D&D 5E Planescape shows up in the wild. Tease from Chris Perkins.

[Parmandur]

Other advantages of the Inner Sea is that Thay is there and I think they want to make Thay an even bigger antigonist going forward. Other major villains in the area are Warlock Knights of Vaasa, Queen of the Succubi Malnchanet, Unther, etc...

And it's set up to do a much greater variety of adventures. Myth Nentar for visiting an underwater city you don't need a spell to visit, empires related to Earth empires, megadungeon the Celestial Nadir, old school kingdoms Cormyr, Impiltur, Damara, Rasheman, you got the Old Empires Region for ancient empires and Dragonborn nation of Tymanther, Pirate Islands, racial divirsity (Turmish, Nathlan), city states like Westgate, you got that nation that Raven bluff is apart of, etc..., you got tell more kinds of stories there ones that involve bigger nations and are closer to big villain nations.

I love Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep and Neverwinter, but the Inner Sea region is just far richer in possibilities.

Specifically in the past Perkins has talked about wanting to do a Game of Thrones-y political Adventure for 5E, and I could see that coming in the next couple of years. Lots of sorts of solid fantasy stories available in the Inner Sea region that don't fit the Savage Frontier.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They have what you need to play D&D. They do not have the reams of irrelevant and repetitive information that used to be in setting books because you do not need that to play D&D. It only existed to be read.

It is merely your opinion that such material is "irrelevant and repetitive", not fact as you imply. I certainly don't agree with you.

 

[Parmandur]

They have what you need to play D&D. They do not have the reams of irrelevant and repetitive information that used to be in setting books because you do not need that to play D&D. It only existed to be read.

GuildmaaterGuide to Ravnica was quite a revelation, being a useful resource for Advebture building rather than an encyclopedia.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

They still do make setting books. But they are setting books to support play, not to be read.

Those are adventures with some setting lore, setting books are meant to be read, then used as inspiration for play, otherwise its not a setting book. It can have a small adventure (but preferably not) and some player options, but a setting book most basic function that sets it apart from adventures with setting lore, or splat books with some lore, is its job is to immerse folks into the setting as a place. It's why Jeremy Crawford philosophy that setting books should be play first, not read first has been such an failure, leading to settings lacking depth, that rail road instead of inspire and they don't immerse. Setting books job is to immerse someone in the setting above all and to inspire the imagination.

Added benifit of that is they have broader appeal then just RPG players, but also broader fans of a setting, which is why they should be marketed as such.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Those are adventures with some setting lore, setting books are meant to be read, then used as inspiration for play, otherwise its not a setting book. It can have a small adventure (but preferably not) and some player options, but a setting book most basic function that sets it apart from adventures with setting lore, or splat books with some lore, is its job is to immerse folks into the setting as a place. It's why Jeremy Crawford philosophy that setting books should be play first, not read first has been such an failure, leading to settings lacking depth, that rail road instead of inspire and they don't immerse. Setting books job is to immerse someone in the setting above all and to inspire the imagination.

Added benifit of that is they have broader appeal then just RPG players, but also broader fans of a setting, which is why they should be marketed as such.

The only benefit to the current philosophy of "setting books" to me is that they allow designers on the DMsGuild to make real setting books.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Specifically in the past Perkins has talked about wanting to do a Game of Thrones-y political Adventure for 5E, and I could see that coming in the next couple of years. Lots of sorts of solid fantasy stories available in the Inner Sea region that don't fit the Savage Frontier.

That could fit the Border Kingdoms too, but honestly a Game Thrones type story would be far more interesting in the Sea of Fallen Stars Region, BK is more for an adventuring party to take their own small kingdom, like PF Kingmaker (both TT Kingmaker and BK being creations of Ed Greenwood), and the Inner Sea would be much bigger stakes, the Inner Sea being like a mix of the mediterranean sea and the Greak Lakes (mostly the mediterranean sea).

The Inner Sea is alot more civilized, instead of points of light, so I agree it's much better for a GoT campaign. That might be a few years away though, because Vecna's first, then D&D cartoon adventure, maybe the one with the Red Wizards.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The only benefit to the current philosophy of "setting books" to me is that they allow designers on the DMsGuild to make real setting books.

Except those aren't official, that matters to alot of people.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Except those aren't official, that matters to alot of people.

That's a shame, because WotC isn't going to change their plans. Those people would be happier if they broke their oath of fealty and explored other options.

 

[Parmandur]

Those are adventures with some setting lore, setting books are meant to be read, then used as inspiration for play, otherwise its not a setting book. It can have a small adventure (but preferably not) and some player options, but a setting book most basic function that sets it apart from adventures with setting lore, or splat books with some lore, is its job is to immerse folks into the setting as a place. It's why Jeremy Crawford philosophy that setting books should be play first, not read first has been such an failure, leading to settings lacking depth, that rail road instead of inspire and they don't immerse. Setting books job is to immerse someone in the setting above all and to inspire the imagination.

Added benifit of that is they have broader appeal then just RPG players, but also broader fans of a setting, which is why they should be marketed as such.

Well, taking Descent into Avernus as an example, the Baldur's Gate Gazateer is bigger than a TSR era softcover book. The big hardcovers have a lot of Setting detail, focused on smaller area sandboxes (for a certain value of small: the Saltmarsh area detailed in Ghosts of Saltmarsh is like 3000 square miles).

 

[Parmandur]

That could fit the Border Kingdoms too, but honestly a Game Thrones type story would be far more interesting in the Sea of Fallen Stars Region, BK is more for an adventuring party to take their own small kingdom, like PF Kingmaker (both TT Kingmaker and BK being creations of Ed Greenwood), and the Inner Sea would be much bigger stakes, the Inner Sea being like a mix of the mediterranean sea and the Greak Lakes (mostly the mediterranean sea).

Well, he was talking about court politics among the nobility with high stakes. Nowhere on the Sword Coast has time for that sort of thing, but would be perfect for Coromyr.