D&D 5E Upcoming D&D Tidbits: Phandelver, Book of Many Things, Venger, & More!

D&D Beyond has shared some more tidbits of information about upcoming products, including this summer's new Phandelver campaign, and information about Vecna, Planescape, and spring's Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, and more.

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Here are the highlights:

• In the 2024 Vecna adventure, you will visit various worlds.
• Art by Brian Valezer and Kent Davis from fall 2023's Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants was shared (see below), along with art from the Phandelver campaign by José Manzanedo. There was additional art from Planescape and more which you can see in the video.
• The new Phandelver book will include the existing adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver in the first half and then continue on to higher levels from there.
• They're reimagining Planescape for today's audience--honouring the roots then expanding.
• More cards are being added to the Deck of Many Things in winter 2023's Book of Many Things. A new product type--a deck of cards and an accompanying book. The book digs into the history of the deck and its cosmic place as a force of chaos. It contains player and DM content.
• Venger, the villain from the 1980s D&D cartoon who will be featuring in an upcoming storyline and WotC's Chris Perkins might have hinted he is actually a Red Wizard--'a redder Red Wizard' was the phrase used.
• Many of the various bad guys in the League of Malevolence appeared in the D&D cartoon series -- Kelek, Warduke, etc.

Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants (art by Brian Valezer)

Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants (art by Kent Davis)

Phandelver Campaign (art by José Manzanedo)

Book of Many Things (art by Craig J. Spearing)​

 

[Stormonu]

View attachment 281998
What cards are these?

Comet, ? , Key, Rogue, Fates, Talon

 

[R_J_K75]

If I don't own the original insertion of this product, I would like the campaign to not be piecemeal, thanks. I'm happy with this delivery method.

And if I own the original?

 

[Demetrios1453]

I could see this going pretty high Level, particularly if the big Vecna campaign is a more high Level affair meant to pair well.

The more I think about it, I'm guessing that the Vecna adventure is going to start around level 10 - 12 or so. Not only does a high-level adventure suit Vecna, but they've made sure to point out that most of the published adventures feature one of the obelisks we now know are tied to Vecna. Basically, after you're done with one of the regular adventures that takes you up to level 12 or so, some weird shenanigans with the obelisk the group discovered kicks off the Vecna adventure. That way, we get the high-level adventure everyone has been wanting, and it acts as a sequel to most of the other adventures so groups can continue on after the first adventure is done.

(Or, the Vecna adventure is going to be huge - split into two halves, with a regular low-level half that ends up with the party discovering something about the obelisks and/or Vecna, at which point other adventures can segue in as described above).

 

[Ranger REG]

I feel old. Ever since I watched the D&D Animated Series on Saturday Morning Cartoons, I never thought the story took place in FR. Oh, well.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Ah yes, “reimagining for a new audience”, some of the most ominous collection of words in the English language.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

And if I own the original?

Then you get it twice! See also my comment to another poster regarding this:

Fair enough. But I would still prefer to have the whole thing available to me. Are you concerned about cut content? I can understand that argument.

 

[mamba]

Then you get it twice!

precisely, somehow I am not as excited about that as you are about getting it for the first time. That is why having a new start would be better overall. You miss nothing and I get nothing a second time

 

[R_J_K75]

Then you get it twice! See also my comment to another poster regarding this:

@Ulorian - Agent of Chaos , this isnt directed to you, Im just replying to your post but just speaking my opinion at the same time, so please don't take it personally, that's not my intention.

If I already bought it once, I don't feel I should need to buy it twice just to get the additional information on the area. I do keep up on 5E just to see what's coming down the line. Mega adventures or piecemeal mini compilation adventures just dont do it for me. 5Es output has become too formulaic for my tastes. Where's the occasional Pages from the Mages, the Bastion of Faith, Den of Thieves products, et al we used to see in 1E & 2E. Everything just seems a rehash, making Venger a Redder Red Wizard IMO is scraping the bottom of the nostalgia barrel, Another edition ending adventure with Vecna doesn't seem too intriguing. I want books that are useful to me, as I write my own adventures more or less. Long running adventures 200-300 pages just make me feel like I need to hire a lawyer to make heads or tails of it and still have to re-read the adventure to refresh before sessions, which at 16/32/64 pages wasn't too bad of a task but at 200-300 pages that's asking a lot. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that what WotC/D&D is putting out is bad or inferior products, I've bought and read most 5e books up until the last year give or take, and Ive usually found a bit here and there that I used in my game. For instance, the Soul Tanks from Descent into Avernus (IIRC) was a fun addition to our game. So I want to be clear I'm not saying WotC or D&D or what they are putting out sucks, I just haven't seen anything in the 2023-2024 release schedule that looks new and interesting to me. I miss the shorter niche books and would like to see them return as an occasional release. I suppose its a tough job for WotC balancing 50 years of the games history and updating it with a new setting or supplement that changes previously stated lore. I'm not done with D&D or WotC and Im still holding out hope and really do want 1D&D to clean up the 2014 version so its easier to prep, run and play. Ultimately, preferably I'd like to see the game evolve a little passed the d20 system which it doesnt seem to have done so much since 2000 when 3E was released. Sure its changed but to me it still feels the core mechanic is pretty much the same.

 

[R_J_K75]

2014 was a quarter of my life ago: before all my kids were born, even! Sure, this was more readily available for purchase just a year ago, but the number of people who have fond memories of Phandelver from the past decade is significant.

Not that it matters but you're ~36? I'll be 48 in June. I think it helps sometimes in a conversation if you know someone's age. My neighbor moved in about 7-8 years ago, he's a great guy, 32 now I believe, and we hang out quite a bit. In fact were playing D&D today at 1PM. But its funny because I'll bring up a subject and him and his younger brother say, we have no clue what your talking about, we weren't even born yet. I'm always amazed, he can turn a wrench and fix just about anything, where as Im not very mechanically inclined. @Parmandur, you seem to have an uncanny knowledge of D&D and the latest news surrounding the hobby, me Im not too informed and don't have the wherewithal to keep track of all the websites and social media sites to keep up on things, so honestly if I had a question on one thing or another Id probably ask you.

 

[Parmandur]

Not that it matters but you're ~36? I'll be 48 in June. I think it helps sometimes in a conversation if you know someone's age. My neighbor moved in about 7-8 years ago, he's a great guy, 32 now I believe, and we hang out quite a bit. In fact were playing D&D today at 1PM. But its funny because I'll bring up a subject and him and his younger brother say, we have no clue what your talking about, we weren't even born yet. I'm always amazed, he can turn a wrench and fix just about anything, where as Im not very mechanically inclined. @Parmandur, you seem to have an uncanny knowledge of D&D and the latest news surrounding the hobby, me Im not too informed and don't have the wherewithal to keep track of all the websites and social media sites to keep up on things, so honestly if I had a question on one thing or another Id probably ask you.

Pushing 38 later this year! I'm already starting to get those "wow, I wasn't Vornado yet" conversations about events still very present in my mind with adults, lol.

I'm currently really digging what WotC has been laying down, so I pay attention to their social media accounts, and my memory is rather good. Speculating on what they are up to is almost a second hobby for me.