D&D 5E Planescape, Bigby, Phandelver and the Deck of Many Things: Covers & Details Revealed!

The covers of the upcoming D&D books — including Planescape, Glory of the Giants, and the Deck of Many Things have been revealed.

• August 15th -- Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants ($59.95)
• August 15th -- The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons ($39.95)
• September 19th -- Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk ($59.95)
• October 16th -- Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse ($TBA)
• November 14th -- Book of Many Things ($TBA)

Coming August 15th with two variants. Lore about giants, 76 stat blocks, feats, and a giant subclass.

3 hardcovers in a boxed set-- 96 page guide to Sigil, 64-page bestiary, and 96-page adventure, along with a poster map and DM screen. Coming October 16th.

224-page adventure for levels 1-12, poster map, 16 new monsters. Coming September 19th.

66 illustrated cards, 192-page book with lore, character options, magic items, and monsters, 80-page card reference guide, all in a slipcase. Coming November 14th.​

These Are Dungeons & Dragons' New Products For 2023

New books for the fantasy role-playing game include Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, and a look at the legendary Deck of Many Things.

themessenger.com

 

[Parmandur]

The dragon books were popular Practical Guides (which is why they had three of them, plus spin-off chapter books), but they are very much aimed at kids. That said, they take place on Krynn, as I recall, for those who are starved for Krynn content.

In addition to the wizard book, I could also see them bringing back the faerie, vampire and monster books, although the faerie book presents a very simplified Feywild as the Feywild, so they'd have to do some major editing.

Overall, I think the 5E-era Young Adventurers Guides are probably better overall, but these definitely deserve to remain in print.

My kids like dragons...

 

[Parmandur]

Why on earth would WotC set release dates for FIVE new D&D products over a span of just four months???

Two of which are deluxe sets at premium prices;

two of which are regular books in familiar formats, but with a notable price hike;

and one of which is an all-fluff book that retreads the same ground as a different book (that had crunch in it) released only two years ago.

This is a whole year’s worth of content crammed into one quarter.

The Dragon book is a kids book, reprinting 15 year old kid books. It's not a rules release.

 

[bedir than]

Why would they release two premium format books in the late fall and winter? Because that's the biggest shopping time of the year, globally.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I'm fine with that boxed set mainly covering Sigil and the Outlands. Sigil and Beyond was one of the booklets in the 2e campaign setting, though it tried to also cover all of the planes in a 64 page book.

The 5e DMG since most people never read it, does of course have a summary of every plane.

It's the Great Ring Cosmology which is presented as the default. The Outer Planes are basically what they were named as in 3e. The 4 Elemental planes are "safer" border regions, and the 4e Elemental Chaos has been added in, the Para and Quasi Elemental Planes aren't mentioned except eluded to in the Elemental Chaos description. The Ethereal Plane returned in 5e after being removed in 4e. The Astral Plane is still there. The Far Realm which was only theorized in Planescape is now a fact to the cosmology. And the 4e additions Shadowfell and Feywild, which have been thrown into the mix of 5e's version of the Great Ring.

 

[Quickleaf]

Wizards of the Coast follows up last year's introduction of Spelljammer: Adventures in Space with the second in the line reviving classic D&D campaign settings: Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse. The new collection returns players to Planescape, the critically-acclaimed and fan beloved setting initially released in 1994, and perhaps best known for the 1999 video game Planescape Torment.

The campaign collection is sold as a box set containing three hardcover books: Sigil and the Outlands, a 96-page guide describing the setting and its central city Sigil, home to portals connecting to every corner of the multiverse; Morte's Planar Parade, a 64-page bestiary of "impossible beings" and "nonstop weird" monsters; and Turn of Fortune's Wheel, a 96-page adventure that takes players across the Outlands to discover "a plot to undermine the rules of reality."

Adventures in the Multiverse and all its components will be available on October 16. The box set comes with a two-sided poster map and a DM screen; a limited edition version with box art by original Planescape artist Tony DiTerlizzi will be available through local game stores.

Ew, that first sentence makes me squirm.

With the zoomed in focus on Sigil & Outlands, the name Morte's Planar Parade from PS: Torment, echoes of the Great Modron March throughout several of the 5e hardcover adventures, and the unexplained Nameless One miniature (both in Monstrous Menagerie 3 & Nolzur's unpainted minis)... I wonder if the vibe here is going to be a LOT more PS: Torment than I was anticipating.

 

[Parmandur]

Ew, that first sentence makes me squirm.

With the zoomed in focus on Sigil & Outlands, the name Morte's Planar Parade from PS: Torment, echoes of the Great Modron March throughout several of the 5e hardcover adventures, and the unexplained Nameless One miniature (both in Monstrous Menagerie 3 & Nolzur's unpainted minis)... I wonder if the vibe here is going to be a LOT more PS: Torment than I was anticipating.

I was expecting a pretty heavy focus on Torment, considering that's the high water mark of Planescape's cultural exposure.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I was just thinking how the release date for the Deck of Many Things set will make it a logical gift for the holidays. Then I realized that both this year and last year there were both a fancy three-book setting guide and a book-with-added material that had similar release dates.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Ravel Puzzlewell and Fall-From-Grace were "canon" back in 2e after Torment came out.

 

[Quickleaf]

Ravel Puzzlewell and Fall-From-Grace were "canon" back in 2e after Torment came out.

They were in a Dragon magazine article or something?

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

They were in a Dragon magazine article or something?

Fall-From-Grace is canonically the daughter of the succubus Red Shroud (a daughter of Malcanthet and the ruler of the fortress of Broken Reach on the first layer of the Abyss, the connection point to the Gate-Town of Plague-Mort on the Outlands), and was mentioned in passing in Dungeon #148 in an adventure involving Red Shroud (namely, "Wells of Darkness", part of the Savage Tide adventure path - doing some ST conversion notes recently, so it's fresh on the mind), and I'm fairly sure she's popped up elsewhere as well, at least in name.

Not quite as certain on Ravel, but it wouldn't surprise me. And Dak'kon, while not as well-known name wise, is pretty much the archetypal model for modern githzerai.

Speaking for myself, one of the first specifically Planescape character concepts I ever came up with was heavily based on the Nameless One - I've done a LOT to differentiate the character in the years since, but it still started from and remains built around the core idea of "nameless immortal". Torment's not all there is to Planescape by any means, but it's pretty iconic nonetheless.