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?

 

[rgoodbb]

Are there any Gaj? What about a Cilops or two? There must be a Cilops. No? OK, Mekillots? Realy? No Mekillots. Muls, Thri-Kreen, Poison-wielding Halfling-Mo-Foe's, Elf Dune-Runners, Half Giants, Obsidian, Defiling/Preserving Silt Runners? .....................No?...City Templars of the Sorcerer Kings.......If there are no Templars........Oh......I guess........Try again next year.....I suppose....Or the Year afterward.

Campaign: #DarkSunLives. (There really is no hashtag. I don't even know what hashtag really means. (but there should be)).

 

[Mortellan]

Between Tales and now this Tome of Foes, at what point is Greyhawk fair game for DMSGUILD? Asking for a friend lol

 

[Parmandur]

Between Tales and now this Tome of Foes, at what point is Greyhawk fair game for DMSGUILD? Asking for a friend lol

They did say there would be announcements regarding the DMs Guild.

 

[Parmandur]

Are there any Gaj? What about a Cilops or two? There must be a Cilops. No? OK, Mekillots? Realy? No Mekillots. Muls, Thri-Kreen, Poison-wielding Halfling-Mo-Foe's, Elf Dune-Runners, Half Giants, Obsidian, Defiling/Preserving Silt Runners? .....................No?...City Templars of the Sorcerer Kings.......If there are no Templars........Oh......I guess........Try again next year.....I suppose....Or the Year afterward.

Campaign: #DarkSunLives. (There really is no hashtag. I don't even know what hashtag really means. (but there should be)).

Sooner or later, they keep talking about it.

 

[Jester David]

Another terrible name. It sounds more like a generic Monster Manual 2 than a book you’d look to for information on the multiverse.

I'm also tired of special covers. Two in a row? They have ceased to be special.

 

[darjr]

Here is the YouTube link
[video=youtube;t2GsBra3Z2M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2GsBra3Z2M&feature=youtu.be[/video]
https://youtu.be/t2GsBra3Z2M

 

[vecna00]

Here is the YouTube link

https://youtu.be/t2GsBra3Z2M

That was fast! It normally takes 24 hours.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Had my coffee. I'm ready to get my Curmudgeon-Grognarditis flaring up again...

Okay....so there are already product descriptions that give us a good idea. Not an NPC guide as I guessed based solely on the name, but more of a mix of a planar guide and a planar monster manual.

Very cool! Sounds like it will detail things like the Blood War and other planar conflicts.

This is specific and it specifically pre-empts (?) many, many, DM's campaigns where it doesn't exist (mine), or has been resoloved/changed (friends). Anything on a "Blood War" is wasted space that is too campaign-specific to be useful in a, supposedly, 'generic' book for a DM to use.

Based on recent D&D Beyond interviews, I’m expecting we’ll get info on the Gith vs. Illithid conflict, the Corellon vs. Gruumsh vs. Lolth conflict among others. New Race options ate mentioned, which I’m sure means the Gith race and various elf subraces that we’ve seen in UA. Fingers crossed that one of the conflicts covered is Eberron’s Last War, which would be an excuse to get Warforged in an official published product at least, and maybe some other Eberron races as well. I would be thrilled if Nentir Vale’s Dawn War gets a mention. That would actually be a good excuse for them to include the Shadar-Kai, since they really have little to no connection to the Corellon/Gruumsh/Lolth conflict but are closely tied to the Raven Queen, who is from that pantheon originally.

No. Just, no...again. Same problem. It's all FAR to 'campaign specific'. All this would do is clutter up pages that could have been better spent helping a DM figure out his own deity/pantheon conflicts.

Cool product, my guess is that it will give us not only nice maps of planar areas as well as details and more races, it will also give us stat blocks for creatures who are planar rulers.

Semi-no here. Maps would be pointless unless done in VERY rough idea to help DM's get a grip on just what this "Planar Wheel" layout is (us 1e old timers know it almost off by heart, but I've had some new players just not 'get it'; they have maps hard-wired into their brains that if you walk far enough in one direction you will run into an ocean, other country, etc...and the planes don't work like that because they are infinite).

I could see a chapter on "cosmic conflict and your campaign world." Something like: 1) Cosmic Conflict Largely Happened Millennia Ago (example Nethir Vale and Greek mythology), 2) Cosmic Conflict sporadically touches the mortal world (example Eberron), 3) Cosmic Conflict is ongoing (example the Blood War), 4) End Times Cosmic Conflict is Coming (example Norse mythology), and 5) Cosmic Conflict Ended Recently and World Sucks (example Dark Sun). [There probably isn't much need for Cosmic Conflict Ended Recently and World has Never Been Better.] There are some subtle (and not so subtle) differences in how you would play hostile outsiders based on those scenarios: the fiend who is hiding from the Forces of [Good/Law/whatever] and only causing trouble if it can't get caught vs. the fiend who thinks its time is now and has no problem running around causing trouble.....

Ah-HA! Now this guy gets it! If THIS was how they handle the whole book...where it's not so much as "Here is X, Y and Z", and more of "You can use the alphabet, or numbers, or shapes, or colours, or whatever to craft your own"...then I'd be TOTALLY down with that! Give me the TOOLS & MATERIALS...don't give me a completed table. Alas, I don't suspect I'll get that if the past books are anything to go by.

I believe my 1e Manual of the Planes is still going to be forced into service once again. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, I love my MotP!

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Mad Zagyg]

Please, please, please don’t use another iconic Greyhawk hero, villain, or storyline to supplement the Forgotten Realms. Let’s actually have a product that actually features something else in this supposed vast and varied multiverse.

 

[Prakriti]

Another terrible name. It sounds more like a generic Monster Manual 2 than a book you’d look to for information on the multiverse.

I have to agree. Mordenkainen's Guide to the Planes or Multiverse would have been much better. And if those titles don't fit the book's content well enough, then... the book's content is a problem too.