D&D 5E Roundup: Check Out These Previews from D&D Celebration

WotC's online D&D streaming event is taking place all weekend, and throughout the process they have released a few previews upcoming books.

From Fizban's Treasury of Dragons:

• Metallic Dragonborn
• Drakewyrm Ranger
• Moonstone Dragons

D&D 5E - Fizban's Treasury Dragons Ranked By Challenge Rating

WotC has been sending out previews of Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, due out next month, to folks on Twitter. Amongst those are art pieces and other items. By Challenge Rating the dragons in the book are: Ancient crystal (19) Ancient topaz (20) Ancient emerald (21) Ancient moonstone (21)...

www.enworld.org

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: An In-Depth Review

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight isn't just Wizards of the Coast's latest Dungeons & Dragons adventure. It's the first official, full-length adventure from WotC set in the Feywild. While often mentioned, the counterpart to the Shadowfell has gotten much less attention through the editions...

www.enworld.org

From Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos:

 

[Omand]

Thanks for starting up all of these threads with information @Morrus

Cheers

 

[Faolyn]

And then WotC takes those same settings and ruins them for the 5e crowd. Ravenloft book is a clear example, being dubbed more "Scooby-Doo" like than Gothic Horror, as it should have been. The fact it lacks Fear/Horror/Madness rules mechanics, which was literally the core of Ravenloft's playstyle, was stripped completely.

I've loved Ravenloft since nearly the very beginning. It wasn't ruined for me at all, nor was it at all Scooby-Doo like. The changes took some time to get used to, but that's always true of changes.

 

[Professor Murder]

Let's be real a moment. Ravenloft, at its most dark traditionally, is still very tame in comparison to dedicated horror fare like CoC or proper adult mindfuck material like Kult. Folks need to put things into proper perspective. If this version of Ravenloft isn't spicey enough for you, just add more on your own. You are allowed to. It's DnD. Want darker material for the setting? DMsGuild likely has what you need.

 

[Bird Of Play]

So uh, take it you haven't heard of Record of Lodoss War, then?

The anime based on a story which was just a AD&D campaign some guys in Japan played, and directly lead to the creation of Sword World because TSR wouldn't licence D&D in Japan?

I don't see your point? Yeah, I know Lodoss War. I also don't like it.
But, how is it related to what I'm discussing here? I'm not meant to be snarky, I genuinely am dumb and couldn't see the association intended.

Nah, not offensive at all. Though now I find myself wondering why your avatar is an athropomorphic owl with boobs.

I don't see how my fursona makes my point less valid! You can be a cringe furry that puts mammalian boobs on birds AND still be a solid connoisseur of good, mature, plot-driven tales.

 

[tetrasodium]

This is what I thought, those options already existed, were added to, and in flipping through the book, there seemed to be quite a few 'adult' things going on?

(I didnt buy it, because I disagree with the approach on lineages, but the rest of the book looked fine after I mentally added 'Evil' to every Monster as an alignment.)

I think on the case of ravenloft it's more a case of those mechanics being pretty bad & more importantly the fact thst vrgtr itself doesn't ireally nclude the meaningful sort of details on mechanics that would crank the rest of the near loony toons level "heroic fantasy" slant the core of 5e itself has baked into the core rules themselves. The 3e ravenloft book had a chapter or so thst rebuilt various parts of the core rules & abilities to fit the tone as a good example. Most glaringly vrgtr doesn't really even include a new rest mechanic the dm could point to .

 

[Aldarc]

a solid connoisseur of good, mature, plot-driven tales.

I'm reluctant to equate "darker and more Tolkien-inspired" with "good, mature, plot-driven tales."

To be clear, this is not me taking a shot at Tolkien - who I agree wrote good, mature, plot-driven tales (at least with LotR) - but, rather, at the overall point you are making in which you place "darker and more Tolkien-inspired" in opposition with Strixhaven or that D&D is nowadays "Harry Potter, but as an anime."

Harry Potter was a series of popular, plot-driven tales with mature themes and some real dark parts that are down right sadistic. There are plenty of "good, mature, plot-driven tales" in anime that are far darker than Tolkien. There are even several anime that are essentially "Harry Potter, but as an anime" [sorta] that likewise would constitute "good, mature, plot-driven tales."

It also stands at odds with a number of points, including the previously mentioned issue that D&D has a number of popular non-Tolkien inspired fantasy settings for decades: e.g., Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Planescape, Spelljammer, Eberron, etc.

So the criticism feels off from reality and more like heavily rose-tinted nostalgia for a long-gone past that never was.

 

[Bird Of Play]

I'm reluctant to equate "darker and more Tolkien-inspired" with "good, mature, plot-driven tales."

To be clear, this is not me taking a shot at Tolkien - who I agree wrote good, mature, plot-driven tales (at least with LotR) - but, rather, at the overall point you are making in which you place "darker and more Tolkien-inspired" in opposition with Strixhaven or that D&D is nowadays "Harry Potter, but as an anime."

Harry Potter was a series of popular, plot-driven tales with mature themes and some real dark parts that are down right sadistic. There are plenty of "good, mature, plot-driven tales" in anime that are far darker than Tolkien. There are even several anime that are essentially "Harry Potter, but as an anime" [sorta] that likewise would constitute "good, mature, plot-driven tales."

It also stands at odds with a number of points, including the previously mentioned issue that D&D has a number of popular non-Tolkien inspired fantasy settings for decades: e.g., Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Planescape, Spelljammer, Eberron, etc.

So the criticism feels off from reality and more like heavily rose-tinted nostalgia for a long-gone past that never was.

A past that never was, you say? Because I've got my old classic D&D rulebooks here to prove that the past, indeed, WAS.

 

[Bolares]

In 2021 we are still talking about things as being "for girls"... Society does change slowly.

 

[Aldarc]

A past that never was, you say? Because I've got my old classic D&D rulebooks here to prove that the past, indeed, WAS.

If this is the only point you are engaging from my post, I take it then that the rest of my criticisms of your post are valid then and this is your last grasp for some sort of internet victory point?

 

[Bolares]

Another thing I think is "funny" is the Harry Potter complains about Stryxhaven. As someone that followed the announcement of the MTG set this looks almost like a rerun of the complains Stryxhaven got a little more than a year ago, when the set was announced. Then it came out and everyone loved it, because it has rich worldbuilding and good lore, that makes it VERY different from Harry Potter. I guess my take away from this is wait and see the book before you state that it is something you won't like, or it's anime+harry potter... You might be surprised by it.