Dungeons & Dragons Is Developing Two New Settings, Targeting More Classic Settings for 2022 Release

The head of the Dungeons & Dragons studio has confirmed that two new campaign settings are in early development, while two other “classic” settings are in the pipeline for 2022. Earlier today, Ray Winninger, the head of Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons studio provided a brief update on Twitter about the status of various D&D settings. Winninger noted that there are two products in production that will “revive” classic campaign settings. One of those is being overseen by Chris Perkins, the Lead Story Designer for Dungeons & Dragons, while the other product is being worked upon by Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft lead designer Wes Schneider and narrative designer Ari Levitch. Both of those products are “targeted” for a 2022 release and are in formats fans have “never seen before.”

Fans have long clamored for a return to several classic D&D campaign settings, with the Spelljammer, Planescape, and Dark Sun campaign settings usually getting mentioned in online conversations. Perkins is notably a fan of both the Planescape and Spelljammer settings and is usually linked to large campaign books, so it’s possible that we’ll see an adventure that takes place in one of those classic worlds.

Additionally, Winninger provided D&D fans with some additional surprise news – Wizards of the Coast is working on two new D&D settings. Both those worlds are not Magic: The Gathering worlds and are in early development. Both of these products would be “different” formats than what D&D has produced in the past, but are not “digital only” products. No other details were provided about these new settings are, but they would be the first new non-Magic: The Gathering settings to be introduced by Wizards of the Coast in quite some time.

Finally, Winninger mentioned that the D&D studio was working on a “return” to a setting already covered in a previous product. This is also not a Magic: The Gathering world, which means that it’s either somewhere in the Forgotten Realms, Eberron, or Ravenloft.

Winninger did note that the D&D studio develops more material than what actually makes it to production, so it’s possible that one or more of the newly announced in-development products don’t make it to production. However, Winninger noted that all of the new products were looking “great” so far.

Dungeons & Dragons has had a busy couple of weeks. Wizards of the Coast announced two new products last week – The Wild Beyond the Witchlight adventure was announced for a September release, while Strixhaven: Cirriculum of Chaos (a Magic: The Gathering crossover) will be released in November. An unannounced product will also be released between those two books.