"Dust" and "Midway" - Codenames for Upcoming D&D Hardcovers

Tales from the Yawning Portal was codenamed Labyrinth. Curse of Strahd was Cloak, and Storm King's Thunder was Dagger (or vice versa). Now two new codenames have emerged, spotted by EN World member kettite. Dust is dated 19 Sep 2017, hardcover, $49.95, and Midway is dated 21 Nov 2017, hardcover, $49.95. These have both appeared over on edelweiss' catalog. They do not match the four unnamed RPG Accessories on Amazon. Engage speculation mode - two new hardcovers later this year!

Typically the September release has been an adventure, and the November release a rules book (Sword Coast Adventurers Guide; Volo's Guide to Monsters). WotC has been hinting at a "major rules expansion" for a while now.

My guess? Take it with a massive truckload of salt, but I'm going to guess that Dust is fey or fey wild related. Possible the thing Adventure Time's Pendleton Ward helped with. But it really is a wild guess.

"Dust"
Wizards RPG Team
FRONTLIST
On Sale Date: 19 September 2017
9780786966103, 0786966106
Hardcover
$49.95 USD, $63.95 CAD


"Midway"
Wizards RPG Team
FRONTLIST
On Sale Date: 21 November 2017
9780786966110, 0786966114
Hardcover
$49.95 USD, $63.95 CAD

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[tuxgeo]

I want to speculate that "Dust" was code-named that because it's going to be the first D&D hardcover to be published with a Dustjacket. However, . . .

I'm imagining the start of their search for codenames for 5E, and imagining it went something like this:

"We need codenames for our hardbounds. Give me your best suggestions!"
"What are the contents going to be?"
"That doesn't matter. We're looking for names that have no relation to the contents."
"Why?"
"Operational security, of course. We want it to be impossible for people to guess the contents on the basis of the codenames."
"Where did you get that sort of reason?"
"It's that way the professionals in government do it. You know, the spooks. It's real cloak-and-dagger stuff."
"Okay, but that means you just provided the first two codenames yourself: Cloak and Dagger."

 

[ccs]

I'll be surprised if we don't get a 5e version of Desert of Desolation.
We got the Caves of Chaos in the playtest,
We got a Tiamat/dragon themed adventure ala DL/RHoD,
We got a new version of ToEE,
We got an Underdark adventure,
We got Ravenloft,
We got a giant themed adventure ala the G-series,
We're about to get a compilation of a few modules such as ToH, White Plume, etc.

All we're really missing on the classics checklist is Desert of Desolation & maybe the Slave - Lords series....

 

[Rygar]

Dust could also be a reference to the Plains of Dust in Dragonlance. Honestly, I think we could probably tie the term "Dust" into pretty much every D&D campaign setting.

 

[Shasarak]

Dark Sun would be awesome, but I doubt that WOTC would change there direction now. It's Forgotten Realms with about a page worth of information on how to convert the adventure to other settings LOL.

I would agree with spiggs18. So if that is the case then it should be an adventure path in the Anauroch or possibly Calimshan.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Dark Sun is extremely unlikely because it needs psionics, and finished psionic rules by then aren't highly likely (given that previous statements from Mike Mearls implied at least one more playtest after the one we just got). Now, I could be wrong on that (I was wrong on the PHB making the summer 2014 release date), but that's the way to bet. Indicators that I might be wrong on that would be if we see a psionics feedback survey within 3 weeks, and another playtest out before the end of May. That would give them time to burn the midnight oil and perhaps have the finished ruleset out by September. I wouldn't count on it though--it still seems unlikely.

Since they still haven't figured out what form to publish the big book of mechanics in, it is also not highly likely, though I think it's possibly more likely than psionics, simply because they probably aren't us multiple design iterations to playtest on it. If they get in the rest of the stuff in the next few months, they could have it ready to go by November.

I too am wondering if we'll be getting the big book of crunch this year since they are still putting out playtest material in March, it would seem to me to be a tight turnaround for a release in November (but then again, I am certainly no expert in publishing!).

Also like you, I am also leaning a bit towards a planar adventure (Great Modron March revamp?) and "Manual of the Planes"-type rules book as a reasonably good possibility for the paired release...


(And no doubt they are all reading this and enjoying themselves immensely over our frenzied speculation lol)

 

[Hussar]

Dust could also refer to the fact that several settings have been gathering dust. Maybe we're getting 5e Blackmoor!!!

I thought the code names did relate tangentially to the products though. Dagger is a Macbeth reference and wasn't Lear something of an inspiration for Storm King's Thunder? Or am I misremembering things?

But, in any case, I could totally see Dust being a sort of Tour Des Realms adventure where they open up the Realms for later expansions. You travel from the Sword Coast to a bunch of different locations, opening up a sort of Silk Road to Kara Tur. Good way to give people what they say they want.

 

[Jester David]

I think we'd heard of "Dust" prior, possibly in a podcast.
Could be soooo many things, it's hard to say. Deserts of Desolation is a good guess, albeit a story that takes place outside of Sword Coast. Unless it's in Anauroch, but that's not very Egyptian.
Dark Sun is a stretch because so much other stuff is needed for that setting: psionics, races, the world.

It's probably unrelated. Like "Dagger" was for SKT

 

[Hussar]

Well, there is the Shaar, but, that's a long way from the Sword Coast.

 

[Superchunk77]

I think folks expecting or hoping for Dark Sun are going to be disappointed. They don't even out a Dark Sun entry in the module sidebars. I think it is far more likely we will see Eberron as a second setting (assuming one doesn't count Ravenloft as one). We might see Dragonlance as a big AP with a supporting hardcover but I bet that is still years away.

Not entirely true. They had a whole Dark Sun section in Princes of the Apocalypse, as in how to run the AP in Dark Sun.

Psionics was a huge part of Dark Sun, and was probably the best known setting to include them. With the Mystic playtest in it's third iteration, it seems likely we may see a Dark Sun book. It might not be this "dust" book we are seeing now, but it bodes well for the future.

I'm still hoping for Dark Sun though.

 

[MidwayHaven]

"Midway" sounds interesting, for obvious reasons.