D&D 5E Clues in the Core Rulebooks

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Well, there's that one Eberron clue in the Monster Manual. You know, the one where they included a picture of House Orien's crest (which depicts a unicorn) in the "pegasus" entry, with some dialog about how great it is to have a pegasus as a symbol (which is clearly a unicorn).

Lazy.

You call it lazy, but I missed it until you mentioned it - even after deliberately reading each of those little notes because one struck me as amusing and I wanted to see if the others would be too.

 

[Ancalagon]

Well, the magical items have some clues - eyes and hand of Vecna + sword of Kas (Greyhawk right?), the Orb of Dragonkind (Krynn), BlackRazor et al (White Plume Mountain)...

 

[ninjayeti]

I'd say the "cover monsters" of the core rulebooks are likely to show up in the planned adventures, especially considering they gave us blurbs on the title page specifically calling out who each of them are. So Tomb of Horrors (Acererak), Against the Giants (King Snurre), and Undermountain (Xanathar the beholder) in some form or another.

 

[Remathilis]

Accerack, Lord Soth and Strahd are all name-checked directly in the MM as Iconics for demiliches, death knights, and vampires. One of those three has seen an adventure path written about him. Could we see a new ToH or a Soth-based DL AP?

I could see the Isle of Dread getting a redo. Its iconic, its now in the EPoW and can world-hop, and its got some cool monsters and ideas (rakasta! dinosaurs!) and lots of potential hooks. I could easily see a CoS-like adventure around that.

I could also see a WPM based adventure, or at least something using the iconic weapons.

And of course, Sigil for a plane-hopping game.

 

[Bad Fox]

Accerack, Lord Soth and Strahd are all name-checked directly in the MM as Iconics for demiliches, death knights, and vampires. One of those three has seen an adventure path written about him. Could we see a new ToH or a Soth-based DL AP?

I could see the Isle of Dread getting a redo. Its iconic, its now in the EPoW and can world-hop, and its got some cool monsters and ideas (rakasta! dinosaurs!) and lots of potential hooks. I could easily see a CoS-like adventure around that.

It'd be great to see Tomb of Horrors back in print and available at my local game store, but I wouldn't expect a redo anytime soon. Chris Perkins was asked about a potential update over on Twitter a couple days ago - he responded that the version of ToH published in Dungeon #213 (Apr 2013) is compatible with 5th. That particular version was for adapted for Next by Perkins himself.

As for Isle of Dread, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. I'd love to see the old "mostly blank" map that came with the original module make a comeback in 5th! Watching my players fill it in inch-by-inch as they explore the island would be pretty cool.

 

[Charles Rampant]

If you look at the Gargoyle entry in the MM, you'll see that it directly name-drops Ogremoch from Princes of the Apocalypse. I was pretty surprised when I saw that, during my player's assault on Sacred Stone Monastery.

I think that a Giants-theme adventure is a near certainty, even without hints from Perkins. The PHB cover; the MM's overview of their racial culture; the variety of norse-themed equipment in the DMG, which I would say ties in well with Giants.

 

[designbot]

It might just be wishful thinking, but the rules for figuring out alien technology and futuristic items on pg. 268 of the DMG seem to hint at a revival of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. You know people would flip their lids if they announced that.

 

[Ezequielramone]

The Aarokra's entry in the monster manual says they fight against the elemental evil. Near a air cult's tower in PotA you can find a group o them investigating the cult.
There are references like king snurre in the player's handbook, acererrak (tomb of horrors) in the cover of the DMG. Lord soth and Strahd in the MM.
In the Shadowfell entry they mention dread domains (Ravenloft). They explicitly mention krynn (dragonlance), athas (dark Sun), toril (forgotten realms), oreth (greyhawk), and a few more when they refer to the different material planes and in the appendices to adapt adventures to other settings.
In the player's handbook the examples of the races mention races from different worlds like krynn or greyhawk.
They mention sigil in the dmg.
I think I read something about birthright and mystara.
Wotc have been playing with Eberron, dragonlance and psionics (dark Sun) in the unearthed arcana column.
In the DMG you have some rules for honor, I believe that is something from OA. Madness could have been a clue for OotA, but that is harsh.
In the player's handbook they mention tika (dragonlance), bruennor (forgotten realms) and artemis (forgotten realms,). But the FR don't need clues...

 

[Staffan]

The MM spends quite a bit of time talking about the giants' ordning and all that. Could be a clue pertaining to the hinted-at "Shakespearian giants" adventure.

BTW, "ordning" is Swedish for "order" (as in "in an ordered fashion" or "in ranked order", not as in "military order").

 

[GX.Sigma]

There are a few references to the Great Modron March (the subject and title of a Planescape adventure path) in the MM and DMG.

Well, there's that one Eberron clue in the Monster Manual. You know, the one where they included a picture of House Orien's crest (which depicts a unicorn) in the "pegasus" entry, with some dialog about how great it is to have a pegasus as a symbol (which is clearly a unicorn).

Wow, I didn't even notice that. How embarrassing!