The other week I posted a rundown of “The Future of Dungeons and Dragons” livestream from this year’s D&D Live event. Today I’m going to do something that I don’t usually do and engage in a bit of wild speculation about what might be coming down the pipeline in the next year based on the information that was given to us then and some things that have been released since. Now mind you, I haven’t jumped deep down the rabbit hole of leaks and rumors and am operating purely on official releases and statements from Wizards of the Coast.
During the livestream, they confirmed that 2022 will feature the release of two more classic campaign settings hot on the heels of this years release of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft as well as a “cameo appearance” from a third setting. Furthermore, they stated that they would be released in a format different from normal. So… what could these settings be?
Lots of gamers have been hoping for a rerelease of the Dark Sun campaign setting. First released in the days of 2nd Edition, it received something of a renaissance in 4th Edition with several sourcebooks. Released to very positive reviews, it still has a lot of fans to this day. However – I don’t see this happening as a 5th Edition release. Life on Athas is often short and brutal. In the post apocalyptic desert environment, water is a resource more precious than gold and arcane magic is reviled for destroying the land while tyrannical sorcerer-kings rule the few cities that exist in the realm. Organized religions do not exist as there are no gods present within the setting and thus clerics draw their power from the inner planes and the elemental chaos. Furthermore, psionics are extremely common within the setting, with most people having some affinity for it.
Simply put – trying to make the world of Dark Sun exist within the game as it exists now would require an extensive overhaul of how it functions with regards to classes, magic, and especially psionics. Furthermore, people are already regularly complaining that a single first level spell can completely ruin survival based encounters in 5th Edition, so I don’t know how they expect those kinds of scenarios to run with a 5e Dark Sun release.
All of this doesn’t even touch on the myriad of social issues present within the setting that don’t play well with today’s sensibilities. Slavery is a very common facet within society. In fact one the races available for the players is the Mul, a dwarf-human hybrid that was created by the sorcerer-kings to be the perfect soldiers. The dark and gritty nature of the world also seems to fly in the face of the more heroic nature of play that 5th Edition seems to be striving for.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I just can’t see Dark Sun being one of the classic campaigns coming next year. So what do I expect?
The first setting I expect to see is Spelljammer
Now, “Spelljammer confirmed!” has become something of a meme over the last couple of years within the greater D&D community, but I think the odds are good for a 2022 release. One of the things teased by Chris Perkins was an early rendering of an alternate cover image prominently featuring Boo. And while Wizards did drop a stealth release of Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy as a print on demand charity title over on DriveThruRPG, it was stated that this cover was going to be for a 2022 release.
“But Boo is from Forgotten Realms! How does that mean Spelljammer?”
Well, Boo is a “miniature giant space hamster” a subset of the giant space hamsters which were creatures bred by the gnomes to power their spelljammers. Furthermore, the most recent Unearthed Arcana just released the Travelers of the Multiverse which includes several classic Spelljammer races such as the Giff and the Thri-Kreen. Considering how the recently released Wild Beyond The Witchlight had several new races that were tested out in another Unearthed Arcana article a few months prior as well, that could be a clue into what might be coming up on the release schedule. Yes, the Thri-Kreen are more strongly associated with Dark Sun, but they are far from exclusive to that setting.
And if you’re going to do Spelljammer, what other property makes the most sense to bring in as well? I put forth that we’ll see Planescape as the second. Focusing on the broader multiverse and Sigil, the City of Doors, there’s a lot of back and forth that could be done between these two properties which could make for some exciting products that could be released
What are your thoughts on what’s coming down the pipeline? What settings do you want to see brought into 5th Edition and how do you think they could do so?
Ben Erickson
