Does anyone know why WOTC do not publish more material for the rest of Toril?
Define “rest of” because they’re saying this book will go beyond the sword coast. Specifically the moonshae islands, Calimshan, the dalelands and a couple more I don’t remember off the top.
Besides that, most people don’t play in the FR, so it’s probably not worth the time investment for a deep dive into much of the various areas. Setting book in general are a crapshoot.
Does anyone know why WOTC do not publish more material for the rest of Toril?
I mean, from the look of the UA they’re going fairly wide, at least based on the names cropping up associated with the new subclasses. For the material to date, lots of areas outside of the Sword Coast leaned heavily on ethnic stereotypes, which is understandably something they don’t want to step back into. So their initial approach was to stick with the primary portion of the setting and its safe medieval fantasy look and then do secondary writing in adventure books and things like Volo’s. Now that they’ve seen there’s still interest in the larger setting and had more time to work out what portions to tactfully revise a bit and which to drop, they look to be queueing up a broader setting book.
So, although I personally doubt it, someone needs to say it or the whole point of wild speculation about the mystery book for october is just too serious.
The mystery book is a new version of Athas. Without the cannibalism, the misogyny, and the racism, and it isn't slavery, it is simply despotism.
Ok, you may al carry on now. It has been said (and don't discuss it! that ruins the surprise!).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Does anyone know why WOTC do not publish more material for the rest of Toril?
Probably breadth v depth. They can develop one part very well, or lots of parts not very well. The latter can lead to "all emphasis is no emphasis" problems and things failing - which is what led to some of the problems D&D faced previously in the early editions, no?
So they concentrate on what's popular, specifically the Sword Coast. If they want to stretch their wings a bit...there are other places they can go that can change things up a lot more, like Eberron or Greyhawk. The undeveloped parts of Toril are kind of the worst of both worlds - not building up a well developed setting, and not different enough to spread the net wide.
I imagine that's what's going through their heads. Of course, no one but the people at WotC know what the real reason is, but that's what I would speculate.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
So, although I personally doubt it, someone needs to say it or the whole point of wild speculation about the mystery book for october is just too serious.
The mystery book is a new version of Athas. Without the cannibalism, the misogyny, and the racism, and it isn't slavery, it is simply despotism.
Ok, you may al carry on now. It has been said (and don't discuss it! that ruins the surprise!).
Frankly, with how much they'd have to pare off to fit the 5e paradigm, they might as well just introduce it as some previously unmentioned part of the Forgotten Realms rather than try and pass it off as Dark Sun.
So, although I personally doubt it, someone needs to say it or the whole point of wild speculation about the mystery book for october is just too serious.
The mystery book is a new version of Athas. Without the cannibalism, the misogyny, and the racism, and it isn't slavery, it is simply despotism.
Ok, you may al carry on now. It has been said (and don't discuss it! that ruins the surprise!).
I appreciate you taking that shot in the dark for the team XD
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Your Friendly Neighborhood Community Manager (she/her) You can call me LT. :)
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So, although I personally doubt it, someone needs to say it or the whole point of wild speculation about the mystery book for october is just too serious.
The mystery book is a new version of Athas. Without the cannibalism, the misogyny, and the racism, and it isn't slavery, it is simply despotism.
Ok, you may al carry on now. It has been said (and don't discuss it! that ruins the surprise!).
I appreciate you taking that shot in the dark for the team XD
DARK SUN CONFIRMED!!!
jkjk
Edit: Disclaimer: I don't know anything about Dark Sun beyond it being a setting filled with desert dwelling psionic body builders that have a thiing for leather.
I suppose it’s possible that it’s supposed to be the Armorer standing next to their armor.
Except there is someone in the armor. Could it just be a base artificer with no subclass?
Not seeing any clear signs that there's someone in it; there's cloth at the joints so no exposed skin, and the blue bits in the eyes are ambiguous as proof it's occupied.
So, although I personally doubt it, someone needs to say it or the whole point of wild speculation about the mystery book for october is just too serious.
The mystery book is a new version of Athas. Without the cannibalism, the misogyny, and the racism, and it isn't slavery, it is simply despotism.
Ok, you may al carry on now. It has been said (and don't discuss it! that ruins the surprise!).
I appreciate you taking that shot in the dark for the team XD
DARK SUN CONFIRMED!!!
jkjk
Edit: Disclaimer: I don't know anything about Dark Sun beyond it being a setting filled with desert dwelling psionic body builders that have a thiing for leather.
That about covers it. And halflings are cannibals.
I suggest to use the term "spiritual succesor". If there is some reimagination of DS this should appear after a new Psionic handbook. Of course I miss to know how the metaplot would continue.
WotC is focused to sell mainly crunch. Roleplayers don't feel like to spend the money to buy a sourcebook focused mainly about lore when this will be read only once, and they can get from internet.
I suspect WotC does'nt want to publish a new DS because 3PPs could release in DMGuild titles like a version of "Gor" saga with psionic superpowers. (The Gor saga is like"50 shadows of Grey" in the Hyrborean age).. and because the strategy of sales is to publish crunch not too link to any specific setting. The 2nd Ed DS wouldn't wellcome most of new classes and PC species appeared in later editions. What if I wanted a monk fighting like gladiator, or a crusader (martial adept class from 3.5 Tome of Battle) or a totemist shaman(Magic of Incarnum)?
If there is a future psionic handbook, should the fraals to be added like playable specie? They aren't too different from 3.5 dromites.
An update on Greyhawk would be awesome, the more I think about it. We could get our first statblock for a demi-god, Iuz the old. Adventure in the birthplace of Vecna, Tasha, and Mordenkainen. As a Swords and Sorcery setting, I feel like the Adventures here have always been R- rated. There's a whole adventure path about slavers in the city. That kind of thing is pretty touchy these days, even though we would be fighting them, it might never see the light of day. I'm just saying the setting touched on a few topics in ways that , while realistic within the borders of the story, are triggers for some people. I'm not exactly PC- honestly I don't even know what is and isn't PC these days except **** and Slavery- two taboo topics. There were adventures back then that alluded to, or included both as part of their grittiness. I'm just not sure that it can be redone in such a way as to not come off as way watered down.
The same for DS. What would the modern version do with all of the harshness and negativity that the setting basically dripped with? Would it be like fantasy mad max with psionics, or like an angry Adventure Time? It was supposed to have that sort of suffocating feel to it. Is that possible in todays political landscape?
EDIT: The stars in my post above reference the willful taking of another persons sexual freedoms. And this serves as a perfect example of what I'm trying to say. Is this kind of gritty Swords and Sorcery storytelling even viable these days? Note, we're the good guys- we are rescuing the person being so treated. The point is we are stopping that, not doing it.
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” John Stuart Mill, 1867
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Attributed to Edmund Burke, 1961 (It is conjectured that he never said it.)
I am glad people have given some interesting reasons to my side quest(ion).
To clarify. I did mean the other continents of Toril Albier other than Faerun (as much as I love Faerun): Zakhara, Kara-Tur, Maztica, Anchorome, Katashaka, Laerakond and Osse.
ethnic stereotypes
WotC is focused to sell mainly crunch
Compatibility to DMs own "campaign setting"
Probably breadth v depth
no one but the people at WotC know what the real reason is
We had at least 2 adventures
most people don’t play in the FR
Note: Al-Qadim was a good setting, and the box set was beautiful.
These are some of the points to summarise. These are all valid reasons of course, because I don't think there are actual any real answers (as in WOTC statements why), just hobbyists like myself whom are speculating to try to help give me an answer. Its probably worth not exploring it further. Its nice to get a little slice of what some people think though, so thanks for your time.
I have some fairly broad reasons why I would like these campaigns explored as campaign settings. You can probably guess, so lets avoid that until another thread.
I'll divert the thread back to its original topic:
"Not sure if anyone else watches Above the Table on YouTube but they've just dropped a video with lots of news on what's upcoming this year including new Eberron books"
Does anyone know why WOTC do not publish more material for the rest of Toril?
Kara-Tur and Al-Qadim never did that well sales wise.
And the fangirl in me has to pause.
Kara-Tur was the single best selling product of 1985. It did extremely well. The Modules did not sell very well.
Al'Qadim sold within the mid range, originally, and the modules did better than OA ones.
Now, the L5R later version did not do well -- but it also did not take place in Kara-Tur.
The problem was that it was retconned originally into Greyhawk and then shortly after that into FR, and the orientalism aspect kicked in and killed Kara-Tur, and the company shifted to what they were excited about after Al-Qadim.
It isn't that the settings sell poorly, it is that they lack consistent long term support. If any of them had as much support as Krynn had or as FR has had, then it would be a different story. Name a Kara-Tur based FR adventure (which is the point of the side question).
Becaus sayign that Kara-tur didn't sell well when it is officially part of FR is saying that FR doesn't sell well -- and this has been a truth since before WotC bought D&D.
It isn't that it doesn't sell well, it is that it isn't used by the designers.
Now, why the designers don't use it has nothing to do with sales -- and a lot more to do with other stuff.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
I would not mind if they revisited Dark Sun. I would mind if they left in the stuff about forced marriages, kidnapping wives, chattel slavery, and some other stuff that in the 80's and early 90's was not thought of a bad because people didn't realize how bad it was.
They could absolutely do Dark Sun without all that stuff. Those things aren't what made Dark Sun good.
I would love it if they revisited Maztica, Al'Qadim, and Kara-Tur. You can absolutely do that without redoing the orientalism and stereotyping of the peoples that were there. There are 100% ways to do so -- and, they could do all of them. Hell, I'd do it if I thought I could spend the time to do so -- I mean it's soundly within my professional wheelhouse, which is why I know it can be done.
What I would recommend they do, though, is to take the core concepts of those worlds and re-do them as a whole, from scratch. Make them theri won settings once more -- or, perhaps, a single setting that contains those three and only those three. Hell, license the stuff from Koboa, and go hard on a world that is built around them -- but don't try to make it a case of:
This is the South AmericaPlace, this is the Africa Place, this is the Asia Place, this is the Native Place, this is the Middle East Place.
Because that's where the kinds of errors that create problems start -- and if you break it down more, you run into some iffy spaces (compare Black Panther 2 and Raya, two examples from the same company with completely different outcomes and quality).
So I don't blame WotC for not wanting to touch those things -- I just sit back and wish they would (or hire me to do just that, lol). Because the adventures really aren't that different once you localize them -- and as odd as it sounds, they already proved that with Tomb of Annihilation.
So I would absolutely love more stuff on the "lost worlds" -- but that's for later, down the road.
Right now, I am excited because of what we do get, and I don't even like FR as a setting.
We get a new Eberron book -- with rules for Airships.
We get places revisited for FR that are very different from what we have seen in 5e -- the Moonshae Isles in particular interest me. And for everyone complaining about the lack of deities in the main books, well, you'll get them, too. as was mentioned previously *insert innocent look*. Circle Casting is the thing that I want to learn more about. I use a spell point system after we all got bored of spell slot stuff, so I want to see how we can use it (even though we have our own form of it).
The Starter set may change the way a lot of folks make characters -- the tile system is very interesting. I want to look at that as a possible way to re-incorporate an old dominoes thing.
I confess to not being excited about the multiple DM thing -- but I support anything that brings new folks over to the other side of screen (since I never cross it to be a player).
If they walk into 2026 with at least one new setting book, it will become a breath of fresh air -- but as I noted before, settings need to be supported with adventes and those are something in several of the new books -- using the format the 2024 DMG presents.
Which means we may see those settings with support in a way that hasn't really been done -- but they will focus on ones they have the bandwidth for.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
You can go to other platforms that D&D is on, go to Fantasy Grounds, you can see a list of books there not from WotC. I'm running a 3.5E adventure that uses Geyhawk and they have the Greyhawk Boxed set so it nice, you can see trade routes, what goods they have, a brief write up of the kindgom and the various races that make Greyhawk in a very clean package. Just go to their store, select 5E and you'll see all of the official and earlier content you can get from WotC. You can get a lot of the adventure league content and its integrated in the platform and it just works. For third party type in the publisher name like MCDM or Kobold Press to see what they are offering or what's coming up.
Does anyone know why WOTC do not publish more material for the rest of Toril?
Kara-Tur and Al-Qadim never did that well sales wise.
Kara-Tur was the single best selling product of 1985. It did extremely well.
For a fan you are missing a lot of contextual information.
Oriental Adventures was the name of the book, and it was a more general plug and play source book, not a specific campaign book. It can't really be considered a Forgotten Realms Kara-Tur book. Originally it was meant for Greyhawk, but they decided to create Kara-Tur for Forgotten Realms AFTER its release with the growing popularity of Forgotten Realms.
The idea people were buying that for Kara-Tur, and not just the Oriental Adventures expansion of classes and general culture rules just isn't true. When that came out (i was a player then) NO ONE was talking about Kara-Tur. All the excitement was over, Ninjas, Samurai, etc.
Also a bit of moving goalposts to limit it to the best of one year, rather than a comparison of overall sales for performance.
It looks like maybe they're making a Chronomancer subclass for Artificer.
Does anyone know why WOTC do not publish more material for the rest of Toril?
Define “rest of” because they’re saying this book will go beyond the sword coast. Specifically the moonshae islands, Calimshan, the dalelands and a couple more I don’t remember off the top.
Besides that, most people don’t play in the FR, so it’s probably not worth the time investment for a deep dive into much of the various areas. Setting book in general are a crapshoot.
I mean, from the look of the UA they’re going fairly wide, at least based on the names cropping up associated with the new subclasses. For the material to date, lots of areas outside of the Sword Coast leaned heavily on ethnic stereotypes, which is understandably something they don’t want to step back into. So their initial approach was to stick with the primary portion of the setting and its safe medieval fantasy look and then do secondary writing in adventure books and things like Volo’s. Now that they’ve seen there’s still interest in the larger setting and had more time to work out what portions to tactfully revise a bit and which to drop, they look to be queueing up a broader setting book.
So, although I personally doubt it, someone needs to say it or the whole point of wild speculation about the mystery book for october is just too serious.
The mystery book is a new version of Athas. Without the cannibalism, the misogyny, and the racism, and it isn't slavery, it is simply despotism.
Ok, you may al carry on now. It has been said (and don't discuss it! that ruins the surprise!).
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
We had at least 2 adventures in other parts of Toril then the Sword Coast
Probably breadth v depth. They can develop one part very well, or lots of parts not very well. The latter can lead to "all emphasis is no emphasis" problems and things failing - which is what led to some of the problems D&D faced previously in the early editions, no?
So they concentrate on what's popular, specifically the Sword Coast. If they want to stretch their wings a bit...there are other places they can go that can change things up a lot more, like Eberron or Greyhawk. The undeveloped parts of Toril are kind of the worst of both worlds - not building up a well developed setting, and not different enough to spread the net wide.
I imagine that's what's going through their heads. Of course, no one but the people at WotC know what the real reason is, but that's what I would speculate.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Frankly, with how much they'd have to pare off to fit the 5e paradigm, they might as well just introduce it as some previously unmentioned part of the Forgotten Realms rather than try and pass it off as Dark Sun.
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DARK SUN CONFIRMED!!!
jkjk
Edit: Disclaimer: I don't know anything about Dark Sun beyond it being a setting filled with desert dwelling psionic body builders that have a thiing for leather.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
It looks like the Armorer is already in the armor.
Kara-Tur and Al-Qadim never did that well sales wise.
Also setting specific books don't do as well as books that can fit a variety of settings.
DMs are more interested in books that are easy to plug into their home campaigns with out a whole lot of baggage to weed out.
Not seeing any clear signs that there's someone in it; there's cloth at the joints so no exposed skin, and the blue bits in the eyes are ambiguous as proof it's occupied.
That about covers it. And halflings are cannibals.
I suggest to use the term "spiritual succesor". If there is some reimagination of DS this should appear after a new Psionic handbook. Of course I miss to know how the metaplot would continue.
WotC is focused to sell mainly crunch. Roleplayers don't feel like to spend the money to buy a sourcebook focused mainly about lore when this will be read only once, and they can get from internet.
I suspect WotC does'nt want to publish a new DS because 3PPs could release in DMGuild titles like a version of "Gor" saga with psionic superpowers. (The Gor saga is like"50 shadows of Grey" in the Hyrborean age).. and because the strategy of sales is to publish crunch not too link to any specific setting. The 2nd Ed DS wouldn't wellcome most of new classes and PC species appeared in later editions. What if I wanted a monk fighting like gladiator, or a crusader (martial adept class from 3.5 Tome of Battle) or a totemist shaman(Magic of Incarnum)?
If there is a future psionic handbook, should the fraals to be added like playable specie? They aren't too different from 3.5 dromites.
An update on Greyhawk would be awesome, the more I think about it. We could get our first statblock for a demi-god, Iuz the old. Adventure in the birthplace of Vecna, Tasha, and Mordenkainen. As a Swords and Sorcery setting, I feel like the Adventures here have always been R- rated. There's a whole adventure path about slavers in the city. That kind of thing is pretty touchy these days, even though we would be fighting them, it might never see the light of day. I'm just saying the setting touched on a few topics in ways that , while realistic within the borders of the story, are triggers for some people. I'm not exactly PC- honestly I don't even know what is and isn't PC these days except **** and Slavery- two taboo topics. There were adventures back then that alluded to, or included both as part of their grittiness. I'm just not sure that it can be redone in such a way as to not come off as way watered down.
The same for DS. What would the modern version do with all of the harshness and negativity that the setting basically dripped with? Would it be like fantasy mad max with psionics, or like an angry Adventure Time? It was supposed to have that sort of suffocating feel to it. Is that possible in todays political landscape?
EDIT: The stars in my post above reference the willful taking of another persons sexual freedoms. And this serves as a perfect example of what I'm trying to say. Is this kind of gritty Swords and Sorcery storytelling even viable these days? Note, we're the good guys- we are rescuing the person being so treated. The point is we are stopping that, not doing it.
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” John Stuart Mill, 1867
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Attributed to Edmund Burke, 1961 (It is conjectured that he never said it.)
I am glad people have given some interesting reasons to my side quest(ion).
To clarify. I did mean the other continents of Toril Albier other than Faerun (as much as I love Faerun): Zakhara, Kara-Tur, Maztica, Anchorome, Katashaka, Laerakond and Osse.
Note: Al-Qadim was a good setting, and the box set was beautiful.
These are some of the points to summarise. These are all valid reasons of course, because I don't think there are actual any real answers (as in WOTC statements why), just hobbyists like myself whom are speculating to try to help give me an answer. Its probably worth not exploring it further. Its nice to get a little slice of what some people think though, so thanks for your time.
I have some fairly broad reasons why I would like these campaigns explored as campaign settings. You can probably guess, so lets avoid that until another thread.
I'll divert the thread back to its original topic:
"Not sure if anyone else watches Above the Table on YouTube but they've just dropped a video with lots of news on what's upcoming this year including new Eberron books"
And the fangirl in me has to pause.
Kara-Tur was the single best selling product of 1985. It did extremely well. The Modules did not sell very well.
Al'Qadim sold within the mid range, originally, and the modules did better than OA ones.
Now, the L5R later version did not do well -- but it also did not take place in Kara-Tur.
The problem was that it was retconned originally into Greyhawk and then shortly after that into FR, and the orientalism aspect kicked in and killed Kara-Tur, and the company shifted to what they were excited about after Al-Qadim.
It isn't that the settings sell poorly, it is that they lack consistent long term support. If any of them had as much support as Krynn had or as FR has had, then it would be a different story. Name a Kara-Tur based FR adventure (which is the point of the side question).
Becaus sayign that Kara-tur didn't sell well when it is officially part of FR is saying that FR doesn't sell well -- and this has been a truth since before WotC bought D&D.
It isn't that it doesn't sell well, it is that it isn't used by the designers.
Now, why the designers don't use it has nothing to do with sales -- and a lot more to do with other stuff.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
I want to be blunt:
I would not mind if they revisited Dark Sun. I would mind if they left in the stuff about forced marriages, kidnapping wives, chattel slavery, and some other stuff that in the 80's and early 90's was not thought of a bad because people didn't realize how bad it was.
They could absolutely do Dark Sun without all that stuff. Those things aren't what made Dark Sun good.
I would love it if they revisited Maztica, Al'Qadim, and Kara-Tur. You can absolutely do that without redoing the orientalism and stereotyping of the peoples that were there. There are 100% ways to do so -- and, they could do all of them. Hell, I'd do it if I thought I could spend the time to do so -- I mean it's soundly within my professional wheelhouse, which is why I know it can be done.
What I would recommend they do, though, is to take the core concepts of those worlds and re-do them as a whole, from scratch. Make them theri won settings once more -- or, perhaps, a single setting that contains those three and only those three. Hell, license the stuff from Koboa, and go hard on a world that is built around them -- but don't try to make it a case of:
This is the South America Place, this is the Africa Place, this is the Asia Place, this is the Native Place, this is the Middle East Place.
Because that's where the kinds of errors that create problems start -- and if you break it down more, you run into some iffy spaces (compare Black Panther 2 and Raya, two examples from the same company with completely different outcomes and quality).
So I don't blame WotC for not wanting to touch those things -- I just sit back and wish they would (or hire me to do just that, lol). Because the adventures really aren't that different once you localize them -- and as odd as it sounds, they already proved that with Tomb of Annihilation.
So I would absolutely love more stuff on the "lost worlds" -- but that's for later, down the road.
Right now, I am excited because of what we do get, and I don't even like FR as a setting.
We get a new Eberron book -- with rules for Airships.
We get places revisited for FR that are very different from what we have seen in 5e -- the Moonshae Isles in particular interest me. And for everyone complaining about the lack of deities in the main books, well, you'll get them, too. as was mentioned previously *insert innocent look*. Circle Casting is the thing that I want to learn more about. I use a spell point system after we all got bored of spell slot stuff, so I want to see how we can use it (even though we have our own form of it).
The Starter set may change the way a lot of folks make characters -- the tile system is very interesting. I want to look at that as a possible way to re-incorporate an old dominoes thing.
I confess to not being excited about the multiple DM thing -- but I support anything that brings new folks over to the other side of screen (since I never cross it to be a player).
If they walk into 2026 with at least one new setting book, it will become a breath of fresh air -- but as I noted before, settings need to be supported with adventes and those are something in several of the new books -- using the format the 2024 DMG presents.
Which means we may see those settings with support in a way that hasn't really been done -- but they will focus on ones they have the bandwidth for.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
You can go to other platforms that D&D is on, go to Fantasy Grounds, you can see a list of books there not from WotC. I'm running a 3.5E adventure that uses Geyhawk and they have the Greyhawk Boxed set so it nice, you can see trade routes, what goods they have, a brief write up of the kindgom and the various races that make Greyhawk in a very clean package. Just go to their store, select 5E and you'll see all of the official and earlier content you can get from WotC. You can get a lot of the adventure league content and its integrated in the platform and it just works. For third party type in the publisher name like MCDM or Kobold Press to see what they are offering or what's coming up.
For a fan you are missing a lot of contextual information.
Oriental Adventures was the name of the book, and it was a more general plug and play source book, not a specific campaign book. It can't really be considered a Forgotten Realms Kara-Tur book. Originally it was meant for Greyhawk, but they decided to create Kara-Tur for Forgotten Realms AFTER its release with the growing popularity of Forgotten Realms.
The idea people were buying that for Kara-Tur, and not just the Oriental Adventures expansion of classes and general culture rules just isn't true. When that came out (i was a player then) NO ONE was talking about Kara-Tur. All the excitement was over, Ninjas, Samurai, etc.
Also a bit of moving goalposts to limit it to the best of one year, rather than a comparison of overall sales for performance.