Tuesday WotC announced their next book release for D&D 5e, “Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft”.

This new tome is a campaign source book that will allow DM’s to craft horror themed campaigns for D&D in the expanded Domains of Dread (the first time in 5e).

Naturally there will be new stuff for players such as backgrounds, character lineages, and subclasses, themed for a horror setting. Plus dark gifts, trinkets, creatures and a brand new adventure.

I have to say that my initial impressions of the cover art were not favourable. It didn’t excite or grab me at all. Maybe the FLGS exclusive alt art cover (below right) will look better in the flesh.

With this release the recent on going theme for D&D of producing horror themed titles continues. It started with Rime of the Frostmaiden, and was followed up with the Curse of Strahd Revamped release. Ok Candlekeep Mysteries (out next on 16th March) does break from that, but hey who knows there might be a horror one shot in its pages!

I’m excited for this release (although I’d have been more excited about it being Dragonlance). Horror in D&D interests me. And I’m interested in what advice the folks at WotC will be sharing within the pages on running and creating horror campaigns.

“Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft” drops into your FLGS on 18th May.

You can read the full product description on the WotC D&D website HERE.

Last night the D&D Live 2020 Roll With Advantage event kicked off. Unlike previous D&D Live events this years is a virtual event (we all know why).

These high profile events are used to announce and launch the new big module for the year. And like previous years (well last year for sure) there was a leak before hand. This time it was at the hands of WotC themselves when they mistakenly put a video live for a fraction of a second on YouTube. But that was long enough for some-one to get a screen grab and spread it around the internet.

What this all means is that the “big announcement” they make just confirms what everyone already knew.

This years big module that we will be getting from mid September is called Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden sees WotC revisiting the horror genre, but setting it in the icy wastes of Icewind Dale. When I heard this I instantly thought The Thing, 30 Days of Night. During the big reveal they mentioned there are around 40 stat blocks in this module, the most they have included in a module, They also mentioned that the module has been designed similar in approach to the Essentials Kit adventure. Which means you can dive in and out of the module and drop individual adventures into your own campaign, or run it as a normal campaign.

I’m pretty excited by this module. The horror genre is something I want to get to the table either in my campaign or running something like this or the Alien RPG.

Naturally there is the usual 3rd party tie in from Beadle and Grimm.

This box of props and handouts etc tied to the module is $499. A tad expensive for the majority of players and DMs. But still if this is something you can afford I’m pretty sure it’ll enhance the gaming experience.

There is also by now the standard and not surprising at all matching dice set.

I like these sets, but it’s getting a bit boring now. I think it’s about time WotC decided to be a bit more creative on the official accessories.

Plus there is the usual Wizkids minis support for the module. Which I find it hard to get excited about because they availability I found isn’t great, especially in the UK. Plus they are random packs, so you are not guaranteed to get what you want. A total turn off. Although the 2D standees and village paper craft stuff they briefly mentioned did sound interesting. Well the standees, I’m not sure about paper craft stuff.

Another big thing they were showing off was the footage and game play from the upcoming Baldur’s Gate 3, which was co-hosted/partnered by IGN.

WotC also announced a D&D cookbook.

I wasn’t overly impressed with the live demonstrations of a couple of the recipes. When they did the cocktail that seemed like jumping the shark for me. Cocktails in a medieval/fantasy setting doesn’t seem too authentic to me. And that was the kind of angle they were pushing. The Elven bread recipe that they demonstrated and put the page up on their website annoyed me. Well the recipe did. It measured stuff in cups. No weights. The melted butter measurement was given as half a stick of butter or half a cup. It’s obvious this is a US only type recipe book. But the recipes should have measurements in cups (for the yanks) and weight, ie 400g/2 cups (I’m not sure that’s right, it’s for illustration not use). The volume measurement is not very accurate and inconsistent. From my favourite cookbook Ratio by Michael Ruhlman, he wrote ,”A cup of flour can weigh anywhere between 4 and 6 ounces. This means that if you are making a recipe calling for 4 cups of flour, you might wind up with a pound of flour in your bowl or you might end up with 1 ½ pounds.” as an example of why he uses weight and not volume measurements. In the UK our butter is not sold as sticks and don’t equate to US equivalents. So the recipe is not very considerate towards an international audience. Bad call WotC in your new age of inclusivity not considering international customers.

Apart from the module, I found the whole online event and announcements underwhelming. A bit of a damp squib. I’m sure that many found the Baldur’s Gate 3 stuff exciting. But not something I’m not interested in as it won’t be on anything I own.

After a couple of days break I’m back. I’ve got my mojo back.

WotC have joined the throng of designers and publishers giving away free stuff to help out during these unsure and worrying times.

D&D (and any RPG) is one of those games that plays really well remotely using the various tools out there. I’m not going to go into the options and how to here. There are some great videos and articles (D&D Beyond, Sly Flourish, and Matt Colville to name a handful) out there on the interweb that cover all that.

But once you have chosen your path to online play (or it could be round a table if playing in the home). You are going to need the rules and a scenario.

That’s where WotC come in.

WotC each week day are releasing an Adventure League scenario and other content for free. The other content is usually a colouring page for younger people (although it can be used by more mature folks if that’s your thing).

“Content will be added daily, Monday-Friday. Check back each day for the latest free, downloadable content. Please note that certain adventures are being made free on the DMs Guild for a limited time, so be sure to grab them now while you can!”

Also on the page are links to the basic rules and pre-generated character sheets.

By visiting the page and picking up the free goodies you basically have everything to play D&D (except dice, pencil and paper and friends).

I’ve also included a link below to the Unearthed Arcana rules for sidekicks for anyone that wants to play D&D at home with their partner/room mate. It would have been nice of WotC to have released the final version of this as it appeared in the Essentials Kit alongside some sidekicks. But we can’t have everything. Maybe that’s for another day.

Just remember to grab the stuff off the DMs Guild now, even if you don’t think you will need to right away. It’s not staying free for ever.

Here is the LINK you need to get the free goodies.

Unearthed Arcana Sidekick rules.

Those that are following my D&D campaign ramblings will know that one of the cultures my players come across and interact with has a viking/Norse influence.

So when my friend Duncan the other day pointed me in the direction of a current Kickstarter called Nine Worlds. I was pretty excited.

Nine Worlds is “a collection of 3d Printable miniature and terrain STL files inspired by Norse mythology“.

The ‘core’ stuff you get (excluding any stretch goals) is “... a warband of 28 viking miniatures, an encampment scatter terrain set, and a snekkja longship which is 17″ long…”

I have to admit the miniatures although nice, are the least interest to me. It’s terrain stuff I’m more interested in.

In fact the free stuff they are giving to everyone irrespective of if you back the Kickstarter is great for my needs.

As this sort of thing goes the cost of backing at the tiers for what you get is pretty good value. Definitely worth a punt if you have a 3D printer or access to one.

Link to the Kickstarter.

Link to the free stuff.