D&D: 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide Puts Cartoon Villains on the Cover
Wizards of the Coast revealed the new cover for the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, and a surprising blast from D&D’s past headlines the cover.
I’m actually kind of here for it. The Mirror, a mainstream UK news site, revealed the official cover of the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide earlier today, which is unexpected to start with. But far more unexpected to me was the cover’s big poster-type image featuring a trio of villains from the D&D Cartoon.
Venger, Skylla, and Warduke adorn the cover, along with some glowing-eyed skeletons. Despite their origins as action figures designed to be sold via a cartoon in the 1980s, they look suitably villainous. This is a trend we’re seeing in this latest wave of D&D art; characters from throughout D&D’s history are getting put on the covers.
WotC says it’s paying homage to the 50 years of history. I say they’re hoping to create more of a copyrightable brand identity. Two things can be true. Actually a whole bunch of things can be true, that’s just the world we live in. But enough corporate side eye (for now, it’s never actually enough; we should all be dismantling side-eying big corporations all the time), let’s check out the new cover image!
2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide Cover
As The Mirror revealed, the cover features a trio of villains from the D&D action figures/cartoon series. Down in front, there’s Warduke, a villainous fighter who really wishes that he could do magic because he lives in the world of D&D. Then we have Skylla, who is both a wizard and a lady, according to her action figure lore.
And, of course, headlining all of it is Venger, the one-horned, fang-toothed main villain of the D&D cartoon series. Canonically, he wants to defeat Tiamat to take over the world. He rides a dark horse named Dark Horse. And he is the son of the Dungeon Master. Which I guess means if you’re the DM of your group and you’re reading this, he’s your son now.
Congratulations. Your villainous little boy is having a glow-up. And, you know, thinking about it, the antagonists in a campaign really are like the DM’s children, in a way. You spend a lot of time raising them, filling them up with hopes and dreams for them, only to be met with crushing disappointment when you unleash them into the real world. Only it doesn’t take 18+ years. The + is there because it’s already kind of too expensive to leave home the second you’re officially “an adult”.
Meanwhile, the back cover features a Mind Flayer Temple, just waiting to be plundered by a party brave and foolhardy enough to plumb its ancient depths. I think it’s neat.
It suggests there’s a lot coming in the book. We know a little about what to expect already; here’s a rough breakdown of the chapters from Chris Perkins:
- Chapter 1: Basic Concepts
- Chapter 2: Advice
- Chapter 3: Rules Cyclopedia (not a CD ROM)
- Chapter 4: Adventure Building
- Chapter 5: Campaign Building
- Chapter 6: Cosmology
- Chapter 7: Magic Items
- Chapter 8: Greyhawk
The 2024 DMG will be available in November 2024!
