D&D 5E What settings would you like to see in 5e?

[Warmaster Horus]

I'd like to see a low-magic, mythical setting (Greek, Norse, Celtic, Roman, etc).

 

[Caliban]

I would consider looking at SpellJammer sans camp. Something like Jim Butcher's new Cinder Spires series would be really intriguing. I could actually see my group using that.

As it is, the existing SpellJammer setting is incomprehensible, to me, as far as the lure.

Personally, I love the idea of spaceships and magic. But the tinker gnomes, giff, and giant space hamsters left a bad taste in my mouth. That, I didn't like the actual mechanics for the normal spelljamming helms - you need a caster to run them, but it takes away all their spellcasting to do so. Not fun.

 

[NiClerigo]

Eberron!

 

[Sacrosanct]

I apologize. I guess I assumed by my post I was referring to non-WoTC IP, specifically famous settings from other forms of media (literary, movies, etc). Sorry for not making that clear.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

Did anyone mention Le Guin's Earthsea? It has no RPG that I've heard of, and I'd love to have it as a campaign setting.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Oh yes, that would be wonderful on many levels...I think everyone would have to be spellcasters, though, to balance it out.

That being said, after that not-so-good SyFy adaptation, and the mixed results of the Studio Ghibli one, I don't think LeGuin is letting anyone else touch her IP.

Did anyone mention Le Guin's Earthsea? It has no RPG that I've heard of, and I'd love to have it as a campaign setting.

 

[Jer]

Frankly I prefer "generic" settings over settings ported over from other narratives. I'd rather see a "modern high fantasy" setting for 5e than a "Harry Potter" setting for example. Or a "sword and sorcery" setting rather than a Conan specific setting. I'd rather see settings geared towards gaming because I've had better success with settings that are built to be gamed in rather than built to tell a narrative in one format but being used for gaming.

That said, as far as "mass media" settings go I've long thought that the Dresden Files books would be a great setting for the D&D rules. I know it has its own game under the FATE system, but the books just scream "D&D" to me. Especially as Harry essentially "levels up" every few books as the series progresses, and many of the other characters feel like they fit into various classes in a game system that I just haven't read the rules for. I'd definitely run it.

I also like the idea of a setting more inspired by fairy tales than Tolkien and Howard. I stick fairy tale elements into my own games to remind my players why they would prefer to have Nameless Horrors From Outside Of Time and Space as enemies rather than the Fairie Queen, but I would love to have a setting that immerses itself in that feel and is the core of the setting rather than just one of many inspirations (much like wanting a "sword and sorcery" setting - though admittedly Dark Sun scratches a lot of that itch already).

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I never understood all the Black Company love. Sure, they're good books, but for a really inventive world by Glen Cook I'll take Garrett and Tun-Faire any day. So Garret gets my vote.

I like the Black Company books, but there isn't much in the way of game-like progression in them, pretty much you are a superwizard or your not (also why I don't think a Dread Empire adaptation would work). Tun-Faire would rock, though, and the Darkwar books could make a nice scifi/fantasy crossover world--magic is more like a shaman thing, not so much spells, but spirits you have coerced to your will.

 

[Charles Rampant]

Warcraft's setting of Azeroth was already converted into a D&D setting, with a book (or line of books?) back in 3e's OGL days. It was somewhat questionable, mechanically - every single race had multiple ECL adjustments due to being horrifically OP - but the idea is an intrinsically sound one. After all, Warcraft and D&D look mostly the same anyway, thanks to being mutually inspiring to each other.

Most novel settings suffer from the fact that they just don't have the variety to suit a D&D setting. The reason that Forgotten Realms looks so mad and inconsistent is because each part of the world is trying to give a different adventure type (Icewind Dale for vikings, Dalelands for rustic good guys against hegemonic bad guys, etc). The consistency that most novel settings have is the very reason why they would suck as D&D settings, since generally you only have a half-dozen bad guy types and only one fire in the iron, as far as potential plot hooks go. Think about the Wheel of Time; from the first seven, which is as far as I've gotten, you basically have five types of enemy:

Aiel (Berzerkers)
Trolloc (Orcs)
The Shadow Guys who are Definitely Not Nazgul (Wraiths)
Forsaken (Archmages)
Human Soldiers (Guards)

That is perfectly good for a novel, but it sucks pretty bad for a game where you might have three fights per session, and really want some variety in them.

 

[Plaguescarred]

It'd be cool to see a 5E MORROWIND