D&D General Greyhawk to Faerun and Beyond: A Multiversal D&D Lore Book Is Coming This Fall

This coming October, a 360+ page hardcover which delves into Dungeons & Dragons' various worlds and settings will be released. The book isn't from WotC--it's from Ten Speed Press--but it's by Adam Lee, who wrote for Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus and Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. The book comes full of 50-years of artwork, and is narrated by the famous wizard Mordenkainen. Additionally, the book contains some original fiction.

Dungeons & Dragons Worlds & Realms: Adventures from Greyhawk to Faerûn and Beyond is available for pre-order already.

The book covers Greyhawk, Mystara, Dragonlance, Faerun, Eberron, the Feywild and Shadowfell, Spelljammer, the Nine Hells, the Abyss, Sigil, and the Far Realm. It's a book of lore and story, not a rulebook, giving an overall of D&D's entire multiverse and its many worlds.

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Celebrate fifty years of the spellbinding settings and planes of Dungeons & Dragons with this beautifully illustrated exploration of the multiverse.

Worlds & Realms is an illustrated, story-driven retrospective celebrating the immersive worldbuilding of D&D since the iconic game’s inception in 1974. Legendary mage Mordenkainen takes adventurers on a fantastical journey through the multiverse, delving into memorable and fascinating lore and locations across all five editions of the game.

With Mordenkainen’s guidance, readers will revisit worlds that have come to define D&D over the decades, from the familiar realms of the Material Plane to lands beyond the Astral Sea. Mordenkainen’s philosophical musings provide a mage’s-eye view of the worlds’ unique features, creatures, and characters, captivating readers’ imaginations as they learn more about the history and mysteries of the multiverse. Additionally, readers will join adventuring parties with inhabitants of each realm through exclusive short stories by award-winning contributors Jaleigh Johnson, Jody Houser and Eric Campbell, Jasmine Bhullar, and Geoffrey Golden.

Full of exciting and enchanting artwork showing fifty years of gameplay evolution from vintage D&D through the present, with original cover and chapter-opener illustrations, Worlds & Realms is a spellbinding tour of the strange and wonderful worlds of the multiverse, appealing to both new and long-standing fans alike.

Polygon has some previews of the book.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

From Polygon:

Even if the D&D Lego sets and Converse sneakers weren’t your thing, you might be interested in their upcoming offering: Worlds & Realms: Adventures from Greyhawk to Faerûn and Beyond, written by former D&D designer Adam Lee (Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist).


Typically priced at $50, the book is available to pre-order ahead of its Oct. 29 release at a slightly discounted cost of $46.50. And if you’re someone who loves to immerse themselves in D&D lore and world-building, you’ll definitely want to check this book out.


D&D’s multiverse is extremely vast and complicated, and Worlds & Realms seems to fill a much-needed gap to help both newcomers and long-time players make sense of its fantastical realms. Featuring artwork pulled from 50 years of sourcebooks and adventures, each chapter of this illustrated guide takes a close look at one of the many worlds, planes, and settings in the D&D multiverse — from the beloved plane of Mystara, to the perilous Shadowfell, to Spelljammer’s boundless Astral Sea.


But this is no dry, matter-of-fact history book. Instead, readers will explore these settings through the narration of the archmage Mordenkainen, who shares his personal experiences of these locations and thoughts on the legendary characters who’ve lived there. Readers will dive deep into Mordenkainen’s beloved home of Greyhawk (the default setting for the soon to be released 2024 revision of the Dungeon Master’s Guide), and learn how his belief in the Balance influences his run-ins with creatures across the multiverse.


Worlds & Realms also features original stories by Jasmine Bhullar, Geoffrey Golden, Jody Houser and Eric Campbell, and Jaleigh Johnson.

Lots of page layouts at Polygon, featuring iconic art from past editions, as well as new-to-me pieces.

It doesn't look like this gets anywhere near the level of detail a full campaign setting would offer, or even what the DMG's take on Oerth is likely to be, but this seems like it'd be a neat edition-proof product for DMs who just want a high level view on WotC's take on each of these worlds, as well as for people who are big fans of the official D&D meta-setting.

 

[Meech17]

Well this is a neat product I didn't know I wanted.

Perhaps this is a way for WOTC to take the temperature of the consumer base and see what they're interested in. If this sells really well maybe they'll take it as a sign that there is a desire for more setting products.

 

[Parmandur]

From Polygon:

Lots of page layouts at Polygon, featuring iconic art from past editions, as well as new-to-me pieces.

It doesn't look like this gets anywhere near the level of detail a full campaign setting would offer, or even what the DMG's take on Oerth is likely to be, but this seems like it'd be a neat edition-proof product for DMs who just want a high level view on WotC's take on each of these worlds, as well as people who are big fans of the official D&D meta-setting.

Ten Speed Press was hinting at a new "Lore book" in the Gen Con event info, guess this is it. Seems very in like woth similar products WotC has done for Magic: the Gathering over the years!

368 pages, it explicitly states that Mystara, Greyhawk, Spelljammer, and "the Ahadowfell" get covered. Probably more than enough information for moat DMs to build out the Settings or use ideas if desired.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Perhaps this is a way for WOTC to take the temperature of the consumer base and see what they're interested in. If this sells really well maybe they'll take it as a sign that there is a desire for more setting products.

The way we'll measure that, of course, is how much outraged howling there is -- "only 24 pages on Mystara?!"

Looking forward to seeing the full list of what worlds are included. Since we don't have the prospect of a Manual of the Planes on the horizon, this might be the most detail we get on some of these planes for a while.

 

[J.Quondam]

As someone who generally doesn't care much for D&D canon and worlds, I think that's actually kinda of interesting. Looks like it could be a decent, lightweight overview of the whole shebang, without all the mess of actually delving into the whole shebang.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

As someone who generally doesn't care much for D&D canon and worlds, I think that's actually kinda of interesting. Looks like it could be a decent, lightweight overview of the whole shebang, without all the mess of actually delving into the whole shebang.

Yeah, I was thinking the same. I don't want or need to be beholden to detailed canon (I don't care about the official name of Geryon's majordomo, thanks), but an inspirational springboard like this might be just the ticket.

"Oh, you're going to the Shadowfell? Give me 10 minutes to read about Gloomwrought real fast."

 

[Stormonu]

Somewhat reminds me of the 2E Player's guide for FR & Dragonlance (and Ed Greenwood's Realms book), which were meant to introduce players to the campaign world and had no game mechanics in them.

I've learned to design my homebrew campaign world documents without mechanics in them, so I can use them with a variety of editions and systems (2E, 3E, 5E, Savage Worlds, 54 engine, etc.). But, considering how poorly the 2E player's guides did, most people seem to prefer to pick up the books for the mechanics, not the worldbuilding (and then make their OWN mechanics).

Personally, I'd like to see more of these, and with the sort of depth you'd expect to find in a coffee table book, with a little pamphlet with the "edition/system of your choice" crunchy rules in it.

 

[Parmandur]

The way we'll measure that, of course, is how much outraged howling there is -- "only 12 pages on Mystara?!"

Looking forward to seeing the full list of what worlds are included. Since we don't have the prospect of a Manual of the Planes on the horizon, this might be the most detail we get on some of these planes for a while.

The table of contents is in the Polygon article, looks like we have Greyhawk (32 pages), Mystara (24 pages), Dragonlance (30 pages), Faerun (34 pages), and Eberron (30 pages). In addition to Spelljammer, the Feywild, the Shadowfell, Sigil, The Nine Hells, the Abyss, and the Far Realm.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

I might look into this for the non-Material Plane sections alone. I love reading up on the Outer Planes especially.