Ralif Redhammer
Legend
I feel like Ghostwalk (from what I remember about it) has the sort of narrative hook that would fit in well with the other 5e adventures.
D&D General What are the "dead settings" of D&D?
Parmandur
Book-Friend
To be fair, Curse of Strahd is intentionally meant to be the Hickman's version of Barovia, not the 2E Setting. They lay it out pretty clearly in the book.
A full Ravenloft book is still a possibility, bit I'd actually favor Innistrad for getting a full treatment. Planescape is coming, though.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
Somebody convince Matt Mercer to insert it into Exandria, it will become the next hot thing.
QuentinGeorge
Legend
Sure. I absolutely agree there's no deception intended by the authors.
But posters keep trying to convince me we have a release of the Ravenloft setting. The truth is no, we don't.
For 3.5 I got the box set from the Judges Guild people, it was call "Wilder Lands of High Fantasy" and included both city states plus a large hex map of the section of the world. The books had a lot of the hexes filled some cool random encounters(creatures or locations) you could use for world exploration if you wanted.
Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Revised Guidebook - Bat in the Attic Games | Judges Guild's Wilderlands | DriveThruRPG.com. Not the box set but you can see some thing here.
Mercurius
Legend
I would like to add a term to the mix: micro-setting. The idea is that so-called micro-settings work equally well or better as something to add to your default setting--be it homebrew or a standard D&D setting like Golarion or FR--but may have limitations as a setting you come back to, again and again. I would argue that "high concept" settings like Ravnica, Dark Sun, and even Planescape (especially Sigil) are more frequently used as micro-settings than as default/home settings.
This is not to say that one cannot use them as default settings. But I think the micro-setting usage preserves their uniqueness and exoticism. It is similar to the idea that in most epic fantasies, the protagonists starts in a relatively mundane and relatable land: the Shire, for instance, or Two Rivers, Gont, etc. Then the voyage into Unknown Lands happens; the further from home you go, the more different, exotic, and dangerous the land becomes. To some degree Euro-centricism is at play, but mostly because D&D originated in the West, primarily based upon European tropes.
The Dalelands, and most of the FR, is close enough to home, and to familiar tropes, that it is easy to get a sense of it. Planescape, Dark Sun, Ravnica, Spelljammer, etc, are different, exotic, less relatable. If you make them too relatable, it may take some of the charm away.
Again, the point is not that they can't be used extensively, but that I'm guessing that most D&D players use a more standard setting as their default, whether within a single long campaign or over the course of their careers, and may venture out to Sigil or Athas, but them come "home," rather than using Athas as home and foraying to Faerun or the Flanaess.
Yes, everyone is different, and I'm sure that some here use those exotic micro-systems in a more "macro" or default way, but I would guess that this idea holds as a general trend. Micro-systems are also often used as inspiration for home/default settings, as thought-pieces. One of my favorite non-D&D settings is Talislanta, which I've only game in a couple times but always loved for its creativity (I mean, the author came up with it under the influence of psilocybin, I believe).
This is not to say that one cannot use them as default settings. But I think the micro-setting usage preserves their uniqueness and exoticism. It is similar to the idea that in most epic fantasies, the protagonists starts in a relatively mundane and relatable land: the Shire, for instance, or Two Rivers, Gont, etc. Then the voyage into Unknown Lands happens; the further from home you go, the more different, exotic, and dangerous the land becomes. To some degree Euro-centricism is at play, but mostly because D&D originated in the West, primarily based upon European tropes.
The Dalelands, and most of the FR, is close enough to home, and to familiar tropes, that it is easy to get a sense of it. Planescape, Dark Sun, Ravnica, Spelljammer, etc, are different, exotic, less relatable. If you make them too relatable, it may take some of the charm away.
Again, the point is not that they can't be used extensively, but that I'm guessing that most D&D players use a more standard setting as their default, whether within a single long campaign or over the course of their careers, and may venture out to Sigil or Athas, but them come "home," rather than using Athas as home and foraying to Faerun or the Flanaess.
Yes, everyone is different, and I'm sure that some here use those exotic micro-systems in a more "macro" or default way, but I would guess that this idea holds as a general trend. Micro-systems are also often used as inspiration for home/default settings, as thought-pieces. One of my favorite non-D&D settings is Talislanta, which I've only game in a couple times but always loved for its creativity (I mean, the author came up with it under the influence of psilocybin, I believe).
Voadam
Legend
I completely get micro-settings in a slightly different context/concept.
Golarion, FR, Scarred Lands, Conan d20 each have smaller themed regional setting books in addition to their big campaign setting ones. Golarion has their gothic horror Ustalav with its own sourcebook that works well both in context of Golarion but also well for plugging into your homebrew or slotting in if you want to use some of its ideas in your gothic horror Ravenloft game. Same thing with their Irrisen witch land book, or their Cheliax devil worshipper ruled land book, or their asian themed regional sourcebook, or Osirian for their Egypt themed area, etc. Forgotten Realms had entire sourcebooks and boxed sets on Thay, the Old Empires which could do for some Egypt/Mesopotamia themed D&D, the kingdom of the dwarves, etc. Conan had Stygia for Egypt stuff, their pict border area sourcebook, etc.
Each could be used in context or pulled out and applied in bits to a similar themed area in a different setting or a homebrew or added in as a unique aspect to the other settings. These could be high crossover plug ins like all the Egypt themed sourcebooks, or they could be unique additions added for their distinctiveness, like Hallowfaust from Scarred Lands, a LN necromancer city state where animated dead are used to protect the people from the outside marauders.
I can't say I see people doing that plug and play with big macro setting things like the Dark Sun world though. It is so much its own cosmology and world that just plopping it into a desert area does not really work easily. You would need to figure out how Sorcerer Kings and their templars plus the elemental powers integrate with gods and also deal with the metal discrepancies. That can be done, but it takes work and you would risk losing some of the flavor if you make it part of standard D&D's Realms. In my experience its been used as its own thing, not a tourist attraction within another setting.
I've even done the opposite of the standard Tolkein start in England then go more exotic story arc. I had a PC start in Dark Sun with solo adventures there and then get sucked into Ravenloft so he got to marvel at how rich the gypsies were because they had metal pots.
Levistus's_Leviathan
5e Freelancer
I'd say Spelljammer is in Rank 2 or 3. I currently have a spelljammer campaign, on pause like the world, that my group enjoys a lot. We're all newer players, the most seasoned of us have been playing for 3ish years, the newer for only a few months.
If WotC was to bring back spelljammer, the newer players would love it, so would the older players who were around when it first came out. They should make a Spelljammer book.
If WotC was to bring back spelljammer, the newer players would love it, so would the older players who were around when it first came out. They should make a Spelljammer book.
