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.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I don't get why they didn't make The Realm IE the cartoon setting, think of the nostalgia!. I mean yeah to late since the shoehorned into Faerun but man, I would have loved an Indepth guide to all the locations with maps etc the kids visited in the show. Ive found great fan made maps on the web though.

Didn't the characters from the cartoon have a cameo in the D&D movie, when they're in that labyrinth arena. I think it's already implied.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Just a wild guess here, but I suspect some of this is due to "cool factor." I think the folks in charge of D&D want to push out stuff that is extremely, visually part of the "D&D brand" and that doesn't really get a lot of love elsewhere. Both Spelljammer and Planescape got these special sort of releases...and also some MTG settings and then a couple oddballs like Radiant Citadel and Witchlight. They are really trying to lean into the stuff that's "weird" but also isn't a huge stretch, in a lot of ways.

Dark Sun is notable and memorable in part because of how different and un-D&D-like it is. That compounded by their inability or unwillingness to present a new path forward with the problematic elements I think simply means it's one too many problems for them to design their way out of.

Much like Spelljammer and Planescape and Dragonlance etc, WotC would kick out a single 1-10 adventure with minimal lore and call it a day. Maybe revisit those settings (with their own book not in a 50th anniversary adventure) in maybe 5 years.

If Planescape and/or Dragonlance gets any real new material in the next 3 years I'd faint from surprise.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Didn't the characters from the cartoon have a cameo in the D&D movie, when they're in that labyrinth arena. I think it's already implied.

Whats implied? They are in Faerun? It's solid fact via their new comic run. They have "always" been in Faerun.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

If Planescape and/or Dragonlance gets any real new material in the next 3 years I'd faint from surprise.

Planescape probably will be mentioned, based on them possibly mentioning Sigil in the writeups of Humans and Tieflings, based on the entry both had in the UA.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There are lot of worlds on the Material Plane that only get a paragraph mention in some book and I'll doubt they'll get a mention in this book.

I don't think anyone would expect they would.

Settings that got actual lines or boxed sets should probably have gotten at least a paragraph.

"Hey, kids! Thinking about playing D&D? Ask your DM about visiting a world ruled by dragons!"

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I am just not sure what that is based on

How WotC makes decisions about what products to pursue or not is pretty mysterious, to be sure.

SJ fits better into their multiverse agenda

Absolutely. It's another -- and more visual -- way to link all their settings together into a meta-setting. (Portals and just straight teleportation are pretty boring, honestly.)

 

[TwoSix]

I don't think anyone would expect they would.

Settings that got actual lines or boxed sets should probably have gotten at least a paragraph.

"Hey, kids! Thinking about playing D&D? Ask your DM about visiting a world ruled by dragons!"

We can't really be sure, but it seems quite possible that whatever settings are included or not included is a subtle way of indicating their boundaries for the "active" multiversal meta-setting.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

We can't really be sure, but it seems quite possible that whatever settings are included or not included is a subtle way of indicating their boundaries for the "active" multiversal meta-setting.

If nothing else, since they had to get the art from WotC, someone at WotC exercised at least some "soft" editorial judgement over the project.

Maybe the Ten Speed folks had art for Birthright, Council of Wyrms and Jakandor and said "nah," but that seems less likely than WotC curating what worlds would be in the book.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think it is important to remember that this extraneous stuff coming out is meant to capitalize on the popularity of the game, not actually provide anything of value to the game.

That's been the plan for a while now I think.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

No one but me -- as a joke -- ever asks for a 5E Jakandor, for instance.

Maybe I should revisit my Jakandor Scale list, for the 2024 edition.