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

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I agree we're gonna get another iteration of Strahd & Ravenloft for 5.5, but we're still too close to Curse of Strahd ReVamped (2020) and Van Richten's Guide (2021) to circle back just yet. We'll get it before 2030, but not in 2026.

I don't know why they'd have any qualms about releasing an updated adventure within five years of a pricy update that I can't find on bookshelves any more, especially when they can do extremely modest updates to the revamped version and announce "updated for 2024 5E!"

I wonder if WotC has decided to move away from the campaign-length hardcover adventures that kinda defined 2014-2023 5E (and often took years to complete). I have mixed feelings about them; certainly they didn't reflect the way a lot of folks want to (or do) play D&D. Nonetheless, some of them were really good...and I'm not sure anybody by Perkins can really deliver consistently good long adventures in that style.

We didn't get one this year, and haven't had one since Vecna: Eve of Ruin (May 2024). Given what I would call the pretty dire quality of the last several (Vecna, Shattered Obelisk, and Turn of Fortune's Wheel in particular) I'm glad they pumped the breaks. But I'm not sure I want them to stop completely.

I don't think that even Perkins would say he's uniquely qualified to write adventures or that he is the best on the scene.

I do think that if WotC wants to shake the stink that's on big adventures after Shattered Obelisk and Vecna, they'll need to be open to reaching to folks outside their ecosystem. There are a number of names who are repeatedly mentioned on the Ten Foot Pole best list, for instance, who might be worth asking.

 

[Parmandur]

I agree we're gonna get another iteration of Strahd & Ravenloft for 5.5, but we're still too close to Curse of Strahd ReVamped (2020) and Van Richten's Guide (2021) to circle back just yet. We'll get it before 2030, but not in 2026.

I wonder if WotC has decided to move away from the campaign-length hardcover adventures that kinda defined 2014-2023 5E (and often took years to complete). I have mixed feelings about them; certainly they didn't reflect the way a lot of folks want to (or do) play D&D. Nonetheless, some of them were really good...and I'm not sure anybody by Perkins can really deliver consistently good long adventures in that style.

We didn't get one this year, and haven't had one since Vecna: Eve of Ruin (May 2024). Given what I would call the pretty dire quality of the last several (Vecna, Shattered Obelisk, and Turn of Fortune's Wheel in particular) I'm glad they pumped the breaks. But I'm not sure I want them to stop completely.

The DMG approach to quick low prep.Advenruees seems to be the direction they are going: which may be more useful in practice.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

We can bet for a future title about Gothic Horror, maybe a second book about Ravenloft. I doubt seriously about Innistrad in the near years.

A sourcebook style "the complete arcane"? Maybe I bought a lot of sourcebooks during 3.5 ed and now I am not interested into subclasses but the update of PC species and monsters.

 

[Burnside]

I don't think that even Perkins would say he's uniquely qualified to write adventures or that he is the best on the scene.

I do think that if WotC wants to shake the stink that's on big adventures after Shattered Obelisk and Vecna, they'll need to be open to reaching to folks outside their ecosystem. There are a number of names who are repeatedly mentioned on the Ten Foot Pole best list, for instance, who might be worth asking.

Perkins definitely wouldn't make that claim, but I really can't think of anyone who touches his track record specifically in terms of long-form, campaign-length adventures (and yes, his name is also on some that I consider poor).

There are a definitely a good amount of people I'd turn to for a short form adventure over Perkins (Shawn Merwin, Kelsea Dionne, Dan Coleman, MT Black, etc).

I don't know every single designer who has been lead on a long-form campaign, but I can't think of any other one designer who could point to a run like Curse of Strahd/Tomb of Annihilation/Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden/Wild Beyond the Witchlight and say, "Well, here's four great epic-length adventures that I was lead on."

 

[Burnside]

The DMG approach to quick low prep.Advenruees seems to be the direction they are going: which may be more useful in practice.

While I appreciate those adventures in terms of de-mystifying the way homebrew adventures can look and feel for your home group, they're not at all what I personally want from a published WotC adventure.

 

[mamba]

The DMG approach to quick low prep.Advenruees seems to be the direction they are going: which may be more useful in practice.

I don't know, I want more than 100 one shot ideas from WotC. The DMG approach is too bare bones for me, my own stuff can be at that level because I do know more anyway, but from a published adventure I expect more

 

[Parmandur]

While I appreciate those adventures in terms of de-mystifying the way homebrew adventures can look and feel for your home group, they're not at all what I personally want from a published WotC adventure.

Maybe, but the new Forgotten Realms DM book having 51 mini Adventures (plus a "normal" more detailed 1-3 Adventure) is big bang for the buck...that comes out to 5 APs in one book, in terms of actual play potential.

I do agree that Perkins had an all-time run for longer form Adventures in the mid-5E era.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I think that they did, perhaps, too many long-form adventures in 2014-2023, but I hope that the lesson learned from it is not to do too few of them going forward.

OTOH, to this day, I wish that they'd learn how to (and how not to) really polish up and expand on classic adventures.

Phandelver & Below is a sad example of how NOT to do it; Perkin's 4e-era Against the Giants, where he added the Warrens of the Stone Giant Thane to the mix, was (IMO) a good example of how to do it well.

I'm really hoping that the upcoming Borderlands Starter Set winds up another good example, but we'll have to see.

 

[Parmandur]

I don't know, I want more than 100 one shot ideas from WotC. The DMG approach is too bare bones for me, my own stuff can be at that level because I do know more anyway, but from a published adventure I expect more

Thing is. This approach allows them to squeeze a lot of material into non-Adventure DM products.

 

[Parmandur]

I think that they did, perhaps, too many long-form adventures in 2014-2023, but I hope that the lesson learned from it is not to do too few of them going forward.

OTOH, to this day, I wish that they'd learn how to (and how not to) really polish up and expand on classic adventures.

Phandelver & Below is a sad example of how NOT to do it; Perkin's 4e-era Against the Giants, where he added the Warrens of the Stone Giant Thane to the mix, was (IMO) a good example of how to do it well.

I'm really hoping that the upcoming Borderlands Starter Set winds up another good example, but we'll have to see.

Quests From the Infinite Staircase did an excellent job at that, IMO, and with the same product lead as Borderlands coming up.