D&D designer says upcoming rules revision will let WOTC revisit classic settings

In an interview, Dungeons & Dragons lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford explained how the rules revision releasing next year will allow Wizards of the Coast to revisit popular campaign settings like Planescape and Dragonlance.

Between a successful film adaptation and the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, Dungeons & Dragons is having a huge year.

That’s set to continue for the tabletop RPG with new releases such as Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants and Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse. The latter is a three-book set that brings back a classic campaign setting introduced in Second Edition.

Planescape joins settings like Ravenloft, Dragonlance, and Spelljammer that made their grand returns in Fifth Edition, though they have not been expanded upon since.

In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, D&D lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford revealed Wizards of the Coast would like to return to these settings in the future. He also noted that the rule revision coming next year will help make that happen.

Wizards of the Coast

Jeremy Crawford says D&D Fifth Edition’s setting revivals aren’t “one-shots”

After noting that the setting books are among the most popular with players, Crawford discussed how they enhance the Dungeons & Dragons experience. In addition to being a vehicle for telling fantasy stories, “They highlight that D&D can be gothic horror. D&D can be fantasy in space. D&D can be trippy adventures in the afterlife, in terms of Planescape.”

According to Crawford, next year’s long-awaited rules revision, currently being playtested under the name One D&D, will let the designers further expand these campaign settings.

As he put it, “It means we can just keep journeying in the multiverse. Rather than sort of having to reset the clock, [the rules revisions] means then we can return and do different things the next time we visit a setting, look at it through a different angle, explore different parts of the setting, dig deeper in certain areas than we did before.”

This approach makes a lot of sense. Rather than being a brand-new Sixth Edition, the upcoming rules revision is compatible with 5e and all of its existing content. This means a new book for, say, Ravenloft could explore a different aspect of the gothic horror world that draw from different inspirations, rather than having to reintroduce the setting from scratch.

While the Forgotten Realms will always have a place in most D&D players’ hearts (and campaigns), revisiting settings like Ravenloft, Spelljammer, and Eberron opens up the kinds of distinct storytelling possibilities that make D&D the iconic role-playing game it is.