D&D (2024) Where to next, WotC?

Starmaster said:

Dark Sun would be nice and so would another anthology, but I really hope they don't do Strahd for the 387th time. I may be in the minority here, but I like it when they do anthologies of the best 1e adventures. I don't like all their alterations, but these can be fixed. Some nice choices would be N1, L1, L2, UK3, and I8.

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I think they'll do Strahd again because the new MM has a bunch of new vampire types and other cool things they'd wanna throw in there. We'd get a cool alt cover and stuff.

Here's an out there idea: they do an updated VRGR and a new Fizban style Undead-themed beastiary (updating all those shadow themed subclasses) and sell it as a Ravenloft boxed set.

DavyGreenwind said:

I think they'll do Strahd again because the new MM has a bunch of new vampire types and other cool things they'd wanna throw in there. We'd get a cool alt cover and stuff.

Here's an out there idea: they do an updated VRGR and a new Fizban style Undead-themed beastiary (updating all those shadow themed subclasses) and sell it as a Ravenloft boxed set.

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There are generally only around 4-6 slots per year for new products. I like seeing the best of the 1e stuff updated to 5e since there was a lot of great 1e stuff and it saves a lot of work if they do the work converting it for me, but I prefer not to see 5e stuff updated to 5.5e since it's basically the same game. Sure, they could add some new stuff, but anytime something old gets updated, it hogs up a precious slot that could instead be used for something new.

Mercurius said:

will they start back up with Magic settings? (I know rumors of Tarkir have gained some traction of late)

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Really doubt it if they actually want D&D branding to succeed. We've seen the most recent full MtG setting for 5E was in 2020 with Theros. We've seen Ravenloft, Spelljammer, and Planescape as full settings, and the only other MtG one as the adventure-first, setting-second Strixhaven in 2021, and whilst I'm not aware of the figures, everything about it seemed to suggest that it significantly underperformed expectations (perhaps in part because they bizarrely modified it from the "edgy YA" vibes of the MtG Strixhaven to "comfy/cozy fantasy" for completely unknown reasons).

Tarkir seems particularly unlikely, as it's a real "no-one has nor would ever ask for this"-type setting, and it's not remotely zeitgeist-y or otherwise in demand. The upcoming expansion doesn't seem likely to connect well with D&D, either, if you actually think about for more than 30 seconds.

The whole issue with the MtG settings is that it derails the notion of D&D as a valuable IP of its own, and makes it sort of subservient to MtG (which made some sense in 2014 and thereabouts given 5E was barely even allowed by WotC, as 4E hadn't met sales goals). That does NOT cut both ways, because MtG has been incorporating other IPs with success for a long time (it might if MtG repeatedly got D&D setting-based expansions in place of its normal expansions though). And the push appears to be to make D&D a more valuable property/IP. You can't really do that if you're repeatedly hitting it with MtG settings, which are not tonally, thematically, or really in any way coherent with D&D's vibes (and make it much harder for D&D to have coherent vibes).

I think if they do any future MtG stuff it'll be more separated from "Core" D&D too, like with a quasi-separate branding.

If (general) you are a fan of Dark Sun... you don't want WotC to make a 5E24 update to Dark Sun. You are going to hate it.

Make your own update. You have your old Dark Sun materials presumably... use all of that to make the setting workable for yourself with 5E24 (or 5E14 if you haven't moved.)

That is, of course, unless you also liked Spelljammer and were happy with WotC's 5E update, liked Planescape and were happy with WotC's 5E update, liked Dragonlance and were happy with WotC's 5E update, and like Ravenloft and were happy with WotC's 5E update. If (general) you liked any or all of those updated settings, then maybe you will luck out and like what WotC will do with Dark Sun. The rest of you? Don't waste your time getting your hopes up.

I think there will be some new setting books, Tarkir & Bloomborrow eventually and the next classic setting will be Mystara, it's no accident it showed up in Worlds & Realms.

Chaltab said:

I'm almost certain that if they update Dark Sun to 5E it will be rewritten to allow the core PHB species, possibly with a sidebar about optionally limiting it to the classic Dark Sun ancestries.

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And Muls will be nowhere in sight (my favorite race in that setting).

Stormonu said:

And Muls will be nowhere in sight (my favorite race in that setting).

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Given the new species in Eberron: Forge of the Artificer I would not bet on no Muls for Darksun.

DEFCON 1 said:

If (general) you are a fan of Dark Sun... you don't want WotC to make a 5E24 update to Dark Sun. You are going to hate it.

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Probably. I would prefer to see Dark Sun get a 5e update from a 5e-adjacent RPG. Not that it is going to happen in RL anytime soon.

Corinnguard said:

I would prefer to see Dark Sun get a 5e update from a 5e-adjacent RPG. Not that it is going to happen in RL a

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wasn’t there a Dark Sun-like for Shadowdark? Can’t use the name, but certainly the themes…

I need to understand better the reasons because Dark Sun has been "cancelled". I could understand WotC would rather to create a spiritual succesor with more freedom to add new crunch elements like classes and PC species.

A possibility would be a DS spin-off. For example when the defilers started to invade and taint the "land-within-the-wind" (the Athasian Feywild) this cause a "planar breakup" and complete regions were "sent" to a third transitive plane, the "spirit realm". This became the destination for waves of refugees fleeing the cleasing war, and this caused a second planar breakup, a new demiplane close to material plane, like the region of Tyr but without the sorcerer-kings, and you could find creatures from other wildspaces. The bad new is most of this has been conquered by a githyanki rogue faction.

I suspect WotC is not interested into the lore of Mystara because now it is too generic for the current standars. Then the option could be like Dragonlance, an adventure with a new PC specie and unlocking in DMGuild.