What would you like to see WotC publish next?

[Ironclad]

Something that didn't need errata

 

[Dark Psion]

Another vote for a Complete Psychic.

With the DM's Guide 2 coming out, what about some more specialized DM's Guides? Psionics, Eberron, Forgotten Realms, most of the books in these lines are player focused, but if the DM says no....


Races of Blood (Planetouched) would be nice, but a Races of Scale might be nicer (Kobold, Lizard folk, Saurial etc).

As for the Creature books (Draconimicon) I would like to see Faerie/Fey, Constructs, Elementals and Animals (including dinosaurs and megamammals).

In the Enviromental Series, I would like to see the Region of Dreams, Astral & Etheral planes.

And I would be especially interested in books that bring back past campaign settings, even if they are one shot books.

 

[Snotlord]

I have crunch to last me a lifetime, so I want setting specific info and adventures. The lineup for 2005 so far did nothing to me, except that the FR stuff looked extremely cool. Boyd doing Waterdeep is a dream come true. Likewise, the empires book is something I've been hoping to see for quite a while now. I do not know what to expect from Champions of Ruin, but I am hopeful.

For FR:
A Dungeons of the North/Heartlands hardcover with famous dungeons!
A collection of FR Adventures-style city book. Say 20 cities in a neat hardcover with maps. The Heartlands or the Sea of Fallen Stars are obvious first choices. This kind for book could please folks using all editions, old-timers and newbies alike.
Amn revisited! (Go for the eyes Boo!)
A book of famous heroes and villains. The characters are the heroes, but Ed's old characters *are* the realms, and should be covered. Plus, they save me for alot of work.

Other stuff:
Libris Mortis II
A Greyhawk HC (Castle Maure was really cool, I want more!)
Return to Against the Giants (or something)
A compilation of classic 1e dungeons
More huge minis

 

[fredramsey]

The Mournland for Eberron. Including new monsters, living spells, sample ruins, and the home of the Lord of Blades.

 

[howandwhy99]

1. A book on Adventure Writing with examples from the best adventures throughout D&D history. This could include particular examples from older modules, Dungeon magazine, current adventures, and fresh new ideas. Each would serve to illustrate the different aspects of an adventure. Not the numerous trappings normally found within a dungeon (which is already done well in the DMG), but instead:

• unique room set-ups within a dungeon playing off each other
• dungeons designed and mapped to take advantage of the characters' levels, spells, and abilities
• help in designing maps that improve adventures (not software, but room placement, ecologies, etc.)
• how themes work to create personality for an adventure
• how to instill different moods for different parts of an adventure: suspense, humor, belonging, terror
• how to pace an adventure to create excitement or allow for in depth thinking
• brainstorming, freewriting, thought mapping, etc.
• how to write and place clues for mystery adventures
• puzzle and riddle creation
• story outlining methods (examples from Robins' Laws oGG), the schrodinger methods, other techniques
• help in creating realism in presentation and checking for logic holes
  
• keys to playing and creating intriguing NPC's
• And a collection of "this is how I do it"'s by the best Dungeonmasters of the past 30 years.

2. A book on Campaign Creation citing methods that were used by D&D's own Gygax (Greyhawk), Greenwood (Forgotten Realms), and Baker & team (Eberron). The ultimate resource for homebrew campaign settings. This would expand on the information already available in the DMG.

And while I don't believe a single book could cover every kind of world it is possible to create, it would be nice to have one that focused on running campaigns. How to link together adventures. Using recurring villians. Campaign styles that focus on a single story or on the whims of the players. Player & DM mutually created campaigns that grow as they interest flows into different areas.

3. A Battle Tactics book. This could showcase the monsters from the Monster Manuals I, II, and III. Instead of simply giving a tactical example for each monster, I would rather a book like this focus on teaching tactics based on commonalities running through routine types of encounters. I seem to recall the DMG seperating monsters into types (not "Types") like brute, spy, spellcaster, etc. Tactics for basic fighting styles could be extrapolated from these. Examples in effectively using each of the common "special abilities" would be nice too.

4. The release of 1st edition AD&D, 2nd edition AD&D, Basic D&D, and Original D&D (1974) [for Diaglo] as OGL games. I know this seems like more of a dream than a reality, but it would help the community and ease dissension. Each could also be published as one shot books (a la Call of Cthulhu D20 or in a Rules Cyclopedia format). And any published materials under those licenses would of course require the use of your OGL core book(s). I understand many believe it would split the market from D20 and D&D 3E, but you would gain back all of those D&D players using older editions. Plus you would have other "core" books needing no further publishing commitment. (their sales would be supported by their OGL communities just like D20 is). Seeing as the older editions continue to have a steady following, I believe this does not split your market, but joins it together again. (This has already been done as licensed products for CoC and OA)

 

[reanjr]

Wishlist

Besides the oft-mentioned Campaign Classics series?

An optional rule book focused on fantasy themes rather than on rules options. For instance, the idea of a wizard studying in his laboratory for long periods of time, researching and gathering materials. There is no rules basis for this. The wizard just spends his gold and XP and bam! Magic item. There are several deficiencies in the D&D system for expressing common fantasy themes.

A book on war in a D&D campaign. With rules for all levels of detail. Similar in scope to Cry Havoc from Malhavoc, but with rules to cover something a bit simpler.

A book on advice on how to deal with the broken rules in D&D without actually changing the rules. For instance, one of my players went entirely AoO/Spiked Chain/Trip/Disarm. How do you create an NPC (not a monster) that can deal with that without making them weak against everything else. I often hear how many rules are "not broken," but I get the impression that that's only because people haven't experienced someone trying to break the rules. Two of my players with 2nd level characters trounced through an RPGA adventure designed for approx. 6th level characters (I wasn't running the game, but I have been assured all RPGA rules on character creation, etc. were followed). I could pore over the rules and find ways to counter alot of this, but I would really like a book that just gives you a simple solution (either situations, creatures, or a brief selection of skills or feats; optimally all three) to use as a plugin. It could be called "How to Kill Your Players Fairly".

A different type of campaign setting. I love campaign settings that are in unique worlds. Dark Sun, Planescape and Ravenloft are my favorites. All of them redefined the game's expectations in remarkable ways. Forgotten Realms and Eberron I don't find as extraordinary. I'm also a big fan of one-shot campaigns. Red Steel and Council of Wyrms were great settings that gave you a set of ideas and tools to make your own campaign.

A Campaign Component series would be nice; similar to, but more extensive than the Dragon issues with a singular theme with rules to support. Piracy, Knightly Orders, Assassins, and many other ideas spring to mind.

Single shot adventures with varying levels supported. I always find it annoying when there's a good adventure that doesn't fit in the campaign until the players are of an inappropriate level. The adventures should scale. This is the primary thing keeping me from purchasing more adventures.

I could do this for hours, but I think I'll stop now.

 

[Arnwyn]

My list:

Core:
Adventures.

Forgotten Realms:
- More geographical supplements, covering areas we have never seen: Lanan, Nimbral, and Sossal. More details on Murghom and Semphar would also be nice.
- The lower levels (4-9) of Undermountain.
- City maps (of so-far unmapped cities): eg. Mirabar, Neverwinter, etc etc etc.

 

[Testament]

1. A book on Adventure Writing with examples from the best adventures throughout D&D history. This could include particular examples from older modules, Dungeon magazine, current adventures, and fresh new ideas. Each would serve to illustrate the different aspects of an adventure. Not the numerous trappings normally found within a dungeon (which is already done well in the DMG), but instead:

• unique room set-ups within a dungeon playing off each other
• dungeons designed and mapped to take advantage of the characters' levels, spells, and abilities
• help in designing maps that improve adventures (not software, but room placement, ecologies, etc.)
• how themes work to create personality for an adventure
• how to instill different moods for different parts of an adventure: suspense, humor, belonging, terror
• how to pace an adventure to create excitement or allow for in depth thinking
• brainstorming, freewriting, thought mapping, etc.
• how to write and place clues for mystery adventures
• puzzle and riddle creation
• story outlining methods (examples from Robins' Laws oGG), the schrodinger methods, other techniques
• help in creating realism in presentation and checking for logic holes
  
• keys to playing and creating intriguing NPC's
• And a collection of "this is how I do it"'s by the best Dungeonmasters of the past 30 years.

2. A book on Campaign Creation citing methods that were used by D&D's own Gygax (Greyhawk), Greenwood (Forgotten Realms), and Baker & team (Eberron). The ultimate resource for homebrew campaign settings. This would expand on the information already available in the DMG.

And while I don't believe a single book could cover every kind of world it is possible to create, it would be nice to have one that focused on running campaigns. How to link together adventures. Using recurring villians. Campaign styles that focus on a single story or on the whims of the players. Player & DM mutually created campaigns that grow as they interest flows into different areas.

3. A Battle Tactics book. This could showcase the monsters from the Monster Manuals I, II, and III. Instead of simply giving a tactical example for each monster, I would rather a book like this focus on teaching tactics based on commonalities running through routine types of encounters. I seem to recall the DMG seperating monsters into types (not "Types") like brute, spy, spellcaster, etc. Tactics for basic fighting styles could be extrapolated from these. Examples in effectively using each of the common "special abilities" would be nice too.

I'd buy these in an instant. Especially number 1 & 2. This is exactly the sort of thing we need, nice thinking howandwhy.

 

[howandwhy99]

I'd buy these in an instant. Especially number 1 & 2. This is exactly the sort of thing we need, nice thinking howandwhy.

Thanks Testament.
I had posted an idea about a flavor book a while back too. Something that would give a short list of flavorful justifications on each and every one of the rules in the Core Book rules.

The wizard class for one could benefit greatly. For example: Multiple reasonings on why spells levels exist (or how to play with them transparently), why they need books to memorize from, why they can only memorize spells from their own personal writings, why any arcane caster can cast arcane scrolls, but spell books cannot be used in this way, etc. The number of rules without explanation is extensive.

Potentially, a newbie DM could pick and choose (or be inspired by) the justifications they will use to individualize their campaigns. Presumably world books already do this, but I rarely see such explicit explanations in most books published. IME, more seasoned DM's already do this sort of thing and allow their players to learn the particulars through trial and error. I think this helps engender a sense of wonder and exploration as neither character nor player knows the answers, but can sense an underlying truth.

Don't get me wrong. I know that 3rd edition is all about options, and for me its flexibility and rules potential to support flavor is better than any other D&D verson. This idea may seem like coloring in a coloring book which made for DMs to fill in, but more often than not I see games where no color is added at all. I believe there is a need to entice some DM's imaginations again. (like mine )

Sure mud can be black, red, or even yellow. But when you're up to your nose in it, knowing why it is that color becomes extremely important.

 

[Ry]

I just wish that Unearthed Arcana had something more genuinely like a variant magic system; something that was different from the ground up. So that's what I'd like to see - a book with a totally different magic system, whether it's designed to go alongside the existing one or not.

Then again, maybe I should take a closer look at FX systems, and hope for d20 past.