D&D General What About Those Other D&D Settings?

[carmachu]

I have to be honest: given how poor some past products were treated when released, I’d rather Wotc make something new then revisit the old. Unless the products get better

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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.

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.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Here's a fuller list on wikipedia. I think you missed

• 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*

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.

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.

 

[cbwjm]

I wanted to thank everyone for their insights thus far and I hope to see more discussion.


There's Radiant Citadel.

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.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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 miss the 3e web enhancements. Those monsters things on D&DB reminded me of them (back when they were actual documents anyway).

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Nentir Vale was designed to be a sandbox, it was intentional when more detailes weren't added, because these should be completed by the DMs.

If WotC wants to relaunch an old setting, not only they have to choose what changes are necessary, but also how to complete in the future other continents, or planets in the same wildspace.

If there is a return of Gamma World, this should be in a fictional world, to avoid possible troubles, and to can add fantasy elements.

I suspect WotC would rather to acquire a setting created by a 3PP if this is based in a no-Western culture. I wouldn't blame them because they wanted to be prudent.

Council of Wyrms could be published in the same style of Strixhaven, Witchlight and Radiant Citadel.

WotC can't afford risks with the possible return of Greyhawk.

Maybe Paramount's team is preproducing other title of D&D and then they come up with a better idea than WotC, and then this has to redesign the setting.

* If Hasbro chooses D&D multiverse has got different timelines or coninuities... this could change radically the content in DMGuild.

 

[havard]

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.

Oh, I agree with you about the name recognition. That is mostly because WotC has squandered so many of the IPs they have locked away and reduced their value. But all of these brands still do have value. And if brought back, their value could increase rapidly.'

In the case of Blackmoor, the value lies less in its name and more in the true history of the hobby. They could even sidestep the Blackmoor vs. Greyhawk debate and produce a "Blackmoor and Greyhawk, the first castles of D&D" book.

But I am just using Blackmoor as an example. I think they should produce a proper book for each setting every time a new edition comes out.

But in order to do so, they need to expand their creative staff and hire people who understand D&D and can deliver quality stuff.

-Havard

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think they should produce a proper book for each setting every time a new edition comes out.

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 of 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.

 

[Zaukrie]

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.

I agree, I see almost no upside for WotC to make stuff for older settings that they haven't already done/planned.

I do think Spelljammer should be movie material......or tv material. I do think Planescape opens them up to LOTS of factions rules and odd/interesting locales.

If I ran Wotc, they'd have The Realms for generic fantasy, something like Gamma World for post-apocalypse, Spelljammer for fantasy and weird stuff in space (I'd roll SJ and PS together). I would consider another thing like the Eberron search, about 3 years after that 50th anniversary releases.

I'd open DMs guild to the greyhawk and nentir vale. I'm not sure if I want the rest worked on, given all their possible issues. I would LOVE a good Darksun / post-apocalypse / resource management world, but I'd never make one if I was them.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Gamma World should enjoy some possibility of return as a spin-off of D&D Multiverse, but we know the high-tech can break the power balance too easily. It is not only you can kill a dinosaur with only one shot but also when the enemies can use firearms. But at least the firearms are hard to be found or crafted, and bulletproof defenses should be easier to be got.

My suggestion is not set in our real life, to avoid possible troubles, for example an adventure about Alaska being invaded by Russians.

Now Greyhawk is like a vintage toy in the store window for nostalgic collectors. This is not the one wanted by Hasbro. Its marketing strategy is other. They want the line to be interesting for the new generation of players.

I agree Greyhawk and Nentir Vale should be unlocked in DMGuild.

The old settings could be redesignes to allow strategy wargames with conflicts between different nations.

There is a potential for the "twin worlds" of Oerth. For example one of them could be used for isekai adventures with people from our world, or from Gamma World.

 

[Staffan]

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.

TWO dozen? Man, you're an optimist!

 

[DarkCrisis]

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.

 

[bedir than]

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.

Radiant Citadel is up for a Nebula btw

For all the pushback D&D's old guard give it, it's the setting getting attention of new people, telling new stories

 

[Henadic Theologian]

That would be kind of like asking a white American to fix a setting called Yankidoodaland.

If someone made Yankidoodaland it would totally be a setting a Canadian world come up with, just saying.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

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 by books from pretty much any none 5e edition. 5e is just too skimpy and inconsistant on the lore.

They have some close calls on good settings, but they never fully commit. Radiant Citadel should have been a full sized setting book with adventures seperate, same with Witchlight & Domains of Delight. Even the actually setting stuff for Ravenloft should been bigger, how to do a horror campaign outside of basic mechanics, should have been in a seperate book like the DMG, and the page count should have been higher.

The the first two MtG settings were okay, but could have been better. Strixhaven was premature, like build the rest of Archvous first.

Only Eberron Rising From the Last War and Explorer's Guide to Wildemount were great.

Spelljammer had cool ideas and then DID NOTHING WITH THEM, the lack of content (page count) and poorly designed Spelljamming rules ruined the product.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Until now the strategy of allowing creations by 3PPs and these being published in DMGuild is working. Thanks this they can be making money without a lot of efford. For them the main goal is to give more prestige and popularity to the brand/IP/franchise.

It is curious. Now I am thinking Dark Sun could be perfect a mixture of sword&sorcery + horror movie. A templar and her team are chasing a group of fugitive slaves, and everybody ends in a cursed zone. They are stopped by a sandstorm and they have to enter within an underground mines. Of course if this is a horror movie, then there is something that starts people from both sides, templars and slaves..

* Now they are like...... launching a lot of "pilot episodes". As a baby crawnling because they haven't learnt yet to walk. They have got a lot of experience with the previous work, but now it is a different challengue, because the older generations want a thing, but new players want other.

And they have wanted to publish expensive books when other publishers are creating more competitive titles. If I buy a pocket edition of X book I can enjoy more crunch.

* Johanesland could be the name of a country, whose name was in honor of a king Jan/John, something style Johannesburg.

 

[Dragonhelm]

To get good Dragonlance stuff you have to go to the DMGuild.

Or maybe head on over to the Dragonlance Nexus.

Of course, we're starting to put our stuff on DMs Guild too. Have a look at Tasslehoff's Pouches of Everything.

 

[humble minion]

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…

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Nah, can’t make Yankidoodaland these days. Slavery too big an element of the setting, y’see…

Canadian was the last stop on the Underground Railroad.