New Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide Art and Details Revealed

The marketing cycle for the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide is underway. Wizards of the Coast has released the first video and accompanying article previewing the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. Wizards has already told fans what's actually in the new 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, so there's not much in terms of actual new details. The video/article revealed that the Bastion system got another look from designers after its initial Unearthed Arcana playtest, that there will be a DM's Toolkit for everything from "alignment to traps," now arranged in alphabetical order, and that there will be 400 "new and improved" magic items.

The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide will also be the home of rules for crafting magic items and a new Greyhawk campaign setting guide, with a focus on showcasing how Greyhawk can be customized or be used as a model for homemade campaign settings. Finally, the Dungeon Master's Guide will contain a lore glossary and a full chapter about D&D cosmology, the latter of which helps to drive home the idea of the D&D multiverse.


While much of this information was already known, the video and article did show off a LOT of new art, some of which can be found below:

 

[Kurotowa]

For folks who were complaining about the lack of Dark Urge representation in the Baldur's Gate 3 minis, that appears to be the default version of the character on the far left of the wagon scene, presumably thinking about what it would be like to murder everyone else in the picture.

Not exactly. That's one of the PHB class examples, all of which turn up again in other art pieces. The white dragonborn is the Zealot Barbarian (p57), the male human charming the wagon driver is the Dance Bard (p64), and the purple haired gnome or halfling with the slippery fingers is the Rogue splash page character (p128).

 

[Zaukrie]

I mean, I'll say it....I like the art in this version of the game.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

This art is terrible. The barbarian with a baby face. The rogue on the wagon that is stepping on a shelf that looks so out of place. The one of the city with the docks screams AI.

Are you joking, particularly about the Dock.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Anyway I understand that art is entirely subjective, but people outright hating on the new stuff which looks great to me I can barely understand.

 

[kittenhugs]

I mean, I'll say it....I like the art in this version of the game.

I do, too, I personally think this edition is very pretty. There's clearly a lot of very skilled artists rendering a lot of art for it that is aesthetically-pleasing if not outright inspiring. There is also clearly a unified art direction they've taken with this rules revision, one with an emphasis on brighter and more diverse colors and a variety of character designs. And given that I'm paying $30-50 for a physical book in 2024 I definitely want one that is pleasing to look at, and the PHB at least has delivered.

 

[Xenolith234]

I do, too, I personally think this edition is very pretty. There's clearly a lot of very skilled artists rendering a lot of art for it that is aesthetically-pleasing if not outright inspiring. There is also clearly a unified art direction they've taken with this rules revision, one with an emphasis on brighter and more diverse colors and a variety of character designs. And given that I'm paying $30-50 for a physical book in 2024 I definitely want one that is pleasing to look at, and the PHB at least has delivered.

I like some of the art, but some of the art of characters to me seems too pristine and posed. I want drama and action, not a JC Penney photo of adventurers.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not exactly. That's one of the PHB class examples, all of which turn up again in other art pieces. The white dragonborn is the Zealot Barbarian (p57), the male human charming the wagon driver is the Dance Bard (p64), and the purple haired gnome or halfling with the slippery fingers is the Rogue splash page character (p128).

Barbarian rage and, oops, slaughtering everyone in the room goes together like chainsaws and massacres.

(OK, but probably not.)

 

[Sacrosanct]

The old art was basically friends and family drawing pictures.

OD&D art was by friends and family. AD&D art was by actual artists.

That is by Jim Holloway. I have a fondness for his style. He illustrated the B4 cover and Star Frontiers.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say he probably had a lot less time to draw this than Elmore had for the art you showed. Some guys are the go-to for a quick drawing to patch a hole on a page.

Sadly he passed a few years ago. RIP

No, it's by Dave Sutherland.

On a side note, I recall Tim Kask saying that Dave Sutherland hated being the art director, because he knew he wasn't as good as the artists he was in charge of. He especially hated female artists, and would say they shouldn't be into fantasy gaming. To quote Tim, "How he ever found a woman to marry him is beyond me."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not a fan of this artwork. The artwork in the PHB, while quality-wise fine, just conveys this "happy-go luck, everyone is having fun" vibe. Too many goofy scenes of smiling/laughing PCs, like adventuring is just a big party.

Art-wise, my preference is for black and white ink (like Sutherland's classic), not this. Hey, get off my lawn!

Every one of WotC's posts on Facebook gets overrun with comments like this (without the self-awareness). The OSR is eager to talk to all of you.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Art-wise, my preference is for black and white ink (like Sutherland's classic), not this. Hey, get off my lawn!

I think b/w can convey a feeling that color can't, and I wish it was used more often. When I did Chromatic Dungeons years ago, I hired an artist to do an homage to that piece, and to this date, is one of my favorite versions of art I ever had an artist do