WotC So, when do the announce the July book? Guesses on what it'll be? 🤔

[thundershot]

All I know is that it’s NOT going to be Spelljammer. At this point I’ve given up on that...

 

[Bitbrain]

So far we know about/have already been released:

Candlekeep Mysteries = module anthology
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft = D&D campaign setting

I’m thinking for July we will see a new Volo’s/Mordenkainen’s type book, with dragons featuring prominently.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Planescape, with Sig connecting to the MtG planes.

 

[hopeless]

Feywild or Planar Supplement similar to the Ravenloft supplement?

I actually hoped the Candlekeep book would be similar to TCE and XG in that it covers tomes, grimoires and creating your own wizard spellbooks, scrolls or the divine equivalent with perhaps options on whether druids use leaves or other strange methods of scribing spells.

With the Candlekeep Library used properly to explain the various examples of these like they did in an earlier edition.

I really need to pick up Ghosts of Saltmarsh!

 

[Mercurius]

I'm doubtful there will be a Magic book this year. If patterns hold, then a Magic book would be released in November (as the annual adventure is always in September). The two most recent MtG releases at that time would be the Forgotten Realms set, and then the Innistrad sets. I am extremely skeptical that an Innistrad book will ever happen now that Ravenloft will be published (they simply overlap too much). Maybe the first set of 2021 will revisit a MtG plane and there will be cross-promotion there, but I'm still doubtful.

So I guess I think the the final book of 2021 will be another classic setting, one of the three they've said they're working on?

Maybe, I don't know. Originally I thought they might do a new Magic book every other year, and as they did one in 2018 and 2020 it would follow that the next one would be 2022. But I could also see them take the one classic one new approach.

But yeah, what you say sounds right. If a classic setting, I think the most likely candidates are Dark Sun, the planes (in some form or fashion), Forgotten Realms and maybe Dragonlance. I don't think they'll do Mystara, and if they do Greyhawk I would guess they tie it into the 50th anniversary.

Dark Sun seems unlikely, at least until they figure out psionics (imagine the uproar of psionic spells in DS). I would guess it comes out in late 2022 or 2023.

Despite what many think, I do think we'll see a 5E FRCS at some point, or maybe an expansion like "Dalelands Adventurers Guide" or some such.

The planes are a matter of when and how, not if. If they start doing the planes, I could see them starting small (or kind of small) - say, an adventure in which the PCs discover a spelljammer and sail the Astral Sea. I don't think we'll see a full treatment of the planes until 2022.

Another option would be a "micro-setting" like the feywild, maybe in combination with a Volo's-esque book that covers dragons and frey creatures, as some have speculated.

What continually surprises me is how well WotC is at maintaining radio silence. There doesn't ever seem to be any leaks, at least not until shortly before an announcement (e.g. Amazon product pages). You'd think more would get out.

 

[overgeeked]

Dark Sun seems unlikely, at least until they figure out psionics (imagine the uproar of psionic spells in DS). I would guess it comes out in late 2022 or 2023.

I'm running a Dark Sun 5E game and people are fine with the way psionics are handled with Tasha's. It's not perfect, but it works.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

What continually surprises me is how well WotC is at maintaining radio silence. There doesn't ever seem to be any leaks, at least not until shortly before an announcement (e.g. Amazon product pages). You'd think more would get out.

I suspect there's a lot of videogame companies who would like to bottle that secret sauce.

 

[Parmandur]

Well, we don't actually know a book is released July. There should be one, as otherwise the release schedule is a little wonky (a book in March, then May, but not July). But stranger things have happened!

Anyway, if there is one in July, it should be announced shortly before or after Van Richten's is out. Announcements I believe always happen on Tuesdays (sometimes a little hint or something on the days prior) and an Amazon template as well prior.

So my guess is May 11, the week before Ravenloft's release.

As for what it is, I'm going to say a monster book in the style of Volo's and Mordenkainen's, with some additional subclasses included. Heavy dragon theme, but it may also include fey material as well.

Sounds about right.

 

[Parmandur]

I suspect there's a lot of videogame companies who would like to bottle that secret sauce.

I think it is no accident that when WotC new CEO came into the picture in 2016 from the video game world that communication and information started tightening up across the board, and digital started not sucking shortly afterwards (more a Magic than D&D thing, so far, but still).

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe, I don't know. Originally I thought they might do a new Magic book every other year, and as they did one in 2018 and 2020 it would follow that the next one would be 2022. But I could also see them take the one classic one new approach.

So, the first Setting book following the current paradigm came in 2018, with Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica (subsequent Setting books, aside from Exandria by an outside team, have followed the same layout as Ravnica, and SCAG is somewhat different). in 2.5 years, we will have received 5 Setting books, 6 if we include Acquisitions Incorporated (which we probably should), as opposed to 1 in the prior 4 years of the Edition. We know that there are at least two more "Classic" settings that were being actively worked on as of a year ago, with more on the way. That means we are seeing an average of 2 Settings a year in recent history, maybe more. I don't forsee that slowing down: and to keep that up, they'll need more Settings pretty quick. Magic crossovers fit the bill nicely.