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.