Why Dungeons & Dragons Isn't Putting Out a Campaign Book in 2025

Wizards of the Coast is not putting out a Dungeons & Dragons campaign book in 2025. Despite adding two more books to its D&D release schedule, there are no plans to release a new full-length campaign book. During a press event at Wizards' headquarters, EN World asked about why the D&D design team had chosen to skip over a campaign book for first time in a decade. "

"This year we have focused on providing, rather than one large adventure, many adventure options because you'll actually see there are more sort of discrete adventure options than we typically do in a year," said Jeremy Crawford, lead rules designer for Dungeons & Dragons. "So you're going to have not only the 10 adventures in Dragon Delves with three possible campaigns, you also have the adventure options in Eberron, you have the adventure options in the Starter Set, and you have a bunch of adventure options in the Forgotten Realms Adventure Guide. So in many ways, we are flooding you with adventure options."

Crawford added that the D&D design team is always experimenting with their releases and that yearly campaign releases didn't always allow players to finish up the previous campaign. "So we're looking at tempos that map to how people actually play," Crawford said. "And we find that often, especially with DMs who like to create their own adventure material, they often have a greater need for sort of micro material that they can swap around. They can build things the way they like. That's what we're doing this year."

Finally, Crawford noted that one of the advantages to continuing Fifth Edition rather than launching a brand new edition meant that players could continue to use existing campaigns. "We have a whole library of epic campaigns that people can play, including last year's Vecna: Eve of Ruin, and those are all playable with the new core books," Crawford said. "And so we've embraced that for 2025, that there's a whole bookshelf of these epic campaigns that people can pick up and play, and we know there are among those campaigns surely one or two that even the most dedicated 5e group hasn't played yet."

However, Crawford noted that the D&D team wasn't moving away from campaigns forever. "For the life of 5th edition, we've never believed in there's like only one way to do it and that's how we do it every year," Crawford said. "Just because there isn't a campaign book this year doesn't mean we're not doing them."

 

[TiQuinn]

I think giving the campaign adventures more time to bake in the oven rather than trying to crank them out every X months sounds like a better plan to me.

 

[payn]

I think giving the campaign adventures more time to bake in the oven rather than trying to crank them out every X months sounds like a better plan to me.

Paizo took awhile to figure it out you really need to plan and execute well and if you slack off it’s like muscle atrophy

 

[TiQuinn]

Paizo took awhile to figure it out you really need to plan and execute well and if you slack off it’s like muscle atrophy

 

[Weird Dave]

As a DMsGuild creator, I'm OK with this release schedule! I'm currently working on developing three separate Tier 1 Campaign Arcs (adventures designed to take characters from 1st to 5th level) which look like they're going to fit pretty well with the content getting released this year.

First one is actually developed and playtested and now working through editing and layout. It is called TAIL OF THE WYVERN. Set in the Forest Kingdom of Cormyr, it includes guidelines on creating a Royal Adventuring Charter, and the adventure itself moves around Cormyr including Thunderstone, Suzail, Hullack Forest, and Arabel. Been a blast to develop and play!

Second one which is nearing completion is ASHES OF OLD CITY. Set in Greyhawk City, it takes some inspiration from Gary Gygax's first Gord the Rogue novel and puts the characters in the middle of tensions between the Thieves' Guild, Beggars' Union, and City Watch in Old City. Includes a jaunt over to an Outer Plane too!

Third one is sketched out but should get done before the new Eberron book drops. It is called PEARL OF THE TEMPEST set in Eberron, where a routine voyage to Stormreach and Xen'drik turns weird when the Citadel of the Tempest appears in the sky! The characters are marked by its presence and must find a way to get rid of the mark by facing the trials of the Typhoon Queen, the drow ruler of the citadel, and staying alive in Stormreach. Pulp fantasy adventure at its finest!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Pretty much the only meme I like.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

As a home campaign DM I only really have use for books with content I can crib for my own use. Much harder to do that with full length adventures, much easier with short form adventures. That said, the DM I rotate with only uses the big books, so each form has appeal to certain styles.

 

[Staffan]

I wonder if something like Savage Worlds' Plot Point Campaigns would work for D&D. These are campaign outlines with a few fixed points important to the campaign, maybe a dozen over the whole campaign, and then supported by a whole bunch of "Savage Tales" you can use in between those. These adventures would necessarily be a lot smaller than a traditional adventure or even adventure section.

I'm not sure how well the concept would work in D&D as part of the idea is that the Savage Tales are more or less interchangeable, and a short adventure that challenges a 2nd level party in D&D is quite a bit different from one that challenges a 12th level party. Savage Worlds has a power curve, but it's nowhere near as steep as that of D&D.

 

[Stormonu]

Translated - "We couldn't think up a good FR world-shaking event so we're just going to remix books for the next year or so, because everyone wants refreshed existing material because their old books spontaneously caught on fire and can't be used - though everything is totally compatible with the 2014 version, like really!

/snark

 

[Rhineglade]

I long for the days when we could get an ENTIRE campaign starting at 1st level and going all the way up to 20th level. Otherwise, why have these levels if we never use them. I long for the days of Shackled City, Savage Tide, and Age of Worms. Well written, tons of maps, lots of fun.

 

[Stormonu]

Despite my snark, while adventure compilations like Quests from the Infinite Staircase and Tales from the Yawning Portal are really useful because you can lift small chunks for a night or three's gaming, it's still a hit to the pocketbook to be buying a book that you might only use 1 out of 5 adventures. I would really like to see the old single adventure paperbacks make a return in some form - maybe one a quarter or two a year. They could build up a stable of new adventures that isn't overwhelming, but might become somewhat revered like the old 1E-2E-3E standalone ones gained. They could, of course, still be (loosely) chained to work together, but could also be mixed or matched or just stopped/started wherever folks wanted, rather than locking them into a commitment for half a year or more that you have with the bigger "campaign adventures".