Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Book Details Emerge!
May 20, 2014 by brennon
Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition has finally emerged from the playtesting dungeon and the new covers and adventure books have been unleashed on the world. See what you think!
First thing first is of course the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set that will be coming to your tabletop around July 15th. It will have everything you need to get started included an adventure, characters, dice and of course a cut down version of the rules. You also CAN make characters with the starter set!
The three core books in the range aren't coming out as one entity at the start either this time. Instead they are going to be spread out over a few months towards the end of the year. The Players Handbook will be available in August (and will be at Gen Con) followed by the Monster Manual in September and the Dungeon Masters Guide in November. It's a shame they're going to be spread out like this!
There will also be a pair of adventure books with Hoard of the Dragon Queen as the first followed by The Rise of Tiamat. The first of these will be available alongside the Players Handbook giving you a ready adventure to get involved in. The Rise of Tiamat will follow later and provides a massive story arch for your characters to follow.
This is all very exciting and I can't wait to actually get my hands on the books!
Will you be picking them up?
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The PHB is due for general release two days after GenCon so I’m guessing it’ll be on pre-release there. If the other books aren’t available at GenCon then my guess is that WotC just won’t have them ready in time rather than intentionally holding them back.
I’m do not understand the logic of the staggered release of the core books. As a DM I won’t be able to gain access to the DM’s guide until four months after the players handbook is released and three months after the monster manual is released. This is a serious limitation on me being able to create games not knowing the full extend of what is possible. I would prefer to buy the box set of all the core books in one go.
Ah well, back to shadowrun until this is sorted out.
I would imagine that the Starter Set rulebook with have a small DMG and small MM section in it. Mike Mearls has said that you can make characters with the Starter Set so that does point to a little bit of expansion out of the box. I guess the other thing on favour of WotC is that they are bringing out the Hoard of the Dragon Queen as an adventure alongside the PHB which will sort out all of your monsters/adventure needs. That being said it is still a bit of a slap in the face that you can’t get… Read more »
I will be buying the starter set as well, they are very good and usually cheap to begin with until the short run stops and the prices go ballistic.
Let’s face it. If you play Shadowrun, a big complex “core” system like that. Come on are you really going to be playing 5th ed. anyway. If you like Shadowrun style games why wouldn’t you just go play Pathfinder and skip the WoTC junk. Also they’ve always done these cruddy staggered releases … yes its crappy but I guess they think the average group is going to move into the new system slowly. I do agree with you but they apparently have their reasons, as this is what the third time they’ve done this now. Most hardcore D&D players left… Read more »
At my club I organise and play all sorts of games for many different levels of players; everything from Magic the gathering and Talisman for younger players all the way up to Shadowrun for some painfully serious rpg zealots. I do play pathfinder, as a player not a DM, on occasions and it’s a great game without a doubt. To answer your question I certainly will play D&D 5th. Ed. I have been playing D&D since the beginning in all its manifestations and I still enjoy it. Even the much maligned 4th. Ed, which I think was made due to… Read more »
I don’t know what to do about this, I loved 3.5, but I’m DM’ing Iron kingdoms now and we’re not getting together with this, let alone another RPG.
If they fixed 1st Edition in 5th Edition I would buy it. Otherwise I will remain content to play 1st Edition with our group’s own revised rules.
I think WoTC is in an impossible situation, they need to please the Grognards, the new kids, attract people away from Paizo (which is a well run, much beloved little company that seems to have a knack for getting things right and listening to its fans/customers) … WoTC is in one of those unenviable positions where they need to not just get on base they need to hit a home run … or it is game over. I don’t see this ending well. They initially said they were going to create a “modular” system that would allow GMs/players to layer… Read more »
IMHO. AD&D is still the best version by far. OK so the thaco stuff could do your head in. But for us all it took was a little diagram that everyone kept a copy of and we were golden.
I’m sorry but even Pathfinder is shite. ( Again. My opinion – you don’t have to agree. lol ) The reliance on a grid for movement and combat is a serious GTFO for my group.
I never went beyond AD&D, so can’t compare, but we’re happy with it for the most part. It takes a long time to become familiar with a system, especially if you’re DM’ing, which I can now do in my sleep with 1st Edition. Therefore, introducing an entirely new system will never get me to open my wallet. I’m happy to spend my money instead on figures and my time on homegrown adventures/battles. The AD&D Battlesystem extension, while flawed, was far better than GW’s system, and still is, and more closely resembles medieval games and real life in terms of tactics… Read more »