D&D 5E (2024) When are we getting announcements for 2026 books?

[Parmandur]

I know that I'm in the minority here, but I'm in no hurry to hear about the 2026 books. There are two starter sets coming out soon, then two FR books and then the Eberron book. Dragon Delves is still recent. I'll think about future releases later on....

I mean, that's why I don't expect an explicit announcement is imminent...but who knows?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I know that I'm in the minority here, but I'm in no hurry to hear about the 2026 books. There are two starter sets coming out soon, then two FR books and then the Eberron book. Dragon Delves is still recent. I'll think about future releases later on....

As a fan, I can't seem to wait, but a FLGS retailer, I'm 110% with you. It's a real problem these days, that we're always talking about two, three books down the line, and rarely as much about the one coming up SOON. I honestly think that the comic book industry, bad as it's always been run, had this thing right back when I first started with it, 30+ years ago (it had and has other issues instead).

To whit: The ideal, IMO is to announce a product not more than TWO MONTHS before it releases. You spend 1 month collecting orders, order it, and it arrives 1 month later. Maybe MAYBE you could extend that to three months, if a 1-month lead-time is not good enough for printing these days.

But more than that? I think it's actually bad. Hype occurs too soon, and by the time something is out, you're hyped for something further down the line. Often that further-hype will make you pass on the thing that excited you so much 6-8 months ago when it was all the rage in the announcements.

I think this is one of the things that kills the "Box Office" these days, as well. Announcements are just too darn early.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I would not say these are minor things in Dark Sun, slavery especially is central to the setting.

Also the number one theme overall in Dark Sun is that loss of religion causes regression and devolution of society into something without morals or ethics and is followed with extreme environmental destruction. I don't think that theme is especially relevant now. I actually think you could argue it is less relevant now than it was 30 years ago.

That is very interesting perspective I've never heard about Darksun. I've mostly seen Darksun being mostly a warning about relentless environmental exploitation and the resulting societal collapse from a D&D Sword & Sorcery perspective. The death of religion driving the collapse is a new thought to me. Perhaps you could please go more in depth on that?

 

[Echohawk]

We were never denying that the Gods are Silent. What was at dispute, was whether or not: 1) It was the absolute biggest theme. And 2) The gods being silent was the cause of the world being nasty.

Agreed. Even without the "...and that's why everything is so bad" part, "The gods are silent..." still only ranks sixth as a theme, just above "there are fierce monsters", apparently!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Who could "live" in the other continents where the biosphere has been totally destroyed and there aren't organic food? In the Death Lands only undead or creatures inmune to necrotic damage. Maybe Athas is the perfect place to hide if you are an exiled "noble house" from an infernal plane.

Dragons from other worlds wouldn't feel confortable living in a world where arcane and divine magic doesn't work in the same way, althought here the elemental drakes should be a special case. I would dare to add infernal and catastrophic dragons, usually they are only visitors because they were summoned. I imagine gem dragons hibernating within demiplanes and like this avoided to be detected by Borys. Those dragons could eat fiends.

I suggest the original spinewyrm from 2nd is not a sentient creature but somebody did "transgenic experiments" creating the sentient dragon creature from Dungeon #110.

Maybe the "brown tide" was not an accident but a sabotage by a faction from other world in the same wildspace. Then the champions of Rajaat would allow defilers traveled to those worlds to cause troubles. This could allow new SKs with a more interesting background from those worlds. Some defilers traveled toward other wildspaces and started to cause troubles, but here the deities didn't allow it and then "Athasian infernal domains" were sent to the Athaspace. And those deities created the "Scarletwall", a plane working like a firewall but also a punishment or penance zone. Here the defiler magic is possible but it causes a painful backlash instead damage the local vegetation. The plane is like a dessert of red dust with a eternal crimson mist in the sky. Farming and urban civilitations are possible, at least if they aren't destroying each other in warlords' conflicts.

 

[Stormonu]

I know that I'm in the minority here, but I'm in no hurry to hear about the 2026 books. There are two starter sets coming out soon, then two FR books and then the Eberron book. Dragon Delves is still recent. I'll think about future releases later on....

Opposite for me. No need for starter sets nor care about FR and Eberron. My interest is piqued by the thought of Dark Sun, but I'm nervously cautious. May come down to whethere there's a Beedles & Grimm version that will be available, and if it comes with a cloth map.