D&D (2024) New Dungeon Master's Guide Cover Features Venger (From the D&D Cartoons)

The cover of the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide has been unveiled.... in the Mirror, a mainstream newspaper in the UK.

The cover art features villains (as opposed to the heroes on the Player's Handbook cover revealed last week), with skeletons in the foreground, the classic villains Skylla and Warduke in the mid ground, and then Venger from the 1980s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon looming in the background, and right at the back lurks a dracolich.

The DMG will be released November 12th, 2024.

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13th Age isn't my favorite system, but if I were making a heartbreaker it has a variety of things I would pillage!
Yeah. Definitely some cool stuff in there. Do you have "Eyes of the Stone Thief"?

Another idea I really like is Shallow Abysses from Sword World. You can enter the dungeon from what looks like a black hole, but once you enter you cannot leave until you've defeated the boss at the core.
 

My opinion - this is entirely based on your age (physically or mentally) when you were first exposed to it. I was 11, so definitely the target demographic. That's why it resonates so much with me anyway. Yes... watching it again as an adult, it doesn't really hold up as well, but that's just the way of things. I have fond memories of it.

I was 13, and I was so disappointed. I snootily thought the show was written for little kids, not mature teenagers like myself. :ROFLMAO:


(I've also tried to rewatch it in my adulthood, but still find it uninteresting.)
 
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I do not. Worth getting to pillage for ideas for porting to 5e? (After checking with my sometimes 13a DM to make sure they don't have plans for it).
I think it's great. I don't want to spoil it, but here's a few snippets...

Back cover. "In 13 Age, living dungeons slither up through the underworld and invade the surface lands. The Stone Thief is the most ancient and cunning of its kind; a vast monster that preys on the cities and structures you love, swallows them, and remakes them into more deathtrap-filled levels inside itself. Now, it's hunting you."

From the intro Using this Book. "The Dungeon as Central Villain: If you’re running a highly focused game (and don’t plan on continuing into the epic tier), then you can make the Stone Thief into the main bad guy of the whole campaign. If you go with this option, then your player characters’ backstories and some of their one unique things should relate to the dungeon and why it has to be defeated.

The Dungeon as Major Plot: The dungeon can be a major plotline, or even the major plotline in the champion tier phase of your campaign. The Stone Thief isn’t a static location—its attacks change the world. If the big question of your campaign is “can the player characters save the Empire from collapse?” then the dungeon can play into that story as one of several apocalyptic threats that the characters must thwart.

The Dungeon as Side Quest: We’re pushing the idea of the player characters being drawn into a bloody vengeful quest to slay the dungeon, because that’s fun. However, you can also dip in and out of the material in this book, scrapping it for parts or just using the level-appropriate bits of the Stone Thief as a one-shot."
 

The "Dungeons" aren't purposefully populated by real, Material mortal beings, rather the types of creatures that are more of a temporary "spirit" when in the material world, or are not living creatures. Like celestials and fiends, elementals and fey, undead and constructs, and even monstrosities dreamed up from beyond. Destroying many those creatures just disperses their temporary essence in the world and sends them home.

Of course mortals and monsters seeking their own treasures and food might also show up to these places. Those unplanned wild radicals to the equation help to keep adventurers on their toes.
I really like the idea of the dungeon itself as a malevolent entity that somehow gains sustenance from misery, pain, greed and other negative emotions. it calls monsters and corrupt people to it. It "grows" traps" and other tricks. But ultimately what it wants is people to go inside in search of something (treasure, a McGuffin, fame, whatever) and find only despair.

:LOL:

Welcome to LitRPG DungeonCore Stories. Most don't have the main character be the one gaining power and sustence from misery, pain and greed (though gaining power from Death is common, and there are some like Spirit Core by Jonathon Brooks which focus on a Horror Slasher theme, with the main character being a dead serial killer. Really good, even if reading from the perspective of a monster is rough)

Plenty of inspiration on Kindle Unlimited or Royal Road if you are looking to read some stories and concepts.
 




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