might incorporate iconic figures as secondary characters--but that of the published stories, it is probably the most viable.

Two, Joe Manganiello is a huge fan. Don't underestimate the power of celebrity.

Three, I disagree with your assessment with Krynn vs. Toril. FR is a (perhaps the) classic non-themed classic kitchen-sink D&D setting, whereas Dragonlance is more specifically themed and flavored. In my mind they represent two ends of the "vanilla fantasy" spectrum.
 

Levistus's_Leviathan

5e Freelancer
One, at some point WotC will probably try to get a TV series made, and the Chronicles-Legends sequence seems as good as any for source material. I'm not saying it is the likely route they'd go--probably more likely is that they'd create a new story in the Realms that might incorporate iconic figures as secondary characters--but that of the published stories, it is probably the most viable.
Don't get me wrong, I recently started reading the books and I enjoy them, but I just don't see it coming back as a D&D setting. It doesn't have as large a fanbase as Eberron or Dark Sun or Planescape.
Two, Joe Manganiello is a huge fan. Don't underestimate the power of celebrity.
The main celebrity that regularly plays D&D likes Dragonlance. I guess he could possibly make something happen, as Arkhan the Cruel made his way into Descent into Avernus, but I just don't see it likely that he'd do anything to get Dragonlance back.
Three, I disagree with your assessment with Krynn vs. Toril. FR is a (perhaps the) classic non-themed classic kitchen-sink D&D setting, whereas Dragonlance is more specifically themed and flavored. In my mind they represent two ends of the "vanilla fantasy" spectrum.
Eberron is widespread magic. Dark Sun is psionics and forbidden magic. M:tG worlds are all different spins on existing concepts. Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Dragonlance IMHO are way too similar in theme to be brought back.
 

Honestly, if the upcoming (IWD?) adventure does veer off into Spelljammer, a Planescape/Spelljammer sourcebook for the end of the year would make a lot of sense and have a huge amount of tie-ins. Not only with the upcoming adventure (should the projected Spelljammer happen), but with Descent to Avernus and the upcoming BG3 video game. And that would be perfectly fine with me, especially if we get a decent bestiary that updates a lot of still-to-be-updated planar creatures in it...
 

pkt77242

Explorer
Don't get me wrong, I recently started reading the books and I enjoy them, but I just don't see it coming back as a D&D setting. It doesn't have as large a fanbase as Eberron or Dark Sun or Planescape.

The main celebrity that regularly plays D&D likes Dragonlance. I guess he could possibly make something happen, as Arkhan the Cruel made his way into Descent into Avernus, but I just don't see it likely that he'd do anything to get Dragonlance back.

Eberron is widespread magic. Dark Sun is psionics and forbidden magic. M:tG worlds are all different spins on existing concepts. Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Dragonlance IMHO are way too similar in theme to be brought back.
You mean like being involved with a script for a movie based on Dragons of Autumn Twilight....
What Joe Manganiello’s Possible Dragonlance Movie Might Contain | Geek and Sundry
 




Mercurius

Legend
Eberron is widespread magic. Dark Sun is psionics and forbidden magic. M:tG worlds are all different spins on existing concepts. Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Dragonlance IMHO are way too similar in theme to be brought back.

Again, I disagree with this. The only major similarity is that they all emerged out of the "golden age" of the 70s-80s.

GH and FR are similar in their kitchen-sinkness, with tonal differences that would be expected from the personalities of Gary Gygax and Ed Greenwood. GH is a bit grittier and more influenced by sword & sorcery; FR is more high fantasy, with a lighter feel. Both are meant to be able to run just about any type of play experience.

Dragonlance is more tightly thematic, with a strong post-apocalyptic vibe, a unique pantheon and, of course, centered on dragons. While it can be used in any way a DM wants to, it is more focused in terms of the type of game it was designed for. It was created as a set piece for D&D's first big multi-media event, with a best-selling series of books, so to play DL--at least early on--was to play "kind of like the books." I don't know how old you are, but the Chronicles and Legends were enormously popular when they came out--probably as popular as contemporary series' David Eddings' Belgariad and Raymond Feist's Riftwar.

Krynn itself has a very different quality to FR and GH, as far as the world itself and flavor. Where much of GH and the Realms are based on obvious Earth analogues, with the Realms expanding even further to include a little bit of "everything" (or at least most major cultural groups), Krynn is based around internal themes. There are some obvious Earth analogues (e.g. the plains people of Abanasinia as Native Americans), it doesn't attempt to emulate real-world cultures. There is no "fantasy Egypt" or "fantasy China." There isn't even really "fantasy England."

As I said before, Krynn was designed in a similar fashion as many novelists design settings for their story. Story first, setting second. GH and FR (or at least once TSR took over) was designed as game first, with setting as an environment for stories.

(As an aside, there are some game settings that are designed in a more Tolkienian sense: setting first, stories second, such as Talislanta, which while it was designed as an RPG, more feels like a "boutique setting" made for the pure joy of imagination. Tolkien designed Middle-earth to envision a deeper European mytho-cosmology and to ground his languages in cultural histories, with the story arising out of that)
 

vpuigdoller

Adventurer
As someone who loves world building as an art, I couldn't care.leaa about 'canon' in an RPG Setting. Based on how WotC is approaching Settings now, I'm not alone, I think.
Agreed I a am campaign setting junkie and I could care less about canon. If it is fun I usually go with it. I do warn my players beforehand about it. This is also the reason why I think they are republishing a setting they should add new stuff to it. I use what I like if you are not adding new stuff why bother republishing it, but that's a topic for another thread.
 

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