D&D 5E Which D&D books currently scheduled for 2023 are you interested in?

[humble minion]

You don't necessarily have to use those cards. You can add extra cards. Variant Decks are a thing, it would be easy enough to detail them as magic items, and include custom deck tables. The main reason decks aren't used much is because they can, and often do, completely disrupt a campaign. But a custom deck can include only things the DM is happy with and prepared for.

That's all true, and I'm sure that there will be variant decks included in the book.

But still, 200-ish pages on variations, spinoffs and elaborations on a single magic item? It really does seem hyperspecialised. Fizban's seemed to me to struggle for content at times (I have no idea what Bigby's is going to be like) and they are about entire broad monster categories and cultures, that you can build an entire campaign around. Doing the same for a magic item? It's certainly not impossible, but personally I find it hard to believe that WotC, whose watchword is 'generic', would put out a book that's so niche. But of course, I personally found it hard to believe that WotC would put out a Ravenloft campaign setting, or that they'd re-do Dragonlance before Planescape or Dark Sun, or that they'd do Spelljammer at all, so what do I know?

I do hope they take the opportunity to bring back a slightly tightened up version of the card-based rogue subclass from the Runeterra stuff D&D Beyond put out a while back. The wording of the rules was pretty terrible, but it had some interesting ideas, and the gambler rogue archetype is a classic and one we haven't seen yet.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But still, 200-ish pages on variations, spinoffs and elaborations on a single magic item?

The Radiant Citadel was a bunch of adventures spun of from a single location. In it's simplest form the deck could be a link to connect a collection of short adventures. I think it's more likely to be a hybrid player option/adventure collection format, but I could quite easily fill a book with that sort of stuff.

 

[Retreater]

If Planescape were being produced like Eberron (or heck, even Van Richtens Guide) I'd consider that one. Since it has the Spelljammer format, I'm going to be extra cautious.

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe this is why I'm not a game developer, but I can't imagine how anyone would get 10-12 pages of interesting, worthwhile content out of, for example, the Euryale, Gem, Stars, or Fool cards. Cards like Flames, Knight, and Donjon could provide some good content, but jeez, it'd be a stretch for some of the rest. And seriously, how many games ever include the Deck anyway? Bigby's is niche - an entire book devoted to one magic item (that most DMs won't allow remotely near their campaigns anyway) is the nichiest niche in nichetown.

Maybe that's the point: give the material that let's a DM use the Deck with a plan.

 

[Starfox]

Phandelver Campaign gave me wibes of Pools of Radiance, I am considering running that in Highport, on the Pomarj in the World of Greyhawk. But I will want to read some reviews first.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Maybe this is why I'm not a game developer, but I can't imagine how anyone would get 10-12 pages of interesting, worthwhile content out of, for example, the Euryale, Gem, Stars, or Fool cards. Cards like Flames, Knight, and Donjon could provide some good content, but jeez, it'd be a stretch for some of the rest. And seriously, how many games ever include the Deck anyway? Bigby's is niche - an entire book devoted to one magic item (that most DMs won't allow remotely near their campaigns anyway) is the nichiest niche in nichetown.

Nothing says that each card would get equal coverage. Two of the cards give out magic items, which means a generous portion of the book could be dedicated to updated/new magic items, which would be interesting for just about any DM.

 

[Parmandur]

Nothing says that each card would get equal coverage. Two of the cards give out magic items, which means a generous portion of the book could be dedicated to updated/new magic items, which would be interesting for just about any DM.

And several definitely introduce scenarios that could take several sessions to resolve, making a plug and play adventure module habdy.

 

[Alby87]

The general consensus here is that The Book of Many Things will be a book with little episodes (like the Radiant Citadel) or a campaign. I don't think so, because they are already pulling the Golden Vault and Phandelver. I don't think they will do a third book about stories in this short span of time. And I think that the connection with the Deck of Many Things will be the same as Xanathar and Tasha in their book. Have you seen a statblock about those two in their book? Exactly, me neither. I think it will be like those two books, with some rectangles similar to the notes of the beholder and the witch, like after listing a magic item, a card is drawed near with "this object was created by Ambarabà the Mage after pulling out this card from the deck".

Seeing this thread makes me a bit torn. On one hand, even with WotC backing down on deauthorising the OGL, their actions have still left me not wanting to give them any money.
[...]
Maybe I'll feel differently a few months from now. We shall see.

The trick is to de-personalize them. They are not a goodwill company, they just want to make money. Who tried this stunt was not the people who write the game. If in those last 10 years they could have made a scheme about getting more money from you, they would have. I'm not defending the company, I would have boycotted a lot of thing. If the things remains now as they are, I will continue to buy. If they try again something like this, of to boycott we go again.

 

[see]

I mean, I was somewhat disappointed in Spelljammer's relative low amount of content for the price, but I knew how many pages it was when I ordered it. I'm not ecstatic about Planescape duplicating that format, but I'm still looking forward to the product on net.

 

[Parmandur]

The general consensus here is that The Book of Many Things will be a book with little episodes (like the Radiant Citadel) or a campaign. I don't think so, because they are already pulling the Golden Vault and Phandelver. I don't think they will do a third book about stories in this short span of time. And I think that the connection with the Deck of Many Things will be the same as Xanathar and Tasha in their book. Have you seen a statblock about those two in their book? Exactly, me neither. I think it will be like those two books, with some rectangles similar to the notes of the beholder and the witch, like after listing a magic item, a card is drawed near with "this object was created by Ambarabà the Mage after pulling out this card from the deck".


The trick is to de-personalize them. They are not a goodwill company, they just want to make money. Who tried this stunt was not the people who write the game. If in those last 10 years they could have made a scheme about getting more money from you, they would have. I'm not defending the company, I would have boycotted a lot of thing. If the things remains now as they are, I will continue to buy. If they try again something like this, of to boycott we go again.

But we already know that stat blocks and maps are two of the things that will be in the book.

 

[Velderan]

The only book I might pick up is the Phandelver one depending on reviews. I probably won't run it, but would like to read it since I enjoyed LMoP and the Essentials Kit material.

 

[Loren the GM]

I posted earlier saying I wouldn't be buying any due to the OGL situation, but now that WotC has reversed course I will probably look at purchasing all of these.

Top of the list for me is the Phandelver campaign. I really like Lost Mines and Dragons of Icespire Peak, so am very interested to see how they expand it. Specifically, I like the idea of saving a small town and having it be a home base and a place you fight for, build relationships in, and ultimately have a vested interest in. I think Lost Mines especially had lots of good hooks, so I am curious to see if it is expanding on those, or an all new adventure surrounding the location.

The others are all in a general interest place for me. I'm always happy for more content that expands on lore, provides new monsters, and provides interesting mechanics. None of the titles stand out as must-haves that I couldn't live without, but they all seem like interesting additions to my DM'ing arsenal.

 

[Older Beholder]

Worth a mention that Planescape was the first to reach 100 votes.

I think that is probably a reflection of the older demographic make up of these message boards.
But, as a planescape fan myself that's still pretty cool to see it so popular.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I mean, I was somewhat disappointed in Spelljammer's relative low amount of content for the price, but I knew how many pages it was when I ordered it. I'm not ecstatic about Planescape duplicating that format, but I'm still looking forward to the product on net.

The format may be the same as Spelljammer, but there's nothing to say that the page count will.

 

[Storyteller Hero]

Planescape is going to be the most important one imo, as it may address the cosmology of the multiverse, and could fill in a huge gap that has been kept empty on DMsGuild, at least for lore projects.

I've had to do a lot of research and gap-bridging for the planar lore in my deity lore pamphlets - if Sigil comes into play with the opening of Planescape for the community creators, I'm going to put all my research together into an ultimate planar lore book/series.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The format may be the same as Spelljammer, but there's nothing to say that the page count will.

...apart from precedent.

 

[Velderan]

The format may be the same as Spelljammer, but there's nothing to say that the page count will.

Personally, I wish they had followed the Spelljammer format for SotDQ but kept the same overall page count (192 in Spelljammer vs. 224 in DL). Less hassle to let players review the player facing content without risking them reading something that's not intended for them.

Maybe if Spelljammer had those extra 32 pages to flesh out the material people felt was lacking, they wouldn't have the negative view of the format.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Personally, I wish they had followed the Spelljammer format for SotDQ but kept the same overall page count (192 in Spelljammer vs. 224 in DL). Less hassle to let players review the player facing content without risking them reading something that's not intended for them.

Maybe if Spelljammer had those extra 32 pages to flesh out the material people felt was lacking, they wouldn't have the negative view of the format.

The page count is overwhelmingly the main complaint. If it had had that extra 32 pages (hopefully dedicated to example wildspace systems and more on ship movement/combat at least), there would have been far fewer complaints. Given that there will be well over a year between the releases of the products, I hope they take that feedback into consideration for Planescape...

 

[Parmandur]

The page count is overwhelmingly the main complaint. If it had had that extra 32 pages (hopefully dedicated to example wildspace systems and more on ship movement/combat at least), there would be far fewer complaints. Given that there will be well over a year between the releases of the products, I hope they take that feedback into consideration for Planescape...

If they had given a rundown of example systems, and pages ofntanles.to generate random systems...thst would have been perfect for me.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

• Heists - didn't they already do Dragon Heist? Do we really need another heist book? (my answer is... No)
• Giants - I'm as interested as I was in the dragon book, ie not at all. I WOULD be super interested in a book for Undead and another for Aberrations
• Deck of Many Things - I guess I'll have to get this one as it will have more character options. But... With OneD&D on the way, not sure how this is going fit in...?
• Phandelver - YES. I have run 2 Phandelver campaigns, and my son is starting his own DM'ing career running it. I doubt they will update the levels 1-5 portion that has already been done - but I am curious about the 6+ portion of the campaign. However, it does suffer a bit from racial essentialism that 5e started with (eg. all goblins are evil) and has since moved away from. Maybe they will update the first portion of the adventure some to move away from that. For example,
  Spoiler

  having some non-goblins in the first set of encounters or making some of them sympathetic in some way
• Planescape - double YES. Can't wait for this - love Sigil. Would be so cool if they have at least a bit of DiTerlizzi (sp?) art