Planescape D&D 5e Release?

[Zerubbabel]

Forgive me if mentioned already in another thread, but I have hyperfocus on everything Planescape related at the moment.

Does anyone know if there were any rumors that Planescape will see any release in D&D 5e? I remember reading somewhere that a new setting was on the horizon (I'm hoping this wasn't just Ebberon).

Else, anyone got any recommendations for listening/reading resources in relation to Planescape please let me know, I've been sucked in to the city of Sigil!

~

[dreast]

Honestly, 5e is so cross-compatible with AD&D 2e that any of the old materials would do you good. Rumor has it the pdfs are out there...

[Corsair14]

Out of the various awesome campaign worlds of 2nd that are in dire need of rules updates, Planescape is probably the easiest. Any race goes so no need for restrictions. The hardest part would be remembering to speak in planescape cant,(and of course writing adventures in a "world" based on belief). Just pick up the old books for the fluff off of drivethru and figure out what you want to do with the whole shadowfell/feywild silliness.

There is a really good conversion to 5e out there that has the couple of PS races updated to 5e you can find with an easy google search

[Brookshw]

Nothing yet has been said about any official 5e PS material, though much as yourself, I and many others would snatch it up in a heartbeat. In the meantime you might want to check out mimir (https://mimir.planewalker.com) for more source material/conversions. Also, 2 of the 3 top PS experts are active on this forum, Afroakuma and Todd Stewart (aka, shemeshka the marauder). Todd's not as active but pops up in unexpected places. Also check out his story hour (https://www.enworld.org/threads/shemeskas-planescape-storyhour-updated-29-jan-2014.77613/), its amazing and is still running (current updates in a different thread from what I linked). The Planar DM, also on this forum, has created a lot of 5e content.

In terms of official source material, anything can be fairly easily updated to 5e with just some stat changes. For campaign setting info I recommend, aside from the box set, Player's Guide to the Outlands ( that's not the actual name, might be Player's Primer to the outlands) and Uncages, Faces of Sigil is great for rounding out the city.

There are some great modules as well. Faction Wars has an amazing story. Modron March and Tales fron the Infinite Staircase will have people running all over the planes. Dead Gods is a classic and very much worth your while. There are plenty of others such as Well of the Worlds which is a lot of mini-adventured, Deva Spark is okay. There are more but I've hit the highlights.

[Zerubbabel]

Thank you, much more than I expected. While the older content is fantastic, I do still think it needs a revision of efficiency just to make it more... well just so that it flows better. A list of new monsters to be found in Sigil at the end, new magic items, some updated maps. Flesh out some of the locations in Sigil. I think if they focused mostly on Sigil but then the adventures jump out into the planes that would work very well. So much potential just to revise it and condense all of the information out there into one book!

[darknite]

I'd love it as long as it was as sarcastically self-aware of itself and filled with hipster proto-babble like the original was.

[jaappleton]

I can say that WOTC is aware of the demand for Sigil content.

I can say that Chris Perkins, basically the person in charge of D&D, has stated numerous times that Sigil is his favorite setting.

What, if anything, is being worked on?

I can only shrug.

[Brookshw]

I'd love it as long as it was as sarcastically self-aware of itself and filled with hipster proto-babble like the original was.

Cram it Berk

[Coffee_Dragon]

I'd love it as long as it was as sarcastically self-aware of itself and filled with hipster proto-babble like the original was.

ʜɪPs☩ᴇR? HIᴘS☩Eʀ!?
________ ɪ☩'S nӨ☩ ᴇAsY
____ sPEᴀKɪɴG ɪN ᴇ⨯өcᴇ☩ ᴀLʟ ☩ʜᴇ ☩IᴍE
______________ ʟᴇ☩ Mᴇ ☩EʟL ʏӨᴜ!
_______ --FʟᴀMᴅʀӨɴϘ SᴘᴇLʟʙᴇɢGEʀ, ϘUɪʀkʟөRᴅ

[Zerubbabel]

I can say that WOTC is aware of the demand for Sigil content.

I can say that Chris Perkins, basically the person in charge of D&D, has stated numerous times that Sigil is his favorite setting.

What, if anything, is being worked on?

I can only shrug.

This is all very good, and good enough for me. Maybe I'd be equally happy with Spelljammer, but I think Planescape way more likely to be released than Spelljammer


I'd love it as long as it was as sarcastically self-aware of itself and filled with hipster proto-babble like the original was.

Agree, I think they can make it both darker and sarcastically self-aware at the same time.

[Corsair14]

If you want fleshed out Sigil, here is the interactive map. Its a blast to look through.
https://nether-whisper.ru/rp/planescape/map-of-sigil/

[Eldan]

Out of the various awesome campaign worlds of 2nd that are in dire need of rules updates, Planescape is probably the easiest. Any race goes so no need for restrictions. The hardest part would be remembering to speak in planescape cant,(and of course writing adventures in a "world" based on belief). Just pick up the old books for the fluff off of drivethru and figure out what you want to do with the whole shadowfell/feywild silliness.

There is a really good conversion to 5e out there that has the couple of PS races updated to 5e you can find with an easy google search

Feywild is either the old travelling plane of Faerie/the Seelie Court or is a place in the Outlands. The Shadowfell is a massively expanded demiplane of shadow. Done.

[Segev]

Feywild is either the old travelling plane of Faerie/the Seelie Court or is a place in the Outlands. The Shadowfell is a massively expanded demiplane of shadow. Done.

Isn't the Feywild an inner plane, like the Ethereal and the Shadow, rather than an outer plane or part thereof?

[Millstone85]

Isn't the Feywild an inner plane, like the Ethereal and the Shadow, rather than an outer plane or part thereof?Here is how the DMG groups the planes:
The planes of the default D&D cosmology are grouped in the following categories:

The Material Plane and its Echoes. The Feywild and the Shadowfell are reflections of the Material Plane.
The Transitive Planes. The Ethereal Plane and the Astral Plane are mostly featureless planes that serve primarily as pathways to travel from one plane to another.
The Inner Planes. The four Elemental Planes (Air, Earth, Fire, and Water), plus the Elemental Chaos that surrounds them, are the Inner Planes.
The Outer Planes. Sixteen Outer Planes correspond to the eight non-neutral alignments and shades of philosophical difference between them.
The Positive and Negative Planes. These two planes enfold the rest of the cosmology, providing the raw forces of life and death that underlie the rest of existence in the multiverse.


So 5e does not consider the Feywild, the Shadowfell and the Ethereal to be inner planes. It also doesn't consider the Outlands to be an outer plane, as that one only shows up later in "Other Planes".

I am not saying it is the most satisfying classification.

[loki_ragnarock]

They did release it.

They called it Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica.

I mean, planeswalkers, belief defining organizations, big city, it's basically the same thing.

/S

However, I think the suits would probably want to avoid releasing Planescape with its similar (but better) themes. I suspect Ravinca sort of took all the oxygen out of the room for Planescape.

[Millstone85]

I suspect Ravinca sort of took all the oxygen out of the room for Planescape.I am worried about that too. But to address your points, sarcastic as they were...


planeswalkersGGtR only has the one planeswalker, and his frequent and prolonged absences are responsible for much of the current politics. Ravnica is no city of portals.


belief defining organizationsGenuine question, since I don't know Eberron that well: Can the dragonmarked houses be consided belief defining? If yes, WotC might already not be afraid to repeat that theme.


big cityI would have a 5e Planescape book focus on Sigil and the Outlands.

First, I don't know that setting so well either, but Wiktionary tells me that "outlands" means "the country beyond the city", so I am thinking the plane might be called that because of Sigil?

Secondly, and anyway, the Outlands is largely defined by its gate-towns, so it does feel like an extension of Sigil. Personally, I would even add elemental gate-towns.

[JackPhoenix]

Genuine question, since I don't know Eberron that well: Can the dragonmarked houses be consided belief defining? If yes, WotC might already not be afraid to repeat that theme.

Dragonmarked houses have nothing to do with belief, they are simply mercantile organizations specializing in different services, like communication, banking, transportation or entertainment.

[Brookshw]

Genuine question, since I don't know Eberron that well: Can the dragonmarked houses be consided belief defining? I've always considered them distinct, a dragonmarked house is more closely aligned with....a style of magic? They might have beliefs but I've never seen that as a defining characteristic, not to mention members of such houses may have very distint beliefs from one another. In contrast, in PS beliefs do unify factions, things like "all people contain a spark of divinity which they can use to ascend to full godhood", or "mercy is weakness and subservient to order", but people from all walks of life can access a faction and join in the beliefs.



"First, I don't know that setting so well either, but Wiktionary tells me that "outlands" means "the country beyond the city", so I am thinking the plane might be called that because of Sigil?

Secondly, and anyway, the Outlands is largely defined by its gate-towns, so it does feel like an extension of Sigil. Personally, I would even add elemental gate-towns.

It's the Outlands because its on the outer edge of the great wheel and outside (i.e., neutral) from the philosophical nature of the outer planes. Farthest edges and all that, and existed pre-Sigil, though seems a natural place to put the city.

[Millstone85]

Dragonmarked houses have nothing to do with belief, they are simply mercantile organizations specializing in different services, like communication, banking, transportation or entertainment.I see. Thank you.


It's the Outlands because its on the outer edge of the great wheel and outside (i.e., neutral) from the philosophical nature of the outer planes. Farthest edges and all that, and existed pre-Sigil, though seems a natural place to put the city.I figured the Great Wheel was actually two wheels. One with the Elemental Planes surrounding the Material, all linked together by the Ethereal. The other with the Outer Planes surrounding the Outlands, all linked together by the Astral.

Or a ball and a wheel, if quasi-elemental planes are a thing. In 5e, they are not.

But if I understand you correctly, it is like the rest of the cosmology is within the infinite Spire, and the lands beyond the gate-towns (the Hinterlands, I think they are called) are Far-Realm-ish? Is that the major mind screw that I had missed?

[Brookshw]

I see. Thank you.

I figured the Great Wheel was actually two wheels. One with the Elemental Planes surrounding the Material, all linked together by the Ethereal. The other with the Outer Planes surrounding the Outlands, all linked together by the Astral. Correct in part, however the entirety of the Prime, Transitive, Inner and Outer Planes collectively are considered the Great Wheel (at least as far as Planescape is concerned, editions be editioning). It's the name for the cosmology. Consider as an alternative how Forgotten Realms lays it out with the Great Tree or whatever it was they did. Incidentally, there is also the (theoretical) Ordial Plane which connects the Inner and Outer Planes and may be accessible only to the gods; there are some fan theories on it based on the Rule of Three but little canon material to draw from.

Anyway, the Outlands is the outer hub of the Great Wheel but is still very much a part of it, same way the outside of a tire is still part of a car's wheel. It's a confusing place where distances are inconsistent, i.e., you can walk away from the center for a week, a month, a year, but it's always the same travel time to get back to the center (at least, never more than a week back iirc). At the center is the Spire, the center of the Outlands and which Sigil can be seen floating above. I don't know if that helps or not.


But if I understand you correctly, it is like the rest of the cosmology is within the infinite Spire, and the lands beyond the gate-towns (the Hinterlands, I think they are called) are Far-Realm-ish? Is that the major mind screw that I had missed? Far-Realm-ish? Ehhh, a bit of a stretch. The Far Realm simply is NOT part of the Great Wheel, that's kind of it's schtick. Far Realms and the planes get along like like water and indescribable-non-realities-purple-bicycle, contact between them doesn't work and hurts the Far Realm in some fashion, in theory by trying to force it to conform to the (meta)physics of the planes. In contrast, the Outlands is part of the planes and is wholly compatible for a given value, despite being at the center of the cosmology while simultaneously being at the outer edge of it, and the aforementioned distance quirk. So, I guess in that sense maybe you could call it Far-Realm-ish? In practice it's not important, if it's neutral in its belief it gets kicked to the Outlands; if it jives with a particular plane's MO, then it's on that corresponding plane.

[Millstone85]

It's the name for the cosmology. Consider as an alternative how Forgotten Realms lays it out with the Great Tree or whatever it was they did.I knew that. And it is an apt comparison, because the branches and roots of the World Tree only connect the celestial planes, while for instance the fiendish planes are instead linked by the River of Blood, yet the whole cosmology is named after the tree.


It's a confusing place where distances are inconsistentA notion that also applies to the Outer Planes, at least according to the 5e DMG. They are all as much dreamscapes as they are physical places.


I don't know if that helps or not.Sorry but no, not really. See, if the Great Wheel is indeed two wheels, one centered on the Material and the other on the Outlands, then the Outlands isn't any more at the edge of the cosmology than the Material is. In fact, the whole inner/outer lingo kind of falls apart.


Far-Realm-ish? Ehhh, a bit of a stretch. The Far Realm simply is NOT part of the Great Wheel, that's kind of it's schtick.I was sorta regarding the Hinterlands as not really being part of the Outlands. But yeah, you are right, a bit of a stretch.

[Zerubbabel]

A good question is what % of the book should be about Sigil, I suspect close to 50% or more to be honest, maybe 70% with a monster compendium at the back etc.

[Segev]

I've always sort-of conceived of the Outlands as the ground "beneath" the Astral Plane. Or, put another way, the Astral Plane as the Outlands' sky. But it has bothered me that the Outlands are "inside" the Great Wheel, becuase, yes, that makes them conflict with the notion of the Inner Planes being "inner."

But they're called the Outlands. What if...they're outside the Great Wheel? Sure, they're the Neutral Plane, but they also get weird in a conceptual sense as you go towards their "center." Not chaotic, like Limbo. Weird. Magic stops working. Rules of reality start, not breaking down, but simply being set to "0." Life doesn't function as you approach the Spire. And then there's Sigil, sitting at the top of an infinitely tall mountain, rotating in place with its own gravity and no nod to the actual rules of the Outlands' concept of "down." Or "infinity."

What if the Outlands don't really have a center at all. Or, rather, the Gate Towns surround the aligned reality that are its center, because beyond that is the Astral and then the Inner Planes?

The apparent center, the spire, is the infinite expanse of the Outlands into the Far Realms, but being a Plane, they are also always distinct from the Far Realms. So on the one hand, as you leave the Gate Towns and head for the center (rather than skirting around it, which would bring you, eventually, to another Gate Town on the far side of the ring), you're actually going further OUT from the inner planes. Travelling out from the Gate Towns into the Outlands is travel towards the Far Realms. But as a conceptual being, existing within the rules of the Multiverse, you can't ever get there. That's what the infinite spire at the apparent center of the Outlands represents: the infinite distance you must not just travel, but "climb" against all laws that pull you back "down" to grounded reality, to get out of the Multiverse and into the Far Realms. And nothing properly can get you there. As you travel towards the Far Realms, rules and tools you'd use to get there stop working, because you're leaving them behind.

Sigil, the impossible City of Doors, sits "atop" the infinite spire because it's the boundary. They call it the Cage. And everyone questions what it Cages. What if it is the Cage for all of the Far Realms? Or, possibly, the Cage for the Multiverse, bounding it from the Far Realms. What is a wall dividing an infinite space, but a cage for one side and a protection for the other? Which is which may be an entirely subjective matter.

[Composer99]

The way the planes were illustrated, the Outlands do seem conceptually really part of the Outer Planes in AD&D 2e Planescape.

https://external-preview.redd.it/sOV8BruOxyUzcvrjh8S063agL2HLnkm2OEVjYfeWOx0.jpg?au to=webp&0edf918bhttp://img10.deviantart.net/c1b4/i/2006/182/0/8/the_planescape_multiverse_by_zen79.jpg

(Link if the picture doesn't work: http://img10.deviantart.net/c1b4/i/2006/182/0/8/the_planescape_multiverse_by_zen79.jpg)

(This picture includes a reference to the "fanon" Ordial Plane, an implied transitive plane linking the Inner and Outer Planes but not the Prime.)

[Brookshw]

A notion that also applies to the Outer Planes, at least according to the 5e DMG. They are all as much dreamscapes as they are physical places. Eh, sort of, maybe? They all have their own things going on, filling people with despair or sucking them in with feelings of peace, etc. Of the Outer Planes, there are very few instances, that I can recall at least, that involve the same spacious-temporal distortion effect you see in the Outlands, and certainly none that are as pervasive.


Sorry but no, not really. See, if the Great Wheel is indeed two wheels, one centered on the Material and the other on the Outlands, then the Outlands isn't any more at the edge of the cosmology than the Material is. In fact, the whole inner/outer lingo kind of falls apart. Well, either it works for you or it doesn't, but remember that some of PS's big things is are the Unity of Rings and Center of All, the setting simultaneously sets the Outlands in the center then throws away the idea of there being a center. Have fun with that. Talking about spatial relationships across planes is a weird concept to begin with; I gather they used the Prime as the center to orient it then went outwards from there for the sake of the readers familiarity.


Sure, they're the Neutral Plane, but they also get weird in a conceptual sense as you go towards their "center." Not chaotic, like Limbo. Weird. Magic stops working. Rules of reality start, not breaking down, but simply being set to "0." Life doesn't function as you approach the Spire. And then there's Sigil, sitting at the top of an infinitely tall mountain, rotating in place with its own gravity and no nod to the actual rules of the Outlands' concept of "down." Or "infinity." I'm not sure what you mean by "rules of reality [...] set to '0'", the only thing that happens at the Spire is magic ceases. There are even modules that bring you to the Spire, and nothing aside from the magic bit changes. Sigil's place in the cosmos is actually an unknown, it's visible from the Outlands and associated with it. However, the reverse is not true and you can't see the Outlands from Sigil, and when you jump off of Sigil's ring you don't land in the Outlands, you're just completely gone. To your theorizing of the Far Realm, it may well be that Sigil is outside of the Great Wheel entirely and I like your theory that it might be the cage for the multiverse. I hope they never clarify the point.

[Segev]

I'm not sure what you mean by "rules of reality [...] set to '0'", the only thing that happens at the Spire is magic ceases. There are even modules that bring you to the Spire, and nothing aside from the magic bit changes. Sigil's place in the cosmos is actually an unknown, it's visible from the Outlands and associated with it. However, the reverse is not true and you can't see the Outlands from Sigil, and when you jump off of Sigil's ring you don't land in the Outlands, you're just completely gone. To your theorizing of the Far Realm, it may well be that Sigil is outside of the Great Wheel entirely and I like your theory that it might be the cage for the multiverse. I hope they never clarify the point.

I could've sworn there was something about life itself ceasing to "be" as you got far enough in, but I couldn't tell you where I read it. All I can say is that it doesn't sound like something I would have come up with on my own, to me. Maybe it was a fanon thing I picked up somewhere.

But yeah, Sigil is supposed to be this great mystery, as is the Shaper Resplendent in Aspect of Blades --er, the Lady of Pain. It's expressly there so the DM can do as much or as little with the mystery as he wants.

[Millstone85]

Eh, sort of, maybe? They all have their own things going on, filling people with despair or sucking them in with feelings of peace, etc. Of the Outer Planes, there are very few instances, that I can recall at least, that involve the same spacious-temporal distortion effect you see in the Outlands, and certainly none that are as pervasive.Here is the part of the 5e DMG that I was referring to:
When discussing anything to do with deities, the language used must be highly metaphorical. Their actual homes aren't literally places at all, but exemplify the idea that the Outer Planes are realms of thought and spirit. As with the Elemental Planes, one can imagine the perceptible part of the Outer Planes as a border region, while extensive spiritual regions lie beyond ordinary sensory experience. [...] Distance is a virtually meaningless concept on the Outer Planes. The perceptible regions of the planes can seem quite small, but they can also stretch on to what seems like infinity. Adventurers could take a guided tour of the Nine Hells, from the first layer to the ninth, in a single day--if the powers of the Hells desire it. Or it could take weeks for travelers to make a grueling trek across a single layer.

Judging by your reaction, this might not have been the case in previous editions. But personally, I like this 5e approach to the Outer Planes.

[Todd Stewart]

and Todd Stewart (aka, shemeshka the marauder). Todd's not as active but pops up in unexpected places. Also check out his story hour (https://www.enworld.org/threads/shemeskas-planescape-storyhour-updated-29-jan-2014.77613/), its amazing and is still running (current updates in a different thread from what I linked).

Just whisper my name and I'll come calling... something like that. I pay attention to stuff here but irregularly, as I'm in the middle of getting a PhD and what time I do have has been spent doing Pathfinder freelancing (including a forthcoming adventure path entry, my first).

Regarding 5e Planescape I have heard nothing. I'm not sure WotC's current design team is aware I exist. I've been doing a ton of Planescape tweets via @AskShemeshka and via my own Twitter account and even when tagging Perkins I've gotten conspicuous and vacuous silence, which is odd, or I'm straight up muted.

While 5e has had some references to Planescape content, including the Marauder almost appearing on the cover of MToF (per the artist's rough drafts), that book would have been the absolutely perfect place to extensively touch on the metasetting itself. Yet MToF outside of the framing text at the start of the book with Shemeshka, it seemed to go out of its way to completely ignore the setting as a source and either just cite 3e/4e/prior 5e content or straight up write over and contradict Planescape content (like making The Oinoloth no longer a unique figure but a type of low level yugoloth, and not even mentioning Anthraxus or Mydianchlarus or Khin-Oin in that monster's writeup). It was absolutely bizarre IMO.

My critique aside, of course I'm jump at any chance to contribute to any putative 5e Planescape if asked. If they did it I would deeply hope that they managed to get any members of the original design team on board, or freelancers who explicitly knew the material heavily.

[dreast]

I would like to say, in reaction to the Outlands discussion:

The Outlands isn't just the "neutral" outer plane, where neutral things end up. Its other name, helpfully, is the "Concordant Opposition." It's not neutral like a ball at the bottom of a well, it's neutral like a ball perched precariously on the top of a tower. Natives of the Outlands aren't just neutral... they're aggressively, paradoxically neutral. It's a land of rude unicorns and helpful hags, where honest demons drink wine with lying angels, and the most lawful person in Plague-Mort spends all his time trying to figure out how to make the place more chaotic so he can keep his end of a deal.

It's one of my favorite places to have adventures, really. Just thought I'd give it a shout-out, 'cause it rocks. And yes, it is morphically variable in the terrain, but so are a lot of places. I see that as reality "flowing" away from the Spire and into the other outer planes; that may also be why magic doesn't work as you get close to it. It's the stability of a whirlpool and the calm in the eye of a hurricane, not the peace of a long-dead desert.

Although the petitioners there are weeeeeird. I think they're the inspiration for the "Neutrals" in Futurama ("If I don't survive, tell my wife I said hello.").



https://live.staticflickr.com/7044/6834435396_ceb5bdc8fe_z.jpg

[jaappleton]

What's intriguing is... What's the team working on?

Mike Mearls has lead on being the liaison between WOTC and the developers of BG3, Larian Studios.

Ben Petrisor, Dan Dillon, and several designers are obviously at work on some new archetype book, given they've all worked on the recent UA content under Jeremy Crawford's supervision.

What about Kate Welch, Chris Perkins, and all the others...? The Eberron book comes out in a month, that's in its final stages if not officially done and just being printed. Kate was lead on Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which essentially was just her updating some old adventures, similar to Tales from the Yawning Portal. Perkins did heavy work on Planescape when he first entered WOTC.

Soooo.... What're they up to?

And there's been nothing announced for the spring slate of books.

>_>

[Millstone85]

or straight up write over and contradict Planescape contentI too would appreciate lore consistency between editions, but the D&D way seems to be "new rules, new lore".

At least, by using Planescape as its metasetting, 5e avoids the 4e situation where Nentir Vale's Asmodeus, Forgotten Realms' Asmodeus and Eberron's Asmodeus essentially lived in alternate timelines. Okay, Asmodeus is used to Joker-style backstories, but it was the same with Corellon and others.

[Todd Stewart]

I suppose one could also read the total and complete non-response to my screaming tweeting into the void about wanting to write for any 5e Planescape, even @'ing various folks over at WotC as a sign that they're under NDA and simply -cannot- respond to me. I hope not because I wouldn't be on it were it being presenting worked on. But at the same time my contributions to the setting stand on their own, and my impact on Pathfinder's planes is significantly larger at this point and I'm much more invested in that setting as a result.

[Segev]

I suppose one could also read the total and complete non-response to my screaming tweeting into the void about wanting to write for any 5e Planescape, even @'ing various folks over at WotC as a sign that they're under NDA and simply -cannot- respond to me. I hope not because I wouldn't be on it were it being presenting worked on. But at the same time my contributions to the setting stand on their own, and my impact on Pathfinder's planes is significantly larger at this point and I'm much more invested in that setting as a result.

Pure speculation, because I've no idea the relationship between Paizo and WotC nor what their non-compete clauses tend to look like, but might your prominent participation in Pathfinder's lore-writing be a reason they wouldn't include you in D&D lore-writing? I know that it would be a no-no for me to be seeking to freelance with, say, Boeing, while working for my current employer. Boeing, if they had any integrity (and I imagine they do), wouldn't even answer my questions unless I was feeling them out for a full-time job with plans to quit where I work now. (Which I'm not. I like where I work now.)

[Todd Stewart]

Pure speculation, because I've no idea the relationship between Paizo and WotC nor what their non-compete clauses tend to look like, but might your prominent participation in Pathfinder's lore-writing be a reason they wouldn't include you in D&D lore-writing? I know that it would be a no-no for me to be seeking to freelance with, say, Boeing, while working for my current employer. Boeing, if they had any integrity (and I imagine they do), wouldn't even answer my questions unless I was feeling them out for a full-time job with plans to quit where I work now. (Which I'm not. I like where I work now.)

Unlikely as I'm just a freelancer, and I did some freelance for WotC even once I was heavily freelancing for Paizo. More likely it's just something more prosaic like I'm not releasing stuff on DM's Guild and I'm not already in their pool of freelancers doing stuff for them. Or it's because when 4e was released I was rather openly a gigantic, loud-mouthed critic of it and its lore changes. I regret being so loud about it publicly and probably making an ass of myself in the process. But yet despite that stance I still wrote a Demonomicon piece for 4e itself so who knows!

In any event I'm writing stuff that I love, even if I never again write for other stuff that I also love. :)

[darknite]

Why are people so hung up on setting lore? As a DM I'm free to pick and choose from anything to create the style and feel for my game. If you don't like what's been written at one time or another, don't use it.