D&D 5E New D&D Hardcover To Be Announced On The 23rd (Tomorrow)?

According to this page on Amazon.com, a new Dungeon & Dragons hardcover title for May will be announced tomorrow. Users in the US see the product below (those in the UK are seeing a Wizkids miniatures set instead).

So far signs look like Ravenloft, but we’ll know for sure tomorrow.

[Update -- also mentioned by Todd Kendrick, recently of D&D Beyond].

WotC has posted the below animation, which says “The Mist Beckons”.

 

[Charlaquin]

I see various folks saying “this generation doesn’t know much about Hammer Horror” and such. But why NOT remix the motifs of Hammer films, Poe stories, Universal monsters and the likes — Appendix N mainstays of previous editions — into current-generation stories? It opens up broad new avenues of sources for younger players and access to old favorites for experienced players. It’s the same way that I expect any Dark Sun release (now that Psionics is percolating out) to remix Sword and Sorcery/Sword and Sandal motifs (especially with a new version of Dune on the horizon).

The idea that Hammer Horror is unknown to the new generation is also silly to me. Hammer Horror was hugely influential on the horror genre, and continues to be so to this day. Horror fans of all ages know Hammer Horror. Even if they don’t know it directly, they’ve been exposed to plenty of its influence. Non-horror fans don’t know it, but you wouldn’t expect them to, because they aren’t horror fans.

 

[Charlaquin]

Original CoS was released in March.

DMs need time to prep!

 

[Mercurius]

Don't know if this has been mentioned, but maybe they're redirecting UK folks because they have it set to release at a certain time, and don't want Europeans to leak it early.

 

[Morrus]

Don't know if this has been mentioned, but maybe they're redirecting UK folks because they have it set to release at a certain time, and don't want Europeans to leak it early.

We’re in a different time zone to the US, not actually forward in time.

 

[tetrasodium]

Esmeralda's Caravan to the Shadowfell

a campaing book ala Eberron, covering the big domains and tying the whole shadowfell vs plane of dread vs plane of shadows together.

You might be looking at it the wrong way. The Dark Powers were always a massive component of ravenloft prior to 5e when te 5e CoS pretty much avoids them & lets readers think strahd is God of ravenloft. If you want to learn about the Dark Powers in 5e the only place I'm aware of them getting much page space is exploring eberron 177-181 in the Mabar section where they are once again vaguely hinted at as they were in the past. Someone at WotC is desperate to make "The Shadowfell" into some all encompassing cross setting concept that applies in every setting, but in order for that to work "The Shadowfell" needs to draw on those pther settings rather than clobbering everything in its way when another setting has a different set of concepts.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yep, unfortunately for me as I don't really care for Ravenloft

Rip out the Ravenloft setting pages, print out and insert the Plane Shift: Innistrad pages, and I suspect it would work almost entirely as an actual Innistrad book.

It would be smart of WotC to look to Innistrad for monsters and spells not previously appearing in Ravenloft, both to make this book something other than yet another retread of past material, and to satisfy fans like you.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

EDIT: Added a chapter for witches! This would also require a guide to the classic horror of witches and hags, but . . . . with an attempt to remove the ageism and misogyny inherent in the tropes (powerful females are evil, old and ugly females are evil)

5E hags are incredibly horrific, but they're also very gendered. I'm not sure I can see them walking things back dramatically on them at this point. They're also not actual old women, but fey and fiends (which feels like a weird holdover at this point) that look like them.

Probably the best way to push back on any problematic elements would be to have a heroic old woman -- not Van Richten, in other words -- as their nemesis.

 

[Remathilis]

We’re in a different time zone to the US, not actually forward in time.

Enjoy this one from someone who deals with shifting time zones...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I wish it were Castle Amber instead of more Ravenloft. But since they licensed that out already, I doubt it's that.

They're stripping Castle Amber for parts, with the magen showing up in Rime.

I would expect the other good stuff to show up in some sort of future magic-centered book. (And probably the magen again, since minions from a vat are cool.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

We’re in a different time zone to the US, not actually forward in time.

Says the guy from the same country as 100% of Doctors Who.