Coming in May: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes! [UPDATED!]

So they just gave the title and showed the cover mock-ups; no specific info till Monday?

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Pass. Like I've passed on everything after the DMG except "Monsters" and that's only because I had store credit at a store going out of business and had to buy something.

What do you want out of curiosity.

 

[GarrettKP]

So some of the code names make sense after the fact, some.

Why then do you think they picked this code name?

This seems like a Marathon through the Planes.

 

[SkidAce]

. . . for Modrons . . .

There is an awful lot of cogs on that cover....

 

[Demetrios1453]

"Tome of Foes"...

Thinking on it, it's not "Tome of Mordenkainen's Foes", but "Tome of Foes". So perhaps it will be detailing, as implied by the conflicts mentioned in the blurb, groups that are opposed to each other, both good and evil, as long as they are in conflict. Devils and demons, celestials and fiends, mind flayers and illithids. Perhaps the elves and duergar mentioned will be there as elves vs. drow and dwarves vs duergar?

(Although I assume that one of the "several types of elves" will be eladrin; hopefully sea elves get their due as well)...

 

[Quickleaf]

Maybe
The tagline is "Discover the truth about the great conflicts of the D&D multiverse in this supplement for the world's greatest roleplaying game". Does that mean it's giving a chapter each to demons, devils, and gith? Or chapters to the conflicts, like the Blood War and Illithid hunt?
It does seem to be about "Mordenkainen's musings on the endless wars of the multiverse" (Although I doubt it will be in-character) and not the monster types.

I'm curious how the "several varieties of elves and duergar" are meant to fit in...

Which makes me sad. As the planes are locations, not just places for monsters and conflict. This feels like doing a Forgotten Realms campaign setting and just focusing entirely on the bad guy nations and villainous factions...

The title, despite my misgivings about it, really evokes VGtM... but maybe that's a good thing.

This book is going to be 256 pages vs. VGtM's 224 pages, so definitely there is room for more lore.

And maybe they've chosen not to present "locations as setting book" but rather "locations as part of adventure book"? That would at least be consistent with Chris Perkins' design thinking about "going deep, rather than broad."

I loved the old Planescape books, but one thing they were not was clear guidelines for the DM on how to use the material within in an actual game. Hopefully they redress that mistake without penduluming too far in the opposite direction.

Looking forward to learning more.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I seem to recall that Mike Mearls said something about thinking about how to stat up archdevils last year. So maybe some high-level foes will be in the book too.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Minor quibble on the otherwise amazing cover art - it's slightly annoying me that the Outer Plane symbols are out of order...

 

[superdude9900]

Someone needs to deceiver the runes!

They are the old symbols for the outer planes

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

The title "Tome of Foes" sounds like a tribute to the two biggest 3rd party products for 5E; "Tome of Beasts" and "5th Edition Foes"

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Despite a name that does not flow at all for me, this is again the style of book I prefer. I am happy they are continuing with crunch books that are not just single subject books. SCAG, Volo's, Xanathar's, and now Mordenkainen's. And considering what my budget allows me to buy, not even having spare cash to buy any of the adventures yet, they give me a good range of info for my money.