2021 D&D 5e Product Speculation

[Gyor]

2021 D&D 5e Product Speculation. What D&D 5e products do you think will come out in 2021?

We know they are working on 3 classic settings, adventure anthologies, MtG D&D crossovers, so I think 2021 will be a major year for setting books. I also think they are going to increase their rate of book releases hecause they are moving into the next phase of D&D 5e and now they know its got huge reliable growth and large enough market to take it, releases are going to increase.

Between Classic D&D Setting Books and MtG Setting Books I could see between 2 Setting books minium, to 5 or 6 Setting Books next year (3 Classic Settings, 2 MtG Settings, and and maybe a joint 3rd party Setting Book like EGtW). They also mentioned that they are doing Adventure Anthologies now as a training space for potential freelancers.

For settings world books I'm thinking Spelljammer, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Zendikar, and maybe Innistrad.

Also the UA hint at a VGTM/MTOF style book, but with subclasses in it.

So yeah it's going to be more books then it used to be.

And of course in other tie in media comic books, the first book of the Dragonlance Trilogy, first book of the RA Salvtore's Trilogy, BG3 full release, Dark Alliance, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms MtG set (MtG style trailer and tie in web stories and maybe a novel), piles of new minis.

What do you think is coming for 2021.

[Necrosnoop110]

Also the UA hint at a VGTM/MTOF style book, but with subclasses in it.
Sorry. What does that mean?

[HolyAvenger7]

Sorry. What does that mean?

Volo's Guide to Monsters / Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.

[Spo]

MtG = Magic the Gathering

Took me a minute to figure that out.

EGtW?

[P. G. Macer]

MtG = Magic the Gathering

Took me a minute to figure that out.

EGtW?

Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount.

I think it’s likely we’re going to see the return of Dragonlance soon, with the dragon-themed UA subclasses and the dismissal without prejudice of Weis and Hickman’s lawsuit against Wizards, at which point Weis said to expect big news soon.

[MrStabby]

Fo adventures we have seen under dark, cavernous cities, jungle and aquatic thems content if you add saltmarsh.

Maybe a desert themed one, a celestia or mechanus theme. I think more likely is a feywild or shadowfel themed location.

I could also see a return to Ravnica, for a real urban adventure (although Sigil is also a contender). GGtR seemed to be well recieved from a fluff standpoint and a setting to create adventures in (though some seemed to dislike it on principle, rather than due to any fluff in the book). The player options were more controversial. I think that the artificer moving to Tasha's is a signal that they are happy developing content for a setting them porting it over to other worlds. I could see this being a focus.

I think WotC sees the artificer as a success and so we might see new player content providing new classes rather than subclasses (add some spells, feats and magic items so more people want to buy the book though).

I am not sure if the current Tasha's ability score assignment controversy makes a VgtM type book more or less likely (with a focus on racial options). On the one hand there is a lot of stuff that their current approach would make awkward. On the other hand they must be getting a lot of feedback on Tasha's and they might want to release some content to capitalise on that.

Given that releasing more races seems a little redundant with Tasha's it kind of would suggest that the optional rules there are more optional than not.

I wonder if there will be a continuation of the Tasha's line of shaking up 5th edition? Maybe a piece of content that offers alternative thematic spell lists (my preference) or alternative ways of multiclassing or similar. Really looking to add more variant rules to make more characters viable with the existing content. It's honestly hard to tell.

[Sparky McDibben]

Personally, I loved Ravnica for its approach to adventure generation that created uniquely Ravnican adventures. I would love to see more of that design philosophy brought forward. Keep the adventure paths; I don't like 'em. But if I can have about thirty or forty different adventures that each say, "Here's the kind of crap your players can get up to here"? Heck yeah.

[Gyor]

Fo adventures we have seen under dark, cavernous cities, jungle and aquatic thems content if you add saltmarsh.

Maybe a desert themed one, a celestia or mechanus theme. I think more likely is a feywild or shadowfel themed location.

I could also see a return to Ravnica, for a real urban adventure (although Sigil is also a contender). GGtR seemed to be well recieved from a fluff standpoint and a setting to create adventures in (though some seemed to dislike it on principle, rather than due to any fluff in the book). The player options were more controversial. I think that the artificer moving to Tasha's is a signal that they are happy developing content for a setting them porting it over to other worlds. I could see this being a focus.

I think WotC sees the artificer as a success and so we might see new player content providing new classes rather than subclasses (add some spells, feats and magic items so more people want to buy the book though).

I am not sure if the current Tasha's ability score assignment controversy makes a VgtM type book more or less likely (with a focus on racial options). On the one hand there is a lot of stuff that their current approach would make awkward. On the other hand they must be getting a lot of feedback on Tasha's and they might want to release some content to capitalise on that.

Given that releasing more races seems a little redundant with Tasha's it kind of would suggest that the optional rules there are more optional than not.

I wonder if there will be a continuation of the Tasha's line of shaking up 5th edition? Maybe a piece of content that offers alternative thematic spell lists (my preference) or alternative ways of multiclassing or similar. Really looking to add more variant rules to make more characters viable with the existing content. It's honestly hard to tell.

It's been speculated for awhile that WotC might do a ToftYP/GoSM style book for Desert of Desolation.

I still see them releasing more races, they are popular.

[Gyor]

Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount.

I think it’s likely we’re going to see the return of Dragonlance soon, with the dragon-themed UA subclasses and the dismissal without prejudice of Weis and Hickman’s lawsuit against Wizards, at which point Weis said to expect big news soon.

It's a distinct possibility, just the Dragon UA subclasses referred to Bahumut who is not a Dragonlance God and when you look at the two undead themed subclasses that came before it, it could hint at a VGTM style book, but with subclasses tied to monsters instead. Or Ravenloft & Dragonlance books. Honestly Dragonlance is not the only dragon heavy setting in D&D and neither of those dragon themed subclasses were particularly tied to anything in reguards to Dragonlance lore. Plus if one of the Settings was Dragonlance, I doubt WotC would have tried to screw over Dragonlance writers in the first place. I do think DL is coming, just AFTER the Trilogy, so as not to spoil it.

[MrStabby]

It's been speculated for awhile that WotC might do a ToftYP/GoSM style book for Desert of Desolation.

I still see them releasing more races, they are popular.

I could really get into a sandy desert themed setting. Sphinxes and lamia and mummies... ancient gods and magic and curses. Lamasu, djinni and other fantastic elements. Add in some walkers in the waste, dry liches and other cool old content and I would dive right in.

I was thinking that certain campaigns do have a strong representation of a particular creature type (SKT: dragons, giants) (Avernus: fiends) (HotDQ/RoT: Dragons) (CoS: undead, fiends) (elemental evil: elementals) - if not most of the enemies then they carry the plot. I have not seen Frost Maiden yet but I have hear it is quite rich in Fey.

When I look at the creature types that might support a campaign and haven't been used I see:

Aberrations- a really alien campaign. Not my favourite but could make sense. They are flavourful enough and smart enough to be an antagonist.

Beasts: just doesnt really feel like much of a campaign with an interesting plot, engaging antagonists, fun enemy abilities...

Celestials: smart, powerful theme and high enough level to be an antagonist of a long campaign. A bit light on low level options and the good alignment thing might be an issue but a fallen angel focussed campaign would have my attention.

Constructs: at first I dismissed this or at least confined it to a March of the modrons type campaign but a Rise of the Machines type campaign could work. Constructs are diverse and span a good CR range as well as bringing in their creators. They might screw some classes (bards) that lean into enchantment spells.

Humanoids: pretty prevalent anyway, having widespread humanoid NPCs wont ready make the campaign stand out.

Monstrosities: I am not saying you couldnt make a campaign out of this theme... but they are an eclectic mix. Unless your campaign is based round "a wizard did it" type plots it might not hang together that well. Doppkeganger plots can be fun, but they don't really speak to the monstrosity theme.

Oozes: like beasts, having a creature type as a focus that doesn't speak and has subnormal intelligence makes it hard to have an engaging set of bad guys. Yeah you might throw in Juiblex, Zuggtomy or whatever but the theme breaks a bit then.

Plants: similar to oozes but maybe awakened plants could work. A personal feeling that there is more to explore in this space than beasts or oozes.

Just musing really.

[Joe the Rat]

I am not sure if the current Tasha's ability score assignment controversy makes a VgtM type book more or less likely (with a focus on racial options). On the one hand there is a lot of stuff that their current approach would make awkward. On the other hand they must be getting a lot of feedback on Tasha's and they might want to release some content to capitalise on that.

Given that releasing more races seems a little redundant with Tasha's it kind of would suggest that the optional rules there are more optional than not.

While Tasha's makes the attribute bonuses are more guidelines than actual rules, and does a nice job of setting up a no-brainer new race platform, there is a lot you simply cannot do without adding ad hoc. You couldn't make a genasi (waterbreathing, hold breath, damage resistance) or a tortle (fixed AC)... or a dragonborn for that matter.

Introducing new races with attribute modifiers and culture skills gives you a sense of the general feel and theme of a group, and gives the basic framework to modify from. Besides which, Tasha is technically optional.

[Imbalance]

More big honking dragon miniatures, please.

[Gyor]

I could really get into a sandy desert themed setting. Sphinxes and lamia and mummies... ancient gods and magic and curses. Lamasu, djinni and other fantastic elements. Add in some walkers in the waste, dry liches and other cool old content and I would dive right in.

I was thinking that certain campaigns do have a strong representation of a particular creature type (SKT: dragons, giants) (Avernus: fiends) (HotDQ/RoT: Dragons) (CoS: undead, fiends) (elemental evil: elementals) - if not most of the enemies then they carry the plot. I have not seen Frost Maiden yet but I have hear it is quite rich in Fey.

When I look at the creature types that might support a campaign and haven't been used I see:

Aberrations- a really alien campaign. Not my favourite but could make sense. They are flavourful enough and smart enough to be an antagonist.

Beasts: just doesnt really feel like much of a campaign with an interesting plot, engaging antagonists, fun enemy abilities...

Celestials: smart, powerful theme and high enough level to be an antagonist of a long campaign. A bit light on low level options and the good alignment thing might be an issue but a fallen angel focussed campaign would have my attention.

Constructs: at first I dismissed this or at least confined it to a March of the modrons type campaign but a Rise of the Machines type campaign could work. Constructs are diverse and span a good CR range as well as bringing in their creators. They might screw some classes (bards) that lean into enchantment spells.

Humanoids: pretty prevalent anyway, having widespread humanoid NPCs wont ready make the campaign stand out.

Monstrosities: I am not saying you couldnt make a campaign out of this theme... but they are an eclectic mix. Unless your campaign is based round "a wizard did it" type plots it might not hang together that well. Doppkeganger plots can be fun, but they don't really speak to the monstrosity theme.

Oozes: like beasts, having a creature type as a focus that doesn't speak and has subnormal intelligence makes it hard to have an engaging set of bad guys. Yeah you might throw in Juiblex, Zuggtomy or whatever but the theme breaks a bit then.

Plants: similar to oozes but maybe awakened plants could work. A personal feeling that there is more to explore in this space than beasts or oozes.

Just musing really.

Out of the Abyss and Undermountain had some evil Celestial content. Ravnica is a good setting for evil Celestials thanks to the Orzhov Guild.

[MrStabby]

Out of the Abyss and Undermountain had some evil Celestial content. Ravnica is a good setting for evil Celestials thanks to the Orzhov Guild.

I had missed out on undermountain. Never seen that. Is the content for these enough to say it is a bit of an adventure theme? In the same way undead or fiends are for CoS or dragons/giants are for SKT?

Agree Ravnica ticks a lot of boxes for adventures. I could see a major adventure set there and think it should be fun.

[rlc]

I am not sure if the current Tasha's ability score assignment controversy makes a VgtM type book more or less likely (with a focus on racial options). On the one hand there is a lot of stuff that their current approach would make awkward. On the other hand they must be getting a lot of feedback on Tasha's and they might want to release some content to capitalise on that.

Given that releasing more races seems a little redundant with Tasha's it kind of would suggest that the optional rules there are more optional than not.

I wonder if there will be a continuation of the Tasha's line of shaking up 5th edition? Maybe a piece of content that offers alternative thematic spell lists (my preference) or alternative ways of multiclassing or similar. Really looking to add more variant rules to make more characters viable with the existing content. It's honestly hard to tell.
New races will just have to focus on features. The devs already said that they don’t balance based racial on ability score improvements (which is debatable), so they just have to prove that. Besides, the humanoid race in Tasha’s Cauldron is just a better variant human.
All of that being said, you can always play a game where you use the new book and not Tasha’s

[Gyor]

I had missed out on undermountain. Never seen that. Is the content for these enough to say it is a bit of an adventure theme? In the same way undead or fiends are for CoS or dragons/giants are for SKT?

Agree Ravnica ticks a lot of boxes for adventures. I could see a major adventure set there and think it should be fun.

It's the theme for one of those levels, sort of and each level could be run as it's own adventure. But no like SKT and giants for example, it's just the closest Celestial get.

[loki_ragnarock]

Considering the case was dismissed, I'd guess that Dragonlance is likely coming 2021.

Can't say I'm excited about that. Yo dawg, I heard you liked dragons so I put dragons in your dungeons.

As someone who's only complaint about Logan was that it featured exactly one to many Wolverines, I might be the odd nerd out there.

[Luccan]

I don't know what will be out, but I'd expect a major classic setting announcement. Dragonlance or Spelljammer seems like a safe bet, though my hope is at least confirmation they're gonna do something with Dark Sun. They might slow back down on the massive player option books, I wouldn't expect another Tasha's or XGE. Maybe a monster book, its been a couple years, though barring a shake up in how they release books going forward I'd expect it to contain playable races, not subclasses.

[Gyor]

I don't know what will be out, but I'd expect a major classic setting announcement. Dragonlance or Spelljammer seems like a safe bet, though my hope is at least confirmation they're gonna do something with Dark Sun. They might slow back down on the massive player option books, I wouldn't expect another Tasha's or XGE. Maybe a monster book, its been a couple years, though barring a shake up in how they release books going forward I'd expect it to contain playable races, not subclasses.

I'm not expecting Darksun until we see another Psion full class UA. Plus I have a feeling that Darksun will be the next D&D setting that gets the Magic The Gathering card set, so that means it would come out no earilier then 2022.

[Gyor]

Yeah, not too excited for a lot of the "classics" myself, especially Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. I'd probably read any new novels by Weis and Hickman for Dragonlance, but that's just the completist in me.

I'm excited for a FR world setting book, it's past time for that.

[Gyor]

Considering the case was dismissed, I'd guess that Dragonlance is likely coming 2021.

Can't say I'm excited about that. Yo dawg, I heard you liked dragons so I put dragons in your dungeons.

As someone who's only complaint about Logan was that it featured exactly one to many Wolverines, I might be the odd nerd out there.

If DL is coming, its weird that WotC tried to kill the tie in novels.

[Sparky McDibben]

The 240+ gaming products for Forgotten Realms in existence already isn't enough setting flavor for you eh?

Yeah...Forgotten Realms is a bit too filled-in for me. It very much feels like in the last 30 years, a lot of the blank spaces have been colored in, and details added, and canon built up, and characters plunked down. Personally, this is why I don't want to adventure in the Forgotten Realms. I'd prefer something new (Wildemount was a breath of fresh air, but so are 3rd-party products like Per-Bastet or Endon or the Ultraviolet Grasslands) and unexplored.

[loki_ragnarock]

If DL is coming, its weird that WotC tried to kill the tie in novels.

I can't think of another great reason why the suit would be withdrawn the way it was, is all; I don't think it technically ended with a settlement, and it was dismissed without prejudice without resistance from the plaintiffs. Something mollified the plaintiffs, and I don't know what, but "the product line is on the horizon and you will get your royalties and the opportunity to release your books alongside our synergistic marketing" seems pretty mollifying. But I'm not a litigator; the nightmare machinations of copyright disputes are non-Euclidian geometry to me.

Also some of those UAs were pretty dragon themed, for a different set of tea leaves.

[Zhorn]

Outside of settings/adventure books, I'd love for a settings agnostic adventurer's guide.

By that I mean guide book on setting up adventures in different environments; detailing encounter tables, hazards, features, etc. Say a chapter for each core environment type; arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, underdark.

Each of the adventure books has bits and setting specific elements that could be compiled and expanded on to fill out a book, paired with a whole lot of earlier edition features that haven't seen 5e yet.

Add in some dungeon-crawling, overland travel and hexcrawl exploration systems.

I think that would make good pairing for spelljammer/planescape locations.

[Gyor]

I can't think of another great reason why the suit would be withdrawn the way it was, is all; I don't think it technically ended with a settlement, and it was dismissed without prejudice without resistance from the plaintiffs. Something mollified the plaintiffs, and I don't know what, but "the product line is on the horizon and you will get your royalties and the opportunity to release your books alongside our synergistic marketing" seems pretty mollifying. But I'm not a litigator; the nightmare machinations of copyright disputes are non-Euclidian geometry to me.

Also some of those UAs were pretty dragon themed, for a different set of tea leaves.

The suit was withdrawn because WotC agreed to stop breaking their DL agreement on the trilogy. don't get me wrong, I think it's extremely likely we will be getting a DL World Campaign Setting Book tied to the Trilogy, but that will be AFTER the novels get published otherwise the plot will be spoiled. So my disagreement is with timing more then is it coming or not. I don't think DL will be 2021, maybe late 2022 when the Trilogy might be finished.

[Gyor]

The 240+ gaming products for Forgotten Realms in existence already isn't enough setting flavor for you eh?


We already had one FR setting guide and almost every new Adventure book opens up something else in 5e for the Forgotten Realms, from Icewind Dale to Chult and everything in between. And don't forget all the AL content. It's even starting to cannibalize more of the other settings like Greyhawk with the release of things like Tales of the Yawning Portal in which all but one (Dead in Thay) of the original adventures was set in the Greyhawk setting. Of course that's been happening since Kara-Tur and the Desert of Desolation.

There's almost 300 Forgotten Realms' novels. Something like 293 or thereabouts with Salvatore's latest, "Relentless." Even Dragonlance only has 200 or so novels. 203? I think at last count. Eberron is next in line with a respectable 40.

Then there's the 30,000+ entries in the Forgotten Realms Wiki. Countless magazine and online articles on the Forgotten Realms. Even 50+ video games.


So I don't doubt they'll release more Forgotten Realms setting stuff, like I wrote above next year Magic The Gathering is getting a Forgotten Realms' card set so it would be a smart move to tie into for marketing purposes. And as a M:TG tie in it probably will be more of a true World setting. I wouldn't be surprised if Greenwood was heavily involved as well, with the recent news of Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance work and having the Eberron setting released with Keith Baker at the helm. Mercer's Wildemount release too. Sure does seem like a lot of original setting creators are being welcomed into the fold for 5e.

Anywho, make no mistake the Forgotten Realms is the most served setting in D&D, across all spectrums.

The difference is the Forgotten Realms is a LIVING SETTING, it changes over time, and the Sundering and the events that have occurred since have caused a huge amount of change. Most of the lore is out of date historical documents. The current post Sundering doesn't even have a complete, detailed map of Faerun, a basic miniumal requirement for play out of the Swordcoast/North or Chult. Take Mulhorand, did it rebuild it's cities, build new ones, or something else when their Gods reconquerered the Empire from the High Imaskari? No one knows. What happened to Nathlan during the Sundering, no one knows. I could continue. Unlike Darksun, Eberron, Greyhawk, which really haven't changed at all between editions, the timelines not advancing really only requiring mechanical updates as they are Static settings, unlike the Forgotten Realms living setting (Greyhawk USED to be living setting, but its been static for years).

FR Campaign Book would also have the greatest appeal outside of D&D fans, collectors, novel readers, video game fans, would be interested in such a book as well, giving it a larger market that it would appear at first.

[GooeyChewie]

Chandra's Guide to Magic - I don't want it, but I predict it.
Boo's Guide to Spelljamming - I really want it, but I don't expect it.

[Gyor]

Yeah...Forgotten Realms is a bit too filled-in for me. It very much feels like in the last 30 years, a lot of the blank spaces have been colored in, and details added, and canon built up, and characters plunked down. Personally, this is why I don't want to adventure in the Forgotten Realms. I'd prefer something new (Wildemount was a breath of fresh air, but so are 3rd-party products like Per-Bastet or Endon or the Ultraviolet Grasslands) and unexplored.

This is a very common misconception. A lot of FR lore is designed to be plot hooks that leave mysteries to be explored. Also FR is sooooo big there is still massive spaces that have been left unexplored.

You have have a host of Continients that have been unexplored on Toril, you have most of Abeir unexplored, you have massive demiplanes with portals across Toril like the Celestial Nadir (which is basically a giant planar dungeon, sooo cool and it's never actually been mapped out so it could have anything in it), you have other planets in Realmspace like Glyph, Coliar, Anador, Garden, H'Catha, the Sun (yes it's inhabited), ect..., all of which have barely been explored, only in broad strokes in one book. Then on top of that you have mirror plane (Feywild & Shadowfell) versions of all the material plane locations in Realmspace, barely been explored. Then you have the Border Elemental & Paraelemental Planes reflections of Realmspace, again barely been touched (partly because it was added in 5e).

Then you have various afterlifes/outer planes connected to FR, like Brightwater home of Sune, Llira, Tymora, and Waunkeen traditionally, no maps or details beyond the most basic.

I mean even on Faerun's Swordcoast their are unexplored ruins from previous civilizations, sleeping ancient dragons that no one realized were there because they've been asleep for so long, a ton of small villages that don't end up on a map & haven't been named or detailed, and soooo many places to add things.

[Gyor]

Chandra's Guide to Magic - I don't want it, but I predict it.
Boo's Guide to Spelljamming - I really want it, but I don't expect it.

I think Spelljammer is more likely then you think.

[Gyor]

According to Chris Perkins he did the art order for a coming book that is 224 pages in 24 hours. 224 pages is the size of VGTM, really confirming a Monster/Race book is coming in 2021, most likely in the Spring, say March or April.

[GooeyChewie]

I think Spelljammer is more likely then you think.

Perhaps, but will it be presented by a miniature Giant Space Hamster?

[EggKookoo]

I think Spelljammer is more likely then you think.

I suspect the three classic settings are Spelljammer, Dragonlance, and Dark Sun.

Did they say these are all coming in 2021?

[rlc]

If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on at least one of the setting books being a different part of the Forgotten Realms. We’ve mostly just gotten the Sword Coast, and they could do a lot with the other parts of the world, especially with races

[Waazraath]

If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on at least one of the setting books being a different part of the Forgotten Realms. We’ve mostly just gotten the Sword Coast, and they could do a lot with the other parts of the world, especially with races

Zakhara for the win! Let's adventure in the land of faith, we already have the genie warlock :)

[rlc]

Zakhara for the win! Let's adventure in the land of faith, we already have the genie warlock :)

If I remember the fluff correctly, Zakhara would also fit in with the idea that no races are inherently evil, too.
Kara-Tur would also make for a good time, but I’m not sure I’d expect a setting book for both, at least not in the same year.
Maybe a setting book for Kara-Tur and a campaign book for Zakhara.

[Gyor]

A lot of the new changes are just undoing previous changes from before. It's not a bad thing in my opinion that there isn't a detailed map of all of Faerun yet. I would imagine new material would concentrate on the areas around the Sea of Fallen Stars at any rate, so you'll probably get your wish or maybe something like a Living Forgotten Realms Gazetteer. There's nothing stopping you from using your imagination and filling in the blanks though, using a previous map as a guideline, or keeping it ambiguous for the time being. It certainly wouldn't stop me from running adventures there if that was my jam.




The Mulhorandi gods restored their homeland according to SCAG and abolished slavery. Again, nothing wrong in using your imagination to extrapolate what happened. And no reason they couldn't do both, rebuild their old ones and rebuild new ones including some defenses.

I can't really discuss my thoughts in depth concerning the Nathlan on this forum, but generally one of the main reasons I dislike the Forgotten Realms Setting (besides it being too fleshed out for my tastes) is that in my opinion it skews way too closely to real world influences (like the Mulhorandi basically being taken from Earth to serve the Imaskar Empire as slaves until Ao brings some of the "Historical Fantasy" Egyptian gods along to save them), it has way too many stereotypes, and it misrepresents a bunch of cultures they are trying to portray including the aforementioned xenphobic Nathlan.

I had hopes that overall 5e would bring some changes on that front, but those types of misrepresentations were still happening from the Vistani in Ravenloft to the peoples of Chult. And while they are trying to get a grip on it nowadays, or at least recognizing there's a problem, I can't see how they would go about fixing everything in the Forgotten Realms and disconnecting it from the different people and cultures from their Earth counterparts. Maybe a total rewrite?




Darksun has only had two editions, and yup, didn't extend the timeline all that much putting the start in the 4th edition version after Sorcerer King Kalak's demise (but before the Prism Pentad events.) All in all though the second go round wasn't really supported, only having maybe a handful of products. Hopefully 5th Edition will give it a chance to shine once more like 2nd Edition did. Not that I don't mind playing the 2nd Edition version, but an updated 5th Edition would likely bring in more players to journey around Athas.

Eberron is specifically designed not to advance the timeline, and honestly one of the things I find refreshing about the setting. DMs can take it anywhere they want.

Greyhawk did advance the timeline quite a bit over the years in fits and starts for several reasons; Gygax was forced out of TSR in 1986 and his own Greyhawk campaign is said to have ended the year before, Forgotten Realms became the default setting for 2nd Edition, non-Gygax novels were discontinued by 1990 (and Gygax himself destroyed Greyhawk in his Gord the Rogue series), TSR completely dropped Greyhawk in 1994 and it didn't show back up until WotC took over with some 25th Anniversary stuff and then 3rd Edition rolled out and it was once again the default setting and Living Greyhawk came around until it stopping in 2008... Anywho, from the start of Greyhawk material in 1st edition to the end of Living Greyhawk in 3rd Edition they cover about 28 years, 570 thru 598.

On the other hand, Forgotten Realms is largely detailed from 1357 to 1385 across the 1st 3 editions (hmmm, 28 years, imagine that) and 1479 in 4th edition to 1496 in 5th Edition so far. Obviously there's a gap of time from the beginning of the Spell Plague in 1385 until it's end in 1479 when Mystra returns. Unfortunately Greyhawk's timeline hasn't continued since Living Greyhawk and hence nothing really got updated in 4th Edition and 5th Edition gives us only a few tidbits here and there without anything substantial in regarding the timeline. I have to wonder how much of that is related to Gary's death in 2008 shortly before 4th Edition came out. Kinda makes me think we won't get another true Greyhawk setting book. Guess we shall see.

Another thing I don't like about Forgotten Realms is most of those setting changes (Time of Troubles, Spell Plague, Second Sundering) are for mechanical reasons based on edition changes, trying to smooth things over in game for the out of game changes of a new edition. To each their own I guess.




Of course it would because it's the most well known D&D setting through all the material that has been produced for it. It's been around since 1st Edition and every edition thereafter. Quite frankly, it's a pig, hogging up most of the resources over the years since it was introduced. It has the most of everything, and of course its fans want more, and of course WotC would be crazy to stop releasing material for it. But can we please have a few other things instead of more Forgotten Realms? Maybe give some other settings a chance for their first material to be released for 5th edition before it's all Marsha, Marsha, Marsha?! Er, yeah...

Nathlan started out as the City of Cats, think Per-Bastet with a dash of Narnia, but then they blew up most of it and turned it into a mini Kara Tur. My hope if they find away to make it closer to what made it cool originally, without retconning the Shu away.

[KorvinStarmast]

1. Give me Dark Sun
2. If there's another FR book, please put it in Cormyr and redo the Purple Dragon Knight to fix some of its screw ups. (Some great suggestions have been posted in these very forums).
3. Spelljammer: as much as I like ships and pirates and such, Spelljammer isn't something I care for.
4. Planescape? Yes please.

[Amdy_vill]

I think we should expect an Eberron style book for krynn, oerth and toril. the big three would be the best pick for the setting books.

[rlc]

I think we should expect an Eberron style book for krynn, oerth and toril. the big three would be the best pick for the setting books.

I’m not too sure about Oerth, even with its characters writing so many of the important books. That’d be cool, but I’d probably expect Spelljammer first.
Krynn is almost definitely a lock, though.

[Lupine]

Oozes: like beasts, having a creature type as a focus that doesn't speak and has subnormal intelligence makes it hard to have an engaging set of bad guys. Yeah you might throw in Juiblex, Zuggtomy or whatever but the theme breaks a bit then.

An oblex themed adventure could be really fun. I’ve tried to do it, but it’s hard.

Could lead to an illithid themed adventure later.

[Luccan]

1. Give me Dark Sun
2. If there's another FR book, please put it in Cormyr and redo the Purple Dragon Knight to fix some of its screw ups. (Some great suggestions have been posted in these very forums).
3. Spelljammer: as much as I like ships and pirates and such, Spelljammer isn't something I care for.
4. Planescape? Yes please.

It seems pretty close to guaranteed Spelljammer is coming. They've had ships pop up in adventures before and at least one Spelljammer race has shown up in a monster book. I'm not super familiar with the setting, so there could be more hints at it, but it seems they've been gearing up to introduce everyone's 10th favorite space-fantasy (to play in a tabletop RPG)

[KorvinStarmast]

It seems pretty close to guaranteed Spelljammer is coming. They've had ships pop up in adventures before and at least one Spelljammer race has shown up in a monster book. I'm not super familiar with the setting, so there could be more hints at it, but it seems they've been gearing up to introduce everyone's 10th favorite space-fantasy (to play in a tabletop RPG) My problem with the spelljammer premise is that if you fall overboard, roll up a new character. :smallwink: But maybe they'll make Spelljammer "feel" better in this attempt. We'll see, if that's what comes about. I know that my usual group that I DM for will be interested to fuse space game and D&D.

[Scots Dragon]

An actual complete Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting for the 1490s that isn't ultra-stripped down and takes into account places west of Berdusk would be nice. As Gyor said, it's long past time for that.

I also predict it's fairly likely given the MtG set and the planned full release of Baldur's Gate 3 for late 2021.

[EggKookoo]

My problem with the spelljammer premise is that if you fall overboard, roll up a new character. :smallwink:

IIRC in the original, the artificial gravity and atmosphere extended out from the ship for a bit. So you fall overboard and you bob up and down and slowly drift away. Plenty of time to yell for help or get rescued.

[KorvinStarmast]

IIRC in the original, the artificial gravity and atmosphere extended out from the ship for a bit. So you fall overboard and you bob up and down and slowly drift away. Plenty of time to yell for help or get rescued. That was, to me, just a bit too much for the feel. The fusion of SF and Fantasy in that case just (for me) didn't gel. A matter of taste; I have friends who loved Spelljammer.

[EggKookoo]

That was, to me, just a bit too much for the feel. The fusion of SF and Fantasy in that case just (for me) didn't gel. A matter of taste; I have friends who loved Spelljammer.

I don't mind the atmosphere and gravity being products of the Spelljammer helms. I have trouble with the idea that any object larger than a minivan generates 1g along its long axis and maintains an atmosphere.

[Gyor]

Yeah, the Kara Tur version is the cringeworthy Nathlan I was referring to in my post.



Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance I think are my current locks, even if I'm not excited about either of them. It seems like they've been paying a lot of homage to Greyhawk, but none of that really goes so far as to really suggest a full fledged setting release is imminent. Not to mention with the other two coming out it would be too many "samey" type settings that aren't all that different.



I'm on the fence about Spelljammer. While they throw out references and have added stuff like Giff and Loxodon, are they going the same route with Spelljammer as they are with Greyhawk, paying it homage, but not really planning to get deeply involved in development as a setting? There are already a few Space type 5e settings out there, but of course that didn't stop them going full Theros setting release with the regards to all the Greek settings for 5e on the market. Would they make it to compete with something like Starfinder? Methinks Spelljammer could go either way.



I don't doubt that Forgotten Realms will be one of the setting releases, it only makes sense with everything else going on within WotC. In my mind, what will the Forgotten Realms setting book be is more the question than if they'll make it. Will it concentrate on the Dalelands? The surrounding area of the Sea of Fallen Stars? All the other areas of Faerun not covered in SCAG? Will it be the entirety of Faerun, including fine tuning the Sword Coast material which it seems they are a little bit disappointed in the further 5e goes along? Or will they go big and do something like a Living Gazetteer and try to include almost everything? Can't say I have a good guess for that.

Word is that one of the designers confirmed Spelljammer, but I can't find the tweet that was posted as a pic in. So my guesses for settings are now FR, Spelljammer, and either Dragonlance or Ravenloft. I think they will want to do Spelljammer to tie into BG3 which is really a Spelljammer/FR cross-over game like Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace was.

If they do a FRCG type book it will likely covered all of Faerun, with a small amount of lore on Kara Tur, Zakhara, and Maztica, like E: RftLW did for the main Eberron continent will giving some basic lore on the other continents. I suspect the book might be as big as E: RftLW and EGtW, or bigger like the MM size.

[Gyor]

That was, to me, just a bit too much for the feel. The fusion of SF and Fantasy in that case just (for me) didn't gel. A matter of taste; I have friends who loved Spelljammer.

I won't even say Spelljammer has any SF in it at all. The best Sci Fi Fantasy setting IMHO is the Starship Mage series, It's almost all hard sci Fi except for the Mages, who add in the Fantasy element and FTL travel.

[Gyor]

It seems pretty close to guaranteed Spelljammer is coming. They've had ships pop up in adventures before and at least one Spelljammer race has shown up in a monster book. I'm not super familiar with the setting, so there could be more hints at it, but it seems they've been gearing up to introduce everyone's 10th favorite space-fantasy (to play in a tabletop RPG)

Not to mention Spelljammer is an important part of the plot of BG3, even though most of the game is in FR.

[Gyor]

Perhaps, but will it be presented by a miniature Giant Space Hamster?

Doubtful, but Minsc and Boo's Guide to Spelljammer would be a funny and fun name for such a book.

[altasilvapuer]

Doubtful, but Minsc and Boo's Guide to Spelljammer would be a funny and fun name for such a book.

I doubt they'd go with "Minsc and Boo's," given past titles in 5e. VGtM is actually written by both Volo & Elminster, in a way, though. And Xanathar spends most of his "commentary" talking to Sylgar.

So they could easily name it after just one of them (my vote is Boo, personally) and still feature both. I think it'd be pretty entertaining, personally, to have a setting book "written" by a hamster.

-asp

[EggKookoo]

(my vote is Boo, personally)

I mean how literate is Minsc anyway?

[Scots Dragon]

I mean how literate is Minsc anyway?

Probably surprisingly so, and likely with a super surprisingly eloquent writing style. It’d be funnier that way

[MrStabby]

I do think Ravenloft is more likely than Dragonlance and possibly even Greyhawk.

CoS is so well recieved that I think a lot of tables would like to expand the setting. It also gives enough of a different genre to not be competing directly with FR whilst still being classic fantasy enough to not lose out on the core d&d base.

Spelljammer? Maybe. Eberron seems well recieved so they might be a bit more open to more tech-fantasy. Spelljammer did seem a bit more of a kitchen-sink fantasy setting than most which might put it in competition with a Sigil/Planescape content.

So as settings... I think Sigil and Ravenloft would do best commercially. A lot of activity points more towards Greyhawk and Spelljammer though (though such pointers have not been particularly informative in the past).

If we apply a filter to guess what might make a good MtG set, then I think Sigil would be in prime position.

Something like Darksun... would surprise me (I would have guessed that the psionic content would have been held back if this were in the works).

Most big books have some generic content/alternative rules in. My guess (no evidence) would be that we would see some fleshing out of the post level 20 rules and more stronghold type content in 2021. Not saying the game needs this, but it is the kind of thing that can get people excited.

[EggKookoo]

As has been said earlier, it'd be tough to sell Greyhawk as distinct from FR, at least to the general population. Also, isn't there something about WotC not actually owning Greyhawk but instead just licensing it from the Gygax estate? Or am I wrong there?

[KorvinStarmast]

As has been said earlier, it'd be tough to sell Greyhawk as distinct from FR, at least to the general population. Also, isn't there something about WotC not actually owning Greyhawk but instead just licensing it from the Gygax estate? Or am I wrong there? I don't think so. The 3.x era Living Greyhawk was a WoTC product.

[Corsair14]

I see Ravenloft and Dragonlance as the two most likely campaign settings. RL just would take a little fluff additions, some converting various dread lords up to 5e stats, a state of the realm type thing like whats happened since the great Conjunction and boom, done. Likely wouldn't take a writer more than a month or two to write. DL since the lawsuit has been ended and they are moving forward with the product. Be odd for them to pay all this money on a DL novel and not have a setting to back it up. Dragonlance would take a bit more work adding in the new races and archtypes and figuring out the state of the world based on the new novel, but still not a huge investment in writer resources.

For the third classic realm I am not sure. The two most popular remaining realms would be Spelljammer and Dark Sun. SJ would take the least work just having to modernize the ship to ship combat stuff and stat up the mass amounts of ships in the game. Dark Sun would take the most amount of work. New races, classes and archtypes, getting rid of the ones that do not belong at all, this is the easy part. The hard part would be building up a robust Psionics system, in the old days this was a book unto itself. I don't see Wizards going this route thus I don't see DS being the realm added. Plus SJ would be compatible to all the worlds that currently exist, no races would have to be dumped, all classes would be ok. SJ is the route I see them going in.

Its possible to me to see them dropping a Hollow World/Mysteria setting but I think Dark Sun has a better chance.

[Gyor]

I see Ravenloft and Dragonlance as the two most likely campaign settings. RL just would take a little fluff additions, some converting various dread lords up to 5e stats, a state of the realm type thing like whats happened since the great Conjunction and boom, done. Likely wouldn't take a writer more than a month or two to write. DL since the lawsuit has been ended and they are moving forward with the product. Be odd for them to pay all this money on a DL novel and not have a setting to back it up. Dragonlance would take a bit more work adding in the new races and archtypes and figuring out the state of the world based on the new novel, but still not a huge investment in writer resources.

For the third classic realm I am not sure. The two most popular remaining realms would be Spelljammer and Dark Sun. SJ would take the least work just having to modernize the ship to ship combat stuff and stat up the mass amounts of ships in the game. Dark Sun would take the most amount of work. New races, classes and archtypes, getting rid of the ones that do not belong at all, this is the easy part. The hard part would be building up a robust Psionics system, in the old days this was a book unto itself. I don't see Wizards going this route thus I don't see DS being the realm added. Plus SJ would be compatible to all the worlds that currently exist, no races would have to be dumped, all classes would be ok. SJ is the route I see them going in.

Its possible to me to see them dropping a Hollow World/Mysteria setting but I think Dark Sun has a better chance.

Darksun won't come until after we see a Psion Class in UA, so no earlier then 2022.

And you forgot one popular setting, FR still doesn't have a proper setting book for Faerun or any of it's other major continents, and no the SCAG doesn't count, word is even WotC isn't satisified with the SCAG.

[altasilvapuer]

Darksun won't come until after we see a Psion Class in UA, so no earlier then 2022.

And you forgot one popular setting, FR still doesn't have a proper setting book for Faerun or any of it's other major continents, and no the SCAG doesn't count, word is even WotC isn't satisified with the SCAG.

According to a quick Google search:

SCAG: 159 pages
WGtE: 175 pages

ERLW: 320 pages

Personally, I could see an argument for a parallel to the latter in the 'Realms. I don't necessarily find it as likely, given the wealth of other 5e content in that setting, but it's at least plausible to me.



Something like Darksun... would surprise me (I would have guessed that the psionic content would have been held back if this were in the works).


Counter-argument: They pulled content FROM the Eberron setting book into the general material with Tasha's presentation of the Artificer. That was something with sufficiently broad appeal and applicability that it could stand outside of its home setting. You could also make an argument for the latter being plausible from a marketing standpoint: Hypothetically assuming the psionic subclasses in Tasha's prove to be popular, capitalize on it to release a "deep-dive" setting with lots more related options and context.

I don't know that that makes Dark Sun any more likely, and it doesn't feel a particularly strong argument to me. But like the out-of-context page count comparison above, it seems at least plausible.


Most big books have some generic content/alternative rules in. My guess (no evidence) would be that we would see some fleshing out of the post level 20 rules and more stronghold type content in 2021. Not saying the game needs this, but it is the kind of thing that can get people excited.

This is an excellent point I haven't noticed elsewhere. It will certainly be interesting to see what's around the bend for that. I think the bulk of the variant rules have been confined to Xanathar's & Tasha's, though, yes? If they continue that trend, then it'll be a while until we get more.

-asp

[Corsair14]

Darksun won't come until after we see a Psion Class in UA, so no earlier then 2022.

And you forgot one popular setting, FR still doesn't have a proper setting book for Faerun or any of it's other major continents, and no the SCAG doesn't count, word is even WotC isn't satisified with the SCAG.

They said 3 classic campaigns were coming back. FR is the default realm already even if they have only covered one rather boring area in excruciating detail. Coming back would mean three campaigns that haven't really been touched. I could see potential of Greyhawk but we already have generic fantasy in FR so I don't see that happening since Saltmarsh for example so easily slots into FR.

[Hopeless]

Mystara (The original setting long deserves a setting book)

Oerth (Tasha's Book, Mordenkainen's Book deserves a setting for it)

Forgotten Realms (Sword Coast Guide, Volo's, Storm King's Thunder, Starter Set, Starter Extension Set, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Rise of Tiamat)

Ravenloft (Curse of Strahd)

Guide to Ravnica

Dark Sun

Eberron (Wayfinder, Eberron Rising from the Last War)

Nentil Vale

Dragonlance

I think you agree the Forgotten Realms has already had plenty of books out for it let's select another setting for a change?!

[Corsair14]

Mystara (The original setting long deserves a setting book)

Oerth (Tasha's Book, Mordenkainen's Book deserves a setting for it)

Forgotten Realms (Sword Coast Guide, Volo's, Storm King's Thunder, Starter Set, Starter Extension Set, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Rise of Tiamat)

Ravenloft (Curse of Strahd)

Guide to Ravnica

Dark Sun

Eberron (Wayfinder, Eberron Rising from the Last War)

Nentil Vale

Dragonlance

I think you agree the Forgotten Realms has already had plenty of books out for it let's select another setting for a change?!

Mystara (The original setting long deserves a setting book): I can see this.

Oerth (Tasha's Book, Mordenkainen's Book deserves a setting for it): As much as I prefer greyhawk to FR, we already have FR for generic fantasy.

Forgotten Realms (Sword Coast Guide, Volo's, Storm King's Thunder, Starter Set, Starter Extension Set, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Rise of Tiamat): Yawn, already been covered, plenty of old fluff available for the rest

Ravenloft (Curse of Strahd): Plenty of area to cover here. Long time setting with a lot of adaptability. Far more realms that Barovia

Guide to Ravnica: Done

Dark Sun: Too much to cover and would need an entire book for Psionics, essentially rewrites the players guide since so many normal races and classes aren't there or are radically changed. Most work required for any setting. Also requires Brom to come back to do the imagery right.

Eberron (Wayfinder, Eberron Rising from the Last War):already done

Nentil Vale: Heard of it but know nothing about it. Not exactly a "classic" setting when compared to the corral of 2E settings out there

Dragonlance: Since they greenlit the new novel and resolved the lawsuit, I think this setting is a given

You missed Spelljammer and Planescape: They have been adding SJ content to the game almost constantly for years. I think this will be a strong contender for one of the three.

Planescape without Tony DiTerlizzi as an artist will be a poor upgrade. I doubt they will do two massively setting linking settings. Also would require a reset of how the planes are mapped out. Plus the setting's vision of Philosophy being the great changer of the multiverse instead of swords and spells will make it hard to get into for ADD players. Sure you can skip this aspect and make it a normal adventuring setting but then you lose out on things that make the setting unique. Might just be me since I still rate my Philosophy class as the worst, most useless class I had to take in college despite getting to write a 20 page term paper on The Matrix.

[KorvinStarmast]

Planescape without Tony DiTerlizzi as an artist will be a poor upgrade. I doubt they will do two massively setting linking settings. Also would require a reset of how the planes are mapped out. Plus the setting's vision of Philosophy being the great changer of the multiverse instead of swords and spells will make it hard to get into for ADD players. Sure you can skip this aspect and make it a normal adventuring setting but then you lose out on things that make the setting unique. Might just be me since I still rate my Philosophy class as the worst, most useless class I had to take in college despite getting to write a 20 page term paper on The Matrix. By ADD do you mean Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, or ADD as in "attention deficit disorder" players? :smallconfused:

Your point on the visual feel of Planescape is well made, as was the point on Bron's visual feel of Dark Sun from further up. But there's lots of artistic talent out there, I have faith that whomever tackles either one will first do a deep dive into the originals. :smallcool:

I am not sure why this is, but most of the artwork in Tasha's doesn't *feel* right to me. A few exceptions, like the illustration for Mind Sliver, and the Summoning of the spawn with two heads, felt just right. Likewise the picture for Tasha's Mind Whiphad the right feel.
The nearly naked Oath of Glory paladin? That just didn't come off right. Looked like it should have been a pic for a barbarian. While I am sure that this is a matter of taste, I wonder who else found the art/thematics to be a bit off?

(Granted, some of the art was very good; I really like the cover/reverse, as well as the one at the beginning of Tasha outside the hut).

[Imbalance]

Since I've barely scratched the surface of the settings that they have presented so far, I'm much more excited about more tangible support for running games in them:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0266/7400/4031/products/Arveiaturace2_1024x1024.jpg?v=1605021013

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0266/7400/4031/products/DnD-Orcus5_1024x1024.jpg?v=1606320624

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0266/7400/4031/products/dnd-iotr-adultreddragon5-507655-9nDxlFAh_1024x1024.jpg?v=1608650452

Plus a bunch of stuff in between, including more than a few Kickstarters. March is big for terrain and such. Further out:
https://icv2.com/images/gallery/1500x1500_d52f31ec67622d05d1ae2fa3216da4fc34dbd1b7 02f7f8222529a7a6.jpg

I mean, I guess books are cool, too...:smallbiggrin:

[rlc]

They said 3 classic campaigns were coming back. FR is the default realm already even if they have only covered one rather boring area in excruciating detail. Coming back would mean three campaigns that haven't really been touched. I could see potential of Greyhawk but we already have generic fantasy in FR so I don't see that happening since Saltmarsh for example so easily slots into FR.

Yeah, “campaign setting” and “campaign world” aren’t exactly the same thing, as many have pointed out. I can definitely see another part of the Forgotten Realms being explored before anything in Greyhawk.

[Luccan]

Snip


Not using unique settings because you can't get the same artists would be a waste of good material. I know their styles are considered linked to the settings they created for, but you can't take artistic style as gospel for a roleplaying game. Imagine if any other D&D setting had stopped printing new material after the first artist left.

As far as Dark Sun specifically: They've already done settings that don't have most of the PHB races (Ravnica, Theros) so that shouldn't be disqualifying. Should basically be fine to slap on a subrace that fits their Dark Sun feel for races that do appear. I know people think "can't" do it, but it wouldn't be any harder to say "don't use these classes for authentic Dark Sun". Citing Ravnica again, while it didn't outright ban any classes or subclasses, it did have recommendations for what would be in each guild. There were several subclasses that didn't appear as suggestions for any guild. So clearly they can encourage setting cohesion.

The main thing they're missing is a Psionicist/Psion, but they did just release three psionically themed subclasses. So we may not get Dark Sun this year, but UAs might focus on that for a bit. The official version could be released in the theoretical Dark Sun book, just like Artificer first appeared in Eberron.

[samcifer]

I'd like to see the Shardmind race from 4e worked into 5e. I found them to be a rather interesting race.

We're also still missing Wildens, Deva, Mul, Thri-Kreen, Hamadryads, Pixies, (official) Revnants, Shadar-Kai (Shadowfell Eladrin), Vryloka, Bladelings, Hengeyoka, Bullywugs, Gnolls, and Tinker Gnomes.

[rlc]

I'd like to see the Shardmind race from 4e worked into 5e. I found them to be a rather interesting race.

We're also still missing Wildens, Deva, Mul, Thri-Kreen, Hamadryads, Pixies, (official) Revnants, Shadar-Kai (Shadowfell Eladrin), Vryloka, Bladelings, Hengeyoka, Bullywugs, Gnolls, and Tinker Gnomes.

We do have two or three of those, but I’d definitely love more race options, and I’m also definitely interested in how they’re going to design new races with customization already being on the table.

[Corsair14]

By ADD do you mean Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, or ADD as in "attention deficit disorder" players? :smallconfused:

Your point on the visual feel of Planescape is well made, as was the point on Bron's visual feel of Dark Sun from further up. But there's lots of artistic talent out there, I have faith that whomever tackles either one will first do a deep dive into the originals. :smallcool:

I am not sure why this is, but most of the artwork in Tasha's doesn't *feel* right to me. A few exceptions, like the illustration for Mind Sliver, and the Summoning of the spawn with two heads, felt just right. Likewise the picture for Tasha's Mind Whiphad the right feel.
The nearly naked Oath of Glory paladin? That just didn't come off right. Looked like it should have been a pic for a barbarian. While I am sure that this is a matter of taste, I wonder who else found the art/thematics to be a bit off?

(Granted, some of the art was very good; I really like the cover/reverse, as well as the one at the beginning of Tasha outside the hut).

The attention one. From experience, we tend to get bored without at least some doable action and doing an RPG about philosophy is kind of boring especially since in the planes the vast majority of encounters will be with higher level mop the floor with you opponents.

I have been incredibly underwhelmed by all the artwork since 4th and even a lot of 3rd. It lost the charm and detail of 2nd. Not a fan of the cartoony style they use. Pathfinder is just as bad to me. I prefer the more realistic style of Elmore and the beautiful paintings and imagery of 2E. Most new stuff just looks cheap to me.

[Kurt Kurageous]

The return of splat and reprint looms, too.

Surprised no one has mentioned a PHB2 (or 5.1) that incorporates all the character creation choices (new classes, race, and backgrounds) in one place. It's now spread out over several books, and Beyond is kinda a mess.

Then there's the inevitable spell and magic item compendium because the page count of a PHB2 couldn't handle the totality of the current complete spell list.

The game's gotten a lot broader and a lot harder to DM for every desire and want, because the options are dizzying. And Wizards has to compete with the individual DM creations, for which they get no money. So they promote their own adventures. Back in the day, the DM wrote the setting almost every single time.

[KorvinStarmast]

I have been incredibly underwhelmed by all the artwork since 4th and even a lot of 3rd. It lost the charm and detail of 2nd. Not a fan of the cartoony style they use. Pathfinder is just as bad to me. I prefer the more realistic style of Elmore and the beautiful paintings and imagery of 2E. Most new stuff just looks cheap to me. Hmm, Elmore seemed to me a bit comic book style (I have a book with all of the art from Gygax/Arneson drawings to Tyler Jacobson, it's pretty comprehensive in terms of covering the variation of art styles).

I like a lot of the 5e artwork (see the cover for SCAG as an example, or the MM cover) but some of it I can do without.