Maztica is a real mess. I think it'd be a lot better to start with a new setting or just flesh out one of the Latin America settings in Radiant Citadel.Get folks from the analogous real-world cultures to write these up. Radiant Citadel was a start. Paizo's doing it with their new Tian Xia setting/area; WotC could do it too.
Here's a fuller list on wikipedia. I think you missed
Assuming the settings that represent IP that WotC doesn't own is off the table (I asterisked those); that leaves settings that represent analogs to real world locales (Dragon Fist's default setting was called Tianguo based on Chinese legends etc). I italicized those. My opinion is as above - get folks from the analagous real world place to design the settings and boom - you could have awesomeness.
- Conan and Red Sonja*
- Diablo II*
- Dragon Fist
- Arcane Age (part of FR like Al-Qadim et al)
- The Horde (part of FR like Al-Qadim et al)
- Malatra: The Living Jungle (part of FR like Al-Qadim et al)
- Kingdoms of Kalamar*
- Lankhmar*
- Mahasarpa
- Rokugan*
- Warcraft*
- Wilderlands of High Fantasy*
I keep forgetting about radiant citadel. I read through the preview document and it didn't grab me so, to me, it's almost like it doesn't exist.I wanted to thank everyone for their insights thus far and I hope to see more discussion.
There's Radiant Citadel.
I miss the 3e web enhancements. Those monsters things on D&DB reminded me of them (back when they were actual documents anyway).Thanks for catching those. I didn't include any that WotC doesn't have the rights to. BTW, Chris Pramas owns Dragon Fist. He was going to do something with it, but nothing ever came about.
Mahasarpa is incredibly niche. It was a web enhancement for the Oriental Adventures 3e book.
I'd buy it, it has good ideas, without the issues or difficult to adapt to 5e mechanics of other old settings. But I think you vastly overestimate the amount of name recognition. This is a setting that was defunct when I started playing in 1982, and I'm a good 20 years older than most of the rest of my group. As a collectors item, targeted at people in their late 50s and 60s, it would have to have a three digit price tag, which would mean I couldn't afford it.
I joke about Jakandor a lot, but I think producing a new book for it, unless they poured an enormous amount of resources into it, would be a guaranteed money loser. In fact, I think most of these defunct settings would be.I think they should produce a proper book for each setting every time a new edition comes out.
I agree, I see almost no upside for WotC to make stuff for older settings that they haven't already done/planned.I joke about Jakandor a lot, but I think producing a new book for it, unless they poured an enormous amount of resources into it, would be a guaranteed money loser. In fact, I think most of these defunct settings would be.
"I and my two dozen passionate friends would buy it!" isn't enough to sustain a "proper" book, even if there wasn't the opportunity cost of only being X number of slots on the production schedule -- which can be increased, to be sure, but not infinitely.
And if one is going to spend a huge amount of hours to make Jakandor a hit, how much more a hit could WotC produce with those same man hours doing something else?
You of all people know, @havard, that the fan community can do a great job of keeping older settings alive. If WotC put Mystara and Blackmoor up for grabs on the DMs Guild to produce new fan-pro works, there would likely be an initial flood of good stuff and then an ongoing trickle, as the appetite was largely filled. The fandoms for each would probably grow, some, but there's a finite audience for any of these older settings, as much as you or I may love any of them.
Instead of hoping WotC is going to do what they plainly have no intention of doing -- producing in-house books or boxed sets featuring these older settings -- I think everyone's energy would be better spent convincing them to unlock the vault and put at least a few on DMs Guild as a test run.
TWO dozen? Man, you're an optimist!I joke about Jakandor a lot, but I think producing a new book for it, unless they poured an enormous amount of resources into it, would be a guaranteed money loser. In fact, I think most of these defunct settings would be.
"I and my two dozen passionate friends would buy it!" isn't enough to sustain a "proper" book, even if there wasn't the opportunity cost of only being X number of slots on the production schedule -- which can be increased, to be sure, but not infinitely.
Radiant Citadel is up for a Nebula btwI keep forgetting about radiant citadel. I read through the preview document and it didn't grab me so, to me, it's almost like it doesn't exist.
That would be kind of like asking a white American to fix a setting called Yankidoodaland.
Does it matter? WotC doesn’t really do settings anymore. They make adventures that have 5 pages of basic lore of the land they are in.
To get good Dragonlance stuff you have to go to the DMGuild. Or buy the old Ed stuff which 2E settings lore was and still os amazing. The old Faerun grey box is so so good.
Or maybe head on over to the Dragonlance Nexus.To get good Dragonlance stuff you have to go to the DMGuild.
Nah, can’t make Yankidoodaland these days. Slavery too big an element of the setting, y’see…If someone made Yankidoodaland it would totally be a setting a Canadian world come up with, just saying.
Nah, can’t make Yankidoodaland these days. Slavery too big an element of the setting, y’see…![]()