I haven't delved too deeply here about the not-new edition of Dungeons & Dragons core rule books that are rolling out this year, but I do have some thoughts, and probably not the ones you're thinking about.
First off, no, I don't have a problem or issue with the concept of Wizards of the Coast releasing an updated 5th Edition rule book. Even if they decided to go to a 6th Edition, I wouldn't really have an issue. They've done it before and I've still played the game from AD&D through to the present. Yes, I know that there are other TTRPGs out there with Pathfinder probably being the most accessible in transitioning away from WotC.
But my resistance to moving away from the current edition, or really away from the primary focus of modules since 3rd Edition has been that I really love the world of Faerûn in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. My introduction to D&D was a mishmash of campaign settings as we played whatever modules Dellanos already had access to. We did play one Dragonlance quest where Dellanos said that there wasn't going to be as much combat and all I really recall was talking a lot and traveling back and forth between a village and a castle. And probably something about a dragon. Then after I became the defacto DM and we played through two quests that I wrote myself that didn't take place in any specific campaign setting, I dragged Dr. Potts and Dellanos into Ravenloft, which is where we stayed until we all went off to college at separate times.
Then sometime in 2000 (I think?), Dellanos or. . . I don't have a name for him. . . so let's call him GMan (no he doesn't work for any branch of the government) lent me a copy of all six of the CDs for Baldur's Gate. That was my real introduction to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Then I got into Baldur's Gate II. Then Neverwinter Nights and I was all in on that world and setting, bearing in mind that I had only read a couple of old D&D novels or short story collections that predated anything by Douglas Niles or R.A. Salvatore. I knew about Drizz't and Elminster, but only because they had cameos in Baldur's Gate. After having read 24 novels in the Forgotten Realms setting, I am even more invested than when 5th Edition rolled out, being the setting for the majority of their modules.
Now with the new core rule books, they've changed the setting to that of Greyhawk Adventures, although keep in mind that I haven't read the new Player's Handbook so I don't know the extent that this setting is cemented into every fiber of the book. That threw me for a bit of a loop. From what I've understood from the last handful releases (Monsters of the Multiverse, Quests from the Infinite Staircase, and Vecna: Eve of Ruin), but not knowing how Eve of Ruin concludes, I guess there could be the case that Greyhawk Adventures is now the primary setting. I was initially really excited when I saw that the characters from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon were featured in some of the key artwork, even with Venger gracing the cover of the Dungeon Masters Guide.
But I just really like The Forgotten Realms.
And this is where other TTRPG settings come in. I know I could play Pathfinder or Blades in the Dark, and enjoy those worlds, but I still feel invested in the Forgotten Realms. I don't know. I know my brain is big enough to understand and enjoy more than one fictional fantasy setting. I like the world of The Witcher (is it just "The Continent"?) and Middle Earth, and Willow, and Westeros, and I can enjoy those stories without feeling conflicted. But if I were to sit down and actually partake in NaNoWriMo, it would be a quest in the Forgotten Realms setting.
Maybe that's in part where all of this is leading? Again, I don't know. Maybe it's also in part to justify to my midbrain that I don't need three new core rulebooks with really cool new art and a conglomeration of 5th Edition material in a new campaign setting*.
I don't know.
*Again, not having read through any of the books, I don't really know how much emphasis there is on Greyhawk Adventures being the new campaign setting over Forgotten Realms.
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