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]

They've put out quite a few books with extensive Forgotten Realms Setting info, region by region. That you personally don't want to buy Princes of the Apocalypse doesn't negate the extensive Setting details on the Desarin Valley, an area larger than Oregon or the United Kingdom, a d in enough detail for an old 2E paperback book. They just don't split the info out from big Campaign books, and that seems to be working for marketing purposes. Doesn't mean the info doesn't exist.

Cool. Explain to me why I need to spend $500-600 to get 10-12 adventures in order to get $50 worth of setting material that I could buy in 1 setting book, while also getting $450-$550 worth of adventure material that I won't ever use? How is that a good idea for me and those like me?

 

[Maxperson]

There is no way WotC could support the depth of lore 2e had. That many books, all competing with themselves? Books made to extremely niche markets? Not feasible anymore. As a majority of DMs homebrew anyway, you'd be making products to smaller and smaller audiences reach time you added a setting.

The only way you get a detailed setting is to go the Pathfinder model and have ONE setting. One world you can dive into with sourcebooks and modules filling in details. Basically the early 5ev model of "oops, all Faerun". You'd get a single detailed setting, all the cost of Eberron, Ravenloft and everything else. The other option is the travellers guide style: bare basics plus a module but after that you're on your own. But we're never getting whole supplements devoted to esoteric elements of multiple settings anymore.

I haven't seen anyone ask for the same depth of lore that 2e had. There's a rather huge amount of middle ground to be had.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I very much doubt people in any great numbers have shelled out $50 for a few pages of setting, throwing away the adventure portion. I'm going to need hard proof of your claim.

I can’t speak for everyone, but my DM has told me he buys the setting/adventure books mostly for the monsters. He might use some of the ideas in the setting book or adventure, but we run our own setting and we don’t use published adventures ( at least not in whole).

So he basically spends $60 for a few pages of monsters and some setting and encounter ideas. It does happen.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Not for the meager setting content alone they haven't. Not in any decent numbers anyway.

You have no evidence of this one way or the other.

They have not produced any additional setting content for the FR. Adventures =/= setting content. They = adventures. Adventures must consist of some setting, which isn't the same. A setting book = setting content.

That is a rather narrow minded approach, beyond not being factual. I’m surprised that is your conclusion.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Cool. Explain to me why I need to spend $500-600 to get 10-12 adventures in order to get $50 worth of setting material that I could buy in 1 setting book, while also getting $450-$550 worth of adventure material that I won't ever use? How is that a good idea for me and those like me?

I don’t think anyone said you did. However, that is what we have and it works for some

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Cool. Explain to me why I need to spend $500-600 to get 10-12 adventures in order to get $50 worth of setting material that I could buy in 1 setting book, while also getting $450-$550 worth of adventure material that I won't ever use? How is that a good idea for me and those like me?

You don't need to buy 10-12 adventures, because if your game takes place in Icewind Dale, a map of Chult is irrelevant. You don't need to know about the whole world, you just need lots of detail about the area where the game takes place. The 2nd and 3rd edition FR books describe more countries than the players could possibly visit in a dozen campaigns, but not in enough detail to be of much use without the DM doing all the legwork themselves or buying additional supplements.

The majority of "adventure material" is detailed descriptions of locations.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

deserving

No one "deserves" anything. The purpose of a company is maximising profits, not giving anyone what they "deserve".

If people got what they deserved, we would all be in deep trouble.

 

[Parmandur]

then they wouldn’t publish books, they do however, and the same stuff you can buy digitally, so even if that were their focus, it would still exist, at least digitally

I assume settings books simply do not sell very well. That is all there is to it

The evidence seems to suggest they sell fien, when combined with Adventure material.

 

[Parmandur]

This is a flaw of 5e. Those of us who aren't going to shell out $50 for a few pages of setting since we aren't going to run their adventure are just as deserving of setting lore as those who do.

Well, nobody "deaerves" anyone else's labor. It's a question of what WotC believes will please the greatest number of people and keep the brand profitable. And apparently, Gazateers packed in big campaigns is a very success model: Tyranny of Dragons has been in print longer than 3E and 3.5 combined.

 

[Incenjucar]

Oddly enough, it's not unrelated to how shows keep getting cancelled on streaming services. Every page written has diminishing returns as far as purchases, and the folks in charge only care about maximizing profits. If you want anything that is somewhat complete, you need to seek indie creators, who are driven by passion at least as much as quarterly earnings reports.