D&D General Forgotten Realms cover to "Guide to the Dalelands" revealed, book delayed

The cover to Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood's first sourcebook in the Realmsbound series has been revealed.

Guide to the Dalelands is the first of four books, and is a regional sourcebook for both DMs and players. It will be released on the Dungeon Master's Guild. The book has been delayed from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026. They are hoping to release it in June.

The other books in the series are:

• Guide to the Dalelands: A regional sourcebook for both DMs and players.
• Inn Sites of the Dalelands: Geared towards social encounters, it covers not just inns but also NPCs, mini-games, and social occasions such as festivals and tournaments.
• Delves of the Dalelands: a collection of dangerous locations to serve as fodder for adventurers.
• Adventures in the Dalelands: An anthology of adventures for levels 1 to 12.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

She (and the artist) also needs to learn how to hold a bow. She's not going to be able to make any shots holding the bow like that.

It's not a case of knowing how to hold a bow, it's just a case of knowing which way wrists rotate when you move. The more you look at that image the more obviously wrong you realise it is. Maybe the book is delayed three months so they can take some anatomy lessons?

Why has the horse on the right stuck it's leg out to trip over the other horse? That seems a bit mean.

 

[jdrakeh]

I don't hate it. Looks very much like FR in my head does. With more spears. I like spears.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I love this cover. It's not perfect but does a great job of encapsulating the feel of the Dalelands. Plus I really like how clean the illustration is.

Ignoring the questionable archery, yeah, I do like how clean it is. Makes me realize how tired I have gotten of the painterly, blurry-around-the-edges art that Wizards has often employed for its covers.

 

[Sketchpad]

Normally I'm perfectly happy to ignore stuff like that, but that is just wild.

View attachment 433539

And it could just be an easy fix in Photoshop before final production.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I’m not concerned about the bow.

I am curious if there will be a current clack section. Hooks for sandbox play are my jam.

 

[Laurefindel]

I love the pastoral faux-medieval feel. I was starting to fear this was irrevocably out of style nowadays.

 

[bedir than]

I love the pastoral faux-medieval feel. I was starting to fear this was irrevocably out of style nowadays.

WotC showing that style in the backgrounds and species sections of the PHB cause the manosphere to panic

 

[Laurefindel]

WotC showing that style in the backgrounds and species sections of the PHB cause the manosphere to panic

Even if you make extra sure that only female characters are visibly wearing tights?

 

[Swedish Chef]

I don't know if the artist just isn't very good, or if there was some AI used to create this, but this section is just all kinds of wrong:

The horses are almost on top of each other. The perspective of the tree vs the horse vs the spear is all wrong. Where even is the spear being held? Looks like maybe the crook of his arm? The lighter horse seems to be stoned. I'm not certain, but its reins may even be in the mouth of the darker horse. The rider's left foot seems to be very long.

The reins on the rear horse are not drawn properly. One half goes to the riders hand, one half just seems to go to the front of the horse. The more I look, the more errors I see. And the type of errors I see are very similar to those generated by AI software.

The book itself I might be interested in. I've always enjoyed reading the various settings books over the years, even if I never use them in the game. But that cover art ..... could be a real deal breaker for me. If the cover art is that disjointed, I'm concerned about the quality of the interior art.

 

[GreyLord]

I don't know if the artist just isn't very good, or if there was some AI used to create this, but this section is just all kinds of wrong:

View attachment 433602
The horses are almost on top of each other. The perspective of the tree vs the horse vs the spear is all wrong. Where even is the spear being held? Looks like maybe the crook of his arm? The lighter horse seems to be stoned. I'm not certain, but its reins may even be in the mouth of the darker horse. The rider's left foot seems to be very long.

The reins on the rear horse are not drawn properly. One half goes to the riders hand, one half just seems to go to the front of the horse. The more I look, the more errors I see. And the type of errors I see are very similar to those generated by AI software.

The book itself I might be interested in. I've always enjoyed reading the various settings books over the years, even if I never use them in the game. But that cover art ..... could be a real deal breaker for me. If the cover art is that disjointed, I'm concerned about the quality of the interior art.

Good eye

If you look at the bandit hiding behind the tree behind the horsemen you also see that his hand is at a very weird angle. Also, I'm not sure if the Horses have the right number of legs between them...it could just be perspective, or it could be that they are both three legged horses or something else. Could be hard to draw, but the back rider only has three fingers on one hand (maybe a finger got chopped off, or maybe just to small for the artist to draw??)

Now that you've pointed it out, it does appear there are a lot of artifacts that could indicate AI, and the more I study it the more appear.