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We're careening toward the new D&D Dungeon Master's Guide 2024 at breakneck speed, and the dev team are out to fill fans in on why they should upgrade. A lore glossary which gives a whistlestop tour of important figures from one of the best tabletop RPGs is on that roll-call.
However, seeing as this addition to the Dungeon Master's Guide 2024 draws from half-a-century of history spread across countless D&D rulebooks, novels, and video games, how much of a pain in the ass was it to pull together?
"There was some pain in the ass, but it was also just a ton of fun to dig into this stuff, to surface the characters that we thought were important for every D&D fan to have some familiarity with," senior game designer James Wyatt tells us when we catch up ahead of the book's launch. Seeing as this rogue's gallery includes characters who've appeared in recent books (such as Bigby and Fizban) alongside some particularly deep cuts, it wasn't a small task. Still, it's one Wyatt and the team ended up enjoying despite the headaches – and now it's a resource everyone should be able to get something out of.
"I really tried to get broad representation from all of D&D's 50-year history," Wyatt adds. "So [there was] some pain, but it really was fun, because I mean, D&D's history pretty well overlaps with mine. So it was a walk down memory lane for me too."
"The joy of including [the Lore Glossary] here is it ties so strongly into the 50th anniversary," says creative director Chris Perkins. "Because we have a multi generational game now, as James said, there's a lot of fans who started with Fifth Edition who just don't know what some of these things, some of these places and characters, are."
The new Dungeon Master's Guide is due to arrive on November 12, 2024. I'll be weighing in on whether I think it's an improvement soon, so keep an eye out if you're on the fence. If you're keen to jump in, on the other hand, you can currently get it for less ahead of launch – it's currently $39.99 at Miniature Market instead of $50, and UK fans can pick it up for £28.99 via Magic Madhouse rather than the £40 I'm seeing elsewhere.
For more on the new version of the game, find out how D&D "didn't burn the game down" for the new rulebooks: it's still the RPG you love. As for which adventures you should pair with this rules upgrade, don't miss the best D&D books.
