"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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[Gadodel]

Dust: Up from the Ashes, Greyhawk!

Midway: Epic Level Handbook, to prepare us for something much, much more!

 

[Jhaelen]

Dust is clearly referring to Dark Sun - or at least it should!

And while I'd love to believe that Midway refers to Planescape I somehow doubt it. It's probably something way more boring, e.g. related to the Forgotten Realms.

Did I mention that I always feel the irresistible urge to yawn when I read something about the 'Yawning Portal'?

 

[unnatural 20]

Why would Dust equal Dark Sun? How was Dagger related to Storm King's Thunder?

 

[Zansy]

I second the hoping for Dark Sun and Sigil stuff :3 I'd love to see it happen.

Another thing I thought about, and this is grasping at straws, with the whole "Midway" as a WWII reference, is that there's always the possibility, however unlikely, that in one of these unearthed Arcana articles they'll revisit Modern Magic and bring D&D to a different timeline. O. O

but yeah, Dark Sun, Sigil, or Fey would be ideal

 

[eryndel]

I think we'd heard of "Dust" prior, possibly in a podcast.
Could be soooo many things, it's hard to say. Deserts of Desolation is a good guess, albeit a story that takes place outside of Sword Coast. Unless it's in Anauroch, but that's not very Egyptian.

To be fair, Deserts of Desolation already has a home in the Realms east of Mulhorand and north of places like Estagund, Durpar, and Var the Golden/Drowned. Plains of Purple Dust, Raurin the Dust Desert. Still, a long way from the Sword Coast but would be a fair contender for "Dust"

 

[Bitbrain]

Did some research into Desert of Desolation.

It looks like it was a precursor of sorts to Dark Sun, so if "dust" is indeed the next AP and a conversion of Desert of Desolation, I'd certainly be happy.

 

[Quickleaf]

Why would Dust equal Dark Sun? How was Dagger related to Storm King's Thunder?

Given how Chris Perkins described Storm King's Thunder as merging "Against the Giants + Shakespeare", I guess that "Dagger" was a reference to this line from Macbeth act 2: "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee."

"Cloak" for Curse of Strahd makes sense when you look at the cover of the Hickmans' classic I6 with Strahd wearing a billowing cloak.

And "Labyrinth" for Tales from the Yawning Portal makes sense both because it's a collection of dungeons and because it's retro (like the 1986 Jim Henson film Labyrinth).

Not sure what the codename for Out of the Abyss was.

Of course the codenames are to protect their internal development, so they can change it up any way they like, but so far Wizards has been playful with their codenaming, offering hints for us fans. No reason to expect that's no longer true for "Dust" and "Midway."

I may be wrong here, but weren't some of the Unearthed Arcana surveys referred to as "Midway Surveys" or maybe "Midway" was the name of the company handling WotC's surveying? I can't recall, but if that's true, that lends credence to what folks are thinking here – that "Midway" is a player rules supplement.

 

[Corwin]

I doubt "dust" has anything to do with what the word might evoke. Like Dark Sun or Al Qadim. I think that would be too on the nose.

 

[cmad1977]

Dust isn't sand.


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[dropbear8mybaby]

Dust: Dark Sun.

Midway: Sigil.