D&D 5E Volo's Other Book(s) / Future Spoilers?

[TheBlueKnight]

So Volo's Guide to Monsters releases in Wizard's Play stores tomorrow (Nov 4, 2016) and today (Nov. 3) Amazon delivered my copy of Dungeonology. It's "written by" Volo with forward by Elminster (tucked into an envelope inside the front cover. Overall the book looks pretty fun. It purports to be a beginner's guide to dungeon delving giving a precursory discussion on basic classes, races, equipment, party order, treasure, monsters, villains etc... It also has a large fold-out map of the Sword Coast in the middle.

To me, it very much seems like a book to share with family and friends to pique their interest in D&D. So far I like it!

Now for the possible spoilers of D&D future...

Tucked into the back of the book is another book(let) titled Volo's Guide to the Forgotten Realms. It covers basic descriptions of various locales in the Realms and lands beyond. It has discussions on the Cult of the Dragon (Tyranny of Dragons), the cults of Elemental Evil, and Demons of the Underdark (Rage of Demons).

It then discusses various cities of the Sword Coast. Next, blurbs on Gauntlgrym, Luskan, Thay, The Tomb of Horrors (I'll come back to this) and Undermountain. Then a section on the Underdark; a few of its cities and monsters. The next section is "Realms Beyond" and discusses Evermeet, Chult, Kara-Tur and Zakhara. The final section, "Worlds Beyond", discusses Cosmology, Greyhawk, Barovia (mentioning you can be transported there via mists on any world) and Sigil.

I haven't read every word of the booklet but a tidbit under the Tomb of Horrors caught my eye. Volo claims to have heard rumors that Acererak and the Tomb have appeared on Faerûn. Then later in the section on Greyhawk it ends explaining that Acererak and the Tomb of Horrors are originally from Greyhawk but that Acererak is "well known" in Faerûn, suggesting that "the boundries between the two worlds may somehow be breaking down." There is even a section on Acererak in Dungeonology.

I'll be the first to admit that I am rather new to the lore of D&D's various settings, but this is new, right? Does this mean that Wizards is planning a Tomb of Horrors revisit for an upcoming adventure? Or are they just trolling us? It seems like they are going out of their way to place the tomb into the Forgotten Realms. My feeling is they wouldn't do this without a purpose.

Thoughts? Please feel free to educate me!

Edit: There are some photos of the book in post #4 below.

 

[bmfrosty]

I think Labrynth is a combination of Keep on the Borderlands, Tome of Horrors, and White Plume Mountain. This certainly helps my theory.

 

[Prakriti]

today (Nov. 3) Amazon delivered my copy of Dungeonology. [...] It also has a large fold-out map of the Sword Coast in the middle.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. How large is the map? Is it the one by Mike Schley from the SCAG or the one from SKT? Does it have the same town- and road-markers on it? If it's a good size, I might actually have to buy Dungeonology...

 

[TheBlueKnight]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. How large is the map? Is it the one by Mike Schley from the SCAG or the one from SKT? Does it have the same town- and road-markers on it? If it's a good size, I might actually have to buy Dungeonology...

It looks like a Mike Schley map to me... Here are some photos:


Dungeonology next to the DMG


Dungeonology Title Page


Map folded out. The edge of the book you can see at the bottom is the long edge, in otherwords it's about the size of 4 pages.

It doesn't seem to cover the full area of the giant map, just the upper center bit.

Hope that helps!

 

[Demetrios1453]

So Volo's Guide to Monsters releases in Wizard's Play stores tomorrow (Nov 4, 2016) and today (Nov. 3) Amazon delivered my copy of Dungeonology. It's "written by" Volo with forward by Elminster (tucked into an envelope inside the front cover. Overall the book looks pretty fun. It purports to be a beginner's guide to dungeon delving giving a precursory discussion on basic classes, races, equipment, party order, treasure, monsters, villains etc... It also has a large fold-out map of the Sword Coast in the middle.

To me, it very much seems like a book to share with family and friends to pique their interest in D&D. So far I like it!

Now for the possible spoilers of D&D future...

Tucked into the back of the book is another book(let) titled Volo's Guide to the Forgotten Realms. It covers basic descriptions of various locales in the Realms and lands beyond. It has discussions on the Cult of the Dragon (Tyranny of Dragons), the cults of Elemental Evil, and Demons of the Underdark (Rage of Demons).

It then discusses various cities of the Sword Coast. Next, blurbs on Gauntlgrym, Luskan, Thay, The Tomb of Horrors (I'll come back to this) and Undermountain. Then a section on the Underdark; a few of its cities and monsters. The next section is "Realms Beyond" and discusses Evermeet, Chult, Kara-Tur and Zakhara. The final section, "Worlds Beyond", discusses Cosmology, Greyhawk, Barovia (mentioning you can be transported there via mists on any world) and Sigil.

I haven't read every word of the booklet but a tidbit under the Tomb of Horrors caught my eye. Volo claims to have heard rumors that Acererak and the Tomb have appeared on Faerûn. Then later in the section on Greyhawk it ends explaining that Acererak and the Tomb of Horrors are originally from Greyhawk but that Acererak is "well known" in Faerûn, suggesting that "the boundries between the two worlds may somehow be breaking down." There is even a section on Acererak in Dungeonology.

I'll be the first to admit that I am rather new to the lore of D&D's various settings, but this is new, right? Does this mean that Wizards is planning a Tomb of Horrors revisit for an upcoming adventure? Or are they just trolling us? It seems like they are going out of their way to place the tomb into the Forgotten Realms. My feeling is they wouldn't do this without a purpose.

Thoughts? Please feel free to educate me!

Hmm, I may have to take a look at this, that FR lore is something I definitely didn't expect to see in Dungeonology!

 

[Prakriti]

It looks like a Mike Schley map to me... Here are some photos:

Excellent, thank you! That is indeed Schley's Sword Coast map. Looks like the SKT version, since it has Ironslag and Everlund on it (the SCAG version doesn't).

One more question: Is the map glued or otherwise attached to the book, or is it a separate handout?

 

[TheBlueKnight]

It's attached. The book has very thick pages with parts that fold out or pop up. The map folds out on its own like a popup book. I don't think you could remove it easily without damaging the surrounding pages.

Edit: On closer inspection, it does appear glued to the pages it is on. You might be able to remove it very carefully, but you'd still risk damaging the opposing pages.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Wow. Just checked Amazon, and for anyone in the US, the current price is only $14.19, off a normal retail of $24.99, and qualifies for the free normal shipping if you get your book purchase to the minimum of $25. This is definitely worth it at that price. Good thing I put off pre-ordering Volo's til now. Now I can order both together.

Edit: and now they are ordered.

 

[TheBlueKnight]

While the book is cool, it doesn't have any crunch, and it is rather short. It is only 30 pages (according to amazon). I didn't count

The little book in the end adds a few more pages.

It really seems like a book for kids (book specifies Ages 10+, but I'm 42 and I am enjoying it.) It would make a fun coffee table book/book for kids (of all ages) interested in the game.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Re-reading what you wrote, I do think you are correct in that WotC appears to be seeding an upcoming Acererak adventure path (not that this is a surprise given his prominence in both the DMG and MM). I'm thinking, with that whole "boundaries breaking down" thing and the fact they mention Greyhawk specifically, that they are setting it up to be at least partially set in Greyhawk, so as to give us something of an update for that world, and to somewhat quell criticisms that 5e is too FR-centric. I'm thinking the Sigil mention is serving a similar purpose for a future planar adventure (Great Modron March perhaps?)

 

[Jester David]

Given how much WotC is tapping past classic adventures for current storylines, they'd be stupid not to draw from the Tomb of Horrors. Whether or not it's the "Labyrinth" product remains to be seen.

 

[gyor]

What did it say about the Forgotten Realms Cosmology, we have heard only alittle bit about it?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

If there is a book about the planes, I certainly hope it isn't narrated by Volo. Having it narrated by a cynical Aasimar Planewalker named Tarsheva Longreach, with additional entries by a Blue Slaadi scientist named Xanxost would be what I'd ideally want.

 

[TheBlueKnight]

What did it say about the Forgotten Realms Cosmology, we have heard only alittle bit about it?

Honestly it doesn't say much... There is nothing about it in the Dungeonology book but the Volo's Guide to the Forgotten Realms has a little (and I mean little) bit. A diagram and 2 paragraphs:

 

[Mercurius]

Dungeonology looks like a "gateway product" for potential D&D players. I wonder how, or if, WotC is marketing it. It seems like a bit of an oddity, albeit a nice one.

 

[gyor]

Dungeonology looks like a "gateway product" for potential D&D players. I wonder how, or if, WotC is marketing it. It seems like a bit of an oddity, albeit a nice one.

Thanks, so that shows that the cosmology is the same one they're used for the PHB and DMG, Great Wheel+.

I wasn't sure, FR was just using a varietion of the World Axis Cosmology before the Sundering, and the Great World Tree before the Spellplague, and The Great Wheel with a couple of special demiplanes before the Time of Troubles. Now its moved on to the Great Wheel Plus, which is the Great Wheel combined with elements from the World Axis Cosmology and a couple of new twists (The Great Wheel stolen the Great Axis' best stuff, and added a few unique twists like the Elemental Border Region vs Deep Elemental vs. The Elemental Chaos, and the Energy Planes no longer being Inner Planes, but somewhere beyond the Outer Planes at the furthest reaches of the multiverse.

So thank you.

 

[Charles Rampant]

This looks fun, and definitely something to impulse buy whenever I'm in Waterstones. The idea of a 'Greyhawk Dungeons Greatest Hits' adventure seems intriguing; could people (who know more about Greyhawk than I do!) suggest a likely structure for such an adventure? I'm guessing something like STK...

20pages - Introduction
60pages - Greyhawk Gazeteer (inc. 10 pages on the City Thereof?)
40pages - Tomb of Horrors
40pages - Barrier Peaks
40pages - Castle Greyhawk dungeons
15pages - new monsters, a subclass or two for Greyhawkian stuff

Does that seem viable? I mean, we can reasonably assume that they'd extensively overhaul any 1e dungeon - Castle Ravenloft got a free pass, but Tomb of Horrors isn't really viable these days I would imagine.

Though saying that, Chris Perkins did update Tomb of Horrors in Dungeon 213, and when asked on Twitter he refers to that, so we might expect that to not be part of any future module.

 

[gyor]

I think its a safe bet that Tomb of Horrors might be next, there is no other reason to relocate it to the Forgotten Realms.

I hope I'm wrong, because from everything I've heard about the tomb of horrors, its sounds boring as heck, trap, after annoying trap, after annoying trap, all over powered, no real plot, no interesting characters, I can think of a campaign that sounds less appealing honestly, and ITS A LOCATION THAT BELONGS IN GREYHAWK, although its good to know Toril traded comingling with Abier during the Sundering, for comingling with Greyhawk. Who knows maybe AO screw up abit during the Sundering and parts of Greyhawk got sucked into the realms, confusing both worlds.

I know next spellplague parts of Toril can switch places with parts of Greyhawk. Suzail, the capital of Cormyr can trade places with the City of Greyhawk!

And parts of Athas can trade places with parts of Abier!

Okay I kid. I hope.

On a more serious note they are literally ripping dungeons from other worlds to dump in FR, that is how unoriginal they're getting. Sigh.

I will say the thinning between FR and Greyhawk could have interesting reprocussions, but they'd actually have really explore that. Are other parts of Greyhawk shifted to FR?

 

[Sacrosanct]

I mentioned this in another thread, but I wouldn't be surprised if in the next year we saw a PHB2 in the format and presentation of Volo's Guide to Monsters. Something like Volo's Guide to Exotic Adventurers. Additional classes/subclasses and races Volo has experienced from his travels.

 

[I'm A Banana]

It always steams my buns a bit when they do the whole "boundaries between worlds are breaking down!" comic book schlock.

Like, okay, Tomb of Horrors is a classic, and yeah, you want to update it, so keep it in Greyhawk, you donks!

If you have to stay in FR for some arbitrary branding reason, you should double down on what makes FR exceptional and unique, like no other fantasy property. Cribbing stuff from Greyhawk doesn't do that!

Tossing chunks of GH into FR is lame. It feels inauthentic. Stop trying to turn yourself into something for everyone FR, just be yourself and let GH be itself, it's fine to not have everyone love you.