Planescape 5 New D&D Books Coming in 2023 -- Including Planescape!

At today's Wizards Presents event, hosts Jimmy Wong, Ginny Di, and Sydnee Goodman announced the 2023 line-up of D&D books, which featured something old, something new, and an expansion of a fan favorite.

The first of the five books, Keys from the Golden Vault, will arrive in winter 2023. At Tuesday's press preview, Chris Perkins, Game Design Architect for D&D, described it as “Ocean’s Eleven meets D&D” and an anthology of short adventures revolving around heists, which can be dropped into existing campaigns.

In Spring 2023, giants get a sourcebook just like their traditional rivals, the dragons, did in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants will be a deep dive into hill, frost, fire, cloud, and storm giants, plus much more.

Summer 2023 will have two releases. The Book of Many Things is a collection of creatures, locations, and other player-facing goodies related to that most famous D&D magic item, the Deck of Many Things. Then “Phandelver Campaign” will expand the popular Lost Mine of Phandelver from the D&D Starter Set into a full campaign tinged with cosmic horror.

And then last, but certainly not least, in Fall 2023, WotC revives another classic D&D setting – Planescape. Just like Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, Planescape will be presented as a three-book set containing a setting guide, bestiary, and adventure campaign in a slipcase. Despite the Spelljammer comparison they did not confirm whether it would also contain a DM screen.

More information on these five titles will be released when we get closer to them in date.

 

[Retreater]

Because it's very clearly not 6e, and there will not be a 6e. They will be using the 5e skeleton indefinitely and just offering tweaks to it over time from now on.

Well, the current edition isn't called 5E, but we all know it as 5E (because that's what it is).
This will be 6E, even if WotC doesn't want to call it that. There MUST be a distinction between this edition and the 2014 edition just so we know what the heck we're playing.
I predict you will be calling it 6E by 2025.

 

[Mistwell]

Well, the current edition isn't called 5E, but we all know it as 5E (because that's what it is).
This will be 6E, even if WotC doesn't want to call it that. There MUST be a distinction between this edition and the 2014 edition just so we know what the heck we're playing.
I predict you will be calling it 6E by 2025.

What the heck are you talking about? Right there on the back of the books that it's Fifth Edition. Here is the back of the PHB:

 

[Retreater]

What the heck are you talking about? Right there on the back of the books that it's Fifth Edition. Here is the back of the PHB:

Yes, even Wizards slips and calls it 5e on their books. The official stance of the company is that it's just called "D&D" and they don't use "5e" in marketing. This was part of their "evergreen" marketing strategy, because "you don't look at what edition of Monopoly you're playing" as they explained.
So yes, we call it 5e. Sometimes Wizards refers to it as "the fifth edition."
And this is going to be 6e, even if Wizards wants us to call it "D&D One" or "0D&D" or "D&DWillU" or "Larry."

 

[Parmandur]

I don't understand WotC's announcing the 6E playtest and then promoting what amounts to "dead edition" books.

The TL;DW is that the latest books have all been designed to work with the 2024 version for a couple years now. Anything they put out now will still be usable fully with the changes. The Mosnters of the Multiverse reprints were confirmed by Crawford to match with the new Monster Manual changes.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Well, the current edition isn't called 5E, but we all know it as 5E (because that's what it is).
This will be 6E, even if WotC doesn't want to call it that. There MUST be a distinction between this edition and the 2014 edition just so we know what the heck we're playing.
I predict you will be calling it 6E by 2025.

Why MUST there be a distinction? If they are compatible, then it doesn't matter.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

No, I couldn't watch the entirety of the 1+ hour livestream at work.
But I do know they are starting a 2-year-long public playtest today, which indicates that we will be seeing some substantial revisions to the game.
They're just not calling it 6E. I get that for marketing purposes, it's "D&D One Edition to Rule Them All" but this is like when Microsoft called the successor to the XBox 360 the XBox One: pure marketing talk.
With a playtest as long and involved as D&D Next was after 4E, I think everyone is deluding themselves to not expect this to change things significantly.

They go out of their way to say everything will be retroactively compatible. Your Xbox comparison is unintentionally a good example here as it. in fact, is entirely retro-compatible, and you can play all your Xbox One and almost all Xbox 360 games on your Xbox Series X.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Yes, even Wizards slips and calls it 5e on their books. The official stance of the company is that it's just called "D&D" and they don't use "5e" in marketing. This was part of their "evergreen" marketing strategy, because "you don't look at what edition of Monopoly you're playing" as they explained.
So yes, we call it 5e. Sometimes Wizards refers to it as "the fifth edition."
And this is going to be 6e, even if Wizards wants us to call it "D&D One" or "0D&D" or "D&DWillU" or "Larry."

I suppose it depends on how you wish to define what it takes for something to qualify as a 6th edition. AD&D 1st and 2nd were entirely retro compatible, despite there being some specific technical differences and approach differences between the two editions, and I strongly suspect that the 5E and 5E+ differences will be less than we saw in AD&D 1E and 2E, with more of an organizational focus and emphasis on choices, but its pretty clear they do not intend to mess with the underlying math or core mechanical conceits of 5E.

EDIT: I am firmly of the opinion that they know contemporary D&D players aren't very interested in large mechanical changes, and that this new edition is primarily to drive sales of the core rulebooks (always the best sellers) back up.

 

[Stormonu]

Out of those books, Planescape is the only one I'm interested in. What they do with the factions will decide whether I'll bite or not, as I still have all my 2E stuff for it.

 

[Yaarel]

honestly, the giant book seems the safest bet from my position maybe giants will finally matter?

The focus on primordials (Giants), dragons (Fizbans), and astrals(Planescape), seems ripe for the multiverse to consolidate around a First World / Dawn War narrative.

 

[bedir than]

The official stance of the company is that it's just called "D&D" and they don't use "5e" in marketing.

Every member of the D&D team called it 5th edition today.