Should WOTC Make New Campaigns Settings? – Lazy RPG Talk Show

Eberron: Rising from the Last War provides everything needed to play D&D in Eberron, a world where magic powers airships, lightning trains, and everyday life amid the shadows of a devastating war. Players explore intrigue-filled cities like Sharn, confront war-born monsters, and use new options like the artificer class, dragonmarks, warforged, and group patrons. The book includes lore on factions, a starter adventure, and guidance for campaigns in this noir-inspired setting blending mystery and swashbuckling action.

Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica is a 256-page sourcebook that brings the Magic: The Gathering plane of Ravnica to Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. It provides detailed lore on the ten guilds, new playable races such as centaurs, minotaurs, loxodons, vedalken, and Simic hybrids, subclass options like the Order Domain Cleric and Circle of Spores Druid, plus tools for creating guild-based adventures, magic items, monsters, and NPCs. The book includes a short introductory adventure and guidance for Dungeon Masters to build campaigns in Ravnica's Tenth District.

This item was discussed in the episode as 'Melf's Guide to Greyhawk,' a reported or rumored Greyhawk sourcebook connected to Luke Gygax and Wizards of the Coast. Mike Shea described hopes that it would be a high-quality, widely distributed WotC hardcover similar to recent setting books, rather than a smaller DMs Guild product. The conversation framed the book as notable for potentially bringing the Gygax name into an official WotC-published D&D product and for catering to legacy fans while also serving new players. At the time of the episode, details and format were not fully confirmed, and the mention reflected community reporting and speculation rather than a detailed product breakdown.

Arcana of the Ancients adapts Monte Cook's Numenera setting—science-fantasy set a billion years in the future—into D&D 5E-compatible content, offering setting lore, cypher-like artifacts, and conversion guidance. The product was created by Monte Cook alongside veteran designers Bruce Cordell and Sean Reynolds to translate Numenera's themes into playable 5E material. Shea cited it as a notable setting produced by designers with deep D&D experience and useful for groups seeking a different tone from traditional fantasy. The book includes setting background, adventure seeds, and rules adaptations to capture Numenera's unique technology-as-magic flavor.

Primeval Thule is a campaign setting published by Sasquatch Games developed by veteran designers David Noonan, Rich Baker, and Stephen Schubert, evoking a sword-and-sorcery tone with deep worldbuilding and period flavor. Mike Shea noted his personal contribution of a few monsters and cited the designers' D&D backgrounds. The book provides rich setting lore, factions, and adventure hooks suitable for gritty or heroic fantasy campaigns. Its pedigree and focused theme make it a strong option for GMs seeking a robust non-official setting.

Talis is a comprehensive city sourcebook published by Monte Cook Games, offering hundreds of pages of setting detail, locations, factions, and adventure hooks designed for urban campaigns. Monte Cook and collaborators built the book as a richly detailed toolkit for GMs seeking a single, deep locale to run long-term campaigns. Mike Shea mentioned it as an aspirational book he'd like to use and praised its depth and focus. Talis originated from Monte Cook's long-term development of a personal setting and was later polished into a large-format product valued for its dense, table-ready material.

Grim Hollow is a third-party gothic fantasy campaign setting and rules expansion produced by Ghostfire Gaming, offering dark themes, world lore, and optional mechanics for grimmer campaigns. Mike Shea listed it among several high-quality third-party settings created by designers with D&D experience. Grim Hollow includes setting backgrounds, new subclasses or mechanics (depending on edition), and modules geared toward campaigns with horror and grimdark tones. Its production and design aim to provide GMs with a ready-to-run world that can be adapted into various playstyles.