D&D (2024) New Dungeon Master's Guide Cover Features Venger (From the D&D Cartoons)

The cover of the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide has been unveiled.... in the Mirror, a mainstream newspaper in the UK.

The cover art features villains (as opposed to the heroes on the Player's Handbook cover revealed last week), with skeletons in the foreground, the classic villains Skylla and Warduke in the mid ground, and then Venger from the 1980s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon looming in the background, and right at the back lurks a dracolich.

The DMG will be released November 12th, 2024.

 

[Vael]

Honestly, I've never seen the cartoons, so whether or not these are cartoon characters doesn't really matter much to me. I just ... quibble with the art a little, like the magical arc from Venger looks odd to me.

 

[Aldarc]

I know I'm the outlier, but nostalgia is largely bad, so call me bored with all this.

You are not alone. I was not born when the show first aired, and I was less than a year old when the show ended. I can't recall seeing any reruns for this show airing in my early years and teens unlike other more popular cartoons from that era: e.g., Transformers, He-Man, GI JOE, Thundercats, TMNT, etc. None of my friends ever talked about this show. I have absolutely no connection to this bit of nostalgia whatsoever, so it falls entirely flat for me. Captain Kangaroo may as well be on this cover.

So it feels like Gen X designers writing for Gen X buyers, definitely not for the Millennials or later generations, who their research has shown to be the larger market.

 

[Kurotowa]

Metal is middle aged dudes.

If that's all you're listening to, you need to be expanding your horizons. If you want it close to D&D themed there's Wind Rose, an Italian power folk metal band that leans heavy on dwarf themed songs (both Tolkien and Warhammer varieties). If you want more straight metal I've been greatly enjoying Lovebites and Nemophila, both all-women Japanese metal bands with some amazing music.

 

[Sonofapreacherman]

This is not finished art. This is brushy concept art. It should not be used as the final product. The previewed Player's Handbook was the same. I hope the alternate DMG cover looks better than this (much like the alternate PHB cover, link below, was more evocative).

https://www.enworld.org/attachments/0_dnd_phb_alt_cvr_full_cvr-jpg-webp.363416/

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Metal is middle aged dudes.

Wait a minute that kid from Lorna Shore is only 30 years old.

 

[kevin_video]

Not a fan of Venger's new design. It looks like what you'd get if you asked ChatGPT what Venger would look like if you crossed him with a ghoul.

EDIT: Now I know why it's bugging me. It's similar vibes as the Marvel zombies cover.

 

[Snapdragyn]

Really hoping for an alt cover on this similar in style to the alt cover PHB.

 

[DarkCrisis]

F me Venger! My BOY. Hell yeah.

Now THAT is a cover.

 

[Weiley31]

Did they reveal the alt cover yet?

 

[Parmandur]

Does it seem weird to anyone else that they went with the cartoon villains on the cover but are using gryhawk instead of The Realm as the example setting? Aren't there a bunch of GH villains they could have used? Seems like a disjointed art direction decision.

They went into the plan a bit more in that GameInformer article, but the PHB and DMG are going to have big chapter splash pages that go Setting by Setting showing major heroes (PHB) or villains (DMG) from diffeSettings across the multiverse.