D&D 5E What of the already done settings do you think WotC is revisiting for a Setting Book?

[Urriak Uruk]

It also had stuff to put it in FR and Mystara.

I mean, Tomb of Annihilation has stuff on how to put it in Mystara and Greyhawk. Less than a page of that doesn't mean much.

 

[Parmandur]

They stuck it in the classic setting category, not the revisit category, not me.

You might be over-systemizing these statements. By a natural language reading, a Greyhawk revisit is plausible, though Forgotten Realma is my number one suspect here.

 

[Charlaquin]

I mean, yeah, I think it probably is.

Probably.

I'm 90% sure that no one actually likes the Forgotten Realms, but that it just keeps getting published because everyone's familiar with it. People just pretended to like it in order to have even more reasons to be mad at D&D 4e.

I'm joking a bit here, but I seriously do think that the Forgotten Realms is way over-represented in D&D 5e books in comparison to other settings that WotC has said are equally popular, like Eberron, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft. Exandria is probably on the same level now (if not more popular than much of the other settings, as Critical Role is a huge money-maker and very popular), but WotC doesn't own the rights to the setting and thus would have to collaborate with Matt Mercer and the rest of the Critical Role team to make more Exandria books (which, although it would be well worth the profit if they did another Exandria setting book or an adventure in the world, it is significantly harder to do than most of the campaign settings they do have the rights to).

I don't think FR is the most popular D&D setting, I just think that for the longest time it has been the most recognizable. Recognition =/= Popularity

To be totally honest, I do think it’s true that it’s the most poplar setting, I was just making a merry jape. But I do think its popularity stems primarily from its recognition. Same as D&D itself, really.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm 90% sure that no one actually likes the Forgotten Realms, but that it just keeps getting published because everyone's familiar with it. People just pretended to like it in order to have even more reasons to be mad at D&D 4e.

I'm joking a bit here, but I seriously do think that the Forgotten Realms is way over-represented in D&D 5e books in comparison to other settings that WotC has said are equally popular, like Eberron, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft. Exandria is probably on the same level now (if not more popular than much of the other settings, as Critical Role is a huge money-maker and very popular), but WotC doesn't own the rights to the setting and thus would have to collaborate with Matt Mercer and the rest of the Critical Role team to make more Exandria books (which, although it would be well worth the profit if they did another Exandria setting book or an adventure in the world, it is significantly harder to do than most of the campaign settings they do have the rights to).

I don't think FR is the most popular D&D setting, I just think that for the longest time it has been the most recognizable. Recognition =/= Popularity

Forgotten Realms isn't equally popular to any other Settings: it's more popular as the rest combined. Being generic and Chicken full of references (as Greenwoods childhood fanfiction Setting) and arising from the organic gameplay experiences if an excellent Dungeon Master make it exceptionally useful to a wider variety of Dungeon Masters.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Probably.

To be totally honest, I do think it’s true that it’s the most poplar setting, I was just making a merry jape. But I do think its popularity stems primarily from its recognition. Same as D&D itself, really.

I get the feeling as it survives in such a niche only by inertia these days, it is used only out of convenience not out of love for most people.

 

[TheSword]

I find it fascinating the cognitive bias. Where even when confronted by a survey response statement saying/strongly implying that the Forgotten Realms is “by far the most popular”, that has to be explained away as just recognition and not popularity.

It can’t be that people actually like the world, it’s NPCs, locations, gods and organizations?

… Several hundred novels
… product lines for every edition
… computer games spin offs.

Yes Baldurs Gate I and II and all these other products could have been set in Greyhawk or Dragonlance (under another name)… but they weren’t. I believe the writers of BG chose FR for a reason.

FR is the joint creation of hundreds of writers. I don’t see any other D&D setting which has such plurality and still feels like a recognizable campaign setting.

I’m not at all surprised that FR is so popular. I find it surprising with all the evidence that people expect any other to even come close.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I find it fascinating the cognitive bias. Where even when confronted by a survey response statement saying/strongly implying that the Forgotten Realms is “by far the most popular”, that has to be explained away as just recognition and not popularity.

It can’t be that people actually like the world, it’s NPCs, locations, gods and organizations?

… Several hundred novels
… product lines for every edition
… computer games spin offs.

Yes Baldurs Gate I and II and all these other products could have been set in Greyhawk or Dragonlance (under another name)… but they weren’t. I believe the writers of BG chose FR for a reason.

FR is the joint creation of hundreds of writers. I don’t see any other D&D setting which has such plurality and still feels like a recognizable campaign setting.

I’m not at all surprised that FR is so popular. I find it surprising with all the evidence that people expect any other to even come close.

and are those not old guard products? I know few new guards who could care who that ranger drow is let alone want to replicate him.

 

[Nikosandros]

Eberron: Rising from the Last War was Perkin's project as lead. Also, the Player's Handbook, IIRC.

The PHB was lead by Crawford. Perkins is listed as an editor. He was the lead on Monster Manual and one of the three leads (along with Wyatt and Crawford) on the DMG.

 

[TheSword]

and are those not old guard products? I know few new guards who could care who that ranger drow is let alone want to replicate him.

Well the Drizz’t books still only make up a tiny fraction of the novels released for the realms. What 2-3%? The vast majority of books have nothing to do with drow rangers.

The novels are amazingly still largely in print so as accessible to new players as old. There are some excellent novels, really great stuff. Even among similarly subjects like the drow there are multiple storylines, places and characters. War of the Spider Queen for instance is one of my favorite fantasy series of all time. Doesn’t mention Drizz’t by name once as far as I can remember. He certainly doesn’t feature in it.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Curse of Strahd : Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

as

Ghosts of Saltmarsh : Bigby's Guide to Greyhawk...?

Could be the model Winninger has in mind for a "revisit."

Van Richten's for Ravenloft was not a revisit. As plenty of people discussed and agreed to in other threads, including you, I think, Ravenloft was one of the three classic settings they said were being updated for 5E. I am pretty sure one of the WotC folks even tweeted this too.