The Worst Thing WotC Doesn’t Do (But Should)

I make no secret that I am an avid Dungeons and Dragons player. I am a forever DM (and proud of it– really, I don’t understand people who get tired of running games).

Now, there has been a lot of controversy about WotC this year, and this post is not about that. (If you want that, listen to my commentary here.)

What I want to focus in on is something that has grated me pretty much from the beginning:

Dungeons and Dragons does not actively support all the official settings.

A Little Wizards History

The original settings ran primarily from the late 1970s into the 1990s, Dungeons and Dragons started with a handful of settings from various people at TSR, the original Dungeons and Dragons company. These settings were their babies and when they wrote, they wrote for their setting. (I’m sure with the input of the others at TSR. Among these are the Blackmoor, Mystara, and Greyhawk settings. Over time, and various writers leaving or the buy-out of rights, Blackmoor and Mystara lost their official status. Greyhawk is the last official, original D&D setting (though it has yet to recieve any publication for fifth edition, otherwise known as 5e).

During the 1980s, Dungeons and Dragons did develop some of the most known official settings: Ravenloft (1983), Dragonlance (1984), the Forgotten Realms of Faerun (1987), and Spelljammer (1989). All of these are still official settings and became the main touchstones for the breadth of what the game could do. Want horror? Use the horror setting of Ravenloft. Want high fantasy? Use Forgotten Realms. Want high fantasy with A LOT OF DRAGONS?! Dragonlance. Want space? Spelljammer. All of these settings have made it to 5e– but one of these settings would become THE setting, the one setting to rule them all: the Forgotten Realms.

But Wizards of the Coast would still create new settings, of course. During the 1990s and early 2000s another handful of settings would be created. Dark Sun (1991), Planescape (1994), and (my known preferred setting) Eberron (2004). Dark Sun provided a post-apocalyptic setting akin to Mad Max and Fallout while drawing heavily on Dune. (It is a really cool setting that hasn’t hit 5e.) Eberron provided something akin to steampunk (though it is more described as arcanepunk or magipunk); it also has various areas which could be used for a variety of genres. Planescape introduced a story-driven method of hopping between these planes of existence, known as the Great Wheel, through the city of Sigil.

There is a dirth of settings for over a decade after this. Out of this rut of settings, there are a few created settings to tie-in WotC’s other property, Magic: the Gathering. These are Ravnica (2018), Theros (2020), and Strixhaven (2021). Another setting that became official was actually the creation of Matt Mercer, of Critical Role fame; Exandria became an official setting in 2020 with The Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount (2020). The only wholly original setting, the Radiant Citadel (2022) is very similar to Sigil, but with a focus on multiculturalism.

By the publishing of 3rd Edition D&D in 2000, several of these settings were effectively or officially cut. Wizards of the Coast, having recently purchased TSR, ignored most of the settings and primarily focused on Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. When publishing 3rd edition, WotC focused in even more on Forgotten Realms (Faerun), including pushing video games and novels to be focused on Faerun as their flagship setting. It would be the main setting of 4th edition and has remained the main setting of 5e.

A Little Personal History

I started playing D&D much later than I like to admit. I think I saw my first game of Dungeons and Dragon in high school and was invited to my first game in college. I thought, “Man, I’m not that nerdy.” (Spoiler: I regret not getting in at this point. I was that nerdy; I am that nerdy.)

I started playing D&D almost with the arrival of 5e, around 2015 or 2016. I immediately fell in love. I played with some friends. I quickly started to DM, especially as a means of making friends while living in Europe. The early chapters of the Dungeon Master’s Guide was all about setting creation– so I dived right in! I poured HOURS into creating everything. I’ve always liked writing, so this was done with delight.

I had seen adventures published and heard of the Forgotten Realms, but I didn’t want to do that stuff– I wanted to run my own creations. (While this was much harder, and I wouldn’t recommend it for most people getting into DMing, it did teach me a whole lot about how to DM and how the system works.)

BUT THEN: EBERRON.

It was 2019. I had seen it come up occasionally in the playtest material, Unearthed Arcana. I was intrigued by the idea of dragonmarks, warforged, and the artificer class. I thought I would pick it up, my first book that wasn’t the core books or Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, to take that information and put it into my personal setting. But the more I read, the more I loved the new setting.

The next book put out for D&D was Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which is semi-setting agnostic. You could put Saltmarsh in any setting– though it appeared to have one in mind.

“That’s fine,” I thought. “They’ll get to Eberron.”

I was wrong. The next one was set in Balder’s Gate (and the Hells). And the next one was set in Icewind Dale. I looked back at all the adventures. All of them had one thing in common…

What Setting is Supported?

In case you haven’t guessed it, the one thing the adventures all had in common was that they were set in the Forgotten Realms, especially focusing on the region known as the Sword Coast.

Roughly ten adventures focused on one place. Three adventures, primarily anthologies of smaller adventures which could be strung together to create a campaign, were semi-setting agnostic (this includes Saltmarsh). Only one adventure was set elsewhere: Curse of Strahd was set in Ravenloft.

What is wrong with the Forgotten Realms?

The short, most true answer? Nothing. The Forgotten Realms is fine. If you’re looking for a kind of broad high fantasy, the Forgotten Realms works. The problem doesn’t stem from the setting itself: it’s that WotC treats it like it’s the only real setting.

Books in the Forgotten Realms are still being written by R.A. Salvatore. The new Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie is set around Waterdeep in the Forgotten Realms. Balder’s Gate III (whose early access/playtest has been phenomenal) is set around Balder’s Gate– which is another city in the Forgotten Realms.

And there’s nothing wrong with this.

But, if you’re like me and love another setting, you quickly realize your setting gets no love. There are no new Eberron books. There are no Eberron movies or shows in the pipeline (that I’ve heard of). There’s no Eberron videogame in production. (From what I’ve played of the Balder’s Gate III game, they could keep this system and just give me a new story in Eberron and I’d be happy as a clam.)

Nor are there any of these things for other settings. (Except Ravenloft gets a storyline in the Dungeons and Dragons MMORPG, Neverwinter. You’ve done it again, Strahd.)

And, in order to play Dungeons and Dragons with in your favorite setting, you have to put in more work than Forgotten Realms players. You have to come up with new adventures or convert the plethora of Forgotten Realms adventures into one for your setting.

Because there isn’t one written for yours and it doesn’t look like there will be.

But…

I’m sure that there are a few questions raised about this.

Wasn’t there an Eberron adventure put out? Wasn’t there an adventure for Exandria? Weren’t there adventures put out for all the settings?

Near as I can tell, the only way any settings get any love is if there are other creators, mostly not from WotC, who create it.

The Call of the Netherdeep is an adventure which supports Exandria– but was created by the people at Critical Role. WotC gets to publish it and collect some profits, but didn’t do nearly as much as the people at CR did. (And they did a great job too!)

Most settings don’t get much in the way of any WotC content. You have to go on the Dungeon Master’s Guild to find anything created by anyone. The closest you can find to support are the D&D Adventurer’s League supplements, which DMs have to purchase adventure by adventure (chapter by chapter) or as one big, expensive bundle. And this is if you’re a lucky fan of one of two settings: Eberron and Ravenloft.

So far, Eberron has two of these Adventurer’s League series books: Embers of the Last War and Oracle of War. Ravenloft has a series (the Mist Hunters series) which hops between the various dark domains, giving Strahd a bit of a rest. But even with bundles, these cost more than you would spend on an official adventure book.

Can’t you just put in the work to make your own adventures or convert the published adventures over to Eberron?

I can. I do. I even am working on publishing such content on the DM’s Guild myself. But it’s a lot of work, more work than I would have to do if I just liked Forgotten Realms. (Which, I don’t really care for. It feels like liking vanilla when there are so many other flavors out there. There are DMs who make some great vanilla bean, but I really want some chocolate Ravenloft, some neopolitan Eberron, or any other flavor as an option.)

And, again, I’m actually kind of lucky. Eberron is a very popular setting. Other creators make a lot of stuff for it, including and especially its original creator, Keith Baker. And I buy everything I can because it’s the only water in this setting desert.

What I Want From Wizards

It’s not too much of a request, I think: I literally just want a campaign book for Eberron. There technically is a full one for Ravenloft with Curse of Strahd. I can see why they might not do full adventures for some of the MTG settings (though Curriculum of Chaos is a full campaign for Strixhaven included in the book). Spelljammer was split into three books, one of which was a 64 page adventure/campaign. (And this for a setting I also don’t care much for– and which apparently was one that sold poorly.)

I think that any setting they release should get the support of AT LEAST one full campaign.

It’s not that WotC can’t do this; it’s just that they don’t. And it’s my biggest pet peeve.

Thank you for reading!

What do you think? Do you also hate the hyper focus on Forgotten Realms? Do you also love Eberron? Let me know in the comments below! And don’t forget to like and subscribe!

(And hey, WotC, if you need a writer to work on an adventure, I know a guy… it’s me. I’m the guy.)