WotC Why WotC SHOULD Make A New Setting

[Paul Farquhar]

There is also Journey Beyond the Radiant Citadel, where several if the authors give additional information on their specific areas. It's not much, but it is more.

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/403298/journeys-beyond-the-radiant-citadel

And Godsbreath and Akarhan Sangar appear in further anthology adventures.

It might be worth reminding people that the Dragonlance setting was described through adventures a couple of years before a dedicated setting book was released.

 

[Parmandur]

Aren't the later Mistborn books basically noir second world urban fantasy?

Yup, the Ghostblood books are going to be Mistborn Era 3: 1980s Edition. Era 2 was anachronistic 1870-1930 pulp stuff: guns, trains, cars, planes, UFOs, ancient jungle temples, sitting room mysteries, superpowers, etc.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Akharin Sangar is a wild location for a heist scenario, given that it's a theocracy run by an extremely law and order angel.

 

[billd91]

It is so strange that some folks want to fight against the simplest reason: it is fun to be excited for official D&D things.

Sure, but people are still excited by the official D&D things that you seem to find old and boring like the Forgotten Realms. The question is WHAT NEW official D&D things will be exciting enough to do, particularly in relation to Steampunkette's important observation:

From a profit margin perspective, unless they get something UNIQUE and interesting to an extreme degree, it just makes more sense to keep pumping out material for the properties they already have that people are always begging for more of, anyhow.

For you, that might be something like an urban fantasy setting... though I would expect that to need a lot more support than just a setting book, such as a 5e-updated d20 Modern game. And that strikes me as a pretty big commitment that WotC hasn't been willing to make for anything other than the shadow setting books of the various adventures published in the 5e era.

 

[Parmandur]

Isn't Radiant Citadel an adventure anthology?

Each Adventure is site based, with a gazateer detailing a unique Setting for each, connected loosely with a hub zone for interdimensional travel

Each Subsetting could easily be a wile campaign, and they are pretty great.

 

[Parmandur]

I don't mean to dismiss Radiant Citadel (especially as i don't own it) but when I say "setting" I personally mean a big book like the FRCS or Rising from the Last War or similar.

Each one of those in the book could expanded to that level.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

For you, that might be something like an urban fantasy setting... though I would expect that to need a lot more support than just a setting book, such as a 5e-updated d20 Modern game. And that strikes me as a pretty big commitment that WotC hasn't been willing to make for anything other than the shadow setting books of the various adventures published in the 5e era.

I think you could probably do both Gamma World and Urban Arcana as standalone setting books that contain everything necessary to run them with just the core three D&D books, although it would likely mean some tough (and controversial) choices of what to trim.

Both books would probably need multiple core classes and subclasses appropriate for the setting, new spells or spell equivalents, magic items/technological artifacts, a new weapons and equipment list and a bestiary. And that's before you actually get to any setting or starter adventures.

 

[Reynard]

Sure, but people are still excited by the official D&D things that you seem to find old and boring like the Forgotten Realms. The question is WHAT NEW official D&D things will be exciting enough to do, particularly in relation to Steampunkette's important observation:

I don't work for WotC. I do not care about their profit margin. That said, if WotC is to be believed, there has been a massive increase in the player base over the last 10 years, and yet we are still only given the same 5 or so books per year. Surely they have room to experiment and target niches now?

For you, that might be something like an urban fantasy setting... though I would expect that to need a lot more support than just a setting book, such as a 5e-updated d20 Modern game. And that strikes me as a pretty big commitment that WotC hasn't been willing to make for anything other than the shadow setting books of the various adventures published in the 5e era.

Again, Urban fantasy only came up because someone asked what (sub)genres were missing from the current and classic settings. I am not demanding WotC make an Urban Fantasy setting. I would also be cool with something Ghibli-esque, or deeply rooted in weird fantasy, or whatever. I just want them to make something NEW instead of regurgitating the same dusty settings over and over.

 

[Remathilis]

It gives enough additional info about San Citlan -- already arguably the star setting of the book -- to make a solid case for it becoming its own standalone setting, IMO. Worth picking up for that chapter alone.

San Cian and Godsbreath were my favorite

 

[billd91]

I don't work for WotC. I do not care about their profit margin. That said, if WotC is to be believed, there has been a massive increase in the player base over the last 10 years, and yet we are still only given the same 5 or so books per year. Surely they have room to experiment and target niches now?

Maybe you SHOULD care if any new setting line (assuming book and maybe some adventures and other support) is sustainably profitable, in no small part because we've seen the effect of too many product lines that weren't sustainably profitable on D&D's publisher. TSR's problems may have been compounded by inflexible production schedules, but a core issue was too many products chasing markets divided up into too small niches. 5e's bigger customer base may help with increasing the number of lines that are sustainable, but it's still a factor that WotC has to be aware of.