Having started playing D&D back in 1982, one of the things I loved most were the numerous campaign setting boxed sets.  I could not wait to get the new boxed sets, and have the foundation of an entire setting already laid out for me to use as a DM.  So, I’m hoping that now WotC has a solid Edition out that nearly all fans of the game can use and enjoy for many years, theyvwill start cranking out campaign settings.

Some have argued that having too many settings is what helped TSR go under, but I can’t see how having small set of supported campaign settings could do any harm to 5th Edition as long as the core rules remain constant.  In my opinion the setting should only be there to enhance storyline and only slightly alter the rules as necessary depending on the setting. All I would want is a main book that detailed the background story, notable characters, maps, and adventure seeds.  Throw in a few canned adventures for the setting and that would be icing on the cake for me.  

I know there are many DMs out there who love to create their own world/setting from the ground up, but for DMs with limited time like me, having all that created for you is just a great thing.  Especially when that setting is geared toward use with the current Edition.  

For example, I and my group love the Ravenloft side setting called Masque of the Red Death for 2nd Edition, but we also really like the 5th Edition rules set.  We tried to come up with some house rules and convert over to 5th Edition but it turned out to be too difficult work out, and ultimately we had to revert back to full 2nd Edition rules for the sake of the game.  

Now I know it’s probably wishful thinking that WotC would actually release Masque again using 5th Edition rules, but I think you can see how great it would be to have at least a few more settings supported by WotC. As a group, we like focusing on the story more than anything else and view the rules set as only a tool to support the game.  In our eyes, the rules should never drive the game.  Only the story should do that.  Am I making any sense here or am I just hoping for too much right now?

You're making a lot of sense, but at the same time you're asking for too much.  The extra campaign settings are generally pretty niche.  Myself for example, there's only so much I am going to buy.  Eberron and Darksun for example, have some following, but I wouldn't touch either of them with a 10 foot pole.  The investment they make in producing that material will simply not open my wallet.  I'm a huge Dragonlance fan, but Dragonlance material will not open a majority of wallets.  There just is not the demand that we had in the 80s and 90s, so they have to make /smart/ choices on what they are going to produce to maximize the profit they make.  Any additional campaign settings they use, will be carefully selected, and will be very mainstream alternates.  I could see Planescape, as there is currently a general lack of high level content, and they can kill two birds with one stone with lots of high level planar content and a wee bit of lore.  Even Forgotten Realms is not very detailed in 5e.  You get the Sword Coast, and a little dab of here and there. 

They are voiding the "lore" game like the plague, and any content we DO get I think will have a high amount of cross-setting useage so that standard players can crib it easily.  My best hope right now for "other realm" products would be a single splat book, with a 20 page or so chapter for various realms.  The Dragonlance chapter, for example might have entries for things like Knights of Solamnia and Wizards of High Sorcery.  Maybe a race such as Minotaurs, Gully Dwarves or Kender (god forbid), but probably not a lot more than that.  One spat book that services multiple fan bases.  I can say definitively, that I would buy such a book even though it contained a Darksun and Eberron chapter, while I would not buy an Eberron or Darksun only product.

It looks like Wizards of the Coast is bringing back some old settings later this year. In the meantime, there's an official conversion guide. 

Hmmm...well I guess one can only hope.  I see your points crzyhawk, however I have to say, several of the canned adventures that have been produced for 5th Edition have been extremely well put together in my opinion.  Much better than many of the older modules which were more so dungeon crawls than anything else.  That’s why back in the day I was so ecstatic to get the latest setting with all of the base details of the world and background story.  Sure, I love a good dungeon crawl just like everyone else.  That’s the way the game was originally designed to be played but the more background story I could get my hands on, the more ingredients I had to work with when concocting my adventures and campaigns.  So for me, I’m happy to pay for the material.  Especially when it’s designed around the 5th Edition system.  Honestly, if I had to choose just a couple of settings, I’d probably vote for Ravenloft as my number one setting, and then Dragon Lance as a close second.  Those two and Forgotten Realms have always been my go to settings and I was ecstatic to see them choose the realms for the base setting for 5th, so if I could get the other two that would be perfect.  Curse of Strahd was extremely well done in my opinion and if they do the same caliber of work on the setting itself, or any other setting for that matter, it would be awesome.  

Thanks Inquisitive Coder for the heads up.  I’ll definitely take a look at that conversion guide you mentioned in the meantime.  Happy gaming everyone!

Just jumping in to post this: New campaign settings?