D&D: Big Announcements – New Storyline, New Guide & More
Big announcements at the Stream of Annihilation this last weekend. Check out what’s coming this Fall!
Big things are in store for D&D. Having honed their process over the last three adventures, they’re ramping up into the Fall with their release schedule. There’s a ton of exciting stuff around the corner. Everything from a new adventure that’s been described as “Indiana Jones with Zombies,” a new guide that features all of the Unearthed Arcana goodness, to minis, board games, and more.
I cannot wait to get my hands on basically everything they announced. Also–if you didn’t catch it, the Stream of Annihilation ALSO featured some delightful games of D&D–I found a few new streams to watch during the event, and you can find the whole thing here: Twitch TV Link
On to the good stuff!
via Wizards of the Coast
New Storyline/Adventure: Tomb of Annihilation
Tomb of Annhilation is the next big adventure for D&D. Corresponding to Dust, it’s coming out September 8th in select stores, and September 19th everywhere else. This is the adventure that Pendelton Ward worked on and it sounds amazing. So here’s the gist of it–the lich Acererak, previously of Tomb of Horrors and Demilich fame, has apparently taken a break from teleporting adventurers into the wilderness, naked, and has wound up on the island of Chult. There, he’s been eating resurrection magic, stealing power from people who’ve been brought back to life, making them wither and die.
Which is especially bad for the Realms, because you can’t swing an epic-level cat without hitting some epic-level character who’s been brought back to life more times than Jean Grey. I love this move so much–it acknowledges some of the conceits in D&D and then plays with them. And preys upon them. This is clearly a work from people who love the game–and I love it when elements that are kind of ignored (after all, being brought back to life isn’t that unheard of, uncommon sure, but not unbelievable) are suddenly cast in a new light.
Uh-oh…
It’s real clever and it leads to an interesting dilemma that threatens the gamut of high-level characters in the Realms–so of course it’d be up to the PCs to save the day!
The adventure is going to detail the Realms in a new way. We’ll get a gazetteer featuring Chult and Port Nyranzaru fleshed out in great detail. Exploration is a huge focus of the new plotline–which is personally one of my favorite parts of the game, so I’m glad to see that in. There are lost cultures, cities, mysteries, ruins and “interesting places.” AND–owing to Ward’s work (I assume) there are all kinds of weird monsters coming back, like the Zorbo and the Su-Monster.
Everyone’s favorite psychic-death-koala.
The other big thing that’s worth noting is that the book is as much about the location as much as it is an adventure–they have designed it with it in mind that some people will ignore the storyline and just mine Chult for their own campaigns. So they’ve done everything they can for that-it’s supposed to be very sandboxy in nature. Well done Wizards, well done.
But for those who do delve into the adventure, as with all things Acererak, it’s meant to be tough. There are puzzles and traps you have to think your way past–I got shades of the Tomb of Horrors when they described how players will interact with it–and there’s a “meat-grinder mode” where players have to make a DC 15 to succeed on a death save. And of course if you die while Acererak’s plans are happening…well.
New Wizkids Minis
Wizkids is doing a set of minis for the RPG as well. You’ve got two versions of Acererak in store, as well as monsters that you’ll find inside the Tomb. And as is their specialty, there’ll be a super detailed case incentive which features all the iconic traps from the Tomb of Annihilation–and a familiar face.
Okay, but what are the odds there’s still a sphere of annihilation in the map. Surely they’d know we know…but then they know that we know that they know that we know that…
New Boardgames
Two new board games also got announced. The first is a Castle Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon-esque board game that features the Tomb of Annihilation, also being produced by Wizkids. And secondly, Avalon Hill is partenring with Wizards of the Coast to bring you Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate, and if that titling sounds eerily specific, that’s because you’re right–it is a D&D take on Betrayal at House on the Hill. Featuring all the monsters and artifacts you’d want, as well as “haunts” that are more cooperative than the base game–not sure how exactly that will play out, but if it’s not as spiteful as some of the haunts from Hill, then I’m all for it.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
And here we have Midway confirmed. As we had previously guessed, the November book is indeed a sort of Volo’s Guide to Adventuring, but it’s way better. This one is Xanathar’s Guide to everything. Xanathar, if you don’t know, is the Beholder at the heart of the Xanathar guild. Xanathar has become a title and there have been some storied battles for control and to see who will be “the Xanathar” among Beholder-kin before. I’m sure that will play heavily into the description.
Beholders are amazing, as we’ve said before, and now we get a whole book from one of their (many) points of view(s). Xanathar in particular is known for having a pet goldfish which is the only thing in the world he cares about–and lo and behold this goldfish features prominently on both the regular and the special limited cover.
Just look at the love in his eye. Truly this is one instance where Beauty IS in the eye of the Beholder. Anyway. This is the book that features the best of the best of what we’ve seen from Unearthed Arcana lately. There will be two or three new subclasses for each class (except for the Wizard who only gets one)–and while there’s no word on the Artificer or Mystic–they are at present on the DM’s Guild, so get testing.
But this isn’t Xanathar’s Guide to Adventurers–it’s Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. So you’ll find rules for traps (and it seemed like they were going to go deeper than we saw in the Unearthed Arcana article on Traps), as well as downtime rules, and a whole bunch of other “tips, tools, and toys for Dungeon Masters and players.”
So there you have it. Big things in store for anyone, Player and GM alike. I can’t wait to see how it all shakes out.
Zombies…why did it have to be zombies…?
