In an interview with Todd Kenreck, D&D's Jeremy Crawford was talking about the Owlin, a playable race of Owl-folk that will be coming with Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. The Strixhaven book is D&D's third book based on content from Magic: the Gathering (MTG had its own crossover the other way with this year's "Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms" set) though it's a bit different from the conventional campaign setting sourcebooks, Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica and Mythic Odysseys of Theros. The Strixhaven book is going to be more of an adventure book, with, if I recall correctly, four different adventures that can be linked together to form a full campaign, all based around the magical school of Strixhaven.
Though the Owlin were initially being presented in the "Folk of the Feywild" Unearthed Arcana article that gave us our first look at the playable Fairy, as well as the Rabbitfolk, who became the Harengon in Wild Beyond the Witchlight, the Owlkin, who would become the Owlin, were being previewed for the other book (no word yet on the Hobgoblin of the Feywild.)
Now, sure, sometimes things in UA just don't wind up coming out. The Brute Fighter was previewed along with the Circle of Spores Druid and Order Cleric and School of Invention Wizard. Spores and Order were published in Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, while the School of Invention's central conceit was reworked as a magic item - the Mizzium Apparatus, which members of Ravnica's Izzet League can get when they hit a certain level of renown. I suspect the Brute Martial Archetype was probably being conceived to thematically serve for members of the Gruul Clans or maybe the Cult of Rakdos, but mechanically and perhaps conceptually, it didn't really jump out as well as the ones that did get published.
But the point I'm actually trying to make is that UA articles are not always presented as playtesting material for a single book. And that got me thinking... Did we miss something in the most recent UA, Travelers of the Multiverse?
Travelers of the Multiverse presented several new playable races - the Astral Elf, Autognome, Giff, Plasmoid, Hadozee, and Thri-kreen.
This seemed to confirm that there is a Spelljammer book in the works - my hope is that it's a setting sourcebook like Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.
Giff, seen in 5th Edition in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, premiered in the Spelljammer setting. And the sci-fi feel of Autognomes and Plasmoids both make them clear fits for Spelljammer's science-fantasy premise. The Hadozee, a race of simian humanoids who can glide around like flying squirrels, I believe, are very similar to a playable race called the Yazirians in Star Frontiers, a different game published by TSR in the early 80s. In fact, a race very similar to the Yazirians were depicted as "Shadow People" in Dragonlance and then, as Hadozee in Spelljammer, meaning we've got a pretty obvious connection there as well.
Given the weirdness of the science-fantasy Spelljammer setting, it's conceivable that the UA post was entirely about Spelljammer.
But...
First off, we have the Astral Elf. The Astral Elves are from the Astral Plane. One of the oddities of the design here is that it's presented as its own race, rather than as a subrace of the elves from the Player's Handbook. I suspect this is to enshrine the new design philosophy toward races - in the PHB, all elves get a +2 bonus to Dexterity, with a +1 to something else depending on their subrace. In a world in which new races are being given the option to choose any +2/+1 distribution or a +1/+1/+1 distribution, it might get a bit muddied.
The Astral Plane does, in some ways, serve as a "space"-like realm for D&D. But Spelljammer focuses instead (at least in the previous editions) on fleshing out the Prime Material Plane as one with its own magical phenomena. The Astral Plane is more like space for the Outer Planes, but too alien to simply be the space between worlds of the prime material.
But honestly, the Astral Elves aren't what got me thinking.
It's the Thri-kreen.
The Thri-kreen have been in 5th Edition as creatures in the Monster Manual since the beginning. But the Thri-kreen were a playable race in Dark Sun, and have been one of the options for that setting in every edition that has portrayed the setting (which I believe is 2nd, 3rd, and 4th so far.)
Dark Sun was a very popular setting in the 90s, depicting a desperate, resource-starved world under the control of dystopian sorcerer-kings. It certainly had that very edgy 90s feel to it that might not be as strongly in vogue these days, but it's one of those settings that seems to really push the game out of its comfort zones - not only focusing on a desert environment, but also making the very use of arcane magic a dangerous prospect, and making something as simple as metal a rare commodity. Notably, as well, Dark Sun has a strong theme of psionics (I believe that Dune was a major inspiration for the setting, which is a story in which extraordinary mental abilities play a huge role, not to mention a strong focus on control of resources, a desert world, and god-like rulers overseeing a cruel civilization.)
My general stance is that I'm more interested in settings that do something really unique and different. Dark Sun sounds like it would stand out.
We know that there are a couple classic settings being worked on. Spelljammer seems practically confirmed. But I haven't really seen a lot of buzz around Dark Sun.
Doing some cursory research (a.k.a. looking it up on Wikipedia,) it looks like most of the classic Dark Sun races already have some representation in 5th Edition. Thri-kreen are one of the few missing. Another that seems interesting is the Mul - which are half-human/half-dwarves. Actually, given that we have half-elves and half-orcs, I'm kind of shocked that half-dwarves aren't a more common trope (there's a ton of precedence for half-elves. Did you know that even Elrond in Lord of the Rings is actually half-human?)
Anyway, it's a possible hint. I know that some of the more traditional settings like Greyhawk and Dragonlance have their fans, and for all I know, they might be really cool. But I think that, having the Forgotten Realms already, I'll find it a bit harder to get really amped up for another traditional medieval fantasy setting. Spelljammer and Dark Sun, though? I'm on board for sure.
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