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.

​

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.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My hope is Greyhawk and Mystara are going to be unlocked, but WotC's intentions aren't to continue the metaplot yet.

I would like more adventures with the iconic characters from 3rd Ed.

The doors for the return of Dark Sun and Birthright aren't totally closed tight but in the next years the main projects are others.

 

[MuhVerisimilitude]

Looks pretty cool to be quite honest.

 

[Micah Sweet]

As they made a point of telling us, every edition has its own lore. The lore in this book will be for the current version of the current edition; it's definitely not going to be edition neutral. Fans of pre-5e lore should suppress any hopes for more than that.

My hopes for WotC were suppressed long ago.

 

[Yaarel]

With Mystara in, it looks like WotC officially banishes the Dark Sun setting.

Also, the gatekeeping between old school settings, and the contemporary Magic the Gathering settings seems in force.

 

[Yaarel]

Even Dark Sun isn't that problematic. You can reduce or minimize the slavery and lose literally nothing. The brutal nature of the rest of it is right in line with many 5E WotC books that have some crazy brutality in them.

It is easy to end slavery within Dark Sun, especially after the end of (most of) the Sorcerer Kings.

But for some reason, WotC doesnt do this.

 

[Stormonu]

Does make me wonder, since all of the other worlds mentioned had a recent publication if Mystara might be next on the list of campaign settings they intend to revive.

I keep thinking back to "30 Years of Adventure" and the world coverage in it. Need to look through it once again on the world sections. I think the discussions in that book were more about the process of creating them, what kind of products covered those worlds and a brief overview to boot.

 

[Yaarel]

(And even more specifically the 2024 5e take on the settings; don't expect reflections of the 2014 core rulebooks' notes on each setting, for example.)

I suspect this is a main goal of Worlds & Realms.

Provide a 2024 version of the traditional setting, to help guide the fan websites with regard to sensitive content.

Relatedly, provide guidance for indy products that utilize the WotC IP trademarks. Only core is canon, but this overview helps to build a head canon for the indy producers.

 

[Yaarel]

Does make me wonder, since all of the other worlds mentioned had a recent publication if Mystara might be next on the list of campaign settings they intend to revive.

I keep thinking back to "30 Years of Adventure" and the world coverage in it. Need to look through it once again on the world sections. I think the discussions in that book were more about the process of creating them, what kind of products covered those worlds and a brief overview to boot.

Yeah, the main reason Mystara will rise in prominence is the 50 year anniversary, and this setting representing the BECMI history.

We will see if Mystara retains traction after 2024.

 

[Yaarel]

I don't recognize that Greyhawk two-pager or the gibbering mouther, but I missed all of one edition.

I thought the Giberring Mouther was the perfect "portrait" of D&D Greyhawk.

This Greyhawk setting mutates and buds into other settings, such as Forgotten Realms, that never quite separate from the Greyhawk parent.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It is easy to end slavery within Dark Sun, especially after the end of (most of) the Sorcerer Kings.

But for some reason, WotC doesnt do this.

What would be the point? Radically changing the setting to conform with their conception of what "modern" audiences want out of a setting that most of them have probably never heard of seem like a case of diminishing returns to me. Best to not mention it at all if they're that afraid of addressing it.