D&D 5E (2014) Will 5e D&D re-claim its campaign settings.

[Jester David]

They haven't themselves produced a single piece of salable content outside the Core Books (everything else has been farmed out to 3rd parties).

They released Curse of Strahd.
And many of the monsters in the other APs were also done in-house.

 

[Jester David]

and DM's Guild is mostly house rules of fanfic quality).

What an odd thing to say given the number of freelancers WotC uses who are writing content for the DMs Guild.

For me, the cost of the books don't justify the bits and pieces. I won't spend $50+ for a tiny sliver of useful content. The bits and pieces I find useful are the character options. That's about it.

Which seems odd to me, since a book of character options IS spending $50 for "a tiny sliver of useful content". A magic item here, a feat there, maybe a subclass. The percentage of a splatbook that gets used by a single gametable is pretty low.

 

[Jester David]

Be it a short conversion document or single book filled with rules for all the campaign settings of old, do you think 5e will at some point attempt to re-claim them all?

Personally, I think official conversion documents released on the DMs Guild would be a great idea. They don't need to have a lot of content, just the must-have races and a new mechanic or two.
Even if they don't do anything official, I imagine they'll eventually open up the DMs Guild to other settings and let the die hard fans of those worlds have a crack, like they did with Ravenloft.

 

[Edwin Suijkerbuijk]

I have a feeling they're thinking about it, since a recent poll asked which settings people were most interested in. The new Ravenloft module dips a toe in the water, and it seems to be well received. So I have a feeling we'll be seeing more stuff in the older settings, but I don't know when.

Then too, there's always the OGL...

In a interview on a podcast a long time ago ( will have to try and find it again) Mike Mearls was asked about other setting and in specific Dragonlance.
He said they where open to do any campain setting But only if they could get the right people on board that could do the setting justice.
The way It was said sounded to me that they will only redo some of the older campaign settings if they can get designers on board who worked on earlyer versions of that campaign setting.

 

[Edwin Suijkerbuijk]

Personally, I think official conversion documents released on the DMs Guild would be a great idea. They don't need to have a lot of content, just the must-have races and a new mechanic or two.

As the DMs guild site also offers DnD classics you could have conversion guides for each DnD classic book.
So the conversion guide would purely give alternative 5e mechanics, and for the fluff art and other features the product might have you uy the classic titel

 

[ZeshinX]

What an odd thing to say given the number of freelancers WotC uses who are writing content for the DMs Guild.


Which seems odd to me, since a book of character options IS spending $50 for "a tiny sliver of useful content". A magic item here, a feat there, maybe a subclass. The percentage of a splatbook that gets used by a single gametable is pretty low.

DM's Guild - Mostly fanfic. Mostly. There could be some real gems in there, of that I have no doubt, but it's pretty tough to find as it currently is. There will be/is quality stuff up there, but at present it's a herculean task to find it.

As for the other, indeed, however that is indeed what I'm looking for. A percentage of a splatbook may see use at my table, but the adventure modules will see a 0% use (in so much as I will not purchase them...if the content ends up in a future product I do buy, well, so much the better). I'm not advocating the cessation of WotC creating and printing storyline modules. Plenty of people love them, and that's great...I'd just like some splat material.

I know I'm a relic of an era that is over, that much is obvious even to me. I still poke my head out and shake my fist from time to time, then quietly recede back into my obsolescence. This is one of those times.

 

[RotGrub]

As the DMs guild site also offers DnD classics you could have conversion guides for each DnD classic book.
So the conversion guide would purely give alternative 5e mechanics, and for the fluff art and other features the product might have you uy the classic titel

That would be ideal. All of us relics sticking with 2e for the campaign world material might give 5e another try.

 

[Jester David]

DM's Guild - Mostly fanfic. Mostly. There could be some real gems in there, of that I have no doubt, but it's pretty tough to find as it currently is. There will be/is quality stuff up there, but at present it's a herculean task to find it.

There are the bestsellers. Anything that moves enough copies to hit Electrum status can't suck. And anything with 4+ ratings of 4-5 stars is generally a good bet.
I've bought some stuff on the DMsGuild that I've enjoyed far more than some of the WotC stinkers over the years...

As for the other, indeed, however that is indeed what I'm looking for. A percentage of a splatbook may see use at my table, but the adventure modules will see a 0% use (in so much as I will not purchase them...if the content ends up in a future product I do buy, well, so much the better). I'm not advocating the cessation of WotC creating and printing storyline modules. Plenty of people love them, and that's great...I'd just like some splat material.

I know I'm a relic of an era that is over, that much is obvious even to me. I still poke my head out and shake my fist from time to time, then quietly recede back into my obsolescence. This is one of those times.

WotC just did a survey looking to see what kind of splatbook we want. The era of a new splatbook every 2-3 months is very much over, but we'll likely get one eventually.
It's just likely to be more story focused and some flavour and not just be 160-pages of new options. Especially since 160-pages of new crunch is a *ridiculous* amount of crunch for 5e.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Therein lies the disconnect for me. Not that I don't see the value you derive from it, that much is plain and good. For me, the cost of the books don't justify the bits and pieces. I won't spend $50+ for a tiny sliver of useful content. The bits and pieces I find useful are the character options. That's about it. The adventures or pieces thereof are of no use to me, as I create my own.

For those with far more limited time but still want to create their own adventures/worlds, then what you suggest is quite an excellent way to go about it and by no means do I disparage those who do it and enjoy it.

No worries...and the same applies to me, I mean no offense. I know that everyone plays differently and prepares the game differently, and it is all valid. I am not being critical other than to try and understand a differing approach.

I find that the NPCs and monsters and maps/combat sites in the adventure books provide a good deal of inspiration for my own work, and can also be lifted and repurposed easily, which lessens the amount of work I have to do since I create my own adventures as well.

The price is a bit high, I agree, but I feel like I get my money's worth. Obviously, that'll vary for others, which is understandable.

For someone who is only looking for player options, the adventure books would be minimal use, I agree. I don't feel like my group has come close to exhausting the existing options yet, but I know for many folks, more options as soon as possible is ideal.

New Maps, Ansalon and Taladas Races, Sub classes (Wizards of HS, Solamnic Knights, Dragon Knights), Moon Magic, Spells, Krynn Monsters, Unique equipment, History/Timeline updates, etc

Okay, understood. From that list, I feel like there are really only a few things needed...maybe a couple of races (although kender and minotaurs are already available, I believe, and gnomes and gully dwarves don't seem to require much) and the Solamnia and High Sorcery subclasses, and then maybe a few monsters. All of the rest of the stuff you list is fluff content and is available in a variety of forms already. I haven't read any Dragonlance stuff since the 2E days, but I'm sure maps and timelines and the like are easily found, no?

 

[Azzy]

I think seeing new materials from the older settings with the art direction of 5e would be really cool. But not if they can't really afford to do it in their business model.

Actually, I'd like the settings to each have their own art direction. 2e got this right with Dark Sun and Planescape, but I think it'd be nore necessary with the more "normal" settings like Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Mystara. If the use the same art direction as the 5e corebooks, they'll come across too similar to the Forgotten Realms. Giving them each their own individualistic are direction (say like making Greyhawk's art more historic, realistic, and gritty) would give each setting a "feel" that's all their own.