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.

 

[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?