50 years is worth celebrating!
And for Wizards of the Coast, we pull out all the stops and celebrate with dignity for Dungeons & Dragons.
Last Friday, I was able to attend the presentation of the new D&D core books which are planned for this double anniversary. Indeed, in addition to the 50 years of the D&D license, it is also the anniversary of the fifth edition, and therefore of its 5E system. Starting today, you will be able to pre-order the three base books by taking advantage of pre-order bonuses via the official website. Let's take a quick look at these three books and what they have in store for us. Chris Perkins, Creative Director, and Jeremy Crawford, Game Director, give us the presentation.
The desire of the creators of this new edition (can we say 5.5?) is to return to basics. All the books were created from scratch, without being based on the DD5 edition (which we will call v2014 for greater clarity, in opposition to v2024). The ambition is to take everything that works in the five editions and review what worked less well, while maintaining compatibility with v2014. The feedback from the community over the years has greatly helped in the creation of these new books.
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The Player's Book
Each book will have two covers, a classic and a “collector’s”. To mark the 50th anniversary, the choice for the player's book fell on golden dragons. The idea behind this new book is that over the last ten years, many new players have embarked on the adventure of role-playing with DD5. This book was designed to provide access to JDR even easier for new players, especially those starting in a group.
The first chapter is a general presentation of how a game works with its most basic fundamentals, allowing new players to understand a gaming table quickly. This light approach can be expanded with the experience of all players, as well as the Game Master. This chapter also explains general concepts such as the principle of Roleplay active, the description of the Roleplay and the corresponding tests. It is well illustrated and well presented with examples.
New to this version of the player's book is the ability to create a character of any level, whereas previously, you needed the triptych to do it. This book still has 12 basic classes and 48 archetypes in total, with images to clearly illustrate their respective concepts. It should be noted that among these 48 archetypes, 15 are new for this book, including 3 completely new. This means that 12 of the archetypes presented in this book come from other D&D books and have been added to the core book. Also note that 4 old archetypes have disappeared from this edition, but all the resources from v2014 remain usable. This goes for classes, campaigns, and any other material that already exists.
The Dungeon Master's Book
Someone once noticed that Venger, the iconic big bad of the D&D universe, present in the 90s cartoon (the one whose theme song is sung by Dorothy), had never appeared on a cover. This is now done with the cover of the classic version of the master's book. Skella and War Duke, characters also present in the cartoon, accompany Venger (Avenger in French). On the collector's version, there is an illustration of the Spider Queen.
As with the Player's Book, effort has been made to make mastery easier for new players. Veterans are not forgotten with numerous appendices and indexes which allow easier navigation for MJ in order to quickly find the necessary information. The experience of 50 years of game development has allowed the authors to provide a clear playbook for creating adventures, whether short stories or long campaigns.
For the first time since its creation, D&D offers in the master's book a “ruleset”, understand an entire universe available to the GM, which he can understand, adapt or draw inspiration from for the creation of his own universe. This is a complete overhaul of the first ruleset ever published by D&D: Greyhawk. Many locations, cities, and maps can be used.
Part of the book is also aimed at players with the creation of “strongholds”, cities or fortresses belonging to the players for which the GM will have little say in the design, allowing players to have a “home” in the universe created by their GM. There are also beautifully illustrated tracking sheets in this book to allow the GM to follow his NPCits places, for example, in the course of a campaign.
Greyhawk
The Bestiary
To close this triptych, it is essential to talk about Monster Manual. This new version is the largest ever made with more than 500 monsters described in detail, including 75 new ones. The illustrations were chosen to show the monsters in their daily lives, allowing players to quickly visualize what might be happening.
Everything is divided into groups with many possible variations so that the GM can easily choose a set of creatures to oppose to his players depending on the situation. The difficulty of the book from the 2014 edition (the challenge rating) is completely retained, but certain monsters have been adapted to really correspond to the level of dangerousness that they are supposed to represent.
After presenting these three books, the authors clarified that most of the character classes had been changed. Sometimes these are details, sometimes more in-depth changes, bringing about modifications in the approach to these classes. Players obviously have the freedom to choose whether they prefer to play with v2014 or v2024. For the GM, it can very well adapt along the way and, for example, continue a campaign in v2024 started in v2014 without the players noticing.
The Player's Book is scheduled for release on September 17, 2024, the Master's Book on November 11, 2024, and the Bestiary on February 18, 2025. I have not yet heard back in time to know if an effort has been made to a simultaneous release of the VF or not, I will keep you informed.