D&D 5E The Next Big Book of Monsters

[Ralif Redhammer]

In any edition, a Manual of the Planes is a must-buy for me, so I’d be all-in on that.

For a full monsters book, I think I’d want something of all-new beasties. Stuff we’ve never seen before.

Now, for a “Volo’s Guide” I think I’d like to see “Volo’s Guide to Treasure,” dedicated to magic items. Fill it with both new ones and context/historical details for the classic magic items.

But a new version of the Manual of the Planes, kind of drawing from VGtM for format inspiration... that would be amazing. So much great material that could be dropped in there. I mean - yes, there is already 25 pages written about the planes in the DMG, but you could maybe have a chapter on Sigil and its factions instead. And there are a lot more planar monsters that deserve 5e monster entries. Sign me up for this one!

 

[OB1]

I’d love to see “Monsters of the Multiverse.” Essentially, a monster manual that’s broken down into separate chapters for different classic D&D settings.

This is the exact title and concept I was coming into this thread to pitch. I'm hoping that the BBoC coming out this fall is Multiverse themed as well.

 

[Bad Fox]

I'm not and never have been a Planescape fan, so I'd prefer the book not to be focused around that. I could be convinced, though, especially if the "Planescapiness" of it was limited to the same degree the "Voloness" was in VGtM.

Likewise, I never played in a Planescape campaign or owned any of the supplements, but I do think that planar monsters would be uniquely useful for many games - regardless if you have any interest in running a "Planescape Campaign." I mean, fiends, elementals and other planar monsters can easily show up in just about any game that you want.

In that way, I think a Planescape-themed hardcover could be a lot more versatile than most other books that focus on one particular setting.

Though I'd also be down for supplements that kind of work in the reverse of the current APs. A book with a shorter adventure set in, say, Dark Sun, that is mostly monsters and world/cultural notes. So you get new monsters, new goodies, an adventure to try it all out with, and guidelines on developing it into a full campaign.

This would be a neat variant on the VGtM format. You'd probably just need to expand the players section a bit and make space for an intro adventure... probably about the same size as "Death House" in Curse of Strahd.

 

[Bad Fox]

This is the exact title and concept I was coming into this thread to pitch. I'm hoping that the BBoC coming out this fall is Multiverse themed as well.

Hahah - I'm so smitten by the idea of a "Monsters of the Multiverse" book that I wrote about it in the general feedback section of this week's Unearthed Arcana survey.

 

[Parmandur]

Option one would be awesome; option two would be terrible.

Could you do a full 5e hardcover on dragons? Sure, easy. But we've already got 32 pages of essential lore and ecology in the MM. I think that 248 pages focused on dragons would be way more detail than a lot of people have an appetite for.

But a new version of the Manual of the Planes, kind of drawing from VGtM for format inspiration... that would be amazing. So much great material that could be dropped in there. I mean - yes, there is already 25 pages written about the planes in the DMG, but you could maybe have a chapter on Sigil and its factions instead. And there are a lot more planar monsters that deserve 5e monster entries. Sign me up for this one!

I think you are vastly underestimating the publics appetite for dragon books.



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[Bitbrain]

I like the idea of a "Monsters of the Multiverse" combined with the Volo's Guide to Monsters model:
9 monsters and their society/culture explored in detail in part 1, more PC races (from other settings besides Forgotten Realms) in part 2, and more monsters for DMs to throw at the party in part 3.

 

[dave2008]

Could you do a full 5e hardcover on dragons? Sure, easy. But we've already got 32 pages of essential lore and ecology in the MM. I think that 248 pages focused on dragons would be way more detail than a lot of people have an appetite for.

I have no idea if it would sell, but I could easily see a 248 page book on just the 10 dragons that are already in the monster manual. They left so much design space unexplored that you could easily fill a whole book with it.

 

[Bad Fox]

I think you are vastly underestimating the publics appetite for dragon books.

Quite possibly? I do know that a lot of folks love their dragons.

That said, stuffing a hardcover full of wyrms doesn't guarantee that it'll be any more successful than some other release. Especially since dragons already got covered pretty extensively in the core Monster Manual, and got themselves two full 5e adventures on top of that.

Sure, you could write enough on just about any monster to fill a whole book, and dragons would almost definitely be the easiest. But with D&D's current publishing schedule, the question becomes: why prioritize this book over another that you could release? What's the cool thing that makes it stand out from the rest of the current 5e library?

I'm not saying that wouldn't happen - just that my personal preference would be to get a lot of other things first. I feel pretty covered for dragons with what we have right now, and I expect a bunch of people feel the same way. But for all I know, maybe that's only a tiny minority of the player base.

 

[Quickleaf]

I'd be interested in a book that provides a bit more in the way of monster entries than Volo's, so something midway between Volo's and the MM.

And I'd be even more interested if this book spent more time looking at monsters' relationship to their environment and the ecology of the monsters, especially how adventurers might put them to use (alive or dead).

 

[Parmandur]

Quite possibly? I do know that a lot of folks love their dragons.

That said, stuffing a hardcover full of wyrms doesn't guarantee that it'll be any more successful than some other release. Especially since dragons already got covered pretty extensively in the core Monster Manual, and got themselves two full 5e adventures on top of that.

Sure, you could write enough on just about any monster to fill a whole book, and dragons would almost definitely be the easiest. But with D&D's current publishing schedule, the question becomes: why prioritize this book over another that you could release? What's the cool thing that makes it stand out from the rest of the current 5e library?

I'm not saying that wouldn't happen - just that my personal preference would be to get a lot of other things first. I feel pretty covered for dragons with what we have right now, and I expect a bunch of people feel the same way. But for all I know, maybe that's only a tiny minority of the player base.

Well, WotC has proven in the past that including "Dragon" in the title is a guaranteed sales boost, per Ryan Fancy IIRC. The Draconomicon, which was essentially a lot like Volos Guide with just Dragons, was one of the biggest sellers in 3.x, as I recall. Thing is, you could give each of the ten iconic dragons the same amount of space as the main entries in Volos, easy: random tables so each Dragon is unique, species specific information, etc. Not to mention Hem Dragons, and the multitude of other dragons historically. Rules to play Dragons would be interesting. Even given the limited release schedule, I would be shocked if such a book is not on their radar.

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