D&D 5E D&D Beyond Will Delist Two Books On May 17th

D&D Beyond will be permanently removing Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes on May 17th in favor of the upcoming Monsters of the Multiverse book, which largely compiles and updates that material.

As per the D&D Beyond FAQ for Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse:

Can I still buy Volo’s Guide to Monsters or Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes on D&D Beyond?
Starting on May 16, you can acquire the streamlined and up-to-date creatures and character race options, as well as a plethora of exciting new content, by purchasing Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. On May 17, Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes will be discontinued from our digital marketplace.

If you already own these two books you will still have access to your purchases and any characters or encounters you built with them. They won’t be removed from your purchased sourcebooks. Therefore, if you want the "fluff" and tables in those two tomes in D&D Beyond, you need to purchase them soon.

This is the first time books have been wholesale delisted from the D&D Beyond Platform rather than updated (much like physical book reprints are with errata and changes).

There’s no word from WotC on whether physical books will be discontinued and be allowed to sell out.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Does it? Not from what I saw at the time. Maybe hundreds.

Hundreds of complaints usually means thousands of silent, unhappy customers...

 

[Parmandur]

Hundreds of complaints usually means thousands of silent, unhappy customers...

Not necessarily.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Off-topic, but I'm assuming that was from TSR Online? I still have some ancient print-outs from there as well... I even posted my own homebrew there.

yes, I used to borrow the phone to dial into AOL for that.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

And on Roll20 as well. They also announced that Radiant Citadel will be postponed until July the 19th.

so I wonder if people are still going to tell me they wouldn't remove content

 

[GMforPowergamers]

You have more trust in corporations then I do, then.

I mean, for the time being, it would be a pretty bad PR move. But in another 10 years? There’s no way they’re going to continue hosting outdated digital content forever. Look what happened with the 4e tools.

I assume that all digital 5e support will go away someday

 

[MNblockhead]

I consider you to be very lucky, as this is not my experience.

In the tables I play at, the allowed content is specifically dictated by the DMs. If they do not own the book (WoTC or 3rd Party) it is not allowed. The reasoning (right or wrong) behind this is that if they don't have the book, they cant look up the rules to be able to make a call.

I am kinda that DM. I own most of the non-adventure books on D&D Beyond. My players have access to all the materials I've bought. I synchronize DDB character sheets to Foundry.

Building a completely new character class and even certain types of tweaks are not possible or are a lot of work on DDB (though its own their roadmap to better support homebrew classes). While almost anything is possible in Foundry, it can be quite complicated. I'm not interested in spending the time trying to get highly customized classes, feats, etc. working in DDB or Foundry. So I limit options to what is supported, with rare exceptions (mostly feats and magic items).

The Acquisitions Inc and the Critical Role books are the only rules and setting books I don't own. But I do not own most of the adventure books, so options available in them are not available to my players.

I suppose if they were able to figure out a way to create them so that they worked with DDB and Foundry I might consider it. But none of my players have shown any interest in this and they haven't had an issue with these limitations.

I suppose that's an argument for old fashioned pen-and-paper mode. You don't have to worry about software support. But as my players are moving into tier 4 levels, I have even less interest in looking over character sheets and trying to balance things out. Even with all of the digital aids, combat can get sloggy as players have to look up and make decisions on what to do when there are so many options, buffs, debuffs, etc. in play.

I'm not saying I would choose this hill to die on. But I'm not going expend a great deal of effort on something that detracts a lot from my fun. I would be far more likely to experiment for short, low-level campaigns, using pen-and-paper (or PDFs). For a long campaign expected to get into tier 3? Nah, I would rather not.

 

[MNblockhead]

The idea that there was a homogenous set of D&D rules was an alien concept in both design and practice unless you were playing in some form of organized play where the rules need to be the same across the board or the initial design phases of 2e and 3e. The constant need for product for the former led to layers upon layers of supplements, alternate rule books, etc. While the latter had an official 3rd party conduit of alternate material in the form of the OGL/D20 license and eventually WotC's own variants.

Even then, from what I remember of convention-tournament play in the 80s, you almost always had to select from pre-generated characters.

I missed out on the living world of Greyhawk style play as I wasn't gaming at the time. But I'm guessing it was the precursor to what is not the Adventurer's League. I see the attraction, but if I wanted to play a full modern adventure/campaign, I would rather find a group not subject to AL rules. For pickup games, I would much prefer a one-shot with pregens.

 

[JEB]

Just a more general complaint that a word I strongly associate with one is so intimately tied to the other.

To be fair, Wizards and TSR were separate companies when they came up with those very similar terms...

 

[MonsterEnvy]

so I wonder if people are still going to tell me they wouldn't remove content

That’s a delay not removed content. Though I could see Wizards no longer supporting roll20, which is different from removing content.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I assume that all digital 5e support will go away someday

Someday yes, probably 10 years or more, not anytime soon.

 

[Parmandur]

To be fair, Wizards and TSR were separate companies when they came up with those very similar terms...

The Magic usage predates Planescape, at least.

 

[Saracenus]

It never fails to wound me that I have to mentally differentiate between "Planeswalker" and "Planewalker" to avoid getting my hopes up for something Planescape only for it to turn out to be another MtG set/book...

My man you should try being an OG Greyhawk fan... we are used to disappointment and raised hopes. The closest we have come to a full on Greyhawk centered book is Saltmarsh and even that didn't open up all of Greyhawk to DMs Guild... But I feel your pain...

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Hundreds of complaints usually means thousands of silent, unhappy customers...

Yep. In my earlier years, when getting trained for various customer service jobs, the general rule was that one vocal complainer is usually equal to between 7 and 10 extra lost customers, either representing those who do not speak up and simply stop buying or those the complainer tells the negative stuff to and turns that person off to the product. Now, I have no idea if the social media age has increased or decreased that, since it is now so much easier for people to anonymously complain.

 

[CleverNickName]

It never fails to wound me that I have to mentally differentiate between "Planeswalker" and "Planewalker" to avoid getting my hopes up for something Planescape only for it to turn out to be another MtG set/book...

My man you should try being an OG Greyhawk fan... we are used to disappointment and raised hopes. The closest we have come to a full on Greyhawk centered book is Saltmarsh and even that didn't open up all of Greyhawk to DMs Guild... But I feel your pain...

(cries in Mystaran)

 

[Saracenus]

(cries in Mystaran)

Yeah your 5e version set in Mystra was confined to the Goodman Games Adventures Reincarnated line... so, you don't even get DMs Guild like we did for Saltmarsh.
Original Adventures Reincarnated #2: The Isle of Dread
I feel your pain too.

 

[Saracenus]

Even then, from what I remember of convention-tournament play in the 80s, you almost always had to select from pre-generated characters.

I missed out on the living world of Greyhawk style play as I wasn't gaming at the time. But I'm guessing it was the precursor to what is not the Adventurer's League. I see the attraction, but if I wanted to play a full modern adventure/campaign, I would rather find a group not subject to AL rules. For pickup games, I would much prefer a one-shot with pregens.

It was the RPGA and there were many "Living" campaigns before there was Living Greyhawk (2000 – 2008) . The biggest was Living City (located in a single city, Raven's Bluff, set in the Forgotten Realms) which ran for a super long time (1987 – 2003) using the 1e/2e D&D rules. There was an attempt to update the LC campaign to 3e, but it was a mess and Living Greyhawk, the new hotness, took over became the defacto main campaign.

Living Campaigns are a different beast from tournament play. Tournament play were usually one-shots with pre-gens, scoring, and prizes. Living Campaigns were built to play your own PC/PCs across many different adventures (usually with a plot).

For a complete listing of Living Campaigns see the wiki entry for it...

Living campaigns - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I came into the Organized Play (OP) picture in 2000 with the advent of LG and organized/ran/played in a lot of OP right up to the D&D Next playtest (I was suffering from burnout and took a long break by diving into the competitive card game Android: Netrunner). I now play/DM in home campaigns almost exclusively.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

so I wonder if people are still going to tell me they wouldn't remove content

What have they removed?

 

[Parmandur]

So, interestingly enough, Lost Mines of Phandelver and Acquisitions Incorporated will be free on D&D Beyon on May 19 for a week, I wonder if their future is limited, too:

 

[JEB]

So, interestingly enough, Lost Mines of Phandelver and Acquisitions Incorporated will be free on D&D Beyon on May 19 for a week, I wonder if their future is limited, too:

They have a new Starter Set coming out, and it's supposed to match the 2024 rules, so it makes sense for them to retire the old starter set. You'd think they could leave an adventure in place, but I guess it's not worth the trouble to revise (compatible or not).

Acquisitions Inc is both a surprise, and not a surprise (I don't think it's one of their most popular books, plus there are probably licensing matters to consider).

 

[Parmandur]

They have a new Starter Set coming out, and it's supposed to match the 2024 rules, so it makes sense for them to retire the old starter set. You'd think they could leave an adventure in place, but I guess it's not worth the trouble to revise (compatible or not).

Acquisitions Inc is both a surprise, and not a surprise (I don't think it's one of their most popular books, plus there are probably licensing matters to consider).

Well, apparently the new Adventure leans really heavily into multiple Drsgons, and implements feedback from years of Starter Set purchasers. I don't think Lost Mines will be forgotten or inaccessible, though, not with stuff like the DMsGuild and Beyond at hand.

I wonder if the August Set will have new Class rules?