D&D 5E Announcement Next Week--What Hints For Upcoming D&D Books?

WotC uses Unearthed Arcana to playtest D&D material which often ends up in a later hardcover book. Mages of Strixhaven was in Unearthed Arcana in June 2021, and Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos was published in December 2021. Draconic Options was in Unearthed Arcana in April 2021, and Fizban's Treasury of Dragons came out in October. The same applied to Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, and other books--the lead time appears to typically be somewhere around 6 months. So what have we had recently which might give us an insight into upcoming books?

WotC is holding a press event this coming Friday, with an embargo for March 22nd (which is Tuesday next week), meaning that an announcement is around the corner.

Unearthed Arcana has slowed in the last year or so, but there have been two notable articles:

• August 2021 -- Travelers of the Multiverse. 6 months after this was February, so if the 6-month lead time theory holds true, a multiverse-themed book would be imminent. The amount of speculative chatter about Spelljammer, Planescape, and 'Planejammer' is at a high.
• March 2022 -- Heroes of Krynn. This UA was released last week; six months would put a Dragonlance hardcover roughly about September, around the same time that Weis & Hickman's new Dragonlance novel releases.

So these two appear the most likely--some kind of multiverse book, and a Dragonlance book.

We know that a new starter set--Dragons of Stormwreck Isle--is on its way this year. WotC has spoken about two brand new settings, and two classic settings in 2022 (which fits the theory!)

They also spoke about a 'brand new format' for the 2 classic settings--WotC's Ray Winninger said in June last year that ""Each of these products is pursuing a different format you've never seen before. And neither is "digital only;" these are new print formats."

As I've mentioned on a couple of occasions, there are two more products that revive "classic" settings in production right now.

The manuscript for the first, overseen by [Chris Perkins], is nearly complete. Work on the second, led by [F. Wesley Schneider] with an assist from [Ari Levitch], is just ramping up in earnest. Both are targeting 2022 and formats you've never seen before.

In addition to these two titles, we have two brand new [D&D] settings in early development, as well as a return to a setting we've already covered. (No, these are not M:tG worlds.)

As I mentioned in the dev blog, we develop more material than we publish, so it's possible one or more of these last three won't reach production. But as of right now, they're all looking great.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

If you can post a picture of it, it's definitely not something we've never seen before!

You and I have. But keep in mind that their primary target audience is a lot younger and probably hasn't. I'm just keeping things real, yo.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

New format, in case anyone is tempted not to play RAW.

 

[sevenbastard]

I have that version of basic D&D where the rules are on cards and it has a folder to keep them in.

I also have the old Darksun modules that were printed vertically with spiral binding.

Heck even B/X was made to be pulled apart then reassembled in a three ring binder to make a complete game.

Second edition Monster's compendium same concept.

Those were "new types of print products" but were not that great.

Hopefully this is a more useful innovation. But a box set would be fine.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

It is worth noting that the Multiverse UA was all Spelljammer options: there hasn't been any Planescape activity.

There could be a arguement that Astral Elves could be Planescape race, I mean the Astral Plane is more traditional Planescape turf then Spelljammer.

 

[Mezuka]

TSR experimented with a ton of different print formats and presentation. They even published 2e class based boxes. The player had everyting to play 'inserts class' in a plastic case. It even came with a player screen with useful charts and tables of the said class.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Editition Priest's Player Pack New Sealed Rare | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Editition Priest's Player Pack New Sealed Rare at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I'm really curiout to see what they mean by 'never seen before'. Never seen before in 5e OR never seen before since 1974?

 

[Blue]

A pop-up Monster Manual would be AWESOME!!!

And the pop-ups are removable (and replacable) to use as paper minis.

Much better then the scratch-n-sniff Monster Manual, but that was nixed after the "Neo-Otyugh Incident".

 

[Lieslo]

How long until the inevitable leak?

 

[Morrus]

You and I have. But keep in mind that their primary target audience is a lot younger and probably hasn't. I'm just keeping things real, yo.

I guess we can No True Scotsman "a different format you've never seen before" until it's just Ray Winninger's hamster, but I don't see much point to it. If he meant "that only people over 40 have seen before" I'd imagine he'd have said that. Then again, I have no insight into his meaning.

 

[Morrus]

How long until the inevitable leak?

I"m sure people are hurriedly searching various listings as we speak!

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Second edition Monster's compendium same concept.

Those were "new types of print products" but were not that great.

The Monstrous Compendium was a good idea in theory, but the fact that you had two unrelated monsters on each side of a page pretty much destroyed the main utility of that format.