D&D 5E What Campaign Setting(s) Do You Want To See in 5E?

[DammitVictor]

A western/steampunk mash-up. Because while something of that sort has existed in other RPGs, it's never been D&D before.

But obviously all the usual ones first.

That's actually, totally a thing I've been working on-- first in HARP, then in Fate, and now back to D&D.

 

[Nebulous]

FR and Grayhawk both fill the same vanilla-generic space.

Planescape and Spelljammer both allow bridging between various campaign worlds. Both also have some specific elements of their own.

Spelljammer is also useful for those who don't want to "switch settings" with it, but want flying ships, either with or without space capability. Treasure Planet (disney) was very much a Spelljammer type setting, so the imagery is still vibrant enough for popular release.

I likw Greyhawk and have nothing against it, but i also don't have nostalgia for it because i never really gamed in that setting, although the early Gord books were a huge part of my D&D introduction. FR and GH both fill the vanilla fantasy, and i don't really see what is any different about them from the macro-view. Same stuff, different details, although i realize for many the devil is in the details.

OTOH, combining Spelljammer and Planescape would be some gonzo-fun madness that I would be happy to see. They could go off on some brilliant, utterly insane tangents and take D&D into some new phlogiston spheres

 

[CrusaderX]

Greyhawk and Mystara!

 

[DND_Chris]

1. Dragonlance
2. Ravenloft
3. Spelljammer/Planescape

 

[hawkeyefan]

I think you have to look at what the campaign setting offers. I would think that each should bring something unique to the table. With several of the settings, there's a lot of overlap.

Forgotten Realms is going to be their core/classic setting. I don't see a lot of need for settings that are similar to FR. So no need for Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Mystara, or Birthright.

Dark Sun fills the "dying earth"/ post apocalyptic niche.

Ravenloft fills the gothic horror niche.

Planescape serves the multi-dimensional niche, and also serves as a way to tie all the different settings together.

I would think that those four are the ones that they should focus on most immediately. After these, I'd rather see something new. The other older settings all seem superfluous.

 

[TregMallin]

From the something old department, Greyhawk.
From the something new department: the Malazan Empire.

 

[aramis erak]

I think you have to look at what the campaign setting offers. I would think that each should bring something unique to the table. With several of the settings, there's a lot of overlap.

Forgotten Realms is going to be their core/classic setting. I don't see a lot of need for settings that are similar to FR. So no need for Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Mystara, or Birthright.

Mystara's rather different from Greyhawk and FR... it's got mostly mono-racial kingdoms, and mostly monoethnic human kingdoms. it also focuses on the law-chaos, rather than the good-evil, axis of the alignment sphere. It also has deities who take an active, personal role. (The king of one of the kingdoms of men happens to actually be an avatar of a major immortal...) The primary area has 4 human countries (a republic — Darokin, two kingdoms — irendi and alphatia —, and a thaumatocracy — Glantri), a wood-elven kingdom, a Dwarven kingdom, and a halfling moot, a smaller reptile-man domain (Malpheggi), an off-shore merfolk city, an the broken lands which are infested with monstrous humanoids - mostly goblins and orcs. And, underneath, the dwarves are facing the Shadow Elves... who are not drow, and are a very interesting counterpoint. It's a setting that has a lot of cultural details already written, and which need little text update, but for which the mechanical handling would showcase mechanical tweaking.

Both Greyhawk and the Realms are strongly laced with mixed race communities; in Glantri, mixed ethnicities are rare, and mostly happen in Darrokin; even then, they're still small ghettoes in the major cities, and some isolated ethnic villages.

It's actually more different than is Krynn (Dragonlance). Dragonlance, the gods meddle a lot from on high; Greyhawk and the Realms, the Gods use clerics to whip up social movements; Mystara, they manifest in mortal form, and go start the changes themselves... without using godly powers other than receiving prayers and mortal manifestation to do so. That Guy following you might be an assassin, or might be Ka the Preserver, watching to see if you're a suitable pawn.

Plus, it's got non-space-worthy flying ships, civilizations in the clouds, tribes of shapeshifters, 6 more human "nations" around the borders, and the Hollow World.

And a rabid fan base that's been quietly ignored by TSR/WotC/HasBro since 1997.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Mystara's rather different from Greyhawk and FR... it's got mostly mono-racial kingdoms, and mostly monoethnic human kingdoms. it also focuses on the law-chaos, rather than the good-evil, axis of the alignment sphere. It also has deities who take an active, personal role. (The king of one of the kingdoms of men happens to actually be an avatar of a major immortal...) The primary area has 4 human countries (a republic — Darokin, two kingdoms — irendi and alphatia —, and a thaumatocracy — Glantri), a wood-elven kingdom, a Dwarven kingdom, and a halfling moot, a smaller reptile-man domain (Malpheggi), an off-shore merfolk city, an the broken lands which are infested with monstrous humanoids - mostly goblins and orcs. And, underneath, the dwarves are facing the Shadow Elves... who are not drow, and are a very interesting counterpoint. It's a setting that has a lot of cultural details already written, and which need little text update, but for which the mechanical handling would showcase mechanical tweaking.

Both Greyhawk and the Realms are strongly laced with mixed race communities; in Glantri, mixed ethnicities are rare, and mostly happen in Darrokin; even then, they're still small ghettoes in the major cities, and some isolated ethnic villages.

It's actually more different than is Krynn (Dragonlance). Dragonlance, the gods meddle a lot from on high; Greyhawk and the Realms, the Gods use clerics to whip up social movements; Mystara, they manifest in mortal form, and go start the changes themselves... without using godly powers other than receiving prayers and mortal manifestation to do so. That Guy following you might be an assassin, or might be Ka the Preserver, watching to see if you're a suitable pawn.

Plus, it's got non-space-worthy flying ships, civilizations in the clouds, tribes of shapeshifters, 6 more human "nations" around the borders, and the Hollow World.

And a rabid fan base that's been quietly ignored by TSR/WotC/HasBro since 1997.

I know it's different, but nowhere near as different as the other settings I listed. Despite some of the societal and cultural differences, Mystara and Krynn cover a lot of the same ground as Forgotten Realms in that they're all variations on the classic Tolkienesque fantasy world.

Since WotC has already decided on FR as their default setting, which makes sense since it's the most written about setting they have, I think they should skip other similar settings in favor of something that is thematically different.

Each setting has it's devoted fanbase, but I don't think that's reason enough to produce material for them. At least not immediately.

 

[sirgaric]

Forgotten Realms.
Also Forgotten Realms.
And... yes, Forgotten Realms.

Don't really care about the rest.

 

[MasterTrancer]

Forgotten Realms.
Also Forgotten Realms.
And... yes, Forgotten Realms.

Don't really care about the rest.

Brace yourself, you're going to be disappointed