Why Dungeons & Dragons Isn't Putting Out a Campaign Book in 2025

Wizards of the Coast is not putting out a Dungeons & Dragons campaign book in 2025. Despite adding two more books to its D&D release schedule, there are no plans to release a new full-length campaign book. During a press event at Wizards' headquarters, EN World asked about why the D&D design team had chosen to skip over a campaign book for first time in a decade. "

"This year we have focused on providing, rather than one large adventure, many adventure options because you'll actually see there are more sort of discrete adventure options than we typically do in a year," said Jeremy Crawford, lead rules designer for Dungeons & Dragons. "So you're going to have not only the 10 adventures in Dragon Delves with three possible campaigns, you also have the adventure options in Eberron, you have the adventure options in the Starter Set, and you have a bunch of adventure options in the Forgotten Realms Adventure Guide. So in many ways, we are flooding you with adventure options."

Crawford added that the D&D design team is always experimenting with their releases and that yearly campaign releases didn't always allow players to finish up the previous campaign. "So we're looking at tempos that map to how people actually play," Crawford said. "And we find that often, especially with DMs who like to create their own adventure material, they often have a greater need for sort of micro material that they can swap around. They can build things the way they like. That's what we're doing this year."

Finally, Crawford noted that one of the advantages to continuing Fifth Edition rather than launching a brand new edition meant that players could continue to use existing campaigns. "We have a whole library of epic campaigns that people can play, including last year's Vecna: Eve of Ruin, and those are all playable with the new core books," Crawford said. "And so we've embraced that for 2025, that there's a whole bookshelf of these epic campaigns that people can pick up and play, and we know there are among those campaigns surely one or two that even the most dedicated 5e group hasn't played yet."

However, Crawford noted that the D&D team wasn't moving away from campaigns forever. "For the life of 5th edition, we've never believed in there's like only one way to do it and that's how we do it every year," Crawford said. "Just because there isn't a campaign book this year doesn't mean we're not doing them."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Perhaps you are correct about the price one would have to pay. Paizo's Pathfire adventure path uses a monthly subscription magazine format, although they don't call it a magazine. These magazines (or gamebooks or modules or whatever you want to call them) cost $30 each today (cheaper by subscription) and they have a pdf option. Yet, despite the price, enough people are paying the $30/month cost to keep the magazine chugging out monthly issues since around 2007 I believe, which was the last year of publication for Dragon and Dungeon magazines. If they can continue to make it work at that price point, I would think WotC could do the same thing with 5e if they really wanted to. I figure there are probably at least as many 5e players as there are Pathfinder players. The Pathfinder adventure path format is different than what Dungeon magazine used to be, but I think the 4-7 5e adventures/issue format would also work.

Yeah, I think $30 is probably the price point for something as content-dense as the old Dragon or Dungeon magazines or what Paizo puts out.

Paizo has definitely got a good model going for it, but at that price point, you're a long way toward a WotC hardcover, so WotC, or whomever, needs to convince a pretty sizable audience that it's worth it. The fact that MCDM didn't seem to be able to make it work, despite apparently good content and a loyal fanbase, would make me nervous about investing my own money in starting such a magazine up.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In wrestling parlance, Venger has been booked badly. How are we supposed to buy him as a big bad when he couldn't win against literal children even once out of dozens of tries.

Just announced: Venger will be boxing Jake Paul live on Netflix on July 4.

 

[payn]

Yeah, I think $30 is probably the price point for something as content-dense as the old Dragon or Dungeon magazines or what Paizo puts out.

Paizo has definitely got a good model going for it, but at that price point, you're a long way toward a WotC hardcover, so WotC, or whomever, needs to convince a pretty sizable audience that it's worth it. The fact that MCDM didn't seem to be able to make it work, despite apparently good content and a loyal fanbase, would make me nervous about investing my own money in starting such a magazine up.

Yeah the Paizo product is multi-purpose. It obviously has an adventure module, but it also has setting info, and strong related fiction. So, it appeals on several fronts (though some dislike the fiction a goid deal because they homebrew). I think that shows the strength of a single setting for Pathfinder. Getting a physical and PDF copy is another benefit.

I suppose some one could go digital only to save on material and shipping. Though more is at play for the adventure path.

 

[Reynard]

The fact that MCDM didn't seem to be able to make it work, despite apparently good content and a loyal fanbase, would make me nervous about investing my own money in starting such a magazine up.

Is Arcadia dead?

 

[mamba]

Is Arcadia dead?

They stopped it during the OGL thing

 

[Reynard]

They stopped it during the OGL thing

I did not realize. I see them come up in the Fantasy grounds store, so I assumed they were still making them.

 

[mamba]

I did not realize. I see them come up in the Fantasy grounds store, so I assumed they were still making them.

the existing editions are still for sale, there just aren’t any new ones coming out

 

[brodahisou]

I would actually prefer this. Do you think they've decided to do this due to all the popular third party adventures being produced or because the Vecna: Eve of Ruin wasn't as big a hit as they hoped?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I would actually prefer this. Do you think they've decided to do this due to all the popular third party adventures being produced or because the Vecna: Eve of Ruin wasn't as big a hit as they hoped?

I doubt it has much to do with 3PP adventures, but WotC will have sales figures for both their adventure paths and their anthology books, and given that there has been a significant increase in the production of anthologies, I suspect they are selling better.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Despite my snark, while adventure compilations like Quests from the Infinite Staircase and Tales from the Yawning Portal are really useful because you can lift small chunks for a night or three's gaming, it's still a hit to the pocketbook to be buying a book that you might only use 1 out of 5 adventures. I would really like to see the old single adventure paperbacks make a return in some form - maybe one a quarter or two a year. They could build up a stable of new adventures that isn't overwhelming, but might become somewhat revered like the old 1E-2E-3E standalone ones gained. They could, of course, still be (loosely) chained to work together, but could also be mixed or matched or just stopped/started wherever folks wanted, rather than locking them into a commitment for half a year or more that you have with the bigger "campaign adventures".

Heck, even 4e had some measure of "you can assemble a campaign from individual adventures" stuff. Many of them were released through Dungeon magazine, but a few were published books too. A number of these adventures were really quite well-received.

It's honestly been so strange that, amidst the "less is more" philosophy of 5e, the one thing where it's always been "more" than previous editions is BIG STONKING massive campaigns that pretty much have to be played as a chunk. LMoP even has a super-open narrative structure, totally ready to receive inserts at various points (which Hussar did, to great effect!)

I honestly can't say why they did this. Anyone have theories?