WotC Why WotC SHOULD Make A New Setting

[THEMNGMNT]

A few thoughts on this topic...

In 4E, WotC released a two volume campaign setting for the Forgotten Realms. It was hated.

They also released a single volume campaign setting for the city of Neverwinter (which is in the Realms). It was loved.

My point being, campaign settings can cover a very small geographical area or an incredibly large one. They can take place at a single point in time or span ages. So...what are we talking about here, really?

5E has released gobs of campaign settings. In addition to Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Ravnica, Theros, etc...I would argue that Tomb of Annihilation doubled as a Chult setting, Rime of the Frost Maiden as an Icewind Dale setting, Descent Into Avernus as a Nine Hells setting, etc. And I really like that approach!

I wish WotC had leaned into that harder, with rule modules that fit each. An exploration module for the Chult hexcrawl, a survival and madness module for Icewind Dale, etc. Not all settings are additive. Some work better with subtraction. Krynn shines when the only full casters are clerics and wizards, and there are no orcs or halflings or tieflings.

I liked the Adepts program on the DMs Guild. I wish it -- or something like it -- was around so that (for example) when the new Ravenloft book drops there's some additional content to support it.

Other than that change or two, I want WotC stay the course with campaign settings. But if there was going to be a new, new campaign setting...

I'd love some gonzo sword and sorcery in a Moorcockian style. A world that embraces all the strangeness of D&D. Psionics and goliaths and laser guns and devils and dwarves and bards who kill people with insults and and and. Vivid and garish and epic. I think that's the world 5E has secretly wanted to be all along.

 

[Mecheon]

The first one was technically a Warcraft III-based book, as it was developed before WoW was released.

Its also a very interesting book if you're interested in WoW's development. Lands of Mystery, one of the expansions , gave us our first look at Northrend two years before Wrath would release. And if you compare the maps from Lands of Mystery to that in Wrath of the Lich King, its basically a prototype version of what we'd get in Wrath

 

[SkidAce]

D&D is just a roleplaying game. No better and no worse than any other roleplaying game. So there's no reason to turn it into something it's not. Especially if people want that change for no other reason than because they want "Dungeons & Dragons" to be their uber-game. You don't need it to be.

I would not say "D&D" is my uber-game. We play Fate, Champions, MotD, Rifts, etc.

But it is my favorite tool kit. And we use it for many genres.

 

[SkidAce]

Well the game the legend of Zelda lets you play as 1 single adventurer, but there is a full world with many interesting races, cool magic, cool magical items, many dungeons (with bosses traps and puzzles) and many different enemies.

There often is a story about groups of people being a secret (good) organization. Also there is a spinoff of the zelda games where you can play not just as Link but as different characters and fight with them through monster hordes.

You could definitly make a D&D like game in that setting, not playing the hero link, but playing some "normal" adventurers, when Link is not there etc.

My friend developed a homebrew D&D setting based on LoZ, it was loads of fun.

 

[SkidAce]

Oh, and based on the books I see that are popular, and the movies, I would say a new setting should be/have;

Dragons (ridable), Romantasy, Fae, Werewolves, and Vampires. And magical Urban detectives...

 

[Scribe]

I'd love some gonzo sword and sorcery in a Moorcockian style. A world that embraces all the strangeness of D&D. Psionics and goliaths and laser guns and devils and dwarves and bards who kill people with insults and and and. Vivid and garish and epic. I think that's the world 5E has secretly wanted to be all along.

I'd give that a look.

 

[Brendan Byrd]

I have thought on more than one occasion, that 5.x D&D would be ideal for a game set in Old Alphatia (at its height before it was destroyed).

[I’m not fond of 5.x, but I will not begrudge anyone their fun. ]

 

[jdrakeh]

I don't think they should make a new setting. Instead, I think they should focus on the massive dustbin of old settings that they already own and, perhaps, pick one of those and make that the tent pole setting for three to five years instead of FR (which I dislike, but am also beyond bored with).

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Hasbro has got experience in the fields of licences but now the business with Warner and Paramount could be a little complicated.
A licence of "Pirates of Dark Waters" or "Wildfire" animate shows could be interesting. Here Warner could earn "brand powers" for those "dead IPs".

If a "D&D: Hyrule" was possible then this setting should be a new continuity, like the musou videogame "Hyrule warriors". Even we could see "easter eggs" or mash-up of other Ninento franchises, for example Mario and Luigi as gnomes.

WotC thinks most of players don't "follow" the canon settings but they use the fluff to create their own homemade settings. A new setting wouldn't be only to sell sourcebooks but different type of products.

* If WotC created a new setting for the market of South-Korea I guess the main goal would be this to be adapted to mobile MMORPG as soon as possible but Hasbro is still relatively a rookie in the videogame industry.

A new setting inspired in K-Pop demon hunters? Maybe but this would arrive before like a plane of Magic: the Gathering or a spin-off of Kamigawa: Neon Dinasty

* Other option to create a new setting would be to place a world focused into new classes with special game mechanics like the martial adepts, incarnum soulmelders and psionic manifesters.