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.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Maybe, but all the lcoations/maps listed in that dice set seems to be exclusively Sword Coast, so it's probably not sadly.

Unrelated, here's the full gem dragon art from the sapphire dice page.

View attachment 117241

True, but we're only seeing two of those cards. And the remit of the actual book might be wider anyway. But, then again, maybe not.

Nice catch on the sapphire dragon, so it looks like we're getting monster stat blocks in all likelihood. I'm actually beginning to wonder if this will be more of a Volo's/Mordenkainen's, but with, again, some special twist. Laeral was a noted adventurer in her younger days, so it might focus on how to be best prepared when exploring and adventuring, focusing on various monster types as examples, as the previous two books did. And given the sapphire dragon illustration, and the fact they haven't been covered yet, I'm going to guess that dragons will be one of the main types focused upon.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Alright, a full nine months since last time I bought a map of the Sword Coast, fix incoming!

Now I'm dead certain this is going to be a Force Grey book in a big way.

Yeah you nailed it on the head I think with your speculation post.

At this point, I'm hoping there will at least be a couple of adventures outside of the Sword Coast. At the very least I'm hoping for new monster statblocks like the gem dragons, but an adventure or two outside of European Medieval culture would be nice.

But the chances of this book being a Rising from the Last War style book for FR seems to have dropped to near-zero.

 

[Weiley31]

Search your feelings, you know it to be true!

He has spoken!

 

[Ibrandul]

All the dice-sets have been adventure tie-ins, haven't they?

There was a dice set for Ravnica, and that was a campaign setting sourcebook. (It included just one short adventure.)

Edited because I had misremembered an Eberron dice set; thanks to Matthew33Celtics for setting me straight.

 

[dave2008]

There is in fact more to the Forgotten Realms then the Swordcoast, so "Across the Forgotten Realms" likely means other lands.

And they don't want to spoil everything with the picture, so just showed the card locations folks were more familiar with.

Still disappointed that the map is just two recycled 5e maps. If it has at least been a map of Faerun as a whole I'd have boughten it.

Hopefully its companion book won't just reprint the Waterdeep Gazetteer chapter from WD: DH.

I'm still looking forward to the book, but I already have a big 5e Waterdeep map, so this accessory kit is going to most likely be a pass. Maybe.

FOr your sake I hope your correct, I fear that you are in for another disappointment though.

 

[gyor]

New D&D Book to be Announced on January 9th! Possible title: Laeral Silverhand’s Explorer’s Kit

D&D Sage Advice ·

www.sageadvice.eu

Word is spreading

 

[Prakriti]

There were dice sets for Ravnica and Eberron, and those were both campaign setting sourcebooks. (Each included just one short adventure.)

Good point. Hm. So if we go by the available data, then there's probably at least one adventure involved in the book. Let's try to narrow it down further:

It's probably not another sweeping Sword Coast epic adventure, because we already have Storm King's Thunder (which included a map of the Sword Coast like this one).

It's probably not a general Forgotten Realms setting book, because the included map and cards all point to the Sword Coast.

But it's also probably not another Sword Coast lore book, because we already have Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

So what does that leave? Well, "Explorer's Kit" is a small clue. It reminds me of previous editions' Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, the Complete Adventurer, and the Arms and Equipment Guide. In which case, we might get a book full of new equipment, magic items, and general advice for how to survive and explore dangerous environments (wilderness and dungeons), which would naturally segue into advice on how to design interesting dungeons and wilderness encounters, which would in turn segue into one or more adventures that illustrate those principles.

Hm... I like the sound of that.

 

[Matthew33Celtics]

Good point. Hm. So if we go by the available data, then there's probably at least one adventure involved in the book. Let's try to narrow it down further:

It's probably not another sweeping Sword Coast epic adventure, because we already have Storm King's Thunder (which included a map of the Sword Coast like this one).

It's probably not a general Forgotten Realms setting book, because the included map and cards all point to the Sword Coast.

But it's also probably not another Sword Coast lore book, because we already have Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

So what does that leave? Well, "Explorer's Kit" is a small clue. It reminds me of previous editions' Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, the Complete Adventurer, and the Arms and Equipment Guide. In which case, we might get a book full of new equipment, magic items, and general advice for how to survive and explore dangerous environments (wilderness and dungeons), which would naturally segue into advice on how to design interesting dungeons and wilderness encounters, which would in turn segue into one or more adventures that illustrate those principles.

Hm... I like the sound of that.

I dont recall a dice set for ERftLW. - I think this is wrong. My guess adventure anthology with setting information for adventure locations.

 

[Parmandur]

Good point. Hm. So if we go by the available data, then there's probably at least one adventure involved in the book. Let's try to narrow it down further:

It's probably not another sweeping Sword Coast epic adventure, because we already have Storm King's Thunder (which included a map of the Sword Coast like this one).

It's probably not a general Forgotten Realms setting book, because the included map and cards all point to the Sword Coast.

But it's also probably not another Sword Coast lore book, because we already have Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

So what does that leave? Well, "Explorer's Kit" is a small clue. It reminds me of previous editions' Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, the Complete Adventurer, and the Arms and Equipment Guide. In which case, we might get a book full of new equipment, magic items, and general advice for how to survive and explore dangerous environments (wilderness and dungeons), which would naturally segue into advice on how to design interesting dungeons and wilderness encounters, which would in turn segue into one or more adventures that illustrate those principles.

Hm... I like the sound of that.

The key thing to consider is that Silverhand's major role in the Gameworld right now is as patron and boss of Force Grey, the Waterdeep equivalent of Seal Team 6 plus the Avengers.

A Force Grey campaign book, similar to the Acquisitions Incorporated book, would make a lot of sense, and check a lot of boxes.

 

[gyor]

Good point. Hm. So if we go by the available data, then there's probably at least one adventure involved in the book. Let's try to narrow it down further:

It's probably not another sweeping Sword Coast epic adventure, because we already have Storm King's Thunder (which included a map of the Sword Coast like this one).

It's probably not a general Forgotten Realms setting book, because the included map and cards all point to the Sword Coast.

But it's also probably not another Sword Coast lore book, because we already have Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

So what does that leave? Well, "Explorer's Kit" is a small clue. It reminds me of previous editions' Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, the Complete Adventurer, and the Arms and Equipment Guide. In which case, we might get a book full of new equipment, magic items, and general advice for how to survive and explore dangerous environments (wilderness and dungeons), which would naturally segue into advice on how to design interesting dungeons and wilderness encounters, which would in turn segue into one or more adventures that illustrate those principles.

Hm... I like the sound of that.

Two cards and the map in an accessory for the book means little compared to the "from across the Forgotten Realms" not from across the the Swordcoast.