Wizards of the Coast have updated their online catalogue through to August 2010 with releases. I’m very pleased to see a number of adventures in the list. (Actually, Martin, if you run some D&D 4E for us this year, I’d love to actually play some 4e…)
It’s been a very odd 2009: I’ve bought every book, but I really haven’t read them much. The Character Builder, Monster Builder and D&D Compendium have superseded a lot of my print library. Then, I’ve just been busy, so not as much reading. I’ve really studied the adventures I’ve been running, but little else…
Not that there hasn’t been quality material there – it’s just I’m not getting so much from the printed page.
2010 Adventures
Dungeon Magazine Annual (May) – Nice idea; 160 pages of good adventures from Dungeon Magazine in a print format. One wonders how many adventures they’ll actually include, but us lovers of print products will like having this on our shelves.
HS1 The Slaying Stone (May) – 32 pages, 1st level characters. I’m a sucker for adventures, but the two HS series adventures are both by Logan Bonner, who was recently “let go” by Wizards. I’m very sorry he won’t be around to write more adventures.
Tomb of Horrors (July) – 160 pages. Ari “Mouseferatu” Marmell and Scott Fitzgerald Gray. Oh, boy. There’s really not more to say about this one. Levels 10-22.
HS2 Orcs of Stonefang Pass (July) – 32 pages, 4th level characters. I wonder what level range this will cover; Logan sounded quite excited about it.
Marauders of the Dune Sea (August) – Dark Sun adventure. I’m not a big fan of Dark Sun, and this is the standard adventure for the setting.
2010 Adventure Locations
Hammerfast (April) – 32 page book on a dwarven town with adventure hooks.
Vor Rukoth: An Ancient Ruins Adventure Site (July) – 32 pages. I like the sound of this adventure location more – the old tiefling empire from the 4e world intrigues me. I just wonder how much can be fitted into 32 pages in the 4e era?
2010 Player Books
Player’s Handbook Races: Dragonborn (January) – 32 pages. This is an odd idea. I don’t know how well 32-page targeted race books will work.
Martial Power 2 (February). We’ve had more Martial classes; and they need more love.
Player’s Handbook 3 (April) – Psionics and Monks. Also Divine and Primal characters. This finishes the “AD&D” segment of the old material and will likely add a lot of new stuff. Adam will enjoy this.
D&D Player’s Strategy Guide (May). This sounds very odd. Click on the link and see what I mean.
Player’s Handbook Races: Tieflings (June) – 32 pages on Tieflings.
2010 Dungeon Tiles
Harrowing Halls (March)
Desert of Athas (June)
Master Set: The Dungeon (July) – setting up a “always in print” set of tiles with generally usable tiles is a great idea. I hope this continues even with SRM gone.
2010 Dungeon Master Books
Underdark (January) – Fantastic! I’m really feeling in need of a good Underdark book. I hope this is it.
The Plane Above: The Astral Sea (April) – Doesn’t thrill me.
Monster Manual 3 (June) – Want more monsters.
Demonomicon (July) – Not sure about this one.
Dark Sun Campaign Setting (August) – No Player book this time around!
Dark Sun Creature Catalog (August) – more monsters!
2010 D&D Miniatures
Streets of Shadow (April) – only DDM set announced this year. Is this the end for D&D Miniatures? OTOH, Peter Lee hasn’t been let go (hooray!)…
Well, there is a little more to say about Tomb of Horrors, in that it’s not just, “You’re 10th level approaching Acerack’s rock garden. We’ll see you back here once you hit 22 and kill the lich” but instead meant to weave into an ongoing game. I’ll be interested in how it works out.
Having had a great time with the current HPE series, I’m looking forward to the new adventures. Not sure if I’ll run them- I think we might finish off Orcus by March (10 encounters before the end of Death’s Reach, and I think 1 more session before I leave for the holidays), but I’ve already started my Primordial Victory game (which I’ll be running a session of before the holidays, by player request), and I have a plan to run converted 1E adventures as a build up to Revenge of the Giants (probably hold off starting that until PHB3 is out). Maybe one of my players will take up the mantle.
No love for Dark Sun? I’m also willing to trudge back into 2E for that setting. I’ll be running this as well.
The Astral Sea… if it has some good material on the githyanki, might be worthwhile. But I’ll grab Elemental Chaos before I get this, and neither is high on my priority.
I’d always heard that minis did good business for Wizards, but I’ve read accounts on ENWorld that the character packs didn’t sell well. I’m hoping they show up on the schedule again- I really like some of the sculpts we’ve gotten, and the monsters have likewise been great. Hrm. Maybe they’re setting up to license miniatures to a company that can specialize in them?