D&D (2024) Take A Closer Look At The 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide

Wizards of the Coast has just shared a video delving into the upcoming One D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide, due for release in 2024.

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Scroll down to post #4, below, for a more detailed text summary!

• Chapter 1 -- basic concepts
• Chapter 2 -- Advice, common issues
• Chapter 3 -- Rules cyclopedia
• Chapter 4 -- Adventure building
• Chapter 5 -- Campaign building
• Chapter 6 -- Cosmology
• Chapter 7 -- Magic items
• Chapter 8 -- 'A surprise'
• Appendices -- maps, lore glossary

 

[MonsterEnvy]

What makes those so special? Dragonshards? The Dragon? Progenitor Dragons? Overlords? Sorcerer Kings? Dragonmarked Houses? Darklords? The Dark Powers? the creation forge? Vvaraak & Ourelonastrix? Perkins mentioned waterdeep & some other FR locations iirc, what about Sharn & so on?

That stuff could very well be mentioned. Books still not out yet.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

What makes those so special? Dragonshards? The Dragon? Progenitor Dragons? Overlords? Sorcerer Kings? Dragonmarked Houses? Darklords? The Dark Powers? the creation forge? Vvaraak & Ourelonastrix? Perkins mentioned waterdeep & some other FR locations iirc, what about Sharn & so on?

Because they're way less obscure and are mentioned already in multiple places in the core books and supplements. Unless one is using Eberron, all the stuff you're mentioning don't apply at all.

In contrast, outside of Eberron and Dark Sun (which apparently won't be an issue in 5E), Orcus is likely to eventually get mentioned in every setting. The existence of the Blood War is a thing. A player may well ask who all the wizards spells are named after in the PHB are.

A sentence or two on each of these doesn't seem like a very big deal.

This isn't a value judgement on Eberron. But someone playing in the Forgotten Realms or Krynn or Sigil has very little chance of wandering into Sharn by accident or caring about the progenitor dragons.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Is he ok? What's up with the hat?

He's apparently bald. He's worn a hat for years. It's a thing lots of bald guys do.

Ron Howard put one after he left the set of Happy Days and doesn't seem to have taken it off since.

 

[tetrasodium]

Because they're way less obscure and are mentioned already in multiple places in the core books and supplements. Unless one is using Eberron, all the stuff you're mentioning don't apply at all.

In contrast, outside of Eberron and Dark Sun (which apparently won't be an issue in 5E), Orcus is likely to eventually get mentioned in every setting. The existence of the Blood War is a thing. A player may well ask who all the wizards spells are named after in the PHB are.

A sentence or two on each of these doesn't seem like a very big deal.

I mentioned major foundational lore elements from Eberron, Darksun, and Ravenloft. Given that you only mentioned two of those settings I think it's a good indication that the non-FR/non-great wheel settings need quite a bit more representation. I've never had Orcus come up in a game & the only time I can think of the blood war factoring in at all was in the very setting specific DiA hardcover adventure.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I mentioned major foundational lore elements from Eberron, Darksun, and Ravenloft. Given that you only mentioned two of those settings I think it's a good indication that the non-FR/non-great wheel settings need quite a bit more representation.

No, it's a sign that what I said applied to all of them. Just as someone isn't likely to accidentally wander into Sharn if they're not playing an Eberron game, they're definitely not accidentally wandering into anywhere on Athas. They're closed systems -- people playing in those settings have the lore they need and they're irrelevant if they're not. Whether Ravenloft matters to a campaign is a very deliberate switch a DM will flip or not.

But more importantly, this chapter isn't an ad campaign. It's so that when a player says "who is Tenser and why did he create a spell to carry loot out of the dungeon," no one has to break out Google, as there's a chance that everyone will get distracted by the internet.

 

[tetrasodium]

No, it's a sign that what I said applied to all of them. Just as someone isn't likely to accidentally wander into Sharn if they're not playing an Eberron game, they're definitely not accidentally wandering into anywhere on Athas. They're closed systems -- people playing in those settings have the lore they need and they're irrelevant if they're not. Whether Ravenloft matters to a campaign is a very deliberate switch a DM will flip or not.

But more importantly, this chapter isn't an ad campaign. It's so that when a player says "who is Tenser and why did he create a spell to carry loot out of the dungeon," no one has to break out Google, as there's a chance that everyone will get distracted by the internet.

Everything you said about Sharn also applies to waterdeep if you aren't playing in fr yet Perkins called it out as an example entry. I've had players stop my darksun ravelnoft & eberron games more than once to correct me with "well actually no.." before trying to tell the group that the gm is wrong because $fr-lore dump as if they were being completely Reasonable trying to override the gm & setting lore presented by the gm. I can't even call that an example of toxic player behavior either because that's how wotc themselves have presented fr lore since 2014

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I just don't think WotC is ever going to give us anything other than bags of hitpoints for most monsters. They just seem boring to me all around. Not that most 3pp are A LOT better, so maybe that;'s just what 5e is for the big companies.

The things is, WotC made pretty cool dragons if you include the lair actions. Just make the lair actions as legendary actions and they are 90% of the way there

 

[UVAtom]

On the subject of skill checks/exploration/social challenges, I think one piece of the puzzle is the usage these rules get in the published adventures. If the adventures you publish aren’t using your rules, no matter how well thought out and detailed they are in the DMG, the. I think you’re going to have a large part of the player and DM base lacking an understanding/proficiency with using them, and thus the rules being sort of left to the side.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

So it’s not a new edition but it is a new edition. So races will be distinct but all the same. So the rules will be changed but not changed. We support local gaming stores whilst we drive everybody online and away from them…etc etc….it goes on. We were going to screw over all the 3rd party content creators but we got caught so we never wanted to do that actually. I don’t believe a word this company or it’s representatives say anymore and the marketing strategy is chaos. But, but, but….I hear you say? I think this company are ruining D&D. YMMV

You don’t have to believe what they say, the proof is in what they do.

 

[Zaukrie]

The things is, WotC made pretty cool dragons if you include the lair actions. Just make the lair actions as legendary actions and they are 90% of the way there

Sure....but that's all pretty high level stuff (and it isn't just dragons, I find most of the monsters lacking in originality....the vast majority of statblocks are variations on claw/claw/bite or stab/hit with sword for humanoids). I get not everyone agrees, and I don't want to bog this thread down with that.