D&D 5E Iggwilv/Tasha To Join Volo, Xanathar, and Mordenkainen? [UPDATED!]

Is WotC teasing a new announcement? There have been a few D&D books named after famous personalities from the game's extensive lore - Vole's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. It looks possible that the next such personality might be Tasha of Tasha's Hideous Laughter fame -- which was an adventuring alias of the Greyhawk villain Iggwilv.

UPDATE -- A page has appeared on Amazon entitled Dungeons & Dragons November Title (Announced August 24). It's a hardcover, $49.95, November 17th release date.

On their Discord channel, WotC posted a short audio clip; it features some female-sounding voices laughing, and it is titled "Feather and Tart". It also has a metadata info which says August 24th, 2020, which is Monday. But in addition to that, a WoTC staff member on Reddit's avatar was changed to an image of Iggwilv.

Iggwilv was an evil magic-user, a villain created by Gary Gygax. When adventuring with the Company of Seven, she used the alias Tasha. The lore has it that the witch Baba Yaga adopted her as a child and named her Natasha, and she soon became Natasha the Dark (Baba Yaga also adopted Elena the Fair).

Iggwilv has two forms, one old and one young. You can read more about the character on Wikipedia.


What does seem clear is that WotC is teasing an impending announcement! I assume that the announcement they are teasing will be the announcement of an upcoming announcement, or I'll be disappointed.

 

[ArchmageValexion]

Probably get it leaked soon.. This just appeared on Amazon

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (D&D Rules Expansion) (Dungeons & Dragons): Wizards RPG Team: 9780786967025: Amazon.com: Books

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (D&D Rules Expansion) (Dungeons & Dragons) [Wizards RPG Team] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (D&D Rules Expansion) (Dungeons & Dragons)

www.amazon.com

 

[humble minion]

Actually, this thread is a good reminder that WotC has little to gain by ever publishing a full Greyhawk setting book for 5e. Every time they touch it (Mordenkainen's ToF, Saltmarsh) or even allude to it (Princes of the Apocalypse, Tomb of Annihilation) all they happens is the old guard comes out and whines about how everything after 1984 is not canon and disrespects Gygax's One True Vision.

I know your post is at least partially tongue in cheek, but tbh - from WotCs point of view the old guard Greyhawk grognards are such a tiny proportion of the player base that I can't imagine them entering into calculations.

There was Return to Castle Greyhawk for 3.5 in its final days, the 3e Living Greyhawk Gazetteer which was about as bland and unexciting as it was possible for a setting book to be and was in itself really just a sop to the grognards, and a few anodyne references to Greyhawk gods in the 3e core books etc, but the last time the setting got any sustained attention was what, 25 years ago? More? When was Ivid the Undying cancelled again?

The target player base these days is much more the Critical Role generation (and yes, that also leaves out me, who showed up in late 2e/early 3e). They'll buy Greyhawk if it stands up on its own, adherence to ancient canon doesn't matter a damn to them. We can certainly see that in the treatment of FR. And the same goes for Dark Sun, Planescape, or any of the other old settings that might get resurrected for 5e. I expect to hate bits of it when/if they do it to MY favourite settings, but it's the way things are...

Edit: and i should hasten to add, this is not necessarily a bad thing! I'm an old Dark Sun grognard, I disliked 4e and was really irritated by the amount of 4e baggage that sneaked into the 4e Dark Sun book. But I LOVED that they rolled back the timeline to ignore some of the old 2e canonical lore. It was a blatant, naked retcon of huge amounts of setting material, and it should have triggered a tidal wave of hate but they didn't give a damn and did it anyway. And it worked and resulted in a better setting, more true to the heart of the original vision, where the PCs were the heroes rather than a bunch of NPCs. If i'd been contracted to write 4e Dark Sun never in a million years would i have imagined doing that, or had the guts to try it if i did. But WotC correctly focused on 'how do I make this work for modern players without being slaves to a dwindling population of 2e loremasters', and kudos to them for it.

 

[Kurotowa]

Probably get it leaked soon.. This just appeared on Amazon

Well, that's absolutely as expected. Only this time instead of a full product page it's a "Dungeons & Dragons November Title" placeholder. Which is a big improvement, really. No one who's following leaks is surprised that a book is slated to be released November 17th, and the actual book information gets held for the official announcement tomorrow.

Maybe we'll actually make it another 25 hours without being spoiled!

 

[Mistwell]

Actually, this thread is a good reminder that WotC has little to gain by ever publishing a full Greyhawk setting book for 5e. Every time they touch it (Mordenkainen's ToF, Saltmarsh) or even allude to it (Princes of the Apocalypse, Tomb of Annihilation) all they happens is the old guard comes out and whines about how everything after 1984 is not canon and disrespects Gygax's One True Vision.

You know, they COULD just support the original Greyhawk. It's not like there are hordes of fans who like everything which came after that (including books which literally intentionally made fun of it) but there are hordes of fans which liked the original. Maybe just give people what they want instead of insisting on supporting the stuff people tend to not like?

 

[Parmandur]

A note: I couldn't care less how the spell got it's name inside of the Greyhawk/DnD worlds.


But, someone mentioned it was named after a little girl? What is the real story because I'd be interested in hearing it, especially if it was a good story.

A little girl named Tasha way early on wrote a letter to Gygax asking for a Spell to make people laugh, so he put it in AD& D and named it after her.

 

[Parmandur]

Well, that's absolutely as expected. Only this time instead of a full product page it's a "Dungeons & Dragons November Title" placeholder. Which is a big improvement, really. No one who's following leaks is surprised that a book is slated to be released November 17th, and the actual book information gets held for the official announcement tomorrow.

Maybe we'll actually make it another 25 hours without being spoiled!

I'd still lay odds someone will push the button before 10 AM.

 

[Kurotowa]

You know, they COULD just support the original Greyhawk. It's not like there are hordes of fans who like everything which came after that (including books which literally intentionally made fun of it) but there are hordes of fans which liked the original. Maybe just give people what they want instead of insisting on supporting the stuff people tend to not like?

Should I drop a [Citation Needed] here or would it be more context appropriate to say "I roll to disbelieve"?

I started playing right around the turn of the AD&D 2e era. I know more about bloody Mystara than I do about Greyhawk, and that's a low low bar. Greyhawk hasn't been relevant for over 30 years. Sure, maybe it has more fans than Birthright or Ghostwalk, but those are also very low bars.

I've never seen anyone profess interest in Greyhawk outside of the groggiest of Internet grognards. Which yes, is just as much a personal anecdote as your claim. But mine seems to line up with the business decisions WotC is making based on all those Product Surveys they do.

 

[Mistwell]

Should I drop a [Citation Needed] here or would it be more context appropriate to say "I roll to disbelieve"?

I started playing right around the turn of the AD&D 2e era. I know more about bloody Mystara than I do about Greyhawk, and that's a low low bar. Greyhawk hasn't been relevant for over 30 years. Sure, maybe it has more fans than Birthright or Ghostwalk, but those are also very low bars.

I've never seen anyone profess interest in Greyhawk outside of the groggiest of Internet grognards. Which yes, is just as much a personal anecdote as your claim. But mine seems to line up with the business decisions WotC is making based on all those Product Surveys they do.

You realize that, by constantly posting dismissive comments when replying to me, that makes me prone to be dismissive of your comments too?

I get it, you hold contempt for my views on this topic. Message received. I am not interested however in a discussion with a guy who holds my views in contempt however.

 

[Kurotowa]

You realize that, by constantly posting dismissive comments when replying to me, that makes me prone to be dismissive of your comments too?

I get it, you hold contempt for my views on this topic. Message received. I am not interested however in a discussion with a guy who holds my views in contempt however.

Polite disagreement is not dismissive or contempt, Mist. I'm sorry you're so sensitive on this topic you take it that way.

 

[Mistwell]

Polite disagreement is not dismissive or contempt, Mist. I'm sorry you're so sensitive on this topic you take it that way.

If you think your replies to me have been polite, maybe you should re-read your posts as if you don't agree with yourself. Hint - constantly calling me the "groggiest of Internet grognards" isn't polite. Particularly since the comments like that are not made, in any way, to inform or persuade but every time to explain being dismissive.