Well, it’s finally that time when we learn a little more about the D&D books that are coming out. I was updating this site a couple of days ago, refreshing the Amazon links to the side, and was tremendously surprised to find there were no upcoming books on Amazon.
But today, there is news – mostly about their prices and release dates! It’s hard to find this information on Amazon or on the Wizards website, so instead I wander to various sites like EN World to learn more about the books. The back half of this year has seen the books incredibly delayed. (See this graphic on EN World).
Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants. August 15, 2023. $59.95. 192 pages. (Available on Amazon for preorder).
Hmm. Price increase. Book about the giants, including player and DM options, giant lore, and 70 new monster stat blocks.
Interesting. Not the killer product that you’d want attached to your first price increase. (It will still probably be better than Redfall).
This is a weird one. I love giants, but I’ve typically not enjoyed books that concentrate on a type of monster. What I do find interesting is that it seems to be giving them a particular history about the Ordning, which we saw a little of in Storm King’s Thunder. The description of the book on D&D Beyond makes it seem like it’s being presented as setting-neutral. It’s “primordial empires on the Material Plane”, not “the Forgotten Realms”. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes a lot of Realms material and recasts it.
How much do you use giants? Will this book change your mind?
The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons. August 15th, 2023. $39.95. 128 pages. (Available on Amazon for preorder).
It’s a compilation of three previous books: A Practical Guide to Dragons, A Practical Guide to Dragon Riding, and A Practical Guide to Dragon Magic. All three of which I’ve never seen, as they’re aimed at younger readers. They were released during the 3E & 4E days as well!
Lots of illustrations, and so it will probably be quite attractive.
But it’s not really a D&D rule book, so moving on…
Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. September 19th, 2023. $59.95.
For me in particular, this is more like it! I love me a good campaign adventure. At least, I hope it is good!
Apparently, according to this it has a horror movie feel, with a mystery about black obelisks found around Faerun, and have goblins as a central antagonist. That’s a little less interesting to me, but you can find Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford talking about the obelisks in this D&D Direct video from March.
(Do I remember anything about these obelisks? Not a thing, despite having run a lot of the 5E adventures – but I haven’t run Rime of the Frostmaiden, where an obelisk is more important. Stupid pandemic, disrupting my play!)
What is really interesting about this is that Crawford and Perkins (reversing their order!) make a big deal about the interconnected nature of the storytelling. I really miss that – it’s been a chief complaint about recent Realms adventures, where they abandoned the idea of a developing world. Tyranny of Dragons, Dragon Heist, and Storm King’s Thunder are three of my favourite adventures, because they are interconnected.
Let’s hope this is a great adventure, which I’ll really enjoy. There’s a fair chance that I’ll be able to start running it immediately – I don’t think the Dragonlance adventure I’m currently running will take that long.
Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse. October 16th, 2023. Price not known. Total page count, 256, split between three hardcovers in a slipcase.
The books are Sigil and the Outlands (96-page setting book), Morte’s Planar Parade (64-page bestiary), and Turn of Fortune’s Wheel (96-page adventure). A DM screen and poster map round out the set. How expensive will it be? I’m guessing more than $60!
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Planescape. Actually, I tell a lie – I’ve often detested the setting. It doesn’t resonate with me; I’ve preferred some of the planar lore I got from the older AD&D books and Gygax’s novels. And then I’ve added more over the years with my own campaigns.
I have no idea whatsoever how I’ll react to this product. Yes, I’ll give it a look. 96 pages for an adventure is pretty good, even given the somewhat decompressed nature of adventure presentation these days. (Consider that Gygax crammed a lot of adventure into 8-pages and two maps with Steading of the Hill Giant Chief!)
The Deck of Many Things. November 14th, 2023. Price not known. 192-pages, 80-page Card Reference guide, 66 illustrated cards.
My mind boggles at the potential price of this. Can I persuade a loved one to give it to me as a gift? I expect that the “Book of Many Things” will end up being a softcover, but I hope to be surprised. 60 Magic-the-Gathering cards currently retail for about $16, but this looks like the cards are oversize. I may be wrong.
I actually really like the sound of this – the deck is customizable. The card reference guide describes what each card does, but you can choose which ones go in the deck. Meanwhile, the Book of Many Things has new character options, magic items, and monsters.
It’ll probably be a grab-bag of stuff. But it could be quite expensive.
Okay, there are two products that I’m really interested in. Two I’ll get because they might be okay. But I feel comfortable skipping the Practically Complete Guide to Dragons. (Though I wonder how much it got revised to the 5E lore?)
Good overview! I’m not a huge fan of the Dragons and Giants source book approach. Would prefer to see more things like Van Richten’s guide and find that kind of book helpful as a DM.
The Deck of Many things doesn’t do much for me. Even playing in person, it may be a lot of money for something which would potentially come up (at most) once per campaign, and possibly even less.
The adventure looks exciting though!
The Deck of Many Things is such a question mark at the moment. It might end up being like Xanathar’s and have a lot of fantastic resources which isn’t just the Deck. Or it might not!
Phandelver and the Deck sound interesting. Having bought (and been disappointed with) Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, I’m leery of the giants book and of the new “guide to dragons” book. And I’m with you in never having understood the appeal of Planescape.