D&D 5E Seriously, why no setting support?

[CubeB]

This is what I'd like the most, right now.

Two books; companion pieces, both in the style of Volo's Guide to Monsters.

One would be the Manual of the Planes; detailed information on the D&D Cosmology circa 5th Edition, with various planar races and monsters. Ideally, it'd be done in the style of the old Planescape setting books, and also serve as a jumping off point for people interested in that campaign setting.

The other would be The Prime Gazetteer, which contains write ups of every single non-planar campaign setting they could get the license for, including Spelljammer. The goal here would be to provide official 5e conversions for iconic setting elements (races, classes, major NPCs, etc), while also serving as a jumping off point for people looking for information on those settings.

The next thing would be a re-configuring of the DMs Guild infrastructure. Both of those physical books would contain a bit of a bibliography, pointing people toward older gazetteers and setting books. Ideally stuff that can be easily converted with the new books.

The DMs Guild could also lift the restriction on only being able to use Forgotten Realms or Setting Agnostic Content, and periodically publish League legal races and prestige classes for people to use.

And here's the last thing; create a parallel Adventurer's League (or just update the current one, idk) that uses Sigil and its factions as a base. (Maybe just a few conglomerates of the Post Faction-War ones). Have that be a sort of "anything goes" Adventurer's League where people can play any race or class, and adventures can take you anywhere. The goal would be to use it as a vehicle to publish adventures specific non-FR settings, without having to commit to having to make a separate league for all of them.

If all of that goes well, what you'd end up with is a kind of a weird D&D Smorgasboard. From there, they can do market testing to see which settings get the most play, and what elements from those settings are the most popular. Then they can invest into publishing new content in that setting!

 

[Staccat0]

I kinda think a quick and dirty Volo's Guide to the Planes with expanded chapters on the most popular settings would be fine.

 

[ccs]

An RPG of the Chronicles story from DL would be great, if they could get the right people to do it.

I think you might want to check out a game called Dungeons & Dragons.....

 

[Parmandur]

He replies on Ebereon timing: " [MENTION=697]mearls[/MENTION] : [MENTION=6704184]doctorbadwolf[/MENTION] it's been pushed back by other stuff - sorry! #wotcstaff"

 

[arjomanes]

As mentioned, most people who buy the books are doing homebrew. The largest minority plays in the Realms. Any other setting is a fraction of a fraction of the audience. Selling those books at numbers worth selling is unlikely, even for WotC.

But how many of us running homebrew will still buy setting books we like?

I sure can't speak for everyone, but I'd still buy each of the major setting books. Just because I'm not currently running Spelljammer doesn't mean I won't buy the book and excitedly plan to run the game, even though it probably won't happen.

 

[ccs]

It took 20 minutes to make this thread.

Not comparable.

and I can respond to a thread while I wait for the kettle to boil, or a while cooking, or on my 10 minute break at work, etc.

and it requires vastly less energy to discuss something like that compared to creating and iterating a game element.

And im already building an entire game from the ground up.

And I have a full time job, a wife, and a social life.

So, no. That doesn't solve anything. Thanks.

So you're saying you're busy doing other, more important, things.
Guess what, so are the good people over at WoTC. Because if they thought it'd sell enough? Or wanted your $ right now? You'd have it in short enough order. But 2 years into 5e & all you've got are UA scraps, some surveys, & tweets....
My own guess is that you'll be waiting until one of the 9 Hells freezes over before WoTC gives you what you want. I might be (& hope I am) wrong on that. But it seems like a long time to hold off playing a favorite setting when 20 minutes here & there while waiting for the kettle to boil would provide exactly what your game needs alot sooner.

 

[Jester David]

My thoughts from another thread:

Realms needs an update because they effed with the world.
Dragonlance could use one because so much was going on in the novels, the sourcebooks couldn't keep up and are out of date.
Planescape could use one as the planned event to fix the setting after Faction War broke Sigil never ended up happening.

Other than that, the old books are just as good. Eberron is exactly the same as in the 3e/4e books. As is Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Greyhawk, Mystara, etc.
I mean, the complaint is that you can't get the books in print anymore without going used. But that ceases to be relevant if you can get any of them at any time with a mouse click.

An update just risks having people who don't care about the setting write the product. Or just people who lack passion. It often adds nothing.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But how many of us running homebrew will still buy setting books we like?

I sure can't speak for everyone, but I'd still buy each of the major setting books. Just because I'm not currently running Spelljammer doesn't mean I won't buy the book and excitedly plan to run the game, even though it probably won't happen.

Yep, and every GM I know cribs from worlds they don't actually run.

I dont think a DMG2 will sell. A much bigger Volo style book, however, I think will sell great.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I really like the idea of tossing a bunch of different setting-specific elements into one big pot and putting it out as a big book of crunch.

Cram artificers and factions and psionics and thri-kreen and warforged and bariaur and mix it up with stuff like New Rangers and other assorted class and race options...yeah, sounds neat.

 

[delericho]

I really like the idea of tossing a bunch of different setting-specific elements into one big pot and putting it out as a big book of crunch.

Yep. And since, as is noted up-thread, most people calling for setting support already own the appropriate fluff books, all that's really needed is mechanical updated. A single big book like that would solve a lot of issues very efficiently.