D&D (2024) The Future of One D&D Setting Books

[Henadic Theologian]

Winninger told us there was going to be a "cameo" by a classic setting in 2022. Unless something pops up from another setting in the Dragonlance book, "Athaspace" is the only possible candidate for what he was referring to. And that name stuck around late enough in the development process to make it into promotional materials.

Also, Ravenloft clearly demonstrated that they will make whatever changes they see fit to classic settings, as long as it seems like a better idea than what the old setting had. Turning Athas' sun into a literal "Dark Sun" certainly seems like someone's idea of a clever change...

It's probably for the best they created Doomspace instead, that too much of a setting wrecking change.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

MTG jumped the shark with the Walking Dead cards, its been downhill from there, and they dont need an excuse for reprints.

Apparently they do, the excuse for not having certain cards reprinted in CLB that fans thought should be in it is didn't fit the D&D FR setting (like Mana Drain).

The fact that they not only doubled down on the walking dead, but then went onto do Stranger Things, Street Fighter, Fortnight (okay that one was tacky), 40k Commander Decks and next year Dr. Who Decks, LotR set & decks, and if rumours are correct an Alien/Phyrexian cross-over secret lair and a Disney Princess secret lair, so this shows you how little WotC would be about complaints on connecting FR to MtG settings.

 

[Scribe]

Apparently they do, the excuse for not having certain cards reprinted in CLB that fans thought should be in it is didn't fit the D&D FR setting (like Mana Drain).

The fact that they not only doubled down on the walking dead, but then went onto do Stranger Things, Street Fighter, Fortnight (okay that one was tacky), 40k Commander Decks and next year Dr. Who Decks, LotR set & decks, and if rumours are correct an Alien/Phyrexian cross-over secret lair and a Disney Princess secret lair, so this shows you how little WotC would be about complaints on connecting FR to MtG settings.

So do they care (didnt print Mana Drain) or do they not?

I dont know how long you've played MTG, but believing that they didnt reprint a high value card because it wasnt thematic is....not something I would do.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

MTG jumped the shark with the Walking Dead cards, its been downhill from there, and they dont need an excuse for reprints.

So do they care (didnt print Mana Drain) or do they not?

I dont know how long you've played MTG, but believing that they didnt reprint a high value card because it wasnt thematic is....not something I would do.

It might have been their cover story for sticking Commander Reprints that should have gone to CLB into Whale Bait 2022 instead.

 

[delericho]

How will new setting books be different in One D&D?

Not much. Unless Spelljammer sales collapse in the next few months, or Planescape flops, I think we'll see them stick with the slipcase format, for a while at least. They seem pretty happy with it.

More experimental?

Doubtful. Given that the "new setting" they mentioned before seems to have disappeared, it looks like they're more inclined to play it safe.

Will the Phyrexian arc merged the D&D and MtG multiverses making joint setting easier to make, as sort of foretold in 2021?

I have no idea what this means.

Will Darksun, Greyhawk, and Mystara make a triumphet return in One D&D?

Gut feeling is that Dark Sun will probably get an update in 2025, or thereabouts. I'm inclined to think Greyhawk may well get a release as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations - probably six months after the new core rulebooks.

Mystara, I think, will never reappear. Too many real world cultures with the serial numbers filed.

Will FR get a new edition Campaign book as is tradition.

Almost certainly, and probably in the first couple of years following the update.

Will Theros, Eberron, Ravnica, Ravenloft,Spelljammer, Planescape, and Exandia also eventually get One D&D books?

Spelljammer already has its One D&D book, and Planescape will next year. I can't see the others getting significant updates. (Eberron would be the most likely, but given the lack of lore updates for that setting it's hard to see how they would do it. They could even handle it with a quiet update when they reprint RFtLW next time.)

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Well, we know that Winninger teased the return of a Setting already done in 5E for 2024, and I think since Raveloft, Strixhaven, Spelljammer, Dragonlance and Planescape are already 1D&D compatible by design, whatever the return is will probably be fully 1D&D or agnostic to be mutually compatible as well.

Does Spelljammer have level 1 Feat equivalents? Also if Ravenloft is compatible, Theros is. I'd say the Gifts in both are a fair bit stronger than the L1 Feats here, and the "any Feat" alternative definitely is, but I guess anyone starting a new RL/Theros game post-1D&D would be naturally restricting PCs to L1 Feats!

My expectation is more that Dragonlance and Planescape will be strongly compatible, and that the others are sorta-compatible. I definitely expect Planescape to be 100% designed "as if for 1D&D".

Will FR get a new edition Campaign book as is tradition.

Probably.

I give very strong odds that they try and make the FR look a lot more jolly and modern and Exandria-esque than in previous editions. Not complaining, just commenting. We won't have the brooding and mysterious FR of earlier iterations (to be fair SCAG was already headed away from that).

Will Theros, Eberron, Ravnica, Ravenloft,Spelljammer, Planescape, and Exandia also eventually get One D&D books?

Probably not but see above. Well Exandria might, but likely non-official.

My main hope is NEW SETTINGS. It's been nearly 20 years. We know WotC has created, gone pretty far with, and discarded at least two, possibly three new settings in Ray Winninger's tenure alone (and I would imagine several more didn't get that far). I'm a little concerned they might have their own bar too high, but hey it's their company.

I honestly do think 2024 may well see a new setting, but even if it doesn't, I really hope 1D&D has at least two new settings in the time it exists.

I also think what WotC has realized is, ironically enough, as they move more towards lifestylers and collectors, that setting books don't really cannibalize each other, so long as you take a "one and done" approach (not the "spam followup material" approach of TSR), that a lot of people just kind of mindlessly buy them, especially if they have PC options/monsters in them. So I suspect we'll see a pretty steady stream of setting books.

I could be wrong but I don't expect more "MtG in D&D" stuff any time soon - rather MtG is just eating D&D and any other IP it can get its hands on (even WH40K!!!), and so the direction of travel will be more that way.

I disagree with @Whizbang Dustyboots that Doomspace doesn't give us any insight re: Dark Sun. I think it does, I don't believe an artist just "placeholdered" Athaspace, that's too specific and weird. But equally I don't think the actual "setting" of Doomspace tells us much. I think all we know is WotC was considering just dropping Athas into SJ, and then decided against. I do think that means we can expect a more "traditional" Dark Sun, albeit a cleaned-up one (no Muls, or they'll be not "bred hybrids" but something else, for example, slavery downplayed or changed to indentured servitude, etc.), and I also suspect it's not going to be out soon. The level 1 Feat thing makes Athas easier of course, as you can hand out Wild Talents etc. that way. And I think this bodes fairly well for a Mystic/Psion class. Oh and probably revised "Psionic subclasses" for a bunch of classes which will fit with the updated 1D&D versions of those classes.

 

[Nikosandros]

Doomspace was never going to be Athas, because WotC isn't reckless enough to turn Athas' sun into a black hole. Think of how some folks reacted to Van Richten's and then amp that up to 90%+ of Dark Sun fans being upset. They were never going to do something like that.

That map was almost certainly created by an artist who was told "it's kind of like Dark Sun" and put in temp text that got caught late in the process and fixed.

Doomspace doesn't tell us anything about the future of Dark Sun.

That said, WotC has a lot on its plate without having to worry about psionics right now and I cannot imagine they're going to put out something so atypical as Dark Sun in 2024. Start hoping for it again in 2025.

OTOH, Winninger had stated that there was a planned cameo for an old setting this year and the number of Dark Sun monsters in SJ is a bit suspicious...

 

[Nikosandros]

Does Spelljammer have level 1 Feat equivalents?

Spelljammer has two backgrounds and each one gives a free feat: Magical Initiate and Tough; both are 1st-level feats in the playtest package.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Does Spelljammer have level 1 Feat equivalents? Also if Ravenloft is compatible, Theros is. I'd say the Gifts in both are a fair bit stronger than the L1 Feats here, and the "any Feat" alternative definitely is, but I guess anyone starting a new RL/Theros game post-1D&D would be naturally restricting PCs to L1 Feats!

My expectation is more that Dragonlance and Planescape will be strongly compatible, and that the others are sorta-compatible. I definitely expect Planescape to be 100% designed "as if for 1D&D".


Probably.

I give very strong odds that they try and make the FR look a lot more jolly and modern and Exandria-esque than in previous editions. Not complaining, just commenting. We won't have the brooding and mysterious FR of earlier iterations (to be fair SCAG was already headed away from that).

Probably not but see above. Well Exandria might, but likely non-official.

My main hope is NEW SETTINGS. It's been nearly 20 years. We know WotC has created, gone pretty far with, and discarded at least two, possibly three new settings in Ray Winninger's tenure alone (and I would imagine several more didn't get that far). I'm a little concerned they might have their own bar too high, but hey it's their company.

I honestly do think 2024 may well see a new setting, but even if it doesn't, I really hope 1D&D has at least two new settings in the time it exists.

I also think what WotC has realized is, ironically enough, as they move more towards lifestylers and collectors, that setting books don't really cannibalize each other, so long as you take a "one and done" approach (not the "spam followup material" approach of TSR), that a lot of people just kind of mindlessly buy them, especially if they have PC options/monsters in them. So I suspect we'll see a pretty steady stream of setting books.

I could be wrong but I don't expect more "MtG in D&D" stuff any time soon - rather MtG is just eating D&D and any other IP it can get its hands on (even WH40K!!!), and so the direction of travel will be more that way.

I disagree with @Whizbang Dustyboots that Doomspace doesn't give us any insight re: Dark Sun. I think it does, I don't believe an artist just "placeholdered" Athaspace, that's too specific and weird. But equally I don't think the actual "setting" of Doomspace tells us much. I think all we know is WotC was considering just dropping Athas into SJ, and then decided against. I do think that means we can expect a more "traditional" Dark Sun, albeit a cleaned-up one (no Muls, or they'll be not "bred hybrids" but something else, for example, slavery downplayed or changed to indentured servitude, etc.), and I also suspect it's not going to be out soon. The level 1 Feat thing makes Athas easier of course, as you can hand out Wild Talents etc. that way. And I think this bodes fairly well for a Mystic/Psion class. Oh and probably revised "Psionic subclasses" for a bunch of classes which will fit with the updated 1D&D versions of those classes.

Given most of their products are a C/C+ at most their standards aren't that high, it's productivity that is horrifyingly bad.

Like how bad were these books that they didn't survive, but Spelljammer with an absolute ton of important content missing survived. It leaves me wonder how bad were these settings that they couldn't make it over that bar?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

It leaves me wonder how bad were these settings that they couldn't make it over that bar?

Right? But with corporate entities like WotC "bad" is often not why things don't get published/released. I mean, sometimes it is, but also it's often something like not being sufficiently "on brand" or not being sufficiently "marketable". I suspect the issue of "potentially treading on the toes of an MtG setting" was also considered.

Like Dark Sun, if that had never been done, and someone developed a post-apocalyptic setting with a strong anthropocentric climate change theme, no gods, special races (rather than kitchen sink), some risky stuff relating to slavery (even if we assume massively toned down because 2022 not 1991), and so on, even if it was absolutely brilliantly executed, would WotC have published it?

I don't think so. If we do get Dark Sun, it'll only be because it's an existing setting (and surprisingly popular with the younger players).

Planescape, similarly, philosophers with clubs rather than dungeon-crawling? That concept would have been rejected and instead Planescape would have become "Cool Adventure Hub", and Sigil wouldn't have weird politics and high strangeness and the Lady of Pain and so on, it'd have been a Cool Place where Cool Adventurers hung out (this may yet come to pass of course). I mean, we've dodged a bullet in that Starry-Eyed New Yorker's Fantasy of Fantasy New York is the Radiant Citadel (seriously, one of the designers said as much) at least, so we won't get Sigil 6E as being that, but I'll be shocked if it doesn't seem a lot nicer and cleaner and less weird than 2E PS (rather than merely cosmopolitan and civil simply because being uncivil tends to go badly).