"Dust" and "Midway" - Codenames for Upcoming D&D Hardcovers

Tales from the Yawning Portal was codenamed Labyrinth. Curse of Strahd was Cloak, and Storm King's Thunder was Dagger (or vice versa). Now two new codenames have emerged, spotted by EN World member kettite. Dust is dated 19 Sep 2017, hardcover, $49.95, and Midway is dated 21 Nov 2017, hardcover, $49.95. These have both appeared over on edelweiss' catalog. They do not match the four unnamed RPG Accessories on Amazon. Engage speculation mode - two new hardcovers later this year!

Typically the September release has been an adventure, and the November release a rules book (Sword Coast Adventurers Guide; Volo's Guide to Monsters). WotC has been hinting at a "major rules expansion" for a while now.

My guess? Take it with a massive truckload of salt, but I'm going to guess that Dust is fey or fey wild related. Possible the thing Adventure Time's Pendleton Ward helped with. But it really is a wild guess.

"Dust"
Wizards RPG Team
FRONTLIST
On Sale Date: 19 September 2017
9780786966103, 0786966106
Hardcover
$49.95 USD, $63.95 CAD


"Midway"
Wizards RPG Team
FRONTLIST
On Sale Date: 21 November 2017
9780786966110, 0786966114
Hardcover
$49.95 USD, $63.95 CAD

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[Quickleaf]

Wasn't it King Lear? There are obvious parallels there -- a king who loses his throne and has three daughters; two evil, one good -- but no real similarities with Macbeth that I can see.

IIRC, the exact words were from Chris Perkins at Gamehole Con in 2014 that we might be seeing “a giants based story influenced by a Shakespearean play”.

http://www.tribality.com/2016/05/10/is-storm-kings-thunder-the-next-dd-adventure/

 

[Staffan]

"Dagger" = "Macbeth with Giants", how Chris Perkins was talking about SKT before SKT was announced.

[...]

"Cloak" = reference to the iconic Strahd illustration on the cover of I6 done by Clyde Caldwell...in which Strahd wears a great big billowing cloak

Pretty straightforward, really.

The thing is that that's an analogy to the Law of Fives* in action. It's really easy to look at a word and an adventure and figure out a way to connect the two. For example, I could easily associate both Cloak and Dagger with Princes of the Apocalypse instead (Cloak: the cloak of misdirection that surrounds the cults' activities; Dagger: the dagger Tinderstrike used by Vanifer, the Prophet of Fire). Also, at least on the Magic side of things, they are actively avoiding using code words that are directly related to the product or somehow related to game terms.

* The Law of Fives is a Discordian thing. It states that all things happen in fives, or are divisible by or multiples of five, or are somehow directly or indirectly appropriate to five. As Omar said to Mal-2: "I find the Law of Fives to be more and more manifest the harder I look." The lesson here is that if you look hard enough, you can find patterns in everything, even where there are none.

 

[Demetrios1453]

IIRC, the exact words were from Chris Perkins at Gamehole Con in 2014 that we might be seeing “a giants based story influenced by a Shakespearean play”.

http://www.tribality.com/2016/05/10/is-storm-kings-thunder-the-next-dd-adventure/

Right, but as Prakriti said, the play in question is King Lear, not Macbeth.

Although it would be intriguing to restructure (or make a sequel to) SKT to more parallel Macbeth - perhaps Duke Zalto, egged on by his wife, lures Hekaton to Ironslag and treacherously kills him in his sleep, thereby rising to the top of the Ordning, with Serissa swearing vengeance and leading the fight to take them down and regain her rightful throne...

 

[Bitbrain]

Right, but as Prakriti said, the play in question is King Lear, not Macbeth.

Although it would be intriguing to restructure (or make a sequel to) SKT to more parallel Macbeth - perhaps Duke Zalto, egged on by his wife, lures Hekaton to Ironslag and treacherously kills him in his sleep, thereby rising to the top of the Ordning, with Serissa swearing vengeance and leading the fight to take them down and regain her rightful throne...

Ooh . . . That would be a really cool variation on the Storm King's Thunder story.

 

[Jester David]

IIRC, the exact words were from Chris Perkins at Gamehole Con in 2014 that we might be seeing “a giants based story influenced by a Shakespearean play”.

http://www.tribality.com/2016/05/10/is-storm-kings-thunder-the-next-dd-adventure/

He was referring to King Lear and the three daughters (one noble, two treacherous).

 

[gyor]

I hope they tell use what midway is as well during the Stream of Annilihan.

 

[Jester David]

I hope they tell use what midway is as well during the Stream of Annilihan.

They told us about Volo's Guide last stream as well. So... maybe.

 

[Prakriti]

I hope they tell use what midway is as well during the Stream of Annilihan.

Last year, they revealed both Storm King's Thunder and Volo's Guide at the same event. I would expect them to do something similar this year.

Edit:
Also, re-listening to the Lore You Should Know segment about Chult in March, it's obvious that we'll be visiting Chult at some point. Just listen to the part from 29:00-30:30:

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/justin-ziran-and-kate-irwin-wizkids-miniatures

Quotes:
"So, what ends up happening with the storyline in 5th Edition..."

"Mezro is still a ruin. But there are secrets there to explore, which we'll probably explore in some significant product ... but I don't know if we want to jump into it right now..." Tito: "Sure, yeah."

 

[speculart]

Last year, they revealed both Storm King's Thunder and Volo's Guide at the same event. I would expect them to do something similar this year.

Edit:
Also, re-listening to the Lore You Should Know segment about Chult in March, it's obvious that we'll be visiting Chult at some point. Just listen to the part from 29:00-30:30:

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/justin-ziran-and-kate-irwin-wizkids-miniatures

Quotes:
"So, what ends up happening with the storyline in 5th Edition..."

"Mezro is still a ruin. But there are secrets there to explore, which we'll probably explore in some significant product ... but I don't know if we want to jump into it right now..." Tito: "Sure, yeah."

There you go. I thought I remembered something similar!!
Thanks for putting my mind to rest