Upcoming products will "touch on cultures that don't usually get exposure."

[Parmandur]

So, is that cultures that haven't been touched on in D&D? Because, if so, then Mezo-America (Maztica), various East Asian and Southeast Asian (Kara-tur), and Middle Eastern (Al Qadim) cultures don't seem like what's being described as those have each had boxed sets and supplements in the past.

Insufficient data tonparse properly at this time...by design.

 

[Immortal Sun]

So, is that cultures that haven't been touched on in D&D? Because, if so, then Mezo-America (Maztica), various East Asian and Southeast Asian (Kara-tur), and Middle Eastern (Al Qadim) cultures don't seem like what's being described as those have each had boxed sets and supplements in the past.

I would assume it's ones that haven't been handled by 5E, because contextually speaking all upcoming releases are going to be for 5E.

And that's also to say: a lot of the cultures that were touched on in the past could be retouched a lot better.

 

[Ibrandul]

I'd bet a lot of money he means cultures that haven't been explored in 5e. The whole WotC team is constantly saying things like "We haven't gone there yet" and "We haven't ever done that" to mean "It hasn't yet appeared in 5e."

 

[Ancalagon]

WotC's Kate Welch and Nathan Stewart talked on the Spoilers & Swag streamed chat. They mentioned that in 2020, there will be a couple of products that will touch on cultures that don't usually get exposure in D&D.

Just going on record that a psionics book in a Realms-based analogue of Tibet / Nepal / India would get the job done real nicely.

Runner up would be Dungeons & Tikis. Polynesia. Moana meets Mordenkainen.

Yoon Suin is the best d&d setting I've purchased in 25 years of gaming, it is set in a pseudo India/Tibet area.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You know how Hollywood often brings out two similar movies at about the same time?

Well, I point to Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire.

For those not familiar, it is a D&D inspired CRPG which focuses on sailing ships and pirates, set in archipelago with a pseudo-Polynesian culture threatened by two more technologically advanced colonial powers.


I would also mention that D&D has yet to do Earthsea, despite it being a major fantasy classic.

 

[Voi_D_ragon]

I would love a Roman or Greek book.

I just hope they don't make a "get woke, go broke move".

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Since they have yet to do anything major with a desert theme, I feel one of these 2020 books will have a Middle-Eastern/North Africa feel, covering the matching parts of the Realms. Next most likely is the whole Asian theme because that seems to be popular in every edition of D&D. Then, of course, there is the Indian sub-continent theme that others have mentioned.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The criterion "touches on cultures that don't usually get exposure" would pretty categorically rule out Arabesque or Wuxia, as both have been done several times before.

 

[GothicEmperor]

I'd bet a lot of money he means cultures that haven't been explored in 5e. The whole WotC team is constantly saying things like "We haven't gone there yet" and "We haven't ever done that" to mean "It hasn't yet appeared in 5e."

I think so too. 'We' is probably them as individual people, and most (if not all) of the WOTC staff didn't work there when all those other FR sub-settings were released decades ago.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'd bet a lot of money he means cultures that haven't been explored in 5e. The whole WotC team is constantly saying things like "We haven't gone there yet" and "We haven't ever done that" to mean "It hasn't yet appeared in 5e."

5e hasn't explored ANY cultures apart from bog standard western European. Ergo, it makes no sense to even say it if you are only thinking of 5e.