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.