D&D 5E What would you want for a *new* 5E campaign world?

[GreyLord]

I don't want magic punk or some off the wall fantasy type. Give me NORMAL fantasy, something which is moldable. FR is great overall simply because it doesn't vary from the typical fantasy you expect, but it is vast enough to incorporate all sorts of fantasy ideas and types that you wish to incorporate.

GH also has this idea as does Blackmoor. You want off the wall fantasy, well there's a place in the world like that. You want dark fantasy, well there's a place in the world that has it. You want crazy weird fantasy...well...there's a place in the world for that or open enough that you can create it. You want sci-fi fantasy...well there's a place for that as well.

Don't give me these world settings which can be covered in a single city (like Eberron does), give me expansive fantasy worlds which you can have your high, low, or whatever fantasy without having a single overriding campaign element like Eberron (I know many liked it, I didn't) or Ghostwalk, or others which are, in my opinion, are a one horse pony. Give me something with more meat than those and more variance.

 

[RangerWickett]

Normal fantasy = Forgotten Realms. It's D&D's most widely known setting. Drizzt, guys.

Novel fantasy = Eberron. Magic as technology plus political/pulp? Airships and warforged.

Speculative fantasy = Planescape. The brainy setting where it's intriguing to explore the rules of the setting. Rule of three. Philosophy affecting reality. The widest palette, which alas runs the risk of making the setting too broad and impersonal.



So what else might we need? The only thing I can think D&D doesn't do with one of its settings already is EPIC POWER. Like God of War or Exalted, where PCs snap bridges off their pilings and use them as clubs against colossal remorrhazes. I'm not sure you can really make a sustainable setting out of that, though.

 

[Li Shenron]

I can hardly think of a campaign world that hasn't been done already...

But anyway, I've been interested for a long time in playing/running a game in historical medieval Europe, but with the added starting concept that "all superstitions, folklore, legends, myth and religious beliefs are in fact true". There is magic, monsters, gods (all of them, in competing pantheons), miracles etc. but still there is no such thing as "magic as technology" because of rarity or unreliability. Therefore the world doesn't look different at all from the real medieval Europe. Except for those few who really know the truth, of course, and the PCs are some of them.

 

[Pour]

Maybe even more than reinventing the wheel, we need new wheels. I love my traditional, pulp, speculative, and mythic fantasy, but I need some new playgrounds. I can't help seeing the tarnish and the history heaped onto the existing campaign settings. I want fresh starts for a fresh edition, not the 'New FR'.

 

[Kalontas]

Something that doesn't look like it was made for adventuring. A world that would make sense as an actual world. No more "there's a dungeon full of goblins every mile" or "ruins of ten civilisations from a past utopian/nightmarish era near every city". No more "you fight goblins because I say so" or "always chaotic evil sapient free-willed humanoid". And preferably, tone down the Lovecraft. It just doesn't fit regular fantasy.

 

[Gilladian]

For me, the things that would be really important to see about a world is really thoughtful world building using the most modern standards. I should be able to tell just by looking at it that all the following is true:

a) They used a climate simulator to place the ecosystems of the world. And they've provided maps that explain climate, rainfall, ocean currents, prevailing winds, ect.
b) They've put some serious thoughts into the world's demographics. City sizes and placements make sense. Villages cluster around population centers.
c) They've built up a many layered global history of the world that helps me understand what people might believe about themselves.
d) They've put some serious thought into the world's cosmology. The world's cosmology needs to not only meet the game needs and address questions like, "Who might my ranger worship?", but they've addressed religion on something other than a gamist level so that I know why people might venerate these beings and that they are meeting basic human needs and aren't just relevant to some guy down in a dungeon. Frankly, to this point only 'The Book of the Righteous' has ever attempted that among any of the 'Dieties and Demigods' style supplements I've seen.
e) Almost immediately as an outgrowth of this examination in 'c' and 'd', the world needs to have a detailed calendar and suggestions about how to localize the calendar for different regions.
f) We've got the outline of something like cooherent economics for the world. I don't really need to know what NPC's you think should exist in a city when getting this world level overview, and I sure as heck don't want statblocks. We can have modules for that. But I'd like to know what the major imports and exports of a city or region are, and who their major trading partners are. I'd like to know what customs or laws make this city or region unique. What is the city famous for? Who are they friends with? Who is vying for their friendship? Who do they hate and why?
g) I'd like to see real exploration of the consequences of magic on the politics and sociology of the world. Make me believe in your setting.

In other words, I want to see work and craftmanship, not tropes and cheap hooks. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Sell me on your setting because it will save me countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears.

Wow; I agree with every single one of these points in their entirety. Can you write up a new campaign world for us this week, Celebrim?

 

[dd.stevenson]

Sword & planet

Heck yes.

 

[avin]

Planescape!

Of course that won't happen

 

[Sadrik]

I want to see a new setting with a setting shaking campaign, set in a typical D&D fantasy setting. One that gives you in the setting book which 5e options are turned on and where the 5e dials are set. So the look and feel of that setting are unique unto its own and to the author's vision. Whether it be political drama, investigation, exploration of a frontier, or war piece. I would like to see an overarching story written into the setting. Another important aspect I would like to see is that a setting should be set up as a big sandbox, with tables for typical encounters in areas etc. Then individual railroad scenarios can be posited into it. It really all makes too much sense...

 

[Salamandyr]

I don't want a new campaign world, I want more tools and better reinforcement for my own campaign world.