Our Favorite D&D Books This Year
From ancient mysteries to new frontiers, we look back at some of our favorite D&D books this year as 2022 comes to a close.
Fast away the old year passes, as the song goes. But while we’re all busily donning our gay apparel and preparing to deck yon halls, we cannot help but pause for a moment and reflect upon the year that was. And when it comes to D&D, 2022 was a heck of a year. The promise of Spelljammer, unveiled on April Fool’s day, proved to be a bit prophetic.
And who could forget the revelation that a new evolution, if not edition, was coming to D&D for its 50th anniversary in 2024. Then we got our first glimpse of what that might look like with new rules. But all through that, there were some amazing books. Big and small, these are some of our favorite D&D books in 2022.
Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
This adventure anthology, released in the summer of 2022, was an unexpected treat. In a nutshell, this one book introduced a new setting: the Radiant Citadel, a floating citadel located in the Deep Ethereal plane, connected to 13 other civilizations throughout the multiverse. Each civilization, and the Radiant Citadel itself, got its own gazetteer and adventure to help not just introduce the world, but give players something to do within it.
The result was one of my favorite adventure anthologies from WotC yet. Each adventure feels fairly unique. There are a variety of options, and as these modular adventures can slot into any campaign world, it was pretty easy to introduce the Radiant Citadel and parts beyond in my own campaign.
Plus this book has more grandmas per chapter than any other D&D book yet.
Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep
Speaking of adventures, way back at the beginning of the year we saw the release of Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep. This was WotC’s big “spring” adventure. And like Radiant Citadel, it too features a surprisingly extensive gazetteer for Marquet, which just so happens to be where Campaign 3’s adventurers have found themselves.
But the book was more than just a glimpse at another world. It was another playstyle altogether. Reading through the adventure you can feel lead author Matt Mercer’s voice in some of the text. The team working on this book delivered a different, more party-focused adventure than usual. Rather than an adventure happening along the way that your characters can sort of stumble into, this one reaches out and snares your characters, really making them feel like the protagonists in a game.
And it felt much stronger for it. Accompanying the adventure, are excellent examples of how to capture that feel beyond the Call of the Netherdeep.
Chronicles of Eberron
A latecomer to the 5th Edition releases this year, but a welcome one just the same. Chronicles of Eberron from creator Keith Baker was laser-targeted right at me. Not only do I love Eberron and all its lore, I love the weird mechanics that come from taking D&D’s premise at face value. Eberron is a world in the middle of a magical industrial revolution and recovering from the war by getting ready to fight the next one.
And it shows in the book, which introduces new subclasses, and new tactical crossbow options that I never knew I wanted until I happened across them. An easy pick for a favorite this year, because I always want more Eberron.
Tome of Heroes
Kobold Press released many amazing books this year. I’m currently digging through the recently released Tome of Beasts 3. But if there’s one thing every D&D player wants, even the DMs, it’s more options to play with. And the Tome of Heroes was a massive expansion for 5th Edition.
This book introduced more than 70 new subclasses! And on top of that, 20 new player options like deer-folk, gearforged, aquatic gnomes, arctic elves and more.
And just that would have made it an invaluable addition to any 5th Edition library. But it also included more than 50 new spells, new items and equipment—this book was the big player-facing tome that many folks were looking for.
Kingmaker Bestiary 5E
Pathfinder Kingmaker was one of the iconic adventure paths back in the high summer days of Pathfinder 1st Edition. It was one of those campaigns that sounded like an urban legend.
But it was real. And you could play it. And the adventure’s fans wanted it so much that you can now play it in both Pathfinder 2E and with minimal work, in 5th Edition D&D thanks entirely to the clever design of the updated Adventure Path and the accompanying Kingmaker Bestiary 5E.
This book includes every monster you’ll need to deal with in the adventure, adapted to 5th Edition. It’s a remarkable feat that will open the door to the kind of campaign you’ve always dreamed of. If you missed this one, it’s definitely worth grabbing for the new year.
What were your favorite D&D books this year?
Oh hey! BoLS might make a little dolla-dolla if you decide to buy these items. We need that money to buy bookshelves for our towers of D&D books.
