D&D 5E WotC Announces An Impending Announcement: New Setting, Storyline

Early this week, WotC announced on Twitter that today there would be some kind of announcement on their Twitch channel. Those who heard that announcement and tuned in were treated to an announcement that the new storyline will be announced at a live event in June.

The press release announcing the impending announcement also mentions a new setting, as well as the storyline, so it sounds like it might not be set in the Forgotten Realms (or maybe is in a new region - to 5E - of the Realms, such as Icewind Dale). The adventure and the setting might be the same thing, or they might be completely different things. Recently, WotC has released a bunch of settings: Eberron, Ravnica, Wildemount, and the upcoming Theros.

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline

The new storyline specifically will be revealed at 12pm PST (8pm GMT) on Thursday, June 18th.

The June event will raise money for Comic Relief, and will feature celebrities including Brandon Routh (Superman), and will preview the brand new storyline. It takes place June 18th-20th. Other names involved include Felicia Day, Deborah Ann Woll, Amy Acker, David Harbour, Matthew Lillard, and more.

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 PRESS RELEASE

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RENTON, WA – May 21, 2020 – People all over the world continue to stay safe by staying home, but that doesn’t mean the adventuring has to stop. Dungeons & Dragons is more popular than ever because it allows people to weave compelling stories together even when they’re physically apart through online videoconferencing. Now, Wizards of the Coast brings the stars to this virtual table with D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage. An amazing cast of characters led by expert storytellers preview the latest D&D storyline with live gaming sessions, all while raising money for Red Nose Day to help the most vulnerable children across the US and around the world, who have been so affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.The adventure begins 10:00am PT on June 18, 2020 and will run through June 20, 2020 at dungeonsanddragons.com.

D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage features big personalities playing elves, wizards and fighters to accomplish quests using their imaginations. Funny people like Brian Posehn, Kevin Sussman and Thomas Middleditch will work together to solve problems or, more likely, cause some hilarious new ones. WWE ® Superstars Xavier Woods ®, Tyler Breeze ®, Ember Moon ®, Alexa Bliss ® and Dio Maddin ® will contend with beefcake destroyer Jeremy Crawford, a.k.a. Principal Rules Designer for D&D. Deborah Ann Woll will lead a group of actors in improvising a way to help people in a fantasy world not that different from ours. And principal D&D writer Chris Perkins takes players

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline as well as accompanying new products plus tons of unique gameplay available on June 18, 2020. D&D Adventurers League has four new short adventures everyone can enjoy. By donating a small amount to Red Nose Day, fans will have access to sign up for D&D sessions with players around the world! During #DnDLive2020, fans will also be able to choose the character best suited to help the region through Reality RP, a mashup of fantasy storytelling, community engagement, and reality television.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

What I think is funny is that Perkins didn't say it wasn't going to be Dark Sun. He was responding to a question that asked, "Did someone say Dark Sun?!" WotC famously keeps things close to the vest and that could easily be interpreted as, "No. We didn't say that. Nothing to see here. Not saying anything actually . . "

And Perkins likes to tease. That's his MO.

All that said, for a variety of other reasons, I don't think it will be Dark Sun. It's possible he's just trying to stop Dark Sun fans from getting their hopes up, as maybe he knows it won't be appearing for awhile. And there's plenty of hints on the Mind Flayer front. But mostly I think they are hoping to surprise us as usual.

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Yeah I think it's more "trying to tamp down expectations so people don't get their hopes up." Wizard's knows DS is popular, and they'll probably get around to it eventually, but it looks like not this year. You can release psionics without Dark Sun.

And I do think there is some psionics sourcebook coming, in the vein of Volo's or Mordenkainen's (not truly Xanathar's). The sapphire dragon was released and the reveal also said that other gem dragons would be released in 2020 as well. The only context I can see 5 gem dragon types, with 4 ages (a total of 20 statblocks) being released is in a monster book, and I could see this book also having psionic player options.

I'm not saying it will be exactly a 5E Manual of the Planes... but maybe something like it.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I don't think it will be Dark Sun. We need good psionics for that, and it seems like they're very much in the development process.

I would expect the next "setting" to be a manual of the planes/planescape/Xanathar's 2.0

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

* Dead Space, System Shock and other sci-fi horror videogames show us Ravenloft also could have got its own gothic-horror version of expedition to the barrier peaks.

* In my opinion the most possible would be something like a plane manual. If there is a new setting will be Eldraine (Magic: the Gathering) or Chris Perkin's Iomandra (a rehush of Councyl of Wyrms). Hasbro and Blizzards have got contacts. A TTRPG based in Warcraft or Diablo 4 by WotC shouldn't be totally impossible, or a board game with a super-simple version of d20 system.

* I have just had a feeling about a future expansion of Baldur's Gate 3 will add psionic powers and maybe a new psionic base class.

 

[5atbu]

Anauroch
I noticed it was on Dragon Talk on the Lore section and it stuck in my mind.

 

[Weiley31]

CARE BEAR STARE!

I always enjoyed the original Care Bears capacity to kick ass when it came time to do such a thing.

Those beams were deadly dog!

 

[vpuigdoller]

Anauroch
I noticed it was on Dragon Talk on the Lore section and it stuck in my mind.

Interesting!

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Anauroch
I noticed it was on Dragon Talk on the Lore section and it stuck in my mind.

Maybe something related to the Netheril?

 

[Parmandur]

Anauroch
I noticed it was on Dragon Talk on the Lore section and it stuck in my mind.

So, since Eberron was released (everything from LYSK leading up to Eberron was focused on Eberron), we have gotten several Wildemount and Theros LYSK episodes, and the following Realms or general D&D episodes in the podcast:

• Lareal Silverhand
• Icewind Dale
• Anauroch Desert
• Mindflayer Nautiloids
• Dueregar, specifically how much they hate the Mindflayers
• "The Enemies of the Mindflayers" focused on the Gith mainly

These may or may not all relate to forthcoming products and/or Adventurer's League content, based on history.

 

[Mercurius]

(As an aside, I would say that personally I feel like WotC are maybe somewhat hostile towards the idea of bringing back older settings generally, and to a lot of the 2E-era settings specifically, perhaps because they're not WotC IPs originally. Even their FR stuff seems mostly to be because it was so popular as a setting, rather than out of much fondness for it. Hostile is different from being merely averse because you think they wouldn't make money, note.)

Don't forget two things:

1. They did bring back Dark Sun in the 4E cycle.
2. The findings of a poll from five years ago puts Dark Sun among the most popular settings, after FR, but alongside Planescape, Ravenloft, and Eberron.

Now that was five years, before the huge expansion of new players, but it was probably quite well representative of long-term players.

So when determining whether or not to revisit old settings, I would imagine their thought process is two-fold:

1. How beloved is this to old players?
2. How well would this be received by the (larger) new cohort of players?

The answer to the first is "very beloved"; the second is unknown. But I would think the first should be enough to do a single campaign book. They've already done Eberron and Ravenloft to different degrees, so it would be logical that Planescape and Dark Sun are next. My perhaps wishful thinking is that:

2021 is the Year of the Planes, with Sigil/Planescape as the primary setting.
2022 is the Year of Psionics, with Dark Sun as the primary setting.

(Alongside, of course, new magic settings)

 

[Gradine]

Occulus, a movie about a cursed mirror? A good story to be set in Ravenloft. Mmmm, maybe the demiplane needs somebody like the narrator of the twilight zone.

Oculus was one of my favorite more recent horror movies. It's wonderful to see a character that genre savvy, particularly in a genre well known for idiot protagonists