D&D 5E WotC's Nathan Stewart Teases New D&D Setting Book in 2019

No real details, other than denying that it will be Spelljammer, but in the latest Spoilers & Swag episode Stewart stated straight up that another hardcover setting book is coming in 2019:

"Nathan Stewart, the senior director of Dungeons & Dragons and Avalon Hill, made the announcement on his monthly "Spoilers & Swag" Twitchcast yesterday. 'Next year for our annual releases I can confirm there will be a setting book,' he said. 'A new setting book. A book that we have not created that is for a D&D setting.'"

I'd speculate, given the Settings mentioned in the recent marketing survey and what is listed in the DMsGuild, that the likely options are from the following, given we got Magic this year and Stewart has previously said they are not working on a new setting right now:

- Dark Sun
- Dragonlance
- Eberron
- Greyhawk
- Planescape
- Ravenloft

https://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/11/03/dungeons-and-dragons-new-campaign-setting-book-2019/

 

[DEFCON 1]

I hope you wrong about that because it's lazy cope out and fans deserve better from WotC.

No, they don't. Fans don't "deserve" anything. Just because you like something does not mean you are now owed something additional. Fans are owed only exactly what they get.

 

[DQDesign]

No Settings are "blocked," if you go to "Search Settings" under the Settings tab, you can look through miscellaneous settings like Birthright or the Nentir Vale still.

from https://support.dmsguild.com/hc/en-us/articles/217029298-Content-and-Format-Questions

"I don’t see anything that would stop me from publishing a Greyhawk or Zendikar or Dark Sun product on DMs Guild. Can I do that?
For now, DMs Guild is limited to the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, and Eberron settings only"

they are blocked.

 

[Parmandur]

from https://support.dmsguild.com/hc/en-us/articles/217029298-Content-and-Format-Questions

"I don’t see anything that would stop me from publishing a Greyhawk or Zendikar or Dark Sun product on DMs Guild. Can I do that?
For now, DMs Guild is limited to the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, and Eberron settings only"

they are blocked.

Oh, I see what you mean. I wouldn't call that "blocked," so much as "not yet licensed," as they have stated they plan to have all the settings avait for use event. They are playing a long game here.

 

[DQDesign]

Oh, I see what you mean. I wouldn't call that "blocked," so much as "not yet licensed," as they have stated they plan to have all the settings avait for use event. They are playing a long game here.

it is exactly the long game which I don't understand, at least for the 'minor' settings, e.g. the ones not in the top 5. why not allow fans in creating stuff for Mystara, Nentir, etc., given the fact that wotc does not realistically plan to support them in the foreseable future and, as [MENTION=7006]DEFCON 1[/MENTION] most probably correctly says, they are no more interested in canon and consequently in its possible 'spoiling' by the fans? what do they fear? the only logic answer which comes up my mind is 'loss of profit anywhere else', but where? how?
anyway most probably only a strict minority of fans is interested in this

 

[Parmandur]

it is exactly the long game which I don't understand, at least for the 'minor' settings, e.g. the ones not in the top 5. why not allow fans in creating stuff for Mystara, Nentir, etc., given the fact that wotc does not realistically plan to support them in the foreseable future and, as [MENTION=7006]DEFCON 1[/MENTION] most probably correctly says, they are no more interested in canon and consequently in its possible 'spoiling' by the fans? what do they fear? the only logic answer which comes up my mind is 'loss of profit anywhere else', but where? how?
anyway most probably only a strict minority of fans is interested in this

My guess is that they want the "focus" one one setting at a time, creating a sort of Land grab each time the open a setting. There is a lot of energy going into Eberron right now, it might not go as well (for WotC purposes) if they opened ten settings at once.

 

[Jester David]

No, they don't. Fans don't "deserve" anything. Just because you like something does not mean you are now owed something additional. Fans are owed only exactly what they get.

Very true.
But then so is the reverse. The fans owe WotC/D&D nothing. If WotC doesn’t maintain the relationship, the fans will stop being fans.

Pure fan service is a terrible idea. But so is alienating your core audience.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If you really want to try and suggest that not producing a full size Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book for 5E is "alienating your core audience", you can certainly try. But I think 99% of the D&D gaming population would think you were completely off your rocker.

 

[Parmandur]

Very true.
But then so is the reverse. The fans owe WotC/D&D nothing. If WotC doesn’t maintain the relationship, the fans will stop being fans.

Pure fan service is a terrible idea. But so is alienating your core audience.

True: they have been bending over backwards to avoid that, which seems to be working well so far.

 

[Umbran]

Pure fan service is a terrible idea. But so is alienating your core audience.

I'm not sure the bulk of the audience at this point is going to be "alienated" by not having a whole lot of concern over "canon" in the game. They've had several years apparently selling very well without much concern for canon. Why, now, would it suddenly become alienating?

 

[TiwazTyrsfist]

"A book that we have not created."

Um... what?

So it'll be a third-party book, or...? I don't understand this.

My interpretation would be, "A book we have not written yet" or possibly "A book we have not done before at all"

Which would mean, in the first case, not Eberron because even an expanded Eberron book would still be partly the guide they've already released on DM Guild, same with Ravinica.

In the second case would mean a wholly new setting, not one published before. At this point we should remember that they still own the rights to the number 2 and 3 settings from the contest that Eberron won. There is always the slight possibility that someone there decided to start a fresh setting and will dust off one of those.

But I think the most likely intent was to say that they have not actually started on the book yet at all. "We're going to do this, we have not already written it and are not just sitting on it for scheduled release windows."