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.

​

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)​

 

[Parmandur]

Hmm. Unless they add some really space-consuming general campaign stuff, that's a good sign that it could get well into T3 play then for this one, instead of petering out around level 10 - 11. Dragonlance, for example, takes 53 pages from the start of actual adventure part of the book to get to level 5, and 67 to reach level 6. And with Vecna lurking in the background, I could definitely see it happening...

I could see this going pretty high Level, particularly if the big Vecna campaign is a more high Level affair meant to pair well.

 

[Parmandur]

I have no problem with the expansion / adventure, I just would have preferred it to not start with the Lost Mines. That would have given me even more new / expanded material, and I can mix in LM if I want to

Sure, but this services both audiences well, people who have nostalgic memories and want to return to Phandelin, and people who haven't experienced the original yet.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Absolutely unacceptable and pathetic. If I want the first adventure I'll buy that, if I want the campaign book I'll buy that. Inserting an existing adventure into a new product to fill page count is lazy and uninspired and why I lost interest and respect for WotC era D&D.

If I don't own the original insertion of this product, I would like the campaign to not be piecemeal, thanks. I'm happy with this delivery method.

 

[mamba]

If I don't own the original insertion of this product, I would like the campaign to not be piecemeal, thanks. I'm happy with this delivery method.

the alternative would not be for the campaign to miss a piece, but for it to either pick up at 5th level (where Lost Mine ends) or simply have a different start altogether (I was expecting the latter). It's the duplication that is a bit disappointing

 

[Parmandur]

the alternative would not be for the campaign to miss a piece, but for it to either pick up at 5th level (where Lost Mine ends) or simply have a different start altogether (I was expecting the latter). It's the duplication that is a bit disappointing

I wouldn't have expected an alternate, but it wouldn't have been crazy to start from Level 5, several WotC books have done so. But I reckon they probably would have just done a shorter book, so I'm not sure it's missing out on anything.

 

[mamba]

I wouldn't have expected an alternate, but it wouldn't have been crazy to start from Level 5, several WotC books have done so. But I reckon they probably would have just done a shorter book, so I'm not sure it's missing out on anything.

I expected them to start at level 1 because they always do, with very few exceptions (Spelljammer only really, the other two cases were basically continuations of other adventures). I did not expect a reprint of LM, but new low level adventures around Phandelver.

In the end it is no big deal, but I do hope they mix in some new stuff (that ties into the later adventure) and do not have a straight reprint.

 

[Parmandur]

I expected them to start at level 1 because they always do, with very few exceptions (Spelljammer only really, the other two cases were basically continuations of other adventures). I did not expect a reprint of LM, but new low level adventures around Phandelver.

In the end it is no big deal, but I do hope they mix in some new stuff (that ties into the later adventure) and do not have a straight reprint.

For sure, I wouldn't be surprised if there are tweaks to tie it into the latter parts of the campaign, maybe a demphasis on the early 5E obsession with the Sword Coast Factions that sort of...petered out.

 

[Zaukrie]

I anticipate more than a few dmsguild products offering new phandelver encounters when this comes out....

 

[Parmandur]

I anticipate more than a few dmsguild products offering new phandelver encounters when this comes out....

I would be shocked if there aren't already a metric ton from the past several years.

 

[Parmandur]

As predicted, "Phandelver" brings up 317 results on the DMsGuild already.