WotC WotC needs an Elon Musk

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I suppose if D&D focused on a single world rather than multiple, you could afford such specialization. But that comes at the cost of never getting Ravenloft, Spelljammer or Dragonlance. But I can't see them ever supporting settings when that level of granularity again.

I think most of those adventures could have been set on a single world (Ansalon is a continent that's having a war, which is separate from the damned continent/archipelago that is Ravenloft, which has areas from the rest of the world pulled there by the Dark Powers, etc.), but that ship sailed a long time ago.

I cannot imagine the drama if WotC had announced that all of the D&D worlds were actually one planet, despite it having functionally little impact for most games. Just make all of the "the entire world is affected by X" into "the entire continent is affected by X," which is still a pretty big deal, and you can suddenly have the prospect of characters setting sail from Waterdeep and getting shipwrecked up on the magic-starved continent of Athas, where escaping is going to be very, very difficult.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hence why I ask: what reason is there to believe that a venture capitalist would change the direction, or might not change the direction to triple down on their 5E trajectory...?

It's worth noting that Marvel didn't really recover creatively or get into a position where it could launch the MCU until it got rid of its venture capitalist types.

It is hard to think of many businesses where the presence of the "how much can we bleed off this company while still keeping it technically alive" types actually improved things. They killed Toys R Us and they've been steadily killing local newspapers (with measurable effects on the United States' political and cultural lives) for decades now.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That’s what I wonder - they’ve shown us they can write good campaign setting books. Eberron seems to have been quite well received, and (with some grumbling) so was Ravenloft.

My guess is that the new settings (and no, folks, Radiant Citadel wasn't one of them; WotC calls it an adventure anthology) will be more like Eberron than Strixhaven or Spelljammer. Books take longer to get to publication than folks seem to think, especially when you're starting from scratch.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This seems to me as a GREAT DM's Guild proposition. A series called "BOOKNAME Updated" could sell well for this particular audience.

There's a whole line of stat updates for AD&D adventures there already. It looks to be just one guy cranking them out, but given how many of them he's done, someone is clearly buying them.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I mean, from your posts, you seem to want D&D to return to something more like it was in 2e or before. Meanwhile, Musk himself would probably describe himself as a disrupter.

A Muskhelmed D&D would probably have no print products at all, and possibly no products from WotC.

But it'd be on the blockchain. For reasons.

 

[humble minion]

Look, there's a fantasy Australia and the Land of Flying Monkeys on Toril, both of which have never been detailed.

Speaking as an Australian, it kinda bugs me that even in the d20 glut and the modern day kickstarter 3pp explosion, there has NEVER been an Australian-inspired D&D setting or sourcebook, WotC or 3pp, at all as far as I can tell.

(No, I don't count the wallara in Savage Coast or the Abber nomads in Ravenloft's Nightmare Lands, because they were just as insulting and desultory as the old school Vistani, and the only reason they don't get just as much criticism is that they were so obscure and lacking in depth that nobody paid attention to them)

I wish someone would get onto it. I'd almost be tempted myself but I've never published game material ever, and this is a topic that deserves the sort of big, lavish, full-colour hardback treatment which is way beyond my capabilities. Still, if there's any 3pp out there interested in covering this ground, pleeease drop me a line. I know some people who might know some people who could contribute an own-voices indigenous Australian perspective to a project like this...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If they were catering to Gen X with Ravenloft and Spelljammer, they wouldn't have rebooted the settings.

Also, everyone would be dressed in flannel and every tavern would serve wine coolers and Zinka.

 

[humble minion]

Also, everyone would be dressed in flannel and every tavern would serve wine coolers and Zinka.

Scotch and coke til you started to get tired, then vodka and red bull to wake you up, is how I remember it...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Speaking as an Australian, it kinda bugs me that even in the d20 glut and the modern day kickstarter 3pp explosion, there has NEVER been an Australian-inspired D&D setting or sourcebook, WotC or 3pp, at all as far as I can tell.

(No, I don't count the wallara in Savage Coast or the Abber nomads in Ravenloft's Nightmare Lands, because they were just as insulting and desultory as the old school Vistani, and the only reason they don't get just as much criticism is that they were so obscure and lacking in depth that nobody paid attention to them)

I wish someone would get onto it. I'd almost be tempted myself but I've never published game material ever, and this is a topic that deserves the sort of big, lavish, full-colour hardback treatment which is way beyond my capabilities. Still, if there's any 3pp out there interested in covering this ground, pleeease drop me a line. I know some people who might know some people who could contribute an own-voices indigenous Australian perspective to a project like this...

Speaking for all Americans -- people never look down the ballot and don't realize they elected me to this position a few weeks ago -- we almost universally are fascinated by Australia.

A fantasy Australia that managed to present all aspects, from a sensitive and rounded take on the indigenous community to a warts-and-all take on the colonial era to a post-colonial era ripe for adventuring would be amazing. Hell, half of your bestiary could be just your normal and dire wildlife (including drop bears), and it'd be fantastic, even before myth and legend was brought into the mix.

 

[Zardnaar]

Speaking as an Australian, it kinda bugs me that even in the d20 glut and the modern day kickstarter 3pp explosion, there has NEVER been an Australian-inspired D&D setting or sourcebook, WotC or 3pp, at all as far as I can tell.

(No, I don't count the wallara in Savage Coast or the Abber nomads in Ravenloft's Nightmare Lands, because they were just as insulting and desultory as the old school Vistani, and the only reason they don't get just as much criticism is that they were so obscure and lacking in depth that nobody paid attention to them)

I wish someone would get onto it. I'd almost be tempted myself but I've never published game material ever, and this is a topic that deserves the sort of big, lavish, full-colour hardback treatment which is way beyond my capabilities. Still, if there's any 3pp out there interested in covering this ground, pleeease drop me a line. I know some people who might know some people who could contribute an own-voices indigenous Australian perspective to a project like this...

Thats what you get when you invent Fosters. It's cosmic karma.

 

[darjr]

It's a stance that goes back to TSR and 2E.

@AnotherGuy
@Azzy
Written by Jeff Grubb no less, one of the participants in the creation of Dragonlance who contributed the ideas of using the Queen of the dragons and the King of the dragons in Dragonlance.

From the 1e Manual of the Planes.

As Takhisis in the world of Krynn, Tiamat has never let her followers know that there are other arch-devils

 

[darjr]

Even the D&D historian, in talking about DL1 says Tiamat and Bahamut, puts not only Queen as one but also the King.

Dragon of the Month. The Dragonlance series was imagined as 12 books in part to support 12 sorts of dragons — presumably blue, black, green, red, white, brass, bronze, copper, gold, and silver, alongside Bahamut and Tiamat. However, Hickman was adamant that the adventures not just become a dragon-of-the-month club where a new dragon appeared in each adventure.

affiliate link.


non affiliate link.

 

[Aldarc]

I think most of those adventures could have been set on a single world (Ansalon is a continent that's having a war, which is separate from the damned continent/archipelago that is Ravenloft, which has areas from the rest of the world pulled there by the Dark Powers, etc.), but that ship sailed a long time ago.

I cannot imagine the drama if WotC had announced that all of the D&D worlds were actually one planet, despite it having functionally little impact for most games. Just make all of the "the entire world is affected by X" into "the entire continent is affected by X," which is still a pretty big deal, and you can suddenly have the prospect of characters setting sail from Waterdeep and getting shipwrecked up on the magic-starved continent of Athas, where escaping is going to be very, very difficult.

This is essentially how Paizo's Golarion setting works. It's a single world with a lot of thematic zones and areas for running different sort of adventures.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Nope. Not at this time.

Now it is their chance and duty to make 5e complete. Fix old bugs, streamline it. Make it the best DnD they can do.

After that, it is time for the new generation to make their D&D, redesign it and make it fun for the next 15 years.

Right now, I am not done with 5e, actually I am just really starting to spread it around.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Look, there's a fantasy Australia and the Land of Flying Monkeys on Toril, both of which have never been detailed. There should be no higher priority for WotC than both of those settings, which are both amazing in different ways.

The fact that Osse (yes, that's its name) has never gotten any real setting information is a crime. Fantasy Australia as a D&D setting is such an interesting idea that I'm honestly baffled it hasn't been given an official source book yet.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Speaking as an Australian, it kinda bugs me that even in the d20 glut and the modern day kickstarter 3pp explosion, there has NEVER been an Australian-inspired D&D setting or sourcebook, WotC or 3pp, at all as far as I can tell.

(No, I don't count the wallara in Savage Coast or the Abber nomads in Ravenloft's Nightmare Lands, because they were just as insulting and desultory as the old school Vistani, and the only reason they don't get just as much criticism is that they were so obscure and lacking in depth that nobody paid attention to them)

I wish someone would get onto it. I'd almost be tempted myself but I've never published game material ever, and this is a topic that deserves the sort of big, lavish, full-colour hardback treatment which is way beyond my capabilities. Still, if there's any 3pp out there interested in covering this ground, pleeease drop me a line. I know some people who might know some people who could contribute an own-voices indigenous Australian perspective to a project like this...

It's not a full setting book or anything like that, but Dael Kingsmill (great Youtuber, highly recommend her channel) recently did a video detailing a few aspects of a version of D&D Australia that she and her friend had some ideas for. Here's the video:

Speaking for all Americans -- people never look down the ballot and don't realize they elected me to this position a few weeks ago -- we almost universally are fascinated by Australia.

A fantasy Australia that managed to present all aspects, from a sensitive and rounded take on the indigenous community to a warts-and-all take on the colonial era to a post-colonial era ripe for adventuring would be amazing. Hell, half of your bestiary could be just your normal and dire wildlife (including drop bears), and it'd be fantastic, even before myth and legend was brought into the mix.

Australia is already full of extremely weird and deadly monsters. Imagine how insane it would be if magic was added. Drop Bears! Kangaroos with pocket dimensions in their pouches! Tasmanian Devils that can turn into tornadoes! Giant Blue-Ringed Octopuses! Dire Cane Toads that need extermination!

Seriously, why has no one done this yet?

 

[Staffan]

The trope is inaccurate.

Generally speaking, the most significant historical moments are precipitated by natural forces (particularly climate catastrophe and disease), or by broader movements of peoples as a whole (from migration to political movements). Leaders do emerge but are often reacting to historical moments rather than making them. There are a few exceptions, to be sure, but as a whole the historical obsession with "Great Men" requires ignoring the absolutely necessary role that the many (and entirely other forces outside humanity's control) play in history's most significant moments

The way I see it, what we might call "times of upheaval" are generally created by large-scale forces beyond the control of any individual. But in these times, individuals can push in different directions that will create different outcomes.

To provide an example: toward the end, the Roman Republic was pretty much screwed, with unrest, civil wars, and so on. But it was the actions of first Julius Caesar and later Augustus that formed the transition into the Roman Empire and the direction Rome was going to go in the future. Or, to use a metaphor: the tree was rotten, and was going to fall. But the right person can determine in which direction to push it.

 

[AnotherGuy]

It's a stance that goes back to TSR and 2E.

I'm aware of this but...

The creators and certainly a subset of fans who didn't buy into the forced Spelljamer/Planescape multiverse did not accept that part of the lore. And it is my opinion that it was lazy on the part of the WotC designers to bring that lore forward as is into 5e.

Just like you have people here complaining about the Cataclysm, you can certainly have people here dissatisfied with Tiamat = Takhisis.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Not who you're replying to above, but I'm all for this!

I was replying to the OP. They may have blocked you.

 

[Oofta]

Serious question. What do you think monetization means?

You want the dictionary definition? Let Me Google That

WOTC wants to sell games, related products and license their IP in order to make a profit. Kind of the point of running a business.