Marathon, Broadway, and Catacomb: Upcoming D&D Products?

WotC has been using codenames for its upcoming products for some time, mainly to stop anybody figuring our what's in the pipeline. Those codenames end up as placeholders on bookstores and the like. Eagle-eyed reader Sean spotted some upcoming items on McNally Robinson, a Canadian bookstore's website.

The items spotted were a 192-page hardcover accessory codenamed "Marathon" (May 2018); a 256-page hardcover adventure codenamed "Broadway" (September 2018), and another 256-page hardcover adventure codenamed "Catacomb" (November 2018). There's also a set of "Broadway" dice.

Past codenames have included "Labyrinth", which turned out to be Tomb of Annihilation, and "Dust", "Midway", "Cloak", and "Dagger".

Let the speculation begin!

D&D "Marathon" HC
By Rpg Team Wizards
ISBN: 9780786966240
format: Hardcover
series: D&D Accessory
pages: 192
publisher: Wizards of the Coast
pub. date: 2018-05-29

D&D "Broadway" Dice
By Rpg Team Wizards
ISBN: 9780786966288
format: Game
series: D&D Accessory
pages: n/a
publisher: Wizards of the Coast
pub. date: 2018-09-18

D&D "Broadway" HC
By Rpg Team Wizards
ISBN: 9780786966257
format: Hardcover
series: D&D Adventure
pages: 256
publisher: Wizards of the Coast
pub. date: 2018-09-18

D&D "Catacomb" HC
By Rpg Team Wizards
ISBN: 9780786966264
format: Hardcover
series: D&D Adventure
pages: 256
publisher: Wizards of the Coast
pub. date: 2018-11-20

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[Acolyte of Zothique]

Nice to see this, but are any of the authors actually very closely related with WotC?



Joe is the only name I recognize, but that's not saying much as I rarely pay attention to author names.

Nathan Stewart didn't want to spoiler any of the remaining 2018 or Spring 2019 releases - this includes all three releases later this year - and the Art book had already been announced. Therefore, the mystery release is not the Art book.

I would be very surprised if there was any involvement in the Stranger Things IP; I'm pretty sure WotC want to keep tight control on their products and involving someone else's IP wouldn't really permit that.

 

[GarrettKP]

I'm going to buck the trend here and say I honestly don't think the next books are going to be Undermountian and Waterdeep. I still think one will be a Lantan/Spelljammer adventure and catacombs with be a Tales of the Yawning Portal style book.

What makes you think that?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I can see why an urban adventure would make sense, it's something that hasn't really been done before in an official 5e product. But I don't see the point in Undermountain. Large dungeons are a dime a dozen, and the only USP Undermountain has is that it is even larger. It goes back to the early days of AD&D when the sum total of sophisticated gameplay was open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure ...

 

[Motorskills]

Releasing two adventures back to back doesn't seem make on the surface, however if they were partial sourcebooks as well (see SKT), it could work.

Waterdeep: 50% urban sourcebook, 50% urban adventure
The Planes: 50% planar sourcebook, 50% inter-planar adventure, featuring many monsters from MGtF.

 

[CapnZapp]

I'd like a smaller scale adventure with more focus on personal goals; no saving the world this time, please.

I can't remember when that happened last...

 

[CapnZapp]

I can see why an urban adventure would make sense, it's something that hasn't really been done before in an official 5e product. But I don't see the point in Undermountain. Large dungeons are a dime a dozen, and the only USP Undermountain has is that it is even larger. It goes back to the early days of AD&D when the sum total of sophisticated gameplay was open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure open the door kill the monster take the treasure ...

Why did you stop halfway through the story? I want to know how it ends!

 

[gyor]

What makes you think that?

They mentioned Lantan would be in an upcoming book, which means the upcoming books can't be Waterdeep and Undermountain, and they have been teasing us with Spelljammer creatures Giff.

 

[Demetrios1453]

They mentioned Lantan would be in an upcoming book, which means the upcoming books can't be Waterdeep and Undermountain, and they have been teasing us with Spelljammer creatures Giff.

I'm not saying that Marathon and Catacomb definitively won't feature Lantan and/or Spelljammer, but you can't say that those books "can't be Waterdeep and Undermountain" just based on Lantan being in "an upcoming book". After all, our mysterious Fourth Release book is "an upcoming book" as well, as are the 2019 (and later) releases. Heck, if anything, I would be more likely to peg the Fourth Release book as the Spelljammer one, since they've been so closed-mouthed about it.

 

[GarrettKP]

They mentioned Lantan would be in an upcoming book, which means the upcoming books can't be Waterdeep and Undermountain, and they have been teasing us with Spelljammer creatures Giff.

There are 3 books coming still. Waterdeep, Undermountain, Lantan/Spelljammer can all work together. Also Chris Perkins said simply that Lantan is in an upcoming story, not in a story this year. So there is that.

 

[gyor]

WotC has been using codenames for its upcoming products for some time, mainly to stop anybody figuring our what's in the pipeline. Those codenames end up as placeholders on bookstores and the like. Eagle-eyed reader Sean spotted some upcoming items on McNally Robinson, a Canadian bookstore's website.

View attachment 91140​

The items spotted were a 192-page hardcover accessory codenamed "Marathon" (May 2018); a 256-page hardcover adventure codenamed "Broadway" (September 2018), and another 256-page hardcover adventure codenamed "Catacomb" (November 2018). There's also a set of "Broadway" dice.

Past codenames have included "Labyrinth", which turned out to be Tomb of Annihilation, and "Dust", "Midway", "Cloak", and "Dagger".

Let the speculation begin!

D&D "Marathon" HC
By Rpg Team Wizards
ISBN: 9780786966240
format: Hardcover
series: D&D Accessory
pages: 192
publisher: Wizards of the Coast
pub. date: 2018-05-29

D&D "Broadway" Dice
By Rpg Team Wizards
ISBN: 9780786966288
format: Game
series: D&D Accessory
pages: n/a
publisher: Wizards of the Coast
pub. date: 2018-09-18

D&D "Broadway" HC
By Rpg Team Wizards
ISBN: 9780786966257
format: Hardcover
series: D&D Adventure
pages: 256
publisher: Wizards of the Coast
pub. date: 2018-09-18

D&D "Catacomb" HC
By Rpg Team Wizards
ISBN: 9780786966264
format: Hardcover
series: D&D Adventure
pages: 256
publisher: Wizards of the Coast
pub. date: 2018-11-20

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Marathons link goes to MTOF and the other two now just go to the home page of that book store.