‘D&D: Lore & Legends’ is a Decade-Long Visual Feast of 5th Edition Art
A new art book celebrates the last decade of D&D: Lore & Legends is a 5th Edition retrospective and an absolute visual feast.
The biggest secret to designing your own RPG is that the art is what matters most. When it comes to RPGs, art sells books, everything else has to be there too, but it’s the art that hooks people in and keeps ’em coming back. We not only judge the book by its cover but also by the pretty pictures within.
This is one of many reasons WotC has been sitting at the top of the RPG heap since they acquired D&D back in 1997. With the money-printing machine that was Magic: the Gathering (and yet another place where art matters), they’ve been able to help define a whole aesthetic. Look at any fantasy piece and, like Numberwang, you can tell whether or not it’s something that would fit in D&D.
But with the visual design being so important, and with 5th Edition hitting the decade mark next year (and getting a new not-edition in the form of the 2024 Core Books), a team of writers and games historians have put together a comprehensive visual history of 5th Edition in Lore & Legends.
Lore & Legends – The BoLS Review
Lore & Legends sets out to capture the history of 5th Edition, and its meteoric rise to global popularity. This is the one that broke through, not just to the mainstream, but helped change the way we engage with play. Now you can watch people play D&D, and though it got started with 4th Edition, it was 5th Edition that set the stage for Critical Role and Dimension 20 and so many others.
Lore & Legends delves deep into the history of 5th Edition, from the alpha days when it was D&D Next, a legacy that lives on in the 5th Edition subreddit, through the rocky rise and the return to dominance. And along the way, a number of folks whose lives have been impacted by D&D chime in. Starting with none other than Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, who talks about meeting up with Joe Manganiello to play in his “big-time Hollywood game”. And while he does, he reflects on the ways D&D has helped shape his own path.
The book is full of stories like that. It’s a history of how D&D came to be D&D. And, of course, it’s full of all the artwork you could possibly want as well. From old modules to uncropped never-before-seen pieces that didn’t make the final cut, like this piece from the Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle module for the D&D Next playset.
You’ll journey back through all of the books released for 5th Edition. As well as learn some of the secret history. Like how James Wyatt came to shepherd together the twin IPs of D&D and Magic: the Gathering in what would eventually culminate in books like Mythic Odysseys of Theros and the infamous Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos, which introduced Silvery Barbs to 5th Edition.
Of particular interest is the section documenting the rise of streaming and celebrity D&D. However the emphasis is always on the “strength of the brand.”
But sadly the book is a little lighter on the modern details. The most interesting stuff is by far the early days of 5th Edition. The more modern stuff, like the section on Strixhaven, for instance, doesn’t go nearly as in-depth as some of the earlier adventures do. Maybe that’s because of the popularity of the book, or there’s not as much to say.
It’s also fairly surface-level reminiscing. There’s no talk of the controversies or criticisms that WotC has faced in the past decade of D&D. Which I suppose makes sense if you’re publishing “A Visual Celebration of 5th Edition D&D” but it would have been nice to see a more rounded-out picture of the ups and the downs that 5th Edition has been coming through.
That said, this book is sure to please any D&D collector. If you know someone who loves the edition, or who loves the art, this book is the perfect gift. It’s chonky. It’s pretty. And above all else, it celebrates D&D.
Lore & Legends is available October 3rd!
