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

 

[Starmaster]

They can't reset FR because of the OG novel deal, but I think the rest of the settngs have been reset, Spelljammer, Ravenloft, and Planescape have major cosmology changes, Eberron is no longer seperate from the default cosmology, but rather a cosmology within a cosmology plus a bunch of 4e changes like adding its own hell got dumped, who knows for Greyhawk and DL (DL products were not particularly insightful on this and neither was Ghosts of Saltmarsh).

Prediction AO or some hero or the greater Gods of FR shield Realmspace from Vecna's mischief, because FR novels can't be decanonized thanks to the contract with Ed Greenwood, no matter how much Jeremy Crawford hates this fact.

Both the other settings have no such protection, so Eberron gets absord much to the rage of Eberron traditionalists, Spelljammer and gets massive cosmological changes to the Spelljammer fan outrage, Ravenloft Core gets demolished much to the rage of Ravenloft fans, etc...

Not sure what "OG" novel deal is. I assume maybe it's a misprint and you mean EG deal for Ed Greenwood perhaps. Anyway, big world-changing events are something that shouldn't happen all the time, obviously. Ed Greenwood once said that you can do that one time in a campaign world, and that's it. For the Realms, they did it in the Time of Troubles in order to switch from 1e to 2e rules. But then some "genius" decided to utterly destroy the realms once again in the 4e campaign guide. They sorta tried to patch it back together as best they could for 5e, so I hope they aren't planning yet another revision to the world.

I would like to see an updated campaign guide in the near future that covers the entire realms, but one that serves to supplement to the "Savage Coast Campaign Guide" by detailing the rest of the Realms (excluding Zakhara, Kara-Tur, Maztica as that would be too extensive), NOT something that would drastically change the entire world yet again.

 

[CapnZapp]

I think it's more like people already pissed off will warp whatever WOTC says to be the new thing they are pissed off about or proof that they were justified in the prior thing(s) they were pissed off about.

Well, two things can be true.

WotC really didn't need people "warping" their message. Their messages lately have rightfully made people pissed off even when received exactly the way they were intended...

 

[CapnZapp]

I don't care about what calls, I not typing in 5e 2024 every time. I'm going with 1D&D, you folks know what I mean, and One D&D is what they called it at first so its completely reasonable to call it that to avoid confusion, and keeping it effient.

Okay. You do you.

Try not to be surprised when people completely misunderstand what you mean, though.

 

[Staffan]

I hope they don't adjust the maps. When people say ranged combat in 5e is overpowered, I often think it's because people made maps with ranged combat in mind. And I wish they wouldn't. It's not realistic for dungeons and buildings in particular. Think of any building you've been in. How many would have been good for ranged combat for the majority of the rooms in it? The entire nature of an underground or building is to travel from point A to point B without wasting a bunch of open space. A 10 x 10 room is a comfortable space for a person to be in, even several people. A 30 x 30 room should be rare, and not the norm, much less a 60 x 60 one or even larger.

This reminds me of the Arcana Unearthed setting. There, giants are the dominant race, although we're usually not talking things like proper D&D giants – more like 7 feet tall and up to maybe 10-11 feet IIRC, so the big end of Medium to the small end of Large (I also believe the game used 3.0 sizes, where "Large (tall)" still only took up one square but did have 10 ft reach). There was a bit about adventure design that went something like "But since we have giants, shouldn't buildings and dungeons be bigger to accomodate them? Nah. Typical d20 dungeons are way oversized anyway, so this way it just becomes more reasonable."

 

[Snute]

Am I the only one that really does not like the multiverse angle they keep pushing? I like my settings separated, without the cosmology of one influencing the other.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

That is possible in your game if this is your wish. WotC has got an official "multiverse" but after in your tabletop you can create other closer to your own style.

Now I am thinking Vecan could be "happy" ruling the Athasian Tablelands, but he had to "defend his garden" because Thazirdum, the elder elemental eye wants to destroy his new domains, and there it can send cult agents.

 

[Starmaster]

Am I the only one that really does not like the multiverse angle they keep pushing? I like my settings separated, without the cosmology of one influencing the other.

I think I get where you're coming from. As for myself, I don't mind the occasional crossover between DnD worlds, but I prefer it to be a very rare thing. In a way, it sort of cheapens the specific flavor of each individual cosmology when you continually pop from Krynn to Oerth to Toril to Oerth to Ravenloft to Krynn to Athas to Toril to . . . .

 

[Staffan]

Am I the only one that really does not like the multiverse angle they keep pushing? I like my settings separated, without the cosmology of one influencing the other.

I'm with you, and preferred the way it was handled in 3e (each setting has its own cosmology, with the possibility of connection through the meta-cosmology of the Shadow Plane). But that astral ship has sailed already.

 

[Corinnguard]

This reminds me of the Arcana Unearthed setting. There, giants are the dominant race, although we're usually not talking things like proper D&D giants – more like 7 feet tall and up to maybe 10-11 feet IIRC, so the big end of Medium to the small end of Large (I also believe the game used 3.0 sizes, where "Large (tall)" still only took up one square but did have 10 ft reach). There was a bit about adventure design that went something like "But since we have giants, shouldn't buildings and dungeons be bigger to accomodate them? Nah. Typical d20 dungeons are way oversized anyway, so this way it just becomes more reasonable."

The Arcana Unearthed setting (which later became Arcana Evolved) was a really interesting take on 3e D&D. It even had it's own take on the Dragonborn. The Dracha.

 

[MNblockhead]

Am I the only one that really does not like the multiverse angle they keep pushing? I like my settings separated, without the cosmology of one influencing the other.

I don't like running multiverse campaigns, but I'm not bothered but what I've been reading. Infinite starcase, like Yawning Portal, is likely something I'll just pull adventures out of to work into a campaign. I don't think I would want to run it AS a campaign. But will have to see the final product. Overall, I really like collections of smaller adventures that I can run as one shots are adapt to my own campaigns.

The new Vecna book may, however, get me to run a multiverse campaign. I'm very interested in see how they handle high-level play in 5e. My main concern is that it is going to require the GM to fill in a lot gaps.