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)​

 

[jerryrice4949]

I think it works so well because it is so simple and straightforward: utterly fantastic beginner module.

My wife ran it for the Fourth of July in 2014, never having DMed before, never having played 5E before (obviously), and with no prep tike spent at all. It worked.

Fair point. It Was pretty straightforward and would be great for beginning players and DMs.

 

[Parmandur]

Weird thought: the time from the release of Loat Mines to this will be over 9 years (2014-2023). The time from the release of T1 Village of Hommlett (1979) to the release of T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil (1985) was just 6 years.

 

[Parmandur]

Fair point. It Was pretty straightforward and would be great for beginning players and DMs.

And with so many people starting in the past 9 years, that's a lot of retro nostalgia built up.

 

[R_J_K75]

That box has been discontinued and off of store shelves for nigh a year now.

The module is free to all on Beyond, but not everyone likes using digital versions.

Why they let that product go out of print just seems like a poor business decision. I bought it when it came out because as a fan of D&D I was interested in what 5E had to offer and it was priced accordingly as to not be a barrier to entry. Having 3-4 "Starter" sets seems an odd choice in my opinion.

 

[Parmandur]

Why they let that product go out of print just seems like a poor business decision. I bought it when it came out because as a fan of D&D I was interested in what 5E had to offer and it was priced accordingly as to not be a barrier to entry. Having 3-4 "Starter" sets seems an odd choice in my opinion.

Well, my understanding is that it has more to do with the didactic presentation of the rules than the module: the new Starter Set was made I'm conjunction with research on learning methods that WotC had not done by 2014.

Still, the Loat Mines set was in print longer than any of the Basic Sets or 3E/3.5 combined (8 years).

 

[R_J_K75]

My group found Lost Mines incredibly average

My last 2 starter sets I bought, the 2014 and 3Eish both were gifted to young kids 10-12 y/o and neither ended up playing them. Im pretty sure I read LMoP and maybe ran it for a session or 2, I played it for a few sessions iirc, but yeah I have no recollection of either other than to say I read/played it. But I cant even remember that so it wasnt very memorable

 

[R_J_K75]

Still, the Loat Mines set was in print longer than any of the Basic Sets or 3E/3.5 combined (8 years).

Interesting, I'd think that a starter set would have the same print run as its edition. But come to think of it, each edition has had a few starter sets. I dont recall any of them being that great at teaching the game though. Thats not to say they dont have their place just perhaps need to be presented differently.

 

[Nikosandros]

Weird thought: the time from the release of Loat Mines to this will be over 9 years (2014-2023). The time from the release of T1 Village of Hommlett (1979) to the release of T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil (1985) was just 6 years.

That's a fair observation. From a purely selfish point of view, I'm not thrilled about getting a reprint of Lost Mines, but I don't begrudge WotC for doing it.

As a side note, I've derived a ton of enjoyement from T1-4, but, IMHO, it has several problems. Hopefully, this one will be a better follow-up...

 

[R_J_K75]

My wife ran it for the Fourth of July in 2014, never having DMed before, never having played 5E before (obviously), and with no prep time spent at all. It worked.

Thats impressive, my hats off to her. Thats a feat for even a seasoned player. Its seems I've read these starter sets through "rose colored lenses" insofar as when you have already played the game its hard to look at it objectively as if you've never played. If that makes sense?

 

[sevenbastard]

A few years ago Lost Mines was on Amazon for $6.99 in a post Christmas sale. I bought 4 extra copies just to stock up.

Perkins calls the movie a "bonafide hit."

Yeah, unfortunately it's not, but Perkins isn't the most reliable guy. He told us Dragon Heist was a heist and the Icewind Dale adventure was like The Thing.