D&D 5E (2024) WotC Should Make 5.5E Specific Setting

[Mistwell]

Between Realms threads and Dark.Sun speculation, I am more and more convinced that every edition of D&D needs a(t least one) bespoke setting. 5E never really got one -- it experimented with MtG settings, but there was no Dragonlance or Eberron if you understand my meaning.

Instead of shoehorning all the 5.5 mechanics and species and vibes into old settings, WotC should design a setting especially FOR 5.5E and it's target market.

I agree. That, or develop something in Greyhawk. Their introduction to Greyhawk in the DMG is pretty darn good. Develop one of those nations.

 

[Mistwell]

I want a new Ptolus,

Ptolus was great. I'd love a 5.5e version of that setting.

 

[Reynard]

So in what ways does the Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica not do that...?

I have no idea, as I have never read that book. But given it is a MtG setting, I assume that those not-made-for-5E tensions still exist.

 

[Remathilis]

As I stated upthread, 5.5 moves some elements from species to background, and that could be represented in setting design in an interesting way. 5.5 is a looser ruleset than 3.5, so a lot of the "these are the effects of the magic item economy on the setting" we saw in Eberron aren't really applicable, but 5.5 does make some assumptions about the overall meta-setting so those can be incorporated.

Eh, I still think that's a pretty thin level of design space to hang a whole setting on. Nerath shows "different for different's sake" isn't enough. Hell, even Mystara, beloved as it is, needed a lot more than "the BECMI setting" to make it work.

I'm not saying a setting designed with the current ruleset won't work, but it's gonna need a lot more than that to do it.

Most importantly, embracing the current rules allows you to build a world that does not contradict the system, or create undo tension. That's the real goal.

See, that to me just reads "a setting that doesn't have grognards arguing about how they changed the lore to make it fit." Which means it will either die with the edition change (like Nerath) or port over to 6e and presumably join the other settings in needing retcons and adaptation to become compliant. (Assuming 6e is well and truly different enough and not just 5.34 or whatever). Then that setting will have grognards arguing how 6e ruined it and process begins anew.

So if you think D&D needs another setting (I don't), I'd rather it be filling a niche or genre that the other settings don't and have 5.5 compatibility be a side effect rather than design for compatibility and wither once the newness wears off.

 

[Zardnaar]

Eh, I still think that's a pretty thin level of design space to hang a whole setting on. Nerath shows "different for different's sake" isn't enough. Hell, even Mystara, beloved as it is, needed a lot more than "the BECMI setting" to make it work.

I'm not saying a setting designed with the current ruleset won't work, but it's gonna need a lot more than that to do it.

See, that to me just reads "a setting that doesn't have grognards arguing about how they changed the lore to make it fit." Which means it will either die with the edition change (like Nerath) or port over to 6e and presumably join the other settings in needing retcons and adaptation to become compliant. (Assuming 6e is well and truly different enough and not just 5.34 or whatever). Then that setting will have grognards arguing how 6e ruined it and process begins anew.

So if you think D&D needs another setting (I don't), I'd rather it be filling a niche or genre that the other settings don't and have 5.5 compatibility be a side effect rather than design for compatibility and wither once the newness wears off.

I dont want another setting either.

Exception would be a niche that hasn't been done or done well. Something unique/different.

 

[Parmandur]

I have no idea, as I have never read that book. But given it is a MtG setting, I assume that those not-made-for-5E tensions still exist.

I honestly don't see those tensions in amy of the Settings they have released, in the slightest, but Ravnica is largely original as presented in the book: Wyatt had to make most of it up, and again he also wrote the DMG. Take a gander at Ravnica sometime, it's a darned good book, and comes close to what you seem to be thinking of.

 

[Parmandur]

Eh, I still think that's a pretty thin level of design space to hang a whole setting on. Nerath shows "different for different's sake" isn't enough. Hell, even Mystara, beloved as it is, needed a lot more than "the BECMI setting" to make it work.

And Mystara was not originally a BECMI Setting: it was the Kent State shared home campaign for OD&D that Schenck, Cook, and Moldvay took into TSR with them when they graduated and got jobs together.

 

[Hussar]

Arkhan the Cruel. Several NPC adversaries are Dragonborn in the Tyranny of Dragons modules.

As for tieflings, Avarice from Rime of the Frostmaiden. There’s a bunch in Dungeon of the Mad Mage. That’s just off the top of my head. You can find more on the FR wiki easily. I’m just not sure what you mean by they’re not built into the settings?

Huh. I'm running Out of the Abyss. Zero Dragonborn or tieflings. Ghosts of Saltmarsh, 1 tiefling, zero dragonborn. Candlekeep Mysteries, IIRC, 1 dragonborn, 0 Tieflings. Waterdeep Dragonheist, 0 dragonborn or tieflings that I recall. Phandelver - 0 dragonborn or tieflings.

And while there are a number of half-dragons in Tyranny of Dragons, there are exactly 0 actual dragonborn characters. I remember because I actually played a dragonborn character in the campaign, expecting to see lots of dragonborn and then not meeting a single dragonborn NPC in the entire campaign.

I'd say they are pretty under represented.

 

[Hussar]

There are Tiefling and Dragonborn NPCs all the time in the Campaign books? Some people loudly complained about that with Saltmarsh, for example, but it goes all the way back to Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

I dunno how anyone could complain about Saltmarsh. There are zero dragonborn (although there is a dragonborn in one of the pictures) and the only tiefling is a trader from Iuz. That's it. In the entire module. Hoard of the Dragon Queen, as I mentioned, has half dragons, but zero dragonborn. Not one. I just looked it up. The word dragonborn appears exactly once in either module and that's in the context of how a copper dragon will react to a PC.

Unless this is a definition of "all that time" that I'm unaware of, I'm seriously questioning whether folks have actually read these adventures. It's like being told that there are TONS of halflings in Saltmarsh, only to realize that the only mention of halflings at all is that there are some unnamed halfling communities that are completely undetailed, in a single paragraph in the opening pages of the module.

 

[Hussar]

Hrm, it is interesting to think what elements would you need for a "2024 D&D" setting:

1. All PHB races actually represented in the setting. That means you have dragonborn nations as well as various other species.
2. Class representation. Warlocks, for example. Clerics have churches. Bards have schools. Where are the warlock organizations?
3. Monster changes represented. Gnolls are demons now, as an example. That means that you show them as Demons and not just have them pop up as a slightly stronger orc.
4. Mixed demographic states. D&D, and particularly 2024, leans heavily on the idea that species mix. That needs to be actually shown. It's all well and good to say that it is, but, when you look at lot of the adventure paths, you have the dwarf town, and the gnome town and the halfling town and the ((insert whatever here)) town. Multicultural representation. The kingdom is ruled by an elf and married to a aasimar. The blacksmith is a dragonborn while the barkeep is a lizard folk. On and on. No more mono-cultures.
5. Something should be done about magic items. Either build them into the setting a la 3e or something else. Not sure what that should be.
6. Frankly, since everything is extremely high magic, make the setting that way too. Floating castles, genie kings, that sort of thing. It is always somewhat dissonant that everywhere the PC's go, wizards and casters are rare meanwhile the party has more magic than it knows what to do with.
7. Artificers built into the setting. If they're a class, make them part of the setting.

That's my wish list anyway.