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.

 

[Shardstone]

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.

Guess we're about to find out

EDIT: Half the reason I make these claims is to see if in a year me or @Parmandur are right, for the cosmic ledgers must be upheld with integrity

 

[Parmandur]

Guess we're about to find out

EDIT: Half the reason I make these claims is to see if in a year me or @Parmandur are right, for the cosmic ledgers must be upheld with integrity

I mean, that's the fun of it, isn't it?

I don't see it, nit because of Canon, because WotC rightly doesn't care about Canon in a game whose primary audience are DIYers. No, I don't see it because it doesn't make any sense as a commercial product: why dilute two brands and water down the focus of a book for no gain? Just covering the basics of Planescape is more than enough for a 320 page book, why confuse it by throwing spaceships in there?

 

[vecna00]

EDIT: Half the reason I make these claims is to see if in a year me or @Parmandur are right, for the cosmic ledgers must be upheld with integrity

That's a fair answer.

 

[Fenris-77]

I don't think you're watering much of anything down. Spelljammer, taken generally, is a natural extension of Planescape - you're just adding exploration via ship to what's already there in the idea of the doors. We all have our differences in taste of course.

 

[Parmandur]

I don't think you're watering much of anything down. Spelljammer, taken generally, is a natural extension of Planescape - you're just adding exploration via ship to what's already there in the idea of the doors. We all have our differences in taste of course.

?

I really just don't understand this statement? Stripping aside the Settings respective history and what not, we have on the one hand Urban Fantasy & Weird Fantasy, and on the other Planetary Romance. Two entirely different stroyscapes, that require entirely different sets of mechanics, different Adventure generation tools, different monsters...mixing the together means that neither gets sufficient development, they don't mix.

It's like saying g a Kim Stanley Robinson Mars RPG should mix in John Carter of Mars material, because they both are on Mars. It doesn't fit.

 

[Fenris-77]

See, I get that you don't see it, but a lot of other people do. That's not an argument for you being wrong, we all have opinions, likes, and dislikes, but perhaps you could consider that something that a lot of people are excited about might not be a case of a lot of people being wrong, but rather a lot of people not sharing your specific taste in that thing.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

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.

How does a Sci Fi setting fit into D&D's multiverse? At minimum it has to be a blend of sci fi and fantasy, like Shadowrun.

 

[vecna00]

How does a Sci Fi setting fit into D&D's multiverse? At minimum it has to be a blend of sci fi and fantasy, like Shadowrun.

Countless worlds of countless technology levels can exist in the D&D multiverse, even our world being hinted at in the old days. It can certainly happen, whether or not it does is a completely different story.

 

[Steampunkette]

See, I get that you don't see it, but a lot of other people do. That's not an argument for you being wrong, we all have opinions, likes, and dislikes, but perhaps you could consider that something that a lot of people are excited about might not be a case of a lot of people being wrong, but rather a lot of people not sharing your specific taste in that thing.

And a different experience with it.

When I played Planescape it wasn't "Urban Fantasy" it was just a different kind of Fantasy Town as the Adventure Hub for Planeshopping adventures. We didn't explore Sigil's various nooks and crannies. We came back to Sigil after our adventures in the City of Brass or trying to divert the Great Modron March or get people out of its way, at least....

It wasn't "Sigil, City of Doors" the setting. It was Planescape. Plane hopping from Sigil to go to wildly different adventure locales than were otherwise available.

Sigil was just the place we'd return to and get insulted by random passers by for being Berks or Prime Scum. We'd drop our missions off, get a new mission, and go to another plane of existence to have an adventure.

Meanwhile Spelljammer was practically the same. Yeah, we'd fight pirates as we traveled between stardocks and worlds. But for the most part we'd just fly in, land, do the thing we had to do, then leave. The Ship was just our Portal to the new worlds we were having our adventures in.

Only instead of nihilistic taunts about our smallness in the grand scheme of things, we had Orko and Cringer type characters playing up the humor.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

It's like saying g a Gene Stankey Robinson Mars RPG should mix in John Carter of Mars material, because they both are on Mars. It doesn't fit.

Gene Stankey Robinson is a pretty fantastic nickname for Kim Stanley Robinson. Almost works as a drag name, too.