D&D (2024) What Should A New Core Setting Look Like?

[DarkCrisis]

Everyone is happy and friendly with each other. Even Beholders, undead, etc. Antagonists are groups of multi species people who’s issues can be solved by simply listening and understanding.

 

[Minigiant]

D&D needs a new setting where all the classes, races, and monsters have a clear place, history, and explanations in it.

Named Dragonborn empires with histories
Named Warlock Patrons and their cults.
Named Goliath villages.
Named Hobgoblins armies.
Named Sorcererous events
Roaming Eldritch, Rune, and Psi knights.

 

[Zardnaar]

Not sure anything generic is dead on arrival.

So something niche that could blow up.

 

[CreamCloud0]

i feel like despite or perhaps even because of DnD usually being depicted as primitive sword and sorcery i feel like you could get alot of interest out of a neo-futurism fantasy setting, kind of like RWBY or BotW with it's sheikah tech(Tears' sky islands we can steal for the setting too), sure your axe might be made out of chrome and hard-light, but it's still an axe and you're still taking down a dragon, your shortbow is a blaster but it's still a 2-H weapon with 1d6 piercing damage

 

[Vael]

Dramatically different. Most settings hew to this vaguely Euro-centric medievalism, I'd like something that isn't that. I liked the Radiant Citadel as a potential full campaign setting, kinda wish we'd gotten more there in that book.

Some random ideas:

• ultra modern world where DnD Adventurers are the equivalent of social media influencers and Likes = XP. Dungeons might be like going on a reality show
• Lean into the meme that PCs are hard to kill and make them silver age comic book superheroes.

I don't doubt there's content like that, but I just think a new setting needs to also be different

 

[DarkCrisis]

i feel like despite or perhaps even because of DnD usually being depicted as primitive sword and sorcery i feel like you could get alot of interest out of a neo-futurism fantasy setting, kind of like RWBY or BotW with it's sheikah tech(Tears' sky islands we can steal for the setting too), sure your axe might be made out of chrome and hard-light, but it's still an axe and you're still taking down a dragon, your shortbow is a blaster but it's still a 2-H weapon with 1d6 piercing damage

Shadowrun. You’re welcome.

Honestly d20 SRun wouldn’t be so bad.

 

[Reynard]

Shadowrun. You’re welcome.

That's not what Shadowrun is like. SR is straight cyberpunk o Earth with magic and tolkienesque races. It bears little to no resemblance to what @CreamCloud0 is describing.

Honestly d20 SRun wouldn’t be so bad.

Eww.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Today Hasbro wants each new D&D setting to be a potential multimedia franchise. WotC should offer something different 3PPs hadn't done before. I suspect the future new D&D settings will appear before in Magic: the Gathering.

Cris Perkins' Iomandra homebred setting could be used and recycled for an updated version of Council of Wyrms.

Greyhawk has got a "old-school" style. I imagine it with a vintage touch, like watching a old cartoon decades before I was born.

Hasbro would love to relaunch Gamma World to sell action figures of mutan furries, but the sci-fi is a genre what may get old very poorly.

Other option could be a setting designed to include all new crunch (new classes with special game mechanics, for example).

Or a setting ruled by no-human factions: lord feys, giants, dragons..

I suspect now Hasbro would rather to be the "distributor" of settings by 3PPs.

 

[DarkCrisis]

That's not what Shadowrun is like. SR is straight cyberpunk o Earth with magic and tolkienesque races. It bears little to no resemblance to what @CreamCloud0 is describing.

Eww.

I say this because I really dislike SRs system. I’ve played it since 2E. Really anything at this point would be an improvement. Yes I’m aware of Anarchy

 

[Mephista]

I'm not sure doing anime/JRPG settings would really change much.

At best, we'd get more species options (Slimefolk, cat/dog/fox/bunny folk, probably a warforged variation, etc) in the core plus Artificer by default. Which I greatly approve of. But most of the setting isn't too far from base dnd.