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]

But the Starter Set and Essentials set come with a perfectly good set of dice, for a lot less money.

 

[Parmandur]

But the Starter Set and Essentials set come with a perfectly good set of dice, for a lot less money.

True, but all Tier I gameplay. Methinks the book might have some material useful for ramping up a game.

The audience for this dice set is probably people who can really use handout cheat sheets about the Sword Coast: newbs ramping up a game.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

True, but all Tier I gameplay. Methinks the book might have some material useful for ramping up a game.

The audience for this dice set is probably people who can really use handout cheat sheets about the Sword Coast: newbs ramping up a game.

Meh. I think the target audience is: people who have more money than they know what to do with.

 

[JPL]

facepalm In this case they they really are monsters, like vampires and zombies and Yakman, Demons, ect..., this is make believe dude, yet a not make it politically silly or read things into it.

My point is just that I think that in the year 2020, conditions are right to do better fantasy versions of non-Western cultures than have been previously done in the history of RPGs, and I think that, when done right, this sort of thing can really benefit the game.

 

[gyor]

Meh. I think the target audience is: people who have more money than they know what to do with.

Home run.

 

[Parmandur]

Meh. I think the target audience is: people who have more money than they know what to do with.

Well, sure, it's a dice & miscellany set.

 

[GarrettKP]

I am confident the Dice Kit is a red herring and has nothing to do with the book. Literally every method of leaking used previously to deduce future releases has been covered up.

Amazon was given placeholders, the ISBN number comes up empty, the image files are filled with random gibberish, even the website was redesigned so you cannot search for scheduled press releases.

It makes no sense for them to take that many precautions to hide the books content and then be so careless with the dice set if there was any actual connection. That plus Tito literally unboxing it on stream and showing the lore cards (which are almost exclusively rehashes of previous Adventure content) makes me think it is unrelated, if not an intentional red herring to throw off speculation.

The subclasses and Class Variant UAs are too fresh to make it in a March book, so that is likely a Q4 release (the same slot as the original Xanathar's) and we now the main Adventure will comeat the end of Q3 or beginning of Q4. So this book is likely not a campaign book or a Player facing one.

So that leaves either a Monster expansion like Volo's or Mordenkainen's, or a Setting book. Perhaps a Planar Gazette or a Planescape setting? Tho I think the setting book is less likely since we just got Eberron.

 

[Parmandur]

I am confident the Dice Kit is a red herring and has nothing to do with the book. Literally every method of leaking used previously to deduce future releases has been covered up.

Amazon was given placeholders, the ISBN number comes up empty, the image files are filled with random gibberish, even the website was redesigned so you cannot search for scheduled press releases.

It makes no sense for them to take that many precautions to hide the books content and then be so careless with the dice set if there was any actual connection. That plus Tito literally unboxing it on stream and showing the lore cards (which are almost exclusively rehashes of previous Adventure content) makes me think it is unrelated, if not an intentional red herring to throw off speculation.

The subclasses and Class Variant UAs are too fresh to make it in a March book, so that is likely a Q4 release (the same slot as the original Xanathar's) and we now the main Adventure will comeat the end of Q3 or beginning of Q4. So this book is likely not a campaign book or a Player facing one.

So that leaves either a Monster expansion like Volo's or Mordenkainen's, or a Setting book. Perhaps a Planar Gazette or a Planescape setting? Tho I think the setting book is less likely since we just got Eberron.

I severely doubt there is no relation, since the two products are being brought to market in tandem. We'll find out the precise relationship on Monday.

 

[GarrettKP]

I severely doubt there is no relation, since the two products are being brought to market in tandem. We'll find out the precise relationship on Monday.

Eberron: Rising from the Last War and the Rick and Morty starter set both released on November 19th. Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage dropped on the same date. There is precedent for products to drop together even if the brand is the only common theme.

It makes no sense for them to be related at this point, especially considering how hard they worked to hide the new book. Even the Dice Kits name doesn't fit the general naming conventions of the books.

Plus all of the cards and the maps are recycled from other books. What sense is there to release a companion dice set with none of the actual content in the companion hardcover?

If they are in any way related, I would be floored.

 

[Parmandur]

Eberron: Rising from the Last War and the Rick and Morty starter set both released on November 19th. Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage dropped on the same date. There is precedent for products to drop together even if the brand is the only common theme.

It makes no sense for them to be related at this point, especially considering how hard they worked to hide the new book. Even the Dice Kits name doesn't fit the general naming conventions of the books.

Plus all of the cards and the maps are recycled from other books. What sense is there to release a companion dice set with none of the actual content in the companion hardcover?

If they are in any way related, I would be floored.

My current guess is a Force Grey link, so literally nominal.