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

[Minigiant]

They very much do, at least insofar as they can measure this kind of thing (and they can better than us).

I don't agree

For example, I teach friends who want to be DMs a simple way to make their first setting: National archetypes

• The Empire
• The Kingdom
• The Rebellion
• The Republic
• The Theocracy
• The Other One

Stick them on a continent. Then devise the populations, religions, relations with each other, with monsters, etc

My point is if WOTC were to do this an perhaps made the Empire majority Dragonborn and the Republic Human and Goliath, and the Theocracy being fiendpact warlock devil worshippers, the plurality of the 2024 5e buying customer base would say that is cool.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't agree

For example, I teach friends who want to be DMs a simple way to make their first setting: National archetypes

• The Empire
• The Kingdom
• The Rebellion
• The Republic
• The Theocracy
• The Other One

Stick them on a continent. Then devise the populations, religions, relations with each other, with monsters, etc

My point is if WOTC were to do this an perhaps made the Empire majority Dragonborn and the Republic Human and Goliath, and the Theocracy being fiendpact warlock devil worshippers, the plurality of the 2024 5e buying customer base would say that is cool.

And I would tell them to start with small county-sized region, or maybe an island, and not worry about other counties or even a national government at the start - such things rarely affect the lives of ordinary people or 1st level characters.

What do you do when WotC give advice, and you don’t like it?

Seems to me that “pretend it doesn’t exist” is the usual answer, judging by how many comments on these forums ignore the advice in the current DMG.

 

[BenjaminPey]

I don't agree

For example, I teach friends who want to be DMs a simple way to make their first setting: National archetypes

• The Empire
• The Kingdom
• The Rebellion
• The Republic
• The Theocracy
• The Other One

Stick them on a continent. Then devise the populations, religions, relations with each other, with monsters, etc

My point is if WOTC were to do this an perhaps made the Empire majority Dragonborn and the Republic Human and Goliath, and the Theocracy being fiendpact warlock devil worshippers, the plurality of the 2024 5e buying customer base would say that is cool.

I couldn't agree less.
National archetypes are a tired way to build and present a setting. There are many, mny more ways, starting with some which don't rely on any kind of pseudo-encyclopedic knowledge. The radiant citadel and its, well, radiant way to present multiple micro-settings, to start with, is very much "in line" with what could be perceived as the "new" audience.