D&D 5E March's D&D Book To Be Announced On January 9th

A mysterious entry has appeared on Amazon! With a product title of "Dungeons & Dragons March Release Book (Title announced January 9th)" and a release date of March 17th, 2020, this $49.95 hardcover release will be revealed in under a week!

The description reads "Your first look at the next D&D title comes on January 9th! Keep an eye on wherever you get your D&D news for a preview of the book."

Could there be a clue in the dice being released on the same day? Laeral Silverhand's Explorer's Kit is described as "Dice and miscellany for the world's greatest roleplaying game" for $29.99. We'll find out on Thursday!

Who's Laeral Silverhand? She's a prolific creator of magic items from Waterdeep, and one of the most powerful wizards in the Forgotten Realms. She's one of the Seven Sisters, introduced in 1987's Forgotten Realms boxed set, although Laeral herself wasn't described in that product. Ed Greenwood'sThe Seven Sisters supplement fully detailed them in 1995. Laeral and Khlben 'Blackstaff' Arunsun led a group called the Moonstars. In 5th edition, she appears in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That twitch comment only suggests no connection to the book if that book is in fact a campaign book, which I dont really think it is. It's also possible I'm overthinking things, but that's what were all here for until Monday anyway.

No, your interpretation is absolutely correct. WotC have never released a dice set without some connection to another product, and if they did want to created a "Generic" dice set thet wouldn't stick a "Forgotten Realms" label on it.

A collection of shorter adventures (which is something I would find quite useful, especially if there is some stuff for level 14+) is NOT a campaign book. No reason to discount the earlier speculation.

 

[Parmandur]

No, your interpretation is absolutely correct. WotC have never released a dice set without some connection to another product, and if they did want to created a "Generic" dice set thet wouldn't stick a "Forgotten Realms" label on it.

A collection of shorter adventures (which is something I would find quite useful, especially if there is some stuff for level 14+) is NOT a campaign book. No reason to discount the earlier speculation.

I mean, a book of short Adventures nominally set all around the Sword Coast could itself be a support resource for other longform campaigns. Playing Tyranny of Dragons and the party goes rogue in Daggerford? Here's an Adventure to fill the gap while you work something out.

 

[Fenris-77]

You could also provide loose connections between the short adventures in this hypothetical book and some of the interstitial moments in multiple other FR campaigns. You could also provide a set of handholds to level those short adventures up and down based on need. If you combined those two design principles I think you'd have a very useful book.

Personally, I think using geography as the base, much as Parmandur suggests above, would be the right place to start though. Toss some content into important locales that haven't been explored in official publications yet. Especially if combined with some light gazetteer content like a handful of NPCs and a nice write up on the current state of affairs in that location.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I mean, a book of short Adventures nominally set all around the Sword Coast could itself be a support resource for other longform campaigns. Playing Tyranny of Dragons and the party goes rogue in Daggerford? Here's an Adventure to fill the gap while you work something out.

That's how I use TftYP and GoS. I just drop the various adventures, usually as optional sidequests, or when the party wanders off the rails, into my ongoing campaign. Far more useful than an "adventure path" type campaign.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Yeah, at this point, I don't think WotC will reintroduce the non-European parts of Toril as "exotic" locations visited by Magical Becky.

I think that’s exactly what it will be, only treated with more respect and with the help of diverse contractors.

 

[dave2008]

I Hope your right. Thank you for giving me a tiny sliver of hope that WotC might ACTUALLY do the right thing for once.

edit - changed my mind

 

[Umbran]

According to Tito it isn't related to a campaign and is intended as an evergreen dice set.

Because dice... wither and die?

I could understand if the dice were very game-specific. But how is a standard polyhedral set anything other than evergreen?

 

[gyor]

edit - changed my mind

I didn't read what it was, but if it was an admonishment for being nasty to WotC perhaps I deserved it, so I don't take it personally. I just really want a Campaign Setting Guide type book for FR dammit, so it's making me cranky.

At least I feel alot better today thankfully.

 

[JPL]

I think that’s exactly what it will be, only treated with more respect and with the help of diverse contractors.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing --- D&D is largely about outsiders going to exotic (for them) places and having grand adventures and then moving on. It's just that when those places are based on real-world cultures, the killing and looting can take on a different tone.

I'd be fine with a product that gave more of an outsider's view --- you can always follow up with a product more from the perspective of the locals.

And even "A Gaijin's Guide to Kara-Tur" can be written respectfully, and with the idea that this culture is something more than exotica.

 

[dave2008]

Because dice... wither and die?

I could understand if the dice were very game-specific. But how is a standard polyhedral set anything other than evergreen?

It is more than dice. It is the miscellany part of the previous sets that where tied to a specific book release, and this less evergreen. If the maps and cards aren't tied to anything specific, it could be more evergreen.