D&D 5E Planescape, Bigby, Phandelver and the Deck of Many Things: Covers & Details Revealed!

The covers of the upcoming D&D books — including Planescape, Glory of the Giants, and the Deck of Many Things have been revealed.

• August 15th -- Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants ($59.95)
• August 15th -- The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons ($39.95)
• September 19th -- Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk ($59.95)
• October 16th -- Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse ($TBA)
• November 14th -- Book of Many Things ($TBA)

Coming August 15th with two variants. Lore about giants, 76 stat blocks, feats, and a giant subclass.

3 hardcovers in a boxed set-- 96 page guide to Sigil, 64-page bestiary, and 96-page adventure, along with a poster map and DM screen. Coming October 16th.

224-page adventure for levels 1-12, poster map, 16 new monsters. Coming September 19th.

66 illustrated cards, 192-page book with lore, character options, magic items, and monsters, 80-page card reference guide, all in a slipcase. Coming November 14th.​

These Are Dungeons & Dragons' New Products For 2023

New books for the fantasy role-playing game include Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, and a look at the legendary Deck of Many Things.

themessenger.com

 

[Maxperson]

The fact that I've never been a Dragonlance fan and thus have never purchased Dragonlance supplements in past editions doesn't change the fact that they exist.

Sure, you don't have to buy Rime of the Frostmaiden if you're not planning on running the adventure as written, but it's still the best official 5e resource on Icewind Dale, and precisely because its focus is narrower, it goes into far more depth on the region than it gets in either SCAG or the 3e FRCS book.

I get it, I like big, thick, wide-ranging setting guides as much as anyone, but adventures modules contain setting material too... They always have.

And that's fine, but if they don't release it in a setting book, it's not part of the general setting. It's part of the adventure.

 

[Maxperson]

and the original Planescape setting was complete with the intial box set. All future books that expanded on it were just that, expansions.

Not really. The 2e model was produce an initial setting that wasn't complete enough and then release "expansions" to flesh it out and produce a quality setting.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Yeah, throwing in Spelljammer ships for the various "space" races vessels would be helpful for a Babylon 5-style Planejammer game.

Elves as Mimbari?
Gith as the Narn?
Mind Flayers as the Centauri?
Neogi as the Drazi?
Celestials/Arcane as the Vorlons (Though a Dabus as Kosh would be cool)?
Tanar'ri/Baatezu/Yugoloths (perhaps different subfactions) as the Shadows?
Technomages as Warlocks?
PsiCorp as Sorcerers vs. Wizards or an excuses to make a psionic class? I mean, you have to have a Bester foil, right?

My thought for Shadows was aberrations, but fiends in general could work too. (I rarely run them as actually distinct like D&D likes them.

The old empire that is decaying from the inside….I know my players would never have sympathy for Illithid, so not them…maybe teiflings actually. I can easily picture it, and then you could put the Narns as Dragonborn or lizardfolk. Use that Bael Turath/Archosia flavor.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Not really. The 2e model was produce an initial setting that wasn't complete enough and then release "expansions" to flesh it out and produce a quality setting.

This may amaze you, but I knew a couple of people back in the 2e days who purchased only the original Planescape box and no other products from the line and ran perfectly fine Planescape campaigns that were centered in Sigil and the Outlands. So, no, you didn't need to have anything outside the main boxed set to run a Planescape campaign in 2e, and, if the same information is covered in the upcoming set, the same will be the case for 5e.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

And that's fine, but if they don't release it in a setting book, it's not part of the general setting. It's part of the adventure.

I'm just saying, a good ~25 pages of Faction War is dedicated to just fleshing out aspects of the various wards of Sigil that hadn't been touched on all that much (if at all) in earlier books - going into things like the High Houses, the Garianis crime family, the Daughters of Light, Undersigil, and more that I still draw on to this day - before the adventure proper even kicks off.

Despite being an adventure module, and a controversial one at that, it remains one of my go-to sources for information about Sigil. Some of it plays into events of the adventure, some of it plays into the post-war aftermath, but it's all useful to fleshing out the setting whether you're actually running Faction War or not.

 

[Maxperson]

This may amaze you, but I knew a couple of people back in the 2e days who purchased only the original Planescape box and no other products from the line and ran perfectly fine Planescape campaigns that were centered in Sigil and the Outlands. So, no, you didn't need to have anything outside the main boxed set to run a Planescape campaign in 2e, and, if the same information is covered in the upcoming set, the same will be the case for 5e.

You don't need anything outside of your imagination to run a Planescape campaign that is perfectly fine. That doesn't 1) mean that the original boxed set wasn't fairly sparse with information, or 2) that the game plane of 2e was put out a sparse initial setting and then fill it with expansions until it was a good setting. They did it with all of their settings.

 

[Maxperson]

I'm just saying, a good ~25 pages of Faction War is dedicated to just fleshing out aspects of the various wards of Sigil that hadn't been touched on all that much (if at all) in earlier books - going into things like the High Houses, the Garianis crime family, the Daughters of Light, Undersigil, and more that I still draw on to this day - before the adventure proper even kicks off.

Despite being an adventure module, and a controversial one at that, it remains one of my go-to sources for information about Sigil. Some of it plays into events of the adventure, some of it plays into the post-war aftermath, but it's all useful to fleshing out the setting whether you're actually running Faction War or not.

Sure. Don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that there wasn't anything useful in the initial boxed set. I loved it when I bought it, but it wasn't until they started expanding it and made it a full campaign setting that it really became great.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Sure. Don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that there wasn't anything useful in the initial boxed set. I loved it when I bought it, but it wasn't until they started expanding it and made it a full campaign setting that it really became great.

This person is not talking about the original box set but an adventure.

 

[Remathilis]

Not really. The 2e model was produce an initial setting that wasn't complete enough and then release "expansions" to flesh it out and produce a quality setting.

Planescape had four box sets. The main one, Law, Chaos, Conflict and Inner Planes. At $30 each (90's dollars) that is $120 alone. Slap on the Astral and Ethereal plane guides, the Guide to Sigil, Planeswalker Handbook, and three Monster Compendium annuals, and you're looking at over $200 to run Planescape. That's close to $400 in today's money. (And to be fair, that leaves out plenty of other supplements and all the modules).

So how much are you willing to pay for Planescape? Want to buy a $400 dollar book?

 

[Demetrios1453]

Planescape had four box sets. The main one, Law, Chaos, Conflict and Inner Planes. At $30 each (90's dollars) that is $120 alone. Slap on the Astral and Ethereal plane guides, the Guide to Sigil, Planeswalker Handbook, and three Monster Compendium annuals, and you're looking at over $200 to run Planescape. That's close to $400 in today's money. (And to be fair, that leaves out plenty of other supplements and all the modules).

So how much are you willing to pay for Planescape? Want to buy a $400 dollar book?

The Inner Planes book was just a stand-alone softcover, not a box set.

I already asked him up thread what he would suggest as a price point for this 1000+ page book he appears to be suggesting is the minimum acceptable for the setting...