News

The Dungeons & Dragons 2025 Monster Manual is adding a lot, but one feature that won't be getting attention is monster creation. Following on the heels of the 2024 Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, the 2025 Monster Manual promises a selection of 500 monsters, over 85 of which will be new. Returning creatures and foes feature plenty of adjustments, although the book maintains backward compatibility with 2014 material.

A D&d press briefing for the 2025 Monster Manual confirmed that monster creation and customization don't appear in the 2025 Monster Manual. In response to a question about the contents of the "How to Use a Monster" chapter, principal game designer and Monster Manual co-lead Wesley Schneider explained that the chapter sticks to the basics of general use.

Wesley Schneider: If you want to get more into developing things, into tweaking things, so on and so forth, that's really where the [Dungeon Master's Guide] is going to serve you well.

The 2024 Dungeon Master's...

The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide looks to help herald the newest version of Dungeons and Dragons, with it forming another "basics trinity" with the Player's Handbook and Monster Manual, just like in 2014 with the fifth edition. Much like with the new Player's Handbook, the latest version of the Dm's Guide looks to improve on the original by listening to the last ten years of feedback from the D&d community. Unlike the Player's Handbook, however, there is much more room for improvement with the Dm's Guide, as the 2014 version wasn't the most well received product out there.

In general, D&d 2024 seeks to be an evolution and expansion upon 5e, rather than an entirely new version. With the extreme popularity of the Fifth Edition, Wizards of the Coast has made D&d 2024 backwards compatible too, meaning that everyone's favorite adventures from 5e, like Curse of Strahd, can be played with the latest rules.

Dungeons & Dragons has an extensive new crafting system that includes more robust rules for making magic items. One recurring fantasy motif is the idea of creating the perfect magic tool to defeat an evil villain. From the crafting of Andril in The Lord of the Rings to Thor and Groot crafting Stormbreaker in Avengers: Infinity War, it's often a critical step in the hero's journey that plays out in countless stories, including those that play out in games like D&d.

Previous editions of D&d had extensive crafting rules for both magic and mundane items, but the original ruleset for Fifth Edition only contained suggestions on how to make magic items. This was corrected as part of the 2024 Player's Handbook, allowing players to create their own mundane swords, armor, or equipment. The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, which comes out in November, expands on these rules with a more extensive guide on making magic equipment.

Dungeons & Dragons adventures have changed a lot over the years, and based on everything I've learned about the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, there might be a couple more tweaks coming very soon. Early D&d adventures mostly appeared as relatively short published modules, published in a format that more closely resembled pamphlets or magazines. Today, hardcover campaign books that span several hundred pages are the norm, and that shift in length and presentation has been accompanied by streamlining in some respects and elaboration in many others.

I tend to run more homebrew content than anything else, but I've still spent a good amount of time with D&d 5e's published adventures. While they have their ups and downs, there's a lot to appreciate about the best D&d 5e campaigns, from Curse of Strahd's rich atmosphere to Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden's focus on frostbitten survival. Across these diverse experiences,...

Every experienced Dungeons & Dragons player ultimately ends up having some gripes about the game, but it only stands to reason that everyone has their own preferences when it comes to design choices. If anyone might be consistently happy with the approach, however, it should be the designers behind the decisions. Still, hindsight is everything, and even D&d Creative Director Chris Perkins can end up bemoaning an annoyance for a decade.

Taken on their own, D&d's core rulebooks are critical texts for playing the game, but they also feed into everything else that D&d publisher Wizards of the Coast releases. Campaign books are defined by what the rulebooks include and exclude, and if something foundational to the average adventure didn't make it into a core rulebook, every adventure is doomed to explain it once again. One mundane concept that the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide left out was the workings of doors,...

Dungeons & Dragons has been home to a ton of great ideas over the years, but the designers currently steering the future of the game might be the first to admit that not every concept was a winner. The 2024 core rulebooks for D&d aren't burning anything to the ground, with an emphasis on backward compatibility that continues the legacy of D&d 5e and the 2014 rulebooks that defined it. They do toss some things out, however, with one casualty of the rework being the idea of the "Adventuring Day" that the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide featured.

In an interview with ScreenRant, D&d Creative Director Chris Perkins explained the removal of the Adventuring Day, describing the original concept as "kind of bogus." The Adventuring Day prescribed six to eight medium or hard encounters per day, providing an Xp budget table to determine how much the party should face per level. According to Perkins,...

The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, the second tome in a trifecta of Dungeons & Dragons rulebook revisions, has a lot on its plate. There's no single path to becoming a successful dungeon master in D&d, and attempting to round up all the essentials in one volume requires a delicate balancing act. It's an art that D&d has struggled to perfect in the past, and despite featuring plenty of valuable and interesting information, the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide couldn't quite arrange it in a way that made it intuitive for those learning the game.

Fortunately, the 2024 Player's Handbook already showed a deft hand at sprucing up the current state of D&d, and the new Dungeon Master's Guide brims with the same potential. From annotated examples of play to more extensive resources detailing D&d characters and places, a lot of useful new material has made its way in, and most...

The primary architects behind the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide are designers working at Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast, but they're not the only ones who had a hand in the new book. In honing advice for dungeon masters, WotC turned to some external creatives, including some celebrities famous for their skill at running the game. From Critical Role host Matt Mercer to Daredevil actress Deborah Ann Woll, the influence of outside DMs played an important role.

In an interview with Screen Rant, D&d Creative Director Chris Perkins described the process of consulting with outside dungeon masters, in which Wizards of the Coast would send out chapters on Dm advice along with a list of questions. Consultants would read the chapters with those questions in mind and provide feedback, ranging from "this is great" to "this is actually bad advice if you're a neurodivergent Dm." Senior Game Designer James Wyatt...

Dungeons & Dragons' 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide is set to follow the recent Player's Handbook in November, and there are already some major reasons to be paying attention to the release. While the appeal of the Dungeon Master's Guide is obviously a bit more limited, it's a book that can still shape the game for everyone who plays it, at least in theory. The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide has been frequently criticized for being less essential than it could be, but with the 2024 edition, DnD has a big chance to turn around that narrative.

One of the new features that the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide is leaning on is the inclusion of bastions, which serve as strongholds for the party to build up and return to between adventures. The concept builds on the tendency toward establishing a base of operations that already exists in many DnD games, codifying it with specific mechanics to hopefully make the process more rewarding.

DnD introduces the Bastion system in its revised 2024 manuals, offering unique mechanics for players to create and defend home bases during campaigns. Bastions allow customization and immersion, with players issuing orders to gain items, buffs, and even respawn characters in-game. An Unearthed Arcana playtest provides insight into Bastion mechanics, with potential changes before the final Dmg release.

Dungeons & Dragons introduces many mechanics in the 2024 versions of its Dungeon Master's Guide and Player's Handbook, not the least of which is the brand-new Bastion system. The revised DnD manuals serve mainly to update the now decade-old Fifth Edition, potentially prolonging its lifespan with an injection of fresh content. While most of that is relegated to tweaking DnD classes and subclasses, it occasionally extends to adding entirely new mechanics.

While at Gen Con , in a recent interview with Screen Rant, DnD designer Chris Perkins explained the ins and outs of the Bastion mechanic,...

Chris Perkins explained how the new Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide includes lore, mechanics, and beginner-friendly tools that make D&d more accessible for all. Dive into the revamped Dungeon Master's Guide with advice from experts like Matt Mercer, aiming to enhance the gameplay experience for DMs. Uncover exciting features like the Bastion system in the Dmg, offering players a new way to engage with the game and build their own unique world elements.

As part of the celebration of Dungeons & Dragons' 50th anniversary, Wizards of the Coast is releasing three new core rulebooks, the 2024 Player's Handbook, the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, and the 2025 Monster Manual. Each book includes changes to the established lore, mechanics, and makes it easier for newcomers to jump into the game. The Player's Handbook teaches players how to play the game before they build their character with a new approach to character building.

The 2024 Dungeon Master's...

Greyhawk will be featured in the upcoming 2024 version of the Dungeon Master's Guide. New maps and a selection of details about the setting support Greyhawk adventure. Greyhawk isn't getting a new campaign book, but one could always be on the horizon.

Greyhawk is finally going to get its due again in Dungeons & Dragons, but there's still a reason why its upcoming reappearance might not be everything that it could be. As the first campaign setting ever published for DnD, Greyhawk offers a rich world that has served up many classic adventures and memorable locations. Unfortunately, it's been largely sidelined in fifth edition DnD, with the focus turning to the equally deserving Forgotten Realms.

As confirmed in a DnD press briefing on the upcoming 2024 core rulebooks, the new Dungeon Master's Guide will officially feature the Greyhawk campaign setting. Senior story designer Chris Perkins referred to the setting as "a sandbox full of toys,...

New core rulebooks will aim to enhance player experience without a complete overhaul. Exciting new D&d adventures, like Vecna: Eve of Ruin, offer diverse settings and challenges. D&d celebrates its 50th anniversary with upcoming books, including an archival resource and early access plans for local stores.

Dungeons & Dragons is an ever-changing, ever-growing game, and this ability to reinvent itself is part of why it's able to celebrate a 50th anniversary this year with an audience that's bigger than ever. It's also taking the opportunity to shake things up once more with a cavalcade of new books, including several core rulebooks that freshen up the ideas governing DnD's fifth edition for the past decade. Publisher Wizards of the Coast dropped the One D&d branding originally intended for the new products about a year ago, but it doesn't seem like it's reneged on any of its ambition.

Of course,...

During the latest Dungeons & Dragons showcase, D&d Direct, developers revealed that they had deliberately put mysterious black obelisks into adventures to build up to a future fifth edition campaign. The seeding of these obelisks has been part of a grander plan beginning in 2014 with the intention that each campaign and sourcebook will link into one universe. Fans have been developing theories since players noticed the presence of the obelisks, and more than a few of them were right about what they could mean.

The mysterious obelisks have appeared in seven adventures set in DnD’s The Forgotten Realms. The first mention was in Princes of the Apocalypse, with the latest appearance being Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Throughout the adventure books, the obelisks have played many roles, some integral to the plots while others are almost conspicuous in their lack of purpose, being overtly mentioned to ensure...

The latest Dungeons & Dragons adventure anthology, Keys From The Golden Vault, is a series of heist missions with players working for a mysterious organization. While the players don’t necessarily have to work alongside the titular Golden Vault, the secretive group is an interesting addition to DnD lore. But just who are they, and can they really be trusted?

In early access now, DnD’s next book is set to release on February 21, 2023, and Keys From The Golden Vault will feature 13 adventurous heists for players to tackle. The concept is similar to prior Dungeons & Dragons anthologies, Journey's Through the Radiant Citadel and Candlekeep Mysteries, with a set of disconnected adventures built around a core theme. Just as with the previous anthologies, the adventures in Keys From The Golden Vault can be played as either one-shots or a full campaign.

Related: D&d's Keys From The Golden Vault Is...

If you were a fan of the Dungeons & Dragons 80's Saturday morning cartoon that debuted on CBS back in 1983 and ran until 1985, then this should be some exciting news for you. The newest Dungeons & Dragons adventure will contain one or more characters from the original animated series.

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, an upcoming D&d adventure set mostly in the Feywild, will feature multiple characters that originally appeared in the cartoon. Chris Perkins, lead story designer, confirmed that several characters from D&d's past will appear in the adventure. "I will just say there are a lot of nods to the past in this adventure, including nods to the D&d cartoon. You will run into one, maybe two characters who appeared in that original show."

The details of which characters would make the new adventure were left out by Perkins. However, recently a fact sheet for...

TNT edged ESPN for the most trophies at the 42nd annual Sports Emmy Awards, which were handed out tonight in a livestreamed virtual ceremony. The Worldwide Leader turned the tables on Turner Sports for the most wins by network group, however.

See the list of wins by network and network group here and wins by program below or here.

TNT scored seven statuettes to ESPN’s six, after the latter came into the night with a dominant 51 nominations. FS1 was third with five wins, NFL Network had four and a half-dozen nets tied with three apiece. ESPN won the network group race with nine trophies to Turner’s seven, with Fox Sports Media Group next with five.

Seven programs earned two nods apiece to lead that race: NBA on TNT, the NFL Wild Card Game on Nickelodeon, NFL Network’s NFL 360, HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Netflix’s Rising Phoenix,...

Dungeons & Dragons just got a whole lot stranger. Four cast members of Netflix’s hit sci-fi show Stranger Things sat down for a game of the tabletop RPG for a special actual play session, lead by Wizards of the Coast principal story designer Chris Perkins. Stranger Things stars David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, and Natalia Dyer participated in the session […]

The post Watch: The ‘Stranger Things’ Cast Get Festive While Playing Dungeons & Dragons appeared first on /Film.

Netflix is serving up new “Stranger Things” content this week, and though it’s not Season 4, it’s maybe the next best thing: a recorded session of “Dungeons & Dragons” — a tabletop role-playing game pivotal to the Duffer Bros’ sci-fi series — played by some of your favorite cast members themselves.

David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson) and Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler) — sorry, Will (Noah Schanpp), maybe next time — shot a socially distanced, Christmas-themed “D&d” game called “Lost Odyssey: Toy Time for Ten-Towns.” The game was led by Chris Perkins, the principal story designer for “Dungeons & Dragons” maker Wizards of the Coast.

The “Stranger Things” cast’s “D&d” game will be available to watch on the Netflix series’ YouTube channel Friday at 10 a.m. Pt. But if you can’t wait until then, the trailer for the special session, which you can view below,...

People all over the world continue to stay safe by staying home, but that doesn’t mean the adventuring has to stop. Dungeons & Dragons is more popular than ever because it allows people to weave compelling stories together even when they’re physically apart through online videoconferencing.

Star-Studded Dungeons and Dragons Event

Now, Wizards of the Coast brings the stars to this virtual table with D&d Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage. An amazing cast of characters led by expert storytellers preview the latest D&d storyline with live gaming sessions, all while raising money for Red Nose Day to help the most vulnerable children across the Us and around the world, who have been so affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. The adventure begins 10:00am Pt on June 18, 2020 and will run through June 20, 2020 at dungeonsanddragons.com.

D&d Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage features big personalities playing elves,...