D&D 5E New Year speculation thread!

[ersatzphil]

Thinking back to this line: (emphasis mine)

To rectify that, we’ve not only made changes to Curse of Strahd, but in two upcoming books, we will also show—working with a Romani consultant—the Vistani in a way that doesn’t rely on reductive tropes.

Tasha was one of them, Luba's Tarokka of Souls and its sidebar on Luba (which seemed to borrow from 4e's idea that Vistani are a cultural/organization rather than a race as Luba was a halfling) clearly shows deviation from CoS's depiction. But that does leave a second book with Vistani ties in the mix. It's not CoS ReVamped (as that is implied in the errata for CoS referenced in the sentence) and it would tie in nicely to the Horror UA we had late last year (the bard and warlock subs). I think we're due for one more Ravenloftish project; either a proper RL setting, a second module set in the Demiplane, or a generic horror-themed sourcebook cribbing from it and Innistrad.

I completely agree with your analysis, but my pet theory is that a new Ravenloft book will in fact be the new monster book and will include a few player options, just as the Volo and Mordenkainein books did. I'm banking for "Van Richtens' Guide to the Mists", personally.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I think that's a pretty smart guess. I could definitely see a Volo/Mordenkainen's style monster book with the first half being dedicated to undead.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I think this is the year we're going to see a Pharoah-inspired desert adventure. Seems like a good contrast to Icewind Dale.

2024 is the 40th anniversary of Dragonlance, so I actually think this is NOT the year we'll finally see DL.

 

[deutscheben]

A possible clue that has not been mentioned yet here- the next set of prepainted D&D miniatures from Wizkids will be coming out in March and it is called Boneyard. According to a Wizkids representative it will feature “everything undead”.

 

[GarrettKP]

Q1: Ravenloft Adventure Anthology - Tales from the Yawning Portal and Ghost of Saltmarsh released exactly 2 years apart and in the Q1 slot, so an Adventure Anthology seems like a lock here as it is exactly 2 years since Saltmarsh dropped. Ravenloft makes sense also, as a natural fit for the Undead Warlock and Spirits Bard, and as the 2nd product with the updated Vistani depictions. Plus the Boneyard Wizkids mini set, the CoS Revamp, and general renewed focus on Ravenloft seem to indicate this is a natural fit for a Ravenloft book of some kind.

Q2: Dragonlance Setting Book - Much like the Undead Warlock and Spirits Bard, the Ascendant Dragon Monk and the Drakewarden Ranger need a home, and a Dragonlance setting book would be a perfect fit. Would also be the 1st of the 3 classic setting books WotC is currently working on (the other two likely being Greyhawk and Planescape based on the content in Tasha's).

Q3: Neverwinter: Witch Queen's Faerie Tales - Title is a guess, but the content is something I am confident we will see in the 2021 adventure book. We've recently had a trend of the books using major Sword Coast regions in the title, and Neverwinter is next in line. Crawford also mentioned that the team had plans for Tasha beyond TCoE. Last time they did a supplement like Tasha's, the cover/title character ended up being a major antagonist in the following adventure (Xanathar's Guide into Waterdeep: Dragon Heist). With the emphasis on Tasha's Feywild roots in TCoE, the most likely adventure book featuring her would be a Feywild adventure starting out in Neverwinter before transitioning into the Feywild, likely using a Feycrossing in the Neverwinter Wood.

Q4: Monster Expansion Book - This is the one I am least confident on, but there are a few bread crumbs here. Specifically the tweet posted earlier in this thread about the 224 page art order and the general release timing (which is admittedly a year late based on previous releases but still is overdue). The problem is that Perkins is never the lead on the Monster books, so the art order he is mentioning is likely in reference to the Q3 adventure and not this Q4 book, but lets keep it as a Monster book anyway as I have nothing better for this slot.

I am very confident in the Q1 and Q3 guesses. I'd say the Q2 guess is also likely, but is the most likely to be off the mark of the first 3. The Q4 guess is a total crapshoot as it is the one we have the least amount of info on.

 

[Scribe]

Really hope to see Planescape. While I grew up on LoTR and Dragonlance, Planescape gets me daydreaming like nothing else.

 

[Remathilis]

Q1: Ravenloft Adventure Anthology - Tales from the Yawning Portal and Ghost of Saltmarsh released exactly 2 years apart and in the Q1 slot, so an Adventure Anthology seems like a lock here as it is exactly 2 years since Saltmarsh dropped. Ravenloft makes sense also, as a natural fit for the Undead Warlock and Spirits Bard, and as the 2nd product with the updated Vistani depictions. Plus the Boneyard Wizkids mini set, the CoS Revamp, and general renewed focus on Ravenloft seem to indicate this is a natural fit for a Ravenloft book of some kind.

The only two things I see as an issue with this is...

1. the anthology books rarely include PC options
2. Ravenloft ironically doesn't have many iconic adventures beyond the original. They might use other horror modules though like they did rounding up GoS.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Spring: Someone's Guide/Tome to/of Dragons (Draconomicon including the Dragon subclasses from the most recent UA)
Summer: Ravenloft or Innistrad Setting Book (based on the Undead Warlock/Spirits Bard UA)
Late Summer/Fall: Adventure book/books, probably taking place in Neverwinter or Anauroch.
Fall: Planescape/Compendium of the Planes???

 

[GarrettKP]

The only two things I see as an issue with this is...

1. the anthology books rarely include PC options
2. Ravenloft ironically doesn't have many iconic adventures beyond the original. They might use other horror modules though like they did rounding up GoS.

I think there are enough Ravenloft adventures to fill the book. The House on Gryphon Hilll, Feast of Goblyns, Ship of Horror, Touch of Death, Night of the Walking Dead, Thoughts of Darkness, From the Shadows, the RM series of modules, and so on.

Sure, most of them aren't household names, but I would argue the same for a majority of Saltmarsh's adventures. As long as there is enough content for a Ravenloft themed campaign, I think they make it work.

And yes, PC options did not appear in Yawning Portal, but Saltmarsh proved to me that they are not above including content that is at least Player adjacent with the ship rules and backgrounds. I don't think two subclasses are out of the question.

 

[ersatzphil]

I think there are enough Ravenloft adventures to fill the book. The House on Gryphon Hilll, Feast of Goblyns, Ship of Horror, Touch of Death, Night of the Walking Dead, Thoughts of Darkness, From the Shadows, the RM series of modules, and so on.

Sure, most of them aren't household names, but I would argue the same for a majority of Saltmarsh's adventures. As long as there is enough content for a Ravenloft themed campaign, I think they make it work.

And yes, PC options did not appear in Yawning Portal, but Saltmarsh proved to me that they are not above including content that is at least Player adjacent with the ship rules and backgrounds. I don't think two subclasses are out of the question.

I have to agree - I'm currently running large sections of 'RM2 - The Created' as a holiday themed bottle episode for my CoS game, and the players all commented that it didn't feel out of place at all.

Ravenloft is also kind of perfect for an adventure anthology to essentially do double duty as a campaign setting: have each adventure detail a different domain and its Darklord. Boom - you've simultaneously fleshed out the Domain of Dread and given DMs scenarios to run for their players.