D&D 5E D&D Summer Hardcover Amazon Placeholder

There's a D&D product placeholder for the summer hardcover up on Amazon. It doesn't say much, but confirms the release date as August 16th. There's some product dimensions there, too -- they match a standard D&D hardcover (except for the 2-inch thickness!) -- and an ISBN (978-0786968169).

[Update -- the US version of the placeholder has a price of $69.99.]

We'll find out more on Thursday when the D&D Direct video is released. Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse is on May 17th, and Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel comes out on June 21st.

From previous statements from WotC, we're expecting two classic settings to come back this year, and these will be in a new print format. WotC's Ray Winninger said in June last year that "Each of these products is pursuing a different format you've never seen before. And neither is "digital only;" these are new print formats." Current speculation, based on hints and teasers, is mainly centered around Spelljammer and Dragonlance.

Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (D&D Campaign Collection - Adventure, Setting, Monster Book, Map, and DM Screen): Wizards RPG Team: 0195166182087: Books - Amazon.ca

Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (D&D Campaign Collection - Adventure, Setting, Monster Book, Map, and DM Screen): Wizards RPG Team: 0195166182087: Books - Amazon.ca

www.amazon.ca

 

[Mercurius]

I don't know why we should consider Stormwreck an extra though. It's unlikely the D&D team considers it one, they have to make the thing.

Again, semantics. By "extra" I mean any product that doesn't offer substantial new material. Presumably Stormwreck is Essentials 2, right?

And let's add in a couple other things. If we include all products with significant print, then WotC's highest output so far was 2019. It dropped in 2020 and 21, but presumably some of that had to do with Covid, and also 2019 saw three "non-core" products in Tyranny, Stranger Things, and Rick & Morty, plus Essentials.

2020 saw the same number of new hardcovers (4), but instead of those non-core/extras, they released Strahd. 2021 upped the hardcovers to 5, but with no extras.

As others have noted, WotC has said their product output will increase. 2021 saw five hardcovers; if they stick to five and add in Stormwreck, that is technically an increase, but not over 2019 - and not much over 2021.

I'm just saying that if you look at the overall trend, and you take what they say at face value, it seems likely--if not definite--that we'll see the equivalent of six major products, beyond any non-core stuff like starter sets and luxury products. Maybe not in 2022, but certainly by 2023.

 

[Weiley31]

Goodness, I know the crossover books replaced em pretty much, but I sure do wish the Planeshift Web Articles got a second "season" or what not. They were so cool.

 

[Mercurius]

I think a new Magic Setting every year seems pretty plausible. And again, we don't know what James Wyatt is working on now, but previously he was in the Magic worldbuilding team and worked on three Setting books for 5E, plus all the free Magic booklets. And Hammon did a Magic book already, and we don't know what she is working on.

Yeah, it is possible. But if we're looking at 2-3 more major products this year plus Stormwreck, and presumably we're still on schedule for 2 of those to be classic settings.

So if there's a 3rd product that isn't Stormwreck, what is it most likely to be? A new Magic setting is one option, but that would bring the total number of settings this year to 3, something we haven't seen before. It could also be an FR-based story arc, although that could be folded into the Spelljammer product, especially if it is a slipcase.

 

[Mercurius]

Goodness, I know the crossover books replaced em pretty much, but I sure do wish the Planeshift Web Articles got a second "season" or what not. They were so cool.

It would be nice to see those expanded--with maps!--and printed in a hardcover. Although how they'd map Zendikar is anyone's guess.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, it is possible. But if we're looking at 2-3 more major products this year plus Stormwreck, and presumably we're still on schedule for 2 of those to be classic settings.

So if there's a 3rd product that isn't Stormwreck, what is it most likely to be? A new Magic setting is one option, but that would bring the total number of settings this year to 3, something we haven't seen before. It could also be an FR-based story arc, although that could be folded into the Spelljammer product, especially if it is a slipcase.

I mean, Winninger seems to like Settings, a lot. And Spelljammer, Dragonlance, and Kamigawa don't have a lot of conceptual overlap.

 

[Mercurius]

I mean, Winninger seems to like Settings, a lot. And Spelljammer, Dragonlance, and Kamigawa don't have a lot of conceptual overlap.

Kamigawa would make a lot of sense, for a number of reasons. And Wyatt has the history with Asian-inspired settings.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Again, semantics. By "extra" I mean any product that doesn't offer substantial new material. Presumably Stormwreck is Essentials 2, right?

I'm getting deja-vu here of when folks were saying the Essentials Kit was not a main product, we'll get another book instead, and then that didn't happen.

I mean, the Essentials was almost all new material. The new Stormwreck box I think will probably be almost all new material.

 

[Mercurius]

I'm getting deja-vu here of when folks were saying the Essentials Kit was not a main product, we'll get another book instead, and then that didn't happen.

I mean, the Essentials was almost all new material. The new Stormwreck box I think will probably be almost all new material.

I suppose that depends upon what you mean by "new material." Essentials was comprised of 64 pages of rules, which essentially (ahem) summarizes old stuff, plus a 64-page adventure, and then cards and such. So in my mind at least, it mostly just had 64 pages of new material: the adventure.

As for the term "main product," let's not get hung up on semantics. If nothing else, I'm just saying that we should differentiate between something like Essentials and the hardcovers.

But as I've been saying, you could be right, and Stormwreck is the 6th major product, and that's it for 2022. I'm not making a hard prediction either way, except that I think we'll eventually see the hardcover (or equivalent) count upped to six per year, and no later than 2023. So I'm saying 2022 or 2023, and it remains to be seen whether Stormwreck is the 6th major product.

 

[darjr]

What if Stormwreck came with vcr tapes?

 

[GreyLord]

Well, a setting released via a box set is NOT something that 5e has done yet (that I know of) and I FEEL (so, just my Opinion folks) that it would represent a new form of print release for a setting that people have not seen yet.

Other options could also be a direct release to D&D Beyond rather than other methods of publication (though, this would be more of a testing the waters to see how this is taken accepted, it could upset a number of people so if done this way it would probably be via a smaller setting people would want...maybe planescape, spelljammer, or something even more niche).

It could be that a setting is released via a boardgame concept or even via an FREE RPG day product.

Many options are out there I think.