D&D (2024) WotC Reveals The Confirmed Release Dates of 2024's D&D Slate

We now have the actual release dates of the upcoming slate of Dungeons & Dragons books, as shared by WotC via a press release emailed out a few minutes ago.

• Vecna: Eve of Ruin (May 21)
• The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1977 (June 18)
• Quests from the Infinite Staircase (July 16)
• Player’s Handbook (Sept 17)
• Dungeons Master’s Guide (Nov 12)
• Monster Manual (Feb. 18, 2025)

Vecna: Eve of Ruin

• Adventure Campaign
• For characters of levels 10-20
• A high-stakes adventure in which the fate of the entire multiverse hangs in the balance. The heroes begin in the Forgotten Realms and travel to Planescape, Spelljammer, Eberron, Ravenloft, Dragonlance, and Greyhawk as they race to save existence from obliteration by the notorious lich Vecna who is weaving a ritual to eliminate good, obliterate the gods, and subjugate all worlds.
• Release Date: May 21, 2024

The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1977

• History of D&D
• The ultimate book showcasing D&D’s inception, including Gary Gygax’s never-before-seen first draft of D&D written in 1973, a curated collection of published fanzine and magazine articles contribute to D&D’s origin story. Each document is introduced, described, and woven into the story by one of the game’s foremost historians, Jon Peterson.
• Release Date: June 18, 2024

Quests from the Infinite Staircase

• Adventure Anthology
• For character levels 1 to 13.
• This anthology weaves together six classic DUNGEONS & DRAGONS adventures while updating them for the game’s fifth edition. The Infinite Staircase holds doors leading to fantastic realms. It’s home to the noble genie Nafas, who hears wishes made throughout the multiverse and recruits heroes to fulfill them.
• Release Date: July 16, 2024

Player’s Handbook (2024)

• Player resource
• Take your game to the next level with the revised 2024 Player's Handbook. More player options, enhanced organization, and engaging additions to the fifth edition rules, make this a must have for your next Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
• Release Date: September 17, 2024

Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024)

• DM resource
• It's never been easier to become the Dungeon Master than with the revised 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. Learn the craft from the experts in a cleverly crafted and accessible approach to running your own game. With more tools than ever before, becoming the master of your own multiverse will be a snap.
• Release Date: November 12, 2024

Monster Manual (2025)

• DM Resource
• The revised 2025 Monster Manual brings you the greatest selection of foes to face off with your player's characters than ever assembled in the history of the game. More options at all levels of play means more ways to provide the challenges that will keep them coming back to the table again and again.
• Release Date: February 18, 2025

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I'm not interested in realism, I'm interested in fun (which I understand for some requires realism). It's really hard for anyone to fight in a 5 foot wide hall, or 10x10 room.....really hard.

I agree.

Our fantasy worlds are populated by more than Medium creatures. There are many dozens of intelligent Large creatures that might require more space. Reasons for more space include:

• The location was designed by Large creatures, or by those who worked regularly with Large creatures. Wider areas to allow for comfortable movement. Maybe the design allowed for both comfortably?
• The location required a lot of two-way traffic, or needed to be big enough to transport large loads of building materials or rubble, using wagons, or beasts of burden.
• If you're a rich landowner, or dungeon keeper, sometimes you just want space. And when you have the means to include vaulted ceilings held up by caryatids, with frescos and gilded mosaics, or just want something on the scale of a McMansion or bigger, why not show off your wealth and appreciation for art and comfort?

 

[Parmandur]

Dwellers of the Forbidden City has already (sort of) been done with Tomb of Annihilation. It was confirmed that Omu = The Forbidden City, so I doubt it will be that one.

Storm King's Thunder come out about 6-7 months before Yawning Portal reprinted the G series, and Tomb of Annhilation riffed on Tomb of Horror only 5-6 .oaths after Yawning Portal. So I don't think that would disqualify Dwellers of the Forbidden City nearly 7 years later.

Plus, Dwellers of the Forbidden City was a tournament Module: it is possible that will be a theme in this book, woth the framework being a way to string together tournament style drlves.

 

[Parmandur]

My absolute favorite though is Night's Dark Terror... but again that might be too big to fit in as it is more of a mini-campaign.

I think that would be perfect as the basis for a Ghosts of Saltmarsh style sandbox campaign: throw in the D series and Q, and some other Underdark stuff like Kingdom of the Ghouls from Dungeon.

 

[Gradine]

And after One D&D comes Two D&D?

Only if they get to followed with Red D&D and Blue D&D

 

[Epic Meepo]

Only if they get to followed with Red D&D and Blue D&D

Edit: I had a paraphrased "Green Eggs and Ham" quote about 4e here, but I quickly realized readers who aren't familiar with "Green Eggs and Ham" might assume I was edition warring, so I thought better of it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't think you're far off the mark actually. Reset FR, Dragonlance and Greyhawk (maybe the Van Richten rendition of Ravenloft....) - hey, all of a sudden everything WotC/fanbase doesn't like or is problematic is suddenly gone!

Don't tempt me...

 

[mamba]

Given Tsojcanth and Barrier Peaks and that vibe, I would propose five possibilities for the other 4 Advebgures:

• Against the Cult of the Reptile God. A bestseller on the DMsGuild PDFs, a Stoneville classic, and there has to be a Level 1 in here. Seems a good fit without implying a series like T1.
• Dwellers of the Forbidden City.
• Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun
• Ghost Tower of Iverness
• Gates of Firestorm Peak

can't really go wrong with those, I thought they would take them from different worlds however, these are almost all Greyhawk

 

[Demetrios1453]

Given that the obelisks are the obvious link between the earlier campaigns and the new Vecna one, I've compiled a list of all the obelisk appearances in the 5e adventures I could find so far:

Princes of the Apocalypse (in the Temple of Black Earth)
Out of the Abyss (a shattered, but partially rebuilt, obelisk is in the Whorlstone Tunnels under Gracklstugh)
Storm King's Thunder (stolen by cloud giants from the town of Nightstone just before the adventure starts)
Tomb of Annihilation (outside the entrance to the Tomb of the Nine Gods)
Dungeon of the Mad Mage (In Shadowdusk Hold far down inside Undermountain)
Descent into Avernus (on Avernus, surrounded by seven smaller standing stones)
Rime of the Frostmaiden (in the fallen Netherese city of Ythryn)
Spelljammer (one of the random encounters in the Astral is a "Gargantuan floating crystal obelisk of unknown origin")
Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk (it's in the name!)

All these could be used as the 1 - 10 adventure that could then be continued into Vecna: Eve of Ruin, (other than DotMM - where the obelisk is in a high-level area), presumably using the featured obelisk in some way to transition from the lower level adventure to the higher. And given that Spelljammer is featured on the covers of both the regular and alt editions, I'm guessing that the that mysterious gargantuan obelisk is going to come into play. Oddly, despite Ravenloft featuring on the covers as well, I haven't found any references to an obelisk in either the adventure or campaign sourcebook.

 

[JEB]

I'm still astonished it's "Eve of Ruin" and not "Eye of Ruin". It was right there, people!

 

[Henadic Theologian]

5e24

I'm still calling it 1D&D.