There are plenty of different directions to take when following up the core trio of the revised Dungeons & Dragons 2024 rulebooks, but what this edition truly needs most is a wholly original setting, designed from the ground up around the new rules. D&D hasn't seen a dedicated original setting book released since 2004, more than 20 years ago, when Eberron launched during 3.5’s era. Eberron was an ideal venue for the 3.5 system, and it was a world where every bit of the edition’s content felt perfectly at home. D&D desperately needs a world that showcases its revised rules.

Job listings from Wizards of the Coast suggest it is possible that new DnD settings are coming soon. The company has published setting books which may seem new for 5e DnD, but none of these were designed explicitly for the current rules in the way Eberron was for 3.5. Settings like Theros and Ravnica were ported from WOTC’s Magic: The Gathering IP. The Wildemount setting WOTC published originated with Critical Role, and while the Actual Play is popularly associated with D&D, its campaign originally began using the Pathfinder rule system. None of these settings come close to what Eberron offered.

Eberron Was Designed For 3e D&D From The Ground Up

3.5 Game Mechanics Shaped The World Of Eberron, 5e Needs This Approach

Every Dungeons & Dragons edition differs in its approach to the rules, which impacts world-building and in-fiction reality in its campaign worlds. The 3e system had a magic item creation system built into its core rules. This involved expending both material components and experience to create items, and each item required access to different spells. Eberron made magic item production a part of its world’s economy, rather than an ancient secret lost to the sands of time. The NPC Magewright class and the playable Artificer class both leaned into this theme. D&D mechanics shaped Eberron’s world.

A playtest for DnD 2024 Eberron content is currently underway, but both 4e and 5e’s manuals for Eberron were ports of a setting designed from the ground up for 3.5 DnD. Every edition presents its own take on heroic fantasy, and those differences warrant Eberron-style worlds that illustrate exactly what makes the new edition unique and special. Fourth edition did not have any original settings from WOTC, as it instead pursued a loosely defined “implied setting” in the Nentir Vale region. Unlike Eberron, Nentir Vale was never published as a proper setting book, leaving DMs to fill in the blanks.

While the 4e DnD “Points of Light” theme paired well with its mechanics, and DMs could infer a good deal from the game’s revised cosmology and deities, Nentir Vale was not a true setting in the way Eberron was. Eberron remains one of DnD’s most popular campaign worlds two full editions after its original release, but it is a 3.5 setting converted to work with other rules. Fourth edition certainly deserved a full bespoke setting book, but 5e has been around for longer than 4e, and it's also yet to receive such a campaign world, making it far overdue.

5e Has Had No Original Settings From Wizards

Third Parties Have Done The Heaving Lifting On Original 5e Worlds

The 5e DnD Critical Role collaboration book excited many players, and as of now, there have been three separate 5e setting books published based on the world of Exandria. The fact remains that Exandria began as a campaign world for a Pathfinder game, even if it has existed longer as a 5e DnD setting. It was not designed around the tone suggested by 5e’s rules, with mechanics feeding into fiction, as Eberron did for 3.5. Other fifth edition campaign worlds from WOTC have followed suit, as ports from older DnD editions or other IPs in the company’s portfolio, like Magic.

Where Wizards has dropped the ball on original settings, third parties have certainly stepped up on campaign worlds bespoke for the edition. There are many great sci-fi alternatives to Dungeons & Dragons that use the 5e system, like Esper Genesis and Somnus Domina. Fresh new spins on fantasy, like Cloudsea and Crystalpunk push the limits of the genre, and dark settings like Soulmist and Nightfell provide exciting alternatives to another rip to Ravenloft. Some third-party settings even use 5e mechanics in worlds without magic, like Everyday Heroes and Dr. Grordbort’s Scientific Adventure Violence. Third-party setting variety and creativity is staggering.

If the 2024 revised Dungeons & Dragons hopes to get players excited again, its conservative rule changes are not enough, but an entirely new world to showcase those rules, like Eberron once did, could invigorate the game

The popularity of the 5e system, along with its initially welcoming license, attracted numerous third-party products prior to DnD’s disastrous OGL 1.1 revision plans that were thankfully walked back. These also included a good number of ports to the new system, like the 5e versions of campaign worlds like Numenera, Rokugan, and Iron Kingdoms. Importantly, third parties picked up the slack, giving 5e DnD the fresh campaign worlds that it deserved. Planegea explores a stone age DnD world, Planebreaker involves a cursed moon crashing through the multiverse, and The Wagadu Chronciles delves into African mythology. WOTC, meanwhile, offers nothing new.

An Original Official Setting Could Revitalize 2024 D&D

Regurgitating Greyhawk & Faerun Does Not Make The New D&D Rules Exciting

It's a problem that the most exciting D&D 5e settings are third-party, when WOTC has the resources to produce a fresh setting every year. Many dedicated DnD fans have been playing the game for years, so there is certainly an audience eager to revisit beloved settings like Spelljammer and Planescape. That is no excuse for going more than two decades without a fully realized original world for the tabletop RPG hobby’s flagship game from its own publisher. The bulk of 2014 5e D&D’s content centered on the Forgotten Realms setting, which has been in print since the late 1980s.

With its 2024 revision, D&D has brought Greyhawk back into the spotlight in the new Dungeon Master’s Guide as a possible campaign venue, and Greyhawk dates back to original D&D, prior to the Advanced line. Trotting out Greyhawk is underwhelming, and Forgotten Realms has similarly become overly familiar, with a timeline forced to jump through hoops to accommodate edition changes. For the 2024 revised Dungeons & Dragons to be exciting again, its conservative rule changes are not enough. Adding an entirely new world to showcase those rules, like Eberron once did, could invigorate the game.