What kind of New Setting for Fifth Edition? (Other than old settings)

[Oni]

The problem with official settings always is, that they are expected to include all the options that the game offers. But I'd like a setting in which it is not the game rules that determine what exists in the world, but that stands on it's own feet and includes only the rules for things that are part of it, and ignores rules for stuff that is not.
But that's for homebrewers and third-party publishers, I guess.

It's been done in the past, and i think if WotC really wants to show off the new edition as a tool kit then they need to seriously consider going back to this. Maybe even a nice little disclaimer, "this setting uses this, this, and this, but it's your game and your setting once you bring it to your table if you want to make changes to it you can and should, here are some suggestions how you might go about doing that."

 

[LeStryfe79]

Record of Lodoss War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ie heinously difficult dungeons combined with a generous helping of sophomoric melodrama.

 

[TarionzCousin]

the default setting is a many-alternate-worlds multiverse, with multiple Material Planes that share the basic assumptions of the D&D fantasy milieu, and are relatively easy to hop between (via magical portals created by powerful mages or deities).

The Dungeon Master's Guide would include a bounded demi-plane that consists of a single tiny country complete with a small town and several dungeons or other adventuring sites. There is a portal in the town square, but the portal only opens on midsummer's eve, and no one but the DM knows where it goes: <<insert the DM's choice of setting here>>.

I could see this, a PHB that supports multiple primes, using examples from Greyhawk/Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance/Darksun/Eberron/et c. clearly showing that D&D can come in many flavors, supporting a larger overall meta setting in which all of the setting exist.

I'm not sure what kind of reaction that would get from someone picking up D&D for the first time though. Would it give them the structure they needed to start with or would it muddy the flavor of the game so much that it lacked a clear starting point.

I think Jawsh has it right: start small. Expand the scope (and maybe the complexity/options) slowly.

On a side note, this sounds like the setting for the video game Torchlight.