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.

 

[Mecheon]

I think I have found the solution. Walt Disney creates a new show about a group of teenages who create a streaming game-live show as Critical Role and they are playing Dragonlance, with animation scenes showing characters, with Disney art style, within the story.

Yeah, no.

Half of the enjoyment of watching people do D&D things is the live environment and not knowing what's coming up next. It leads to naturally occurring situations like a tabaxi trying to lead ogres into a trap by yelling "ASPARAGUS" or someone managing to save a servant's life by posing as a security contractor (while they're actually robbing a house) by talking about how previous traps were shoddily made and that's why they're here, to fix things up.

You're just talking about making it staged, dull, and following a storyline that people know and would tear to pieces in this day and age.

Plus, yeah, no to Disney's hands getting into more pies.

 

[teitan]

I'm sticking to my guns on a reimagined War of the Lance without pregenerated characters. I think it would be a great way to revamp the setting and put it in the hands of the DM and their players.

 

[the Jester]

That one does not count any more than Tales from the Yawning Portal does. Neither one is a real adventure path. they are both just sets of old adventures put together into a book, not an original story written as a whole.

I disagree that it doesn't count- it absolutely has a good chunk of information on the World of Greyhawk, albeit a small section. And I don't really see how whether or not it's an adventure path matters a whit as to whether it has setting material in it- traditionally, by which I mean before 5e, setting material doesn't include an adventure path at all. The presence or absence of an adventure path, or even a single adventure, is irrelevant to whether or not it's setting material. And again- it's absolutely set in Greyhawk, which is the point I am making.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

As a DM, I can do anything, but publishers have certain obligations. The setting is so tied to the novels, it's hard to separate them. They could set it near the beginning of the Chronicles timeline, but then there's no healing. They could set it later, but then you have a history intimately tied to a group of heroes. You could ignore the novels, but then you're ignoring a large group of gamers who were introduced to the setting from the novels.

If you include the heroes in the setting, and take your PCs on separate adventures from the "main" storyline, you'll know there are bigger, more important events happening in the background and you're mostly side characters in the great battle against evil.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but Dragonlance is unique in that its adventures and setting are intimately tied to the heroes and events in the novels. It presents a challenge.

Ultimately, I think WotC will do what they think will make money. If Dragonlance has enough buzz to warrant a setting or adventure book, they'll make it happen and surmount all its historical obstacles. I mean, I would definitely buy a Dragonlance 5e book. It would be like visiting my childhood.

Sidenote: I'm still gonna go with my prediction of Desert of Desolation or Egyptian style setting/adventure for the next hardcover reveal.

Edit: Reading a little more of the buzz behind the next release, it does seem an adventure set in Icewind Dale is the mostly candidate. Sigh...and the most boring.

100% correct, from experience the best way to play Dragonlance is either 1) Not during the War of the Lance period 2) Not on Ansalon 3) Both. The Heroes of the Lance loom too large, the books have taken over as the primary focus of the setting for most players so best to do yourself a favour and play in areas they don't touch. Like Third Age Ergoth. Or 20 years post War of the Lance. Or Fifth Age. Anything than going over the original modules with someone who wants to play Raistlin "the right way".

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I'm sticking to my guns on a reimagined War of the Lance without pregenerated characters. I think it would be a great way to revamp the setting and put it in the hands of the DM and their players.

I'd honestly just leave that aside and come up with a new war event, and set it in another part of the timeline, and heat the same (or better) emotional beats.

 

[the Jester]

I really want to see a manual of the planes that is a guide to the multiverse, and I'd rather have a planeswalker narrate it than an old dnd character.

Gah. Not to my taste. I'd love a "Shemeska's Manual of the Planes", and am not sure how I would feel if it was "Urza's Manual of the Planes" instead. I'm okay with a limited level of stream-crossing, but shoving MtG into my D&D too hard is... iffy.

I don't understand why you would feel subordinate to the heroes of the lance, even if you (for some reason) decide to stick to canon while playing a dnd campaign.

Because that is literally the core identity of the DragonLance setting- which, frankly, is why I've never been able to get into DL as a game setting.

Back in the day, when the DL novels first came out, I loved them and was hot for the adventures. Then the adventures actually came out, and I read/tried to run or play them... and they were terrible. They literally forced you to follow the novels, from the obscure death rule (let's take away all the stakes so nothing matters!) to the "endless dragonarmies in all directions except the one you're supposed to go in" (let's take away all player agency so none of their choices matter!) approach. They were good novels (until I re-read them later, with a bit more sophistication in my tastes, and re-evaluated them), but terrible games; and that legacy tarnished the setting so much that I never purchased a single DL product again after the two modules I owned... unless you count the Time of the Twins novels. Which- again, they were good novels (and that trilogy, IMHO, stands up far better to a re-read and re-evaluation), but again, they don't appear to make for good adventures. IMHO.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I disagree that it doesn't count- it absolutely has a good chunk of information on the World of Greyhawk, albeit a small section. And I don't really see how whether or not it's an adventure path matters a whit as to whether it has setting material in it- traditionally, by which I mean before 5e, setting material doesn't include an adventure path at all. The presence or absence of an adventure path, or even a single adventure, is irrelevant to whether or not it's setting material. And again- it's absolutely set in Greyhawk, which is the point I am making.

It did not unlock Greyhawk as eligible for DMs Guild products, the way the Ravenloft, Eberron, and Ravnica books did, so it does not count as a setting book where it matters.

 

[the Jester]

It did not unlock Greyhawk as eligible for DMs Guild products, the way the Ravenloft, Eberron, and Ravnica books did, so it does not count as a setting book where it matters.

I mean, if your qualification for where it matters is "Can use for DM's Guild products," sure. If your qualification is "is explicitly set in Greyhawk and offers Greyhawk setting information", then it certainly does.

By your definition, a full on 320 page hardback published by WotC that included reprints of the original Darlene maps, fully fleshed out details of each kingdom, important npc, and faction, and a bestiary of Greyhawk specific monsters wouldn't qualify unless it was also open to DM's Guild applications. I think that is a pretty limited definition.

Regardless, your original post claimed that everything was set in the FR. Ghosts of Saltmarsh is clearly, explicitly, not.

 

[Paragon Lost]

Yeah, I'm referring to novels. And "out of print" specifically means "not printed" which makes ebooks irrelevant for the discussion.

I never made any claim that they were difficult to get access too. There's a million second hand bookshop packed with Dragonlance. I said the novels were out of print for the most part. Which they are. Whether I can get Unsung Heroes on DMsGuild is irrelevant.

If you think that ebooks are irrelevant, I really have nothing further to say I guess. Carry on.

 

[teitan]

If you think that ebooks are irrelevant, I really have nothing further to say I guess. Carry on.

To the point that was being discussed they aren't no. They are remarkably relevant in general but the point was that they have not released a new novel since 09 and WOTC is no longer publishing novels and no one owns a license to reprint the old ones. So they are Out of Print. You mentioned gaming materials, not relevant. Then ebooks, not relevant to what was being said. You're sticking point is about a statement, that was never made, that they weren't readily available. Wasn't said because it is obviously not true as they shelf warm book stores in like new condition and gobs of them are available in secondary book stores on the daily. Had someone said they weren't readily available then I could see your point but since we had just discussed them being on book store shelves still that would render your point unnecessary, an "actually" kind of statement.