D&D 5E Upcoming D&D Tidbits: Phandelver, Book of Many Things, Venger, & More!

D&D Beyond has shared some more tidbits of information about upcoming products, including this summer's new Phandelver campaign, and information about Vecna, Planescape, and spring's Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, and more.

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Here are the highlights:

• In the 2024 Vecna adventure, you will visit various worlds.
• Art by Brian Valezer and Kent Davis from fall 2023's Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants was shared (see below), along with art from the Phandelver campaign by José Manzanedo. There was additional art from Planescape and more which you can see in the video.
• The new Phandelver book will include the existing adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver in the first half and then continue on to higher levels from there.
• They're reimagining Planescape for today's audience--honouring the roots then expanding.
• More cards are being added to the Deck of Many Things in winter 2023's Book of Many Things. A new product type--a deck of cards and an accompanying book. The book digs into the history of the deck and its cosmic place as a force of chaos. It contains player and DM content.
• Venger, the villain from the 1980s D&D cartoon who will be featuring in an upcoming storyline and WotC's Chris Perkins might have hinted he is actually a Red Wizard--'a redder Red Wizard' was the phrase used.
• Many of the various bad guys in the League of Malevolence appeared in the D&D cartoon series -- Kelek, Warduke, etc.

Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants (art by Brian Valezer)

Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants (art by Kent Davis)

Phandelver Campaign (art by José Manzanedo)

Book of Many Things (art by Craig J. Spearing)​

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I am disappointed about the Phandelver book including a reprint of the lost mines. It will likely make up a third to half of the book. It's great for new players that don't already own it, but for anyone else that already does, it is paying for the same content twice. For me, that is a deal breaker.

I look forward to it, I am hoping one of my players in one of my Phandelver games wants to try out being a GM. I can then give them my worn but functional copy of original Lost Minds of Phandelver and keep the cycle going

 

[DataDwarf]

The real kicker would be if the additional adventures in the Phandelver campaign book are just the "Beyond the Dragon of Icespire Peak" trilogy that was part of the Essential Set.

But I feel like I am being too cynical to think WotC would do that.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

It's head and shoulders better than anything published before it. (I've heard good things about Stormwreck Isle, but don't own it.)

Stormwreck is "fine." But Lost Mines is better than anything that came before it AND anything that came after it, as far as published Starter Adventures go. It's not perfect by any means, but it's really quite good.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

The real kicker would be if the additional adventures in the Phandelver campaign book are just the "Beyond the Dragon of Icespire Peak" trilogy that was part of the Essential Set.

But I feel like I am being too cynical to think WotC would do that.

While I don't think that's a good idea for WotC to do, I have often wished that they would (more often than they have) take pre-existing adventures and remix/repolish them and release them in a format that's built with step-by-step instructions for running them, and running them well. You know, fix all the faults, make more maps and stuff for the encounters. Kind of like Beedle & Grimm, but less high-end.

 

[R_J_K75]

I am disappointed about the Phandelver book including a reprint of the lost mines. It will likely make up a third to half of the book. It's great for new players that don't already own it, but for anyone else that already does, it is paying for the same content twice. For me, that is a deal breaker.

Thats how I feel about it too. In retrospect TSR/WotC reprinted so much stuff during the Forgotten Realms 1E-3.x run. I recall reading whole passages that were cut and pasted verbatim from previous books.

 

[Burnside]

But as a published starter adventure? It's head and shoulders better than anything published before it. (I've heard good things about Stormwreck Isle, but don't own it.)

Lost Mine of Phandelver > Dragons of Stormwreck Isle > Dragon of Icespire Peak > Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

 

[Parmandur]

I am disappointed about the Phandelver book including a reprint of the lost mines. It will likely make up a third to half of the book. It's great for new players that don't already own it, but for anyone else that already does, it is paying for the same content twice. For me, that is a deal breaker.

45 pages, give or take (the Mosnter Manual and DMG material in Loat Mines won'tbe reprinted): partly depends on if this is a 256+ page campaign or not, but significantly less than a third wven if it is 192 pages.

 

[mamba]

I am disappointed about the Phandelver book including a reprint of the lost mines. It will likely make up a third to half of the book.

would have preferred new material too, but it will probably be around a quarter of the pages

 

[Dire Bare]

I feel old. Ever since I watched the D&D Animated Series on Saturday Morning Cartoons, I never thought the story took place in FR. Oh, well.

Yes and no.

The cartoon ran from '83 to '85, the Realms wasn't published as an official D&D setting until '87, although Greenwood had been publishing articles in Dragon Magazine for years before that.

At some point in the '90s (or was it the 2000's), the kids from the cartoon showed up in a Realms promotional comic book (not the regular comic line published by Marvel). Ever since, they've been soft-retconned into the Realms, as the Realms has long been THE core D&D setting.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The cartoon ran from '83 to '85, the Realms wasn't published as an official D&D setting until '87, although Greenwood had been publishing articles in Dragons for years before that.

At some point in the '90s (or was it the 2000's), the kids from the cartoon showed up in a Realms promotional comic book (not the regular comic line published by Marvel). Ever since, they've been soft-retconned into the Realms, as the Realms has long been THE core D&D setting.

They would have been a much better fit for Mystara, which I think Warduke already appeared in, speaking of settings that stuff gets retroactively sucked into.