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

 

[dave2008]

Not of much use to me, though, as I want a good world setting, not the nth detail of some towns or whatever. If I want apples, you can't tell me that the adventures have oranges which means that they have what a setting book would have. They don't according to @dave2008.

It depends on what you want. You have clarified now you want a whole world setting book. WotC has not made a FR setting book as you describe for 5e, but they have released a lot of setting information for FR throughout 5e. It is just not a general overview of the whole world. It is more area and adventure specific.

I feel for you, but I can't say I disagree with their approach because it works better for me! Though it does seem like they could do both.

 

[Mecheon]

Being "Japan-centric" is not a crime when in the Western society the Japanese "soft power" has been more influential. Maybe there was some mistakes in the past but the possible offenses weren't intentional. A disclaimer for apologies should be enough.

If someone makes a fantasy China, I expect it to be a fantasy China. Not "We've made Samurai, Bushi and Yakuza all classes, trust me, its totally China".

Regardless, a low-fantasy land has no business being tacked on at the other side of one of the highest fantasy settings out there. I'd expect like 90% of the posters on this board could come up with a Kara-Tur equivilent more thematically suitable for how Faerun is set up than Kara-Tur ever was simply due to wanting it to fit with how Faerun is actually presented, and the 10% left over would back down because they admit to not knowing enough about Faerun to give it an honest shot

 

[Maxperson]

How? Why? You are basically complaining that a London guidebook does not include a map of Beijing. However freely I wander, I'm hardly likely to find myself 5000 miles away.

That's not at all what I am saying. I don't run an adventure in "London," I run it on magical Earth, so I need magical Earth, including "Beijing." And while YOU may not wander 5000 miles, PCs in games like mine do in fact wander that far, and often farther. I'm not going to railroad my players into staying in "London."

 

[Maxperson]

You said WotC didn't make good settings though. And all of those 2e settings are owned by WotC now.

1) That's not what I've been saying. I have said throughout this thread that there are a few good 5e settings. Eberron and Matt Mercers.
2) Owning =/= creating, so they didn't make the good 2e settings.

Most 5e settings are previous edition settings, so you have already purchased them it sounds like to me. No need to purchase them again.

I already answered this in a prior post.

 

[Maxperson]

Now, I would be fine if the did both. A general setting book (like Eberron) and then additional info through multiple adventures and splat books. However, I don't want as much info in my general setting book as you appear to want. I just need/want the basic overview.

The 3e Forgotten Realms campaign book was good for information. Was that too much for you?

 

[Parmandur]

I don't want as much info in my general setting book as you appear to want. I just need/want the basic overview.

For me, the Platonic ideal of a full big picture Setting product, from those I am familiar with, is the 1983 Greyhawk set. Plenty of overview of a huge area with hooks, not much set in stone. I didn't read it till the late Teens, so that's not even nostalgia speaking.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I understand you don't like a fantasy chop-suey culture, mixing things from different sources, but some times this can be intentional, and justified. Players could use the fantasy version as darts against the real version. For example in jianghu story the antagonists could be opium traffikers wearing smokins and bowler hats, as an allegory of the British empire for the colonial age. Or the bad guys are the formians, as a parody of the red revolutionary army, or alien wasps from outer space (I doubt W.A.S.Ps. to be very happy with the idea). We try to be polittically correct, but they are no-Caucasian people who aren't ashamed for their supremacist or xenophobes predjudices against their next neighbours. Then to stop those possible pejorative stereotypes against other communities, then all those groups are within the same land.

And usually the PCs are or visit cosmopolis, populations with people from different points.

 

[Maxperson]

No one thinks that. That would be silly. It's just that some people feel the need to get their entitled whining that it isn't that in well ahead of publication.

Buuuuuut iiiiii wannnnaa... No wait, you can't be talking about me, since I haven't been whining.

 

[Maxperson]

While I do understand some of the drive, I gotta disagree on one of these places.

Max, let's be honest. You could undoubtedly make a better Kara Tur than either WotC or TSR ever did and, well, they're never going to touch Kara Tur again with a ten foot pole because that place is downright tainted at this point. Just... Make it up. Do whatever you want with it. Its never going to get a new canonical depiction because its basically tainted ground, and while there's some interest for sure, there's also the looming specter of "Boy, the original OA was Not Good" hanging over the place.

Ed had the right of it when he said it was a bad idea to drag it into FR. Its dated (and not in a good way), doesn't make sense as part of the larger world of Faerun, and honestly fails at bringing the whole East Asia vibe due to being as Japan-centric as it is

I was just pulling names out of the air to make a point with that post, not making a list of what they haven't made

On Kara Tur, though, I have to disagree a little. They've hired cultural folks(can't remember the title) to help them with creating things that touch on real world cultures. Kara Tur could be made with those folks and with writers that represent the cultures in Kara Tur.

 

[Maxperson]

For me, the Platonic ideal of a full big picture Setting product, from those I am familiar with, is the 1983 Greyhawk set. Plenty of overview of a huge area with hooks, not much set in stone. I didn't read it till the late Teens, so that's not even nostalgia speaking.

While I liked Greyhawk a lot back in 1e, I found it to be too vague even then. For me the ideal setting book is along the lines of the 3e Forgotten Realms campaign book or the Eberron book. Lots of details included, while still leaving 90%+ of each country undetailed.