D&D 5E Lore & Legends Is An Official Visual Guide to D&D 5th Edition

Coming in October from the authors of Dungeons and Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History is a new illustrated guide--this time to D&D 5th Edition, including artwork, interviews, and more. Lore & Legends is by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, and Sam Witwer, and is an officially licensed D&D book.

The 400+ page book is scheduled for release on October 3rd.

An illustrated guide to Dungeons & Dragons’ beloved fifth edition told through interviews, artwork, and visual ephemera from the designers, storytellers, and artists who bring it to life.

When the reimagined fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons debuted in the summer of 2014, tabletop roleplaying games were on the brink of obsolescence. But within a few short years, D&D found greater success than it had ever enjoyed before, even surpassing its 1980s golden age. How did an analog game nearly a half century old become a star in a digital world? For the first time, Lore & Legends reveals the incredible ongoing story of Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition from the perspective of the designers, artists, and players who bring it to life. This comprehensive visual guide illuminates contemporary D&D—its development, evolution, cultural relevance, and popularity—through exclusive interviews and more than 900 pieces of artwork, photography, and advertising curated and analyzed by the authors of the bestselling and Hugo Award–nominated Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana.

 

[Parmandur]

Do we have to get that guy back from corporate to scream about monetization again, @Parmandur? Is that what you want?

WotC, not Beedle & Grimm's, not WizKids, not Champion Sportswear, not Funko Pop, needs to have some limited time deluxe offerings for the 50th anniversary besides what they're already publishing in 2024 (including the new core books).

That they aren't even planning on a limited edition of the 2024 core books at this time suggests that they may not have any real plans to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Maybe they'll get around to it in time for the 51st, when everyone will surely be just as excited.

I'll bet they have a few things up their sleeve. This anniversary product is dropping in Octover 2023, and just got announced. Aside from new Core books, we know there is a big, gonzo Adventure campaign with Vecna doing an interdimensional tour that is likely to be somewhat nostalgic.

 

[Parmandur]

Because just revising Art & Arcana would mean that most people who already own it -- the core audience for such a thing -- would skip buying another expensive book the size of a CPU.

Art & Arcana is a pretty darn complete and magisterial treatment of D&D up to 5E.

 

[humble minion]

Art & Arcana is a pretty darn complete and magisterial treatment of D&D up to 5E.

To some degree. It suffers a bit from trying to be both a history and an art book, I think, and it does gloss over a lot of the controversies around the game in more recent times, which often directly involves people who are still deeply involved in the game. It tosses off a line about the 4e remodelling of FR as being 'controversial' for instance, which is like saying the Pacific Ocean is somewhat damp, and it goes into no detail about the controversies, the thought processes that led to the changes, the people championing differing approaches etc etc. Of course it's not a comprehensive creative history of D&D and never pretended to be, and you can't go into that sort of detail in what's basically a commemorative coffee-table book, but it also reads as if there's elements of walking on eggshells around issues that are a bit sensitive for WotC and their current personnel.

I'd buy the hell out of a legit creative history of WotC/Hasbro D&D from the takeover of TSR to the current day by someone like Ben Riggs, but this isn't it. And I'd seriously consider buying a massive and comprehensive pure art book, with full-page prints of all the best material from all eras of the game (including some of the jaw-dropping stuff that ended up on Dragon covers). The middle-of-the-road approach I'm not so sure about.

 

[Parmandur]

To some degree. It suffers a bit from trying to be both a history and an art book, I think, and it does gloss over a lot of the controversies around the game in more recent times, which often directly involves people who are still deeply involved in the game. It tosses off a line about the 4e remodelling of FR as being 'controversial' for instance, which is like saying the Pacific Ocean is somewhat damp, and it goes into no detail about the controversies, the thought processes that led to the changes, the people championing differing approaches etc etc. Of course it's not a comprehensive creative history of D&D and never pretended to be, and you can't go into that sort of detail in what's basically a commemorative coffee-table book, but it also reads as if there's elements of walking on eggshells around issues that are a bit sensitive for WotC and their current personnel.

I'd buy the hell out of a legit creative history of WotC/Hasbro D&D from the takeover of TSR to the current day by someone like Ben Riggs, but this isn't it. And I'd seriously consider buying a massive and comprehensive pure art book, with full-page prints of all the best material from all eras of the game (including some of the jaw-dropping stuff that ended up on Dragon covers). The middle-of-the-road approach I'm not so sure about.

Personally, I think Art & Arcana is an A+ Tier juat on the art side, with the history being an awesome frostingnon the cake (though I love both).

Considering that this book has much, much more art, I think it's fair to say it is primarily an art book, probavly with some interesting stories to share on the side.

 

[bedir than]

I really, really hope we get some nice reprints, but after WotC decided DADHAT didn't even merit a starter set, or having its cast appear in the illustrations of Golden Vault, I'm not counting on it happening this time.

This will always make me laugh, because you were too right.

Do we have to get that guy back from corporate to scream about monetization again, @Parmandur? Is that what you want?

WotC, not Beedle & Grimm's, not WizKids, not Champion Sportswear, not Funko Pop, needs to have some limited time deluxe offerings for the 50th anniversary besides what they're already publishing in 2024 (including the new core books).

That they aren't even planning on a limited edition of the 2024 core books at this time suggests that they may not have any real plans to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Maybe they'll get around to it in time for the 51st, when everyone will surely be just as excited.

I haven't seen the 2024 product lineup yet

 

[increment]

I'm disappointed that an historian like Peterson is working on something which can be hardly seen as nothing else than a celebration (and it's clear from the description).

I know, what's next - a cookbook?

 

[Parmandur]

I know, what's next - a cookbook?

What a heroic idea.

 

[darjr]

There has been an unboxing

https://www.threads.net/t/CupR9V4A1zV/

 

[MockingBird]

I really loved the art direction they had in the Next/Sundering era. It was mature and realistic to a certain degree. There's been a change in art at some point in 5e but I can't put my finger in when that change happened.