D&D 5E Iggwilv/Tasha To Join Volo, Xanathar, and Mordenkainen? [UPDATED!]

Is WotC teasing a new announcement? There have been a few D&D books named after famous personalities from the game's extensive lore - Vole's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. It looks possible that the next such personality might be Tasha of Tasha's Hideous Laughter fame -- which was an adventuring alias of the Greyhawk villain Iggwilv.

UPDATE -- A page has appeared on Amazon entitled Dungeons & Dragons November Title (Announced August 24). It's a hardcover, $49.95, November 17th release date.

On their Discord channel, WotC posted a short audio clip; it features some female-sounding voices laughing, and it is titled "Feather and Tart". It also has a metadata info which says August 24th, 2020, which is Monday. But in addition to that, a WoTC staff member on Reddit's avatar was changed to an image of Iggwilv.

Iggwilv was an evil magic-user, a villain created by Gary Gygax. When adventuring with the Company of Seven, she used the alias Tasha. The lore has it that the witch Baba Yaga adopted her as a child and named her Natasha, and she soon became Natasha the Dark (Baba Yaga also adopted Elena the Fair).

Iggwilv has two forms, one old and one young. You can read more about the character on Wikipedia.


What does seem clear is that WotC is teasing an impending announcement! I assume that the announcement they are teasing will be the announcement of an upcoming announcement, or I'll be disappointed.

 

[Chaosmancer]

They tested a number of new Spells in UA over the past year.

They are printing new Subclass (at least one) for the Artificer, so they better reprint the Base Class. I expect it will not have all Subclasses from Rising from the Last War.

They are including Group Patrons, but removing the Eberron specific flavor means it is new material, not a reprint.

Sort of fair, but the Eberron stuff was fairly generic. I mean yes, they had examples that were specific, but it seemed pretty easy to me to seperate it out.


As you mention the UA, I am suddenly remembering the summoning spells, which would be perfect for a character like Tasha. But, was there anything else? I remember the psychic spells but I don't think they would get a book without psionic options. Am I missing something?

 

[Maxperson]

Huh....

Anyone else find it a bit odd they are reprinting the Artificer and the Group Patron rules from Eberron: Rising from the Last War?

Not really. A lot of what they put into general books has already been printed in other more specific books.

 

[Parmandur]

Sort of fair, but the Eberron stuff was fairly generic. I mean yes, they had examples that were specific, but it seemed pretty easy to me to seperate it out.


As you mention the UA, I am suddenly remembering the summoning spells, which would be perfect for a character like Tasha. But, was there anything else? I remember the psychic spells but I don't think they would get a book without psionic options. Am I missing something?

I see no rest to suspect there aren't Psionic options in this book. They mention new Subclasses, new Feats, and new Spells. They tested Psionic Subclasses, Feats and Spells.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I see no rest to suspect there aren't Psionic options in this book. They mention new Subclasses, new Feats, and new Spells. They tested Psionic Subclasses, Feats and Spells.

I didn't think they were ready, but checking the Nerdarchy previews... seems they are actually including them.

 

[Parmandur]

I didn't think they were ready, but checking the Nerdarchy previews... seems they are actually including them.

UA to final product isn't that long, if it passes muster with the Surveys.

 

[UnknownDyson]

Clearly Iggwilv and Graz'zt on the alt-cover, does anyone want to admit fault?

There is an image in the book of Iggwilv in the feywild studying under Baba Yaga, and the Demonomicon is in the book.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

This thread sparked my interest in the whole Tasha/Iggvwilv issue and so I want back to read the article in Dragon 359. For this article, "Unsolved Mysteries of D&D", they actually worked with the creators of the respective settings. So Greenwood for FR, Keith for Eberron and Gygax was also part of the crew.

So IMHO it's safe to assume that they merely spilled a secret that Gary intended for to be there all along rather than make up something new.

No, that's not a safe assumption. They consulted with different people, and for the answers that those people gave to specific questions, their contributions are noted (such as Kuntz not answering the Maure Castle bit, or Gygax trying to remember the WG designations).

Notably, there is not attributions for the Tasha/Iggwilv piece other than to quote Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk. Which someone already explained was ... somewhat difficult for some people to accept as "true canon" (whatever that might mean).

Anyway, it's not sourced.

 

[DnD Warlord]

Clearly Iggwilv and Graz'zt on the alt-cover, does anyone want to admit fault?

There is an image in the book of Iggwilv in the feywild studying under Baba Yaga, and the Demonomicon is in the book.

So does that end this “is it cannon” debate and just make it “stuff someone doesn’t like”

 

[Mistwell]

Dragon Magazine for years was primarily non-paid submissions by fans.
A single issue could have an article about Call of Cthulhu, Top Secret, The Marvel Comic RPG, and then have some really overpowered rules giving Druids the ability to be chirurgeons and heal massive hit points without spells.

In the 1980s and early 1990's it was certainly not considered canon. Not, by me at any rate.

Most D&D players have never even read a Dragon or Dungeon Magazine.

Any 'canon' we talk about on these boards is an invisible canon, not seen by 95% of players.

As an aside.:
Ed Greenwood said he was given a non-paid Creative Editor title just so Dragon could feature his work. Ed is so nice....basically TSR gave him a title with no money or benefits so it could continue to exploit his creativity without paying him. I hope this was before TSR bought the Forgotten Realms from him.

Also by the logic some are putting forth here, the TSR D&D comic books and trading cards would be canon as well. Because it was done by TSR and it doesn't explicitly say it's not canon.

Which of course is nonsense.

The posts I've seen from authors who wrote for Dragon over on Candlekeep is that if it had the Forgotten Realms logo for the article it was canon unless specifically overridden by later canon, and all else was considered non-canon. Including entries for other settings.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

So does that end this “is it cannon” debate and just make it “stuff someone doesn’t like”

Of course not!

All "canon" debates are really about what people like. You know that, right?

Think about it- first, why does anyone even care about "canon?" Other than to show off your nerd prowess (gatekeeping) or because you like deep diving and things that fit together?

Almost all IP the predates the late 90s (and I'm being generous here) doesn't care about "canon" except in the loosest sense. Decisions are made for production reasons (transporters in Star Trek) and consistency is whatever the writers at the time decided was necessary for the story.

Not to mention the IP holder can simply change or get rid of canon at any time (sorry, "retcon" the material). No more expanded universe. Or maybe just add a Kelvin Timeline. Hey, did you know that Spock had a sister? I didn't ... but we are about to learn a lot more about Spock and Pike, aren't we? Etc.

People argue over canon as a way of asserting authority as to the desired direction of an IP, or as a way of invalidating choices made with the IP. Because it's easier to point at "canon" than to argue over artistic merit. ¯\(ツ)/¯