D&D 5E WotC: 5 D&D Settings In Development?

WotC's Ray Winninger spoke a little about some upcoming D&D settings -- two classic settings are coming in 2022 in formats we haven't seen before, and two brand new (not Magic: the Gathering) settings are also in development, as well as return to a setting they've already covered in 5E. He does note, however, that of the last three, there's a chance of one or more not making it to release, as they develop more than they use.

Two classic settings? What could they be?​

So that's:

• 2 classic settings in 2022 (in a brand new format)
• 2 brand new settings
• 1 returning setting

So the big questions -- what are the two classic settings, and what do they mean by a format we haven't seen before? Winninger has clarified on Twitter that "Each of these products is pursuing a different format you've never seen before. And neither is "digital only;" these are new print formats."

As I've mentioned on a couple of occasions, there are two more products that revive "classic" settings in production right now.

The manuscript for the first, overseen by [Chris Perkins], is nearly complete. Work on the second, led by [F. Wesley Schneider] with an assist from [Ari Levitch], is just ramping up in earnest. Both are targeting 2022 and formats you've never seen before.

In addition to these two titles, we have two brand new [D&D] settings in early development, as well as a return to a setting we've already covered. (No, these are not M:tG worlds.)

As I mentioned in the dev blog, we develop more material than we publish, so it's possible one or more of these last three won't reach production. But as of right now, they're all looking great.

Of course the phrase "two more products that revive 'classic' settings" could be interpreted in different ways. It might not be two individual setting books.

 

[Azzy]

A proper FRCS in the offing.

That's what I was thinking about a setting being revisited. It would please many fans.

 

[Azzy]

I suspect this is the proper takeaway - a big adventure centered on Sigil or an anthology of small adventures which all feature Sigil as a hub could be just as much of a 'Planescape revival' as a proper campaign setting.

That format could work for Spelljamer as well, using the Rock of Braal as the nexus.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Planejammer is a fan thing. Won’t happen like that. They will keep it classic. It hasn’t even happened in a game, people are just projecting the idea onto BG3 in some wish fulfillment manner.

The nautiloid ship performs Plane Shift in the trailer.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've got the Complete books, all the Planescape and all the Dark Sun books from that list on my shelf right now and I reckon they still hold up, and I'm sure others would speak up for the Mystara and Ravenloft books.

I owned many of the Complete books, and I think we can agree that they were not all of equal quality or have equal amounts of material worth holding onto (Complete Wizard = amazing; Complete Gnomes & Halflings = not so much). In fact, wasn't Complete Paladin one of the most-loathed ones in that line?

Likewise, those are some middle-of-the-road at best Ravenloft titles for the most part.

The boxed set of Karameikos is pretty good, but Mystara fans tend to hate it because of how it moved the setting from BD&D to 2E with an arguably haphazard approach to the canon. The 2E adventures that came out -- I owned them all -- are no loss to anyone and were cranked out as quickly as possible, with the dubious CDs of sound effects to go with them.

I include the Planescape and Dark Sun material from that era as probably being among the 12 worthwhile books, since I don't know enough about the adventures of either line to differentiate. But I do note that those aren't their iconic adventures.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Blackmoor
The setting of Chainmail (on Greyhawk)
Jakandor
Lost World of Chanak
Thunder Rift
The implied setting of Bastion of Faith, College of Wizardry, and Den of Thieves.

If WotC weren't so gung ho on starting new D&D players with the Forgotten Realms, a 5E Thunder Rift would be an amazing boxed set for beginners.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That format could work for Spelljamer as well, using the Rock of Braal as the nexus.

Yeah, a hub and spoke adventure design would work for Planescape, Spelljammer and a bunch of other settings. The Saltmarsh model is a really, really good one.

 

[overgeeked]

As much as I’d prefer the revisit setting to be Exandria, I’d be utterly shocked if it’s not Forgotten Realms. With the revamp of the drow lineages, and the “summer of Drizzt” stuff, it makes sense that they’d do a Drizzt and/or FR themed book. Considering recent book naming conventions, it’ll probably be call something like “Drizzt’s Guide to the Forgotten Realms”.

Sorry to quote myself, but I really hope they use the actual logo for FR instead of the regular font. The logos look so much better than the meh typeface they’re using.

 

[Parmandur]

The nautiloid ship performs Plane Shift in the trailer.

So, Mindflayers are both dimension hoppers and spelljammers at the same time. 5E has a unified cosmology that includes both planar travel across dimensions, and phlostigon sailing within the Material Prime (one dimension that includes the Forgotten, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, etc.). Just because both exist doesn't mean they would make one Setting to cover both aspects, even if they have intersections (such as Gith & Mindflayers).

A Planescape Setting in the traditional Ravmuxa would be about weird fantasy, urban fantasy in the cosmopolitan of Sigol and magical portals to tippy outer dimensions.

A Spelljammer Setting would be about space travel logistics, space politics, like Elves vs. Scro, piracy, trade, vehicular space combat, etc.

The two books would have the material for very large bestiaries with little crossover in content. I see no reason to see why mixing them would make sense.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The two books would have the material for very large bestiaries with little crossover in content. I see no reason to see why mixing them would make sense.

I was strictly responding to the idea that this was fans pulling the Planejammer idea out of their posteriors. Whether or not we see a combined book, Planejammer ships exist in 5E.

 

[Parmandur]

I was strictly responding to the idea that this was fans pulling the Planejammer idea out of their posteriors. Whether or not we see a combined book, Planejammer ships exist in 5E.

Fair enough. I would call that a Spelljammer ship using Planar magic, sense Planesfhit existed in OG Spelljammer, too.