D&D General Greyhawk to Faerun and Beyond: A Multiversal D&D Lore Book Is Coming This Fall

This coming October, a 360+ page hardcover which delves into Dungeons & Dragons' various worlds and settings will be released. The book isn't from WotC--it's from Ten Speed Press--but it's by Adam Lee, who wrote for Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus and Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. The book comes full of 50-years of artwork, and is narrated by the famous wizard Mordenkainen. Additionally, the book contains some original fiction.

Dungeons & Dragons Worlds & Realms: Adventures from Greyhawk to Faerûn and Beyond is available for pre-order already.

The book covers Greyhawk, Mystara, Dragonlance, Faerun, Eberron, the Feywild and Shadowfell, Spelljammer, the Nine Hells, the Abyss, Sigil, and the Far Realm. It's a book of lore and story, not a rulebook, giving an overall of D&D's entire multiverse and its many worlds.

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Celebrate fifty years of the spellbinding settings and planes of Dungeons & Dragons with this beautifully illustrated exploration of the multiverse.

Worlds & Realms is an illustrated, story-driven retrospective celebrating the immersive worldbuilding of D&D since the iconic game’s inception in 1974. Legendary mage Mordenkainen takes adventurers on a fantastical journey through the multiverse, delving into memorable and fascinating lore and locations across all five editions of the game.

With Mordenkainen’s guidance, readers will revisit worlds that have come to define D&D over the decades, from the familiar realms of the Material Plane to lands beyond the Astral Sea. Mordenkainen’s philosophical musings provide a mage’s-eye view of the worlds’ unique features, creatures, and characters, captivating readers’ imaginations as they learn more about the history and mysteries of the multiverse. Additionally, readers will join adventuring parties with inhabitants of each realm through exclusive short stories by award-winning contributors Jaleigh Johnson, Jody Houser and Eric Campbell, Jasmine Bhullar, and Geoffrey Golden.

Full of exciting and enchanting artwork showing fifty years of gameplay evolution from vintage D&D through the present, with original cover and chapter-opener illustrations, Worlds & Realms is a spellbinding tour of the strange and wonderful worlds of the multiverse, appealing to both new and long-standing fans alike.

Polygon has some previews of the book.

 

[Dire Bare]

I don't really care about WotC's profits (I'm sure they'll be fine), but that other reason about 3pp checks out.

It's reasonable for WotC to determine the pace of their release schedule taking into mind profitability. If WotC is not profitable, they go out of business and D&D goes moribund. Maybe it gets sold to a company who does things the way you'd prefer, maybe not.

I miss the old TSR days with the firehose of content . . . but it was not sustainable and was a huge part of why TSR no longer exists. And I couldn't personally keep up with it all anyways.

Has WotC every surveyed fans asking about their preferences on this? Probably, but I don't think they've shared the data. Obviously some fans would like more products, some fans less, some fans are happy with the current pace.

The current slower pace has been a part of WotC's success with D&D 5E. It has allowed me to easily keep pace with the releases. I'm happy and would be disappointed if WotC started cranking out content like TSR used to.

 

[Parmandur]

It's reasonable for WotC to determine the pace of their release schedule taking into mind profitability. If WotC is not profitable, they go out of business and D&D goes moribund. Maybe it gets sold to a company who does things the way you'd prefer, maybe not.

I miss the old TSR days with the firehose of content . . . but it was not sustainable and was a huge part of why TSR no longer exists. And I couldn't personally keep up with it all anyways.

Has WotC every surveyed fans asking about their preferences on this? Probably, but I don't think they've shared the data. Obviously some fans would like more products, some fans less, some fans are happy with the current pace.

The current slower pace has been a part of WotC's success with D&D 5E. It has allowed me to easily keep pace with the releases. I'm happy and would be disappointed if WotC started cranking out content like TSR used to.

I mean, they do various market research angles, I'm sure.

Humorously enough, theybhave sped up their RPG publishing considerably the past few yesrs.

 

[Stormonu]

I made the mistake long ago with trying to accumulate all the 1E through 3.5E content. To my shame, I succeeded. Now, I've got a storage unit full of books that really should be put out to pasture. I've trimmed down my "live" content to about two bookshelves of the content that I feel really stands out and is worth keeping about. (If I was really honest, I could probably trim that down to a single bookshelf or less for all editions).

I don't want D&D to go back to the 2-3 books per month, that's just stretching the writers and designers too much. Give them time to write, develop and test stuff. A book about every two to three months feels more than fast enough. I much prefer quality over quantity, and a lot of those books tread over the same stuff, just slightly reworded or with slightly different mechanics.

As for this book, I have it on pre-order. It'll sit on the shelf next to the two Art & Arcana books and the "history of (non-D&D) RPG games" that I've thumbed through, read and reminisced about. They're good books, and I'm looking forward to adding this to them.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's reasonable for WotC to determine the pace of their release schedule taking into mind profitability. If WotC is not profitable, they go out of business and D&D goes moribund. Maybe it gets sold to a company who does things the way you'd prefer, maybe not.

I miss the old TSR days with the firehose of content . . . but it was not sustainable and was a huge part of why TSR no longer exists. And I couldn't personally keep up with it all anyways.

Has WotC every surveyed fans asking about their preferences on this? Probably, but I don't think they've shared the data. Obviously some fans would like more products, some fans less, some fans are happy with the current pace.

The current slower pace has been a part of WotC's success with D&D 5E. It has allowed me to easily keep pace with the releases. I'm happy and would be disappointed if WotC started cranking out content like TSR used to.

Well, it's too late now anyway. They've basically stopped making content I want to buy. Doing that faster isn't helpful to me. Fortunately, I have a lot of great old content.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I made the mistake long ago with trying to accumulate all the 1E through 3.5E content. To my shame, I succeeded. Now, I've got a storage unit full of books that really should be put out to pasture. I've trimmed down my "live" content to about two bookshelves of the content that I feel really stands out and is worth keeping about. (If I was really honest, I could probably trim that down to a single bookshelf or less for all editions).

I don't want D&D to go back to the 2-3 books per month, that's just stretching the writers and designers too much. Give them time to write, develop and test stuff. A book about every two to three months feels more than fast enough. I much prefer quality over quantity, and a lot of those books tread over the same stuff, just slightly reworded or with slightly different mechanics.

As for this book, I have it on pre-order. It'll sit on the shelf next to the two Art & Arcana books and the "history of (non-D&D) RPG games" that I've thumbed through, read and reminisced about. They're good books, and I'm looking forward to adding this to them.

I have almost all the old stuff on pdf, and it's a good thing.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

One thing that seems cool about this book is how moody compares the different worlds to each other, like in the preview comparing Greyhawks magic to Mystara or Faerun's level of urban architecture to Greyhawks relative lack of it.

 

[mikeburke]

I made the mistake long ago with trying to accumulate all the 1E through 3.5E content. To my shame, I succeeded.

I’m sure there is a good German word for “amazing achievement that creates secret shame”. But it’s still an amazing achievement.

 

[Parmandur]

One thing that seems cool about this book is how moody compares the different worlds to each other, like in the preview comparing Greyhawks magic to Mystara or Faerun's level of urban architecture to Greyhawks relative lack of it.

Yeah, ighlighting the different vibes D&D can do will be fun.

 

[AK_Ambrian]

More excerpts from the upcoming "Dungeons & Dragons Worlds & Realms" book:

 

[Parmandur]

More excerpts from the upcoming "Dungeons & Dragons Worlds & Realms" book:

Now, it is interesting that the previews are focused mainly on Greyhawk, whose villains and heroes have been well represented recently...but I'm curious tonsee what the Mystara section looks like.