D&D (2024) What older setting do you want to see next?

[Blue Orange]

Birthright's going to get tricky with the magic bloodlines.

I doubt Greyhawk has much of a fanbase outside of grognards, sadly. It's just not different enough from the other fantasy settings. Same with Mystara (though the fanbase is a little younger--Moyenne Garde perhaps?).

My money's on Dark Sun.

 

[James Gasik]

I see Birthright as a great way to get past the "PC's are just ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances" narrative that occasionally holds some characters back from being able to have greater utility or narrative perks.

If you have the blood of a dead god in your veins, the sky is the limit!

 

[overgeeked]

I see Birthright as a great way to get past the "PC's are just ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances" narrative that occasionally holds some characters back from being able to have greater utility or narrative perks.

If you have the blood of a dead god in your veins, the sky is the limit!

Not like there's any shortage of players trying to have that kind of ridiculously empowering backstory and not like there's any shortage of epic high fantasy shenanigans already in 5E. We already have blood of dragons, blood of fiends, and blood of angels.

 

[Haplo781]

Not like there's any shortage of players trying to have that kind of ridiculously empowering backstory and not like there's any shortage of epic high fantasy shenanigans already in 5E. We already have blood of dragons, blood of fiends, and blood of angels.

All of which somehow fail to actually empower martials to do any high fantasy shenanigans...

 

[overgeeked]

All of which somehow fail to actually empower martials to do any high fantasy shenanigans...

Multiclassing and Tasha's reflavoring of spells. Pick a caster class with the best mechanical match to your concept of a demigod brawler and level in that. Then reflavor the spells to be martial attacks or effects. It's a kludge, but it's the only way to do it without redesigning martials. Which WotC seems utterly disinclined to do.

 

[Tonguez]

I'd personally rather see this addressed by an Eldraine book (MtG setting). Which is coincidentally getting a revisit next year.

Throne of Eldraine would be awesome as a Pendragon inspired setting of knights and castles but I’d not want it to replace Birthright - personally I loved the Brecht and the whole Hansa league vibe of Merchant-Princes and the singular monsters as ruling powers vibe.

A similar domain mechanic could be used for both settings but the fairytale focus of Eldraine is distinct from the renaissance politics of Birthright.

 

[Aldarc]

My pitch for the Nentir Vale: it is a great "starter setting" for new GMs to personalize and make their own. It does not have the tremendous depth of lore, histories, and novelizations like the Forgotten Realms or other settings. The Nentir Vale is a setting that exists in sketched form. Fill-in-the-blanks. Personalize as needed. It is not a setting that lives and dies by its the facts and lore, but, rather, by its themes. Nentir Vale is driven by its thematic play: one really only needs to be vaguely familiar with key thematic ideas about the points of light, the World Axis, and the Dawn War, because these are the thematic drivers and hooks of the setting. This is what makes it extremely easy to plug and play with player characters, monsters, modules, sandbox games, etc.

That is why I return the Nentir Vale again and again and again for play with D&D groups and non-D&D groups alike.

 

[Haplo781]

My pitch for the Nentir Vale: it is a great "starter setting" for new GMs to personalize and make their own. It does not have the tremendous depth of lore, histories, and novelizations like the Forgotten Realms or other settings. The Nentir Vale is a setting that exists in sketched form. Fill-in-the-blanks. Personalize as needed. It is not a setting that lives and dies by its the facts and lore, but, rather, by its themes. Nentir Vale is driven by its thematic play: one really only needs to be vaguely familiar with key thematic ideas about the points of light, the World Axis, and the Dawn War, because these are the thematic drivers and hooks of the setting. This is what makes it extremely easy to plug and play with player characters, monsters, modules, sandbox games, etc.

That is why I return the Nentir Vale again and again and again for play with D&D groups and non-D&D groups alike.

Could function as a sort of "World Builder's Guidebook", that walks you through the whys and wherefores of each element in the Vale before providing advice on expanding beyond it.

 

[schneeland]

My personal ranking would be 1) Greyhawk, 2) Dark Sun, 3) Mystara. But like @Micah Sweet, I'm not convinced that the output would actually be good. Yet irrespective of the quality, this should open up the settings for DM's Guild, and thus maybe also 3rd party products that are more to my liking.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I don't understand what you mean. What's true of the whole game? I'm talking about settings and, by extension, fictional worlds, not rule sets (if that's what you're referring to).

You said the only reason for a reboot was financial and I agree. I also added that is the only reason for the game at all. They do it to make money.