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.

 

[teitan]

the point of having a setting with guns baked in is so the dm will defiantly bring them out to play

Why would a DM defy it?

 

[Mind of tempest]

Why would a DM defy it?

vision, hate the insane reasoning that brings us gm horror stories?

 

[teitan]

vision, hate the insane reasoning that brings us gm horror stories?

Sorry, I was being a goof... did you mean DEFINITELY bring them in?

 

[GreyLord]

Greyhawk...

Not Greyhawk??

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Just because something predates Spelljammer, doesn't mean it's not a big part of the setting.

View attachment 138410View attachment 138411

View attachment 138412

That's literally a picture of the Astral Sea in the bottom lol.

The idea that Spelljammer is important because it literally replicated a conflict already going on in the Astral Sea is hilarious. If anything, this increases the justification for shoving Spelljammer back into the Astral Sea.

 

[Parmandur]

Chocolate and peanut butter worked pretty good for Reeses....

But this is more like strawberry and anchovies.

 

[vecna00]

It took two days, but I finally got through all 26 pages of this thread! And I have some thoughts.

I'm very happy to see the progress that's being made on the classic settings being brought back. My money is on the remaining top tier settings of Dark Sun and Planescape. I know Dark Sun will need an actual psionic class (or I at least hope the designers see it that way also) and that can take some time, but I think it's doable if a group is focused on it.

I am very interested in what Perkins is overseeing himself. This could be Planescape or Spelljammer, but not together in one, I think that's a bad idea. With the way two ships have shown up in adventures, I think it is highly possible for Spelljammer, but I think Planescape just beats it. We're talking 55% Planescape/45% Spelljammer.

As far as the setting that's being revisited, I'm fairly certain it'll be the Forgotten Realms. As much as I don't use it, I think they're finally going to put out a new big book on it. I think it's due.

For the two new settings, I definitely think this is where we can get our modern or sci-fi setting. Maybe we get both. Archetype is working on a sci-fi game, there's no reason we couldn't get a tabletop version!

I wouldn't be surprised if either setting is modern or sci-fi, and they include ways to run games like Gamma World or Star Frontiers. It doesn't seem like they're resurrecting them, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they couldn't be played in place of a new modern or sci-fi setting with some tweaks.

 

[Shardstone]

People coming up with all these lore reasons the two settings can't merge like WotC gives a damn about the lore

 

[Parmandur]

People coming up with all these lore reasons the two settings can't merge like WotC gives a damn about the lore

No, but they care about selling books. How does shunting two different genres, watering both down, into a 256 page book sell more units than doing more focused books focused on one genre instead?

It's like suggesting that WotC should just put Athas into the Ravenloft book, because the world is dark, too.

 

[vecna00]

People coming up with all these lore reasons the two settings can't merge like WotC gives a damn about the lore

Now, is this the same or different from people coming up with reasons why two settings should be merged like WotC gives a damn about those reasons?

Asking rhetorically.