Release Dates for the 2024 Updated Core Rulebooks

[DragonEyeSeeker]

Wizards of the Coast has announced the release dates for the updated core rulebooks:

Book	Player's Handbook	Dungeon Master's Guide	Monster Manual
Release Date	September 17, 2024	November 12, 2024	February 18, 2025

The PHB coming out in September is much later than I expected, I was convinced it was going to be ready by at least by GenCon, if not earlier. I suppose the leaked release date in May was way too early, given the fact that we are still in the middle of play testing. They are probably banking more on the holidays than high school and college students being free during the summer. I would have assumed the Monster Manual would come before the DMG. My guess is that they are very proud of their new DMG (which Chris Perkins has alluded to in several interviews) and want to get it out the door ASAP, which means it will be probably be a great product (unlike the current, much maligned, DMG). I do find it fascinating that they will not have a Gift Bundle ready to go for Christmas. That seems like a big misstep on their part (IMO).

I just realized the PHB and DMG are two months apart but the Monster Manual is coming a full three months after the DMG, which means it will take five full months for all three books to come out. That is a really stretched out time line. I wonder if abandoning Penguin plays a part in the length between the three releases?

[Telwar]

Hrm. I wonder if MM and DMG stuff is going to be on D&D Beyond before the paper release. Because that would be a great way of "encouraging" people to use Beyond over physical media...

(Insert tinfoil hat as needed)

[Unoriginal]

Wizards of the Coast has announced the release dates for the updated core rulebooks

The revisions were first announced in 2022, under the umbrella brand of One D&D. That name’s long since been dropped, with the new versions not having their own specific name. They’re still considered the fifth edition rules, with Wizards opting not to call it Sixth Edition, 5.5, or anything else that delineates it as its own version.

Pretty disheartening.

[Dork_Forge]

This will be my first time being around for a launch like this and the release scheduling is just confusing. They're all core books, just release them at the same time. It's not even like they're competing with each other like other products might.

As for the dates themselves, this gives them what, maybe 5 months at most to finish the PHB? I'd have to assume even less than that given the layout, editing, printing, and shipping needed.

[Oramac]

It's February 12th as I type this, and the MM isn't due until Feb 18th 2025???? What the actual ****.

I can understand a staggered release, but 5 months between the 3 Core books is absurd. I honestly fully expected the PHB to be September, so I'm internally cheering at myself for calling that. But the DMG/MM? Wow. Crazy.

[animewatcha]

Until then. We get to make due with a 1-13 adventure and an attempt at a 10-20 adventure multiverse-style.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1660...-book-releases

[Psyren]

Woohoo, dates!

The PHB coming out in September is much later than I expected, I was convinced it was going to be ready by at least by GenCon, if not earlier. I suppose the leaked release date in May was way too early, given the fact that we are still in the middle of play testing.

They confirmed that the May date was an error.

They are probably banking more on the holidays than high school and college students being free during the summer. I would have assumed the Monster Manual would come before the DMG. My guess is that they are very proud of their new DMG (which Chris Perkins has alluded to in several interviews) and want to get it out the door ASAP, which means it will be probably be a great product (unlike the current, much maligned, DMG). I do find it fascinating that they will not have a Gift Bundle ready to go for Christmas. That seems like a big misstep on their part (IMO).

The MM will likely involve a much heavier art lift than the DMG. Besides, for modern monster design we have MotM and others.

This will be my first time being around for a launch like this and the release scheduling is just confusing. They're all core books, just release them at the same time. It's not even like they're competing with each other like other products might.

They didn't do that in 2014 either though, the three books were staggered back then too. If it ain't broke...

As for the dates themselves, this gives them what, maybe 5 months at most to finish the PHB? I'd have to assume even less than that given the layout, editing, printing, and shipping needed.

Not sure - but it's a heck of a lot better than them trying to force it out in May. 4 extra months in the oven can only be a good thing.

[DragonEyeSeeker]

This will be my first time being around for a launch like this and the release scheduling is just confusing. They're all core books, just release them at the same time. It's not even like they're competing with each other like other products might.

Staggered releases are generally favored for D&D book releases because retailers do not like "going all in" on three really expensive books at the exact same time. Staggering the releases eases the financial burden on retailers (especially FLGSs). Having said that, their print schedule for the the core three books has been all over the place with every edition.

3.0
- PHB - August
- DMG - September
- MM - October

3.5
- DMG - June
- PHB - July
- MM - July

4E
- PHB - June
- DMG - June
- MM - June

5E (2014)
- PHB - August
- MM - September
- DMG - December

5E (2024)
- PHB - September
- DMG - November
- MM - February

The MM will likely involve a much heavier art lift than the DMG. Besides, for modern monster design we have MotM and others.

I am actually curious what the art count is between the three core rulebooks. The 5E MM had 150-ish monsters, then extra art for NPCs and Animals. It is a hefty amount for sure. Although, WotC has known they will be producing new core rulebooks for a long time now and most of the monsters are very generic/iconic, so they would likely have a very long lede time on the creation of this massive amount of art.

Monsters also require more fine tuning & play testing, at least if you want to get them right. For the numbers to be correct, you also have to have a very good idea of how powerful the players will wind up being.

Still, I do not think either of those necessitates such a long staggering release cycle. It is likely something as boring as a logistics issue that is the major culprit.

They didn't do that in 2014 either though, the three books were staggered back then too. If it ain't broke...

The only edition that did not have staggered releases was 4E, which was a system that very much necessitated the purchase of all three books at once.

[Dalinar]

I wonder if the marketing reason for staggered releases is that they know there's a difference between spending, what is it now, 45 bucks? Been a while since I looked at the price tags--anyway, there's a difference from the consumer perspective between buying three expensive books simultaneously and buying one expensive book, then another expensive book a couple months later, then the third a couple months after that.

PHB kinda has to be first because you can't run a game without it; you can get away without the DMG pretty easily as far as I can tell, and you can always brew your own monsters, but it's less realistic to try to get away with not having the PHB. As for the DMG being before the MM, Psyren's theory about the art for the MM taking a while is as good as any, I guess? Either that or they expect less demand for it compared to the DMG, given the decently frequent release of new monsters.

This is also my first time being around for an edition swap (well, they're not calling it an edition swap, but it pretty much is); my first game would've been right around when Tasha's came out. So I dunno if the length of the delay is normal or not--it definitely sounds like a long time to me, though. I'm reminded of the old Shigeru Miyamoto quote where "a delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever," but I don't have the sense of scale to know if that might be a reason for the schedule. [EDIT: didn't see the post above, that helps a lot, thanks]

[ZRN]

Staggered releases are generally favored for D&D book releases because retailers do not like "going all in" on three really expensive books at the exact same time. Staggering the releases eases the financial burden on retailers (especially FLGSs).

That makes sense. A couple other obvious reasons:

1. If they won't have the last book done until February, they'd probably rather hit the holiday season AND the anniversary for the PHB and DMG rather than wait until February for the bundle.

2. Staggering releases lets you spread out media coverage and marketing. Like, if they released all 3 at once, you'd see a bunch of articles about the "new edition" probably focusing mostly on the PHB... stagger them and you get an extra month to talk about the DMG and then the MM.

[Dork_Forge]

They didn't do that in 2014 either though, the three books were staggered back then too. If it ain't broke...

The reason I think it's weird/stupid from a player point of view is because I do think it's broken. I wasn't playing at the very launch of 5e, but I have consumed a lot of content from that period and it was cringey how much people got wrong because it was before the DMG was released.

And 5e being successful =/= staggered releases being the best thing to do.

[/QUOTE] Not sure - but it's a heck of a lot better than them trying to force it out in May. 4 extra months in the oven can only be a good thing.[/QUOTE]

I'm not going to view that as a positive just because they made a massive blunder in giving a May date. They didn't push it back to give 4 more months, they claim it was never May to begin with.

At the end of the day it's still a concerningly close release date given the last UA and that they're working on three books simultaneously to some degree. 2014 books were riddled with editing errors, I wouldn't be surprised if these were too, and for a massive company and expensive books, it really shouldn't be.

Staggered releases are generally favored for D&D book releases because retailers do not like "going all in" on three really expensive books at the exact same time. Staggering the releases eases the financial burden on retailers (especially FLGSs). Having said that, their print schedule for the the core three books has been all over the place with every edition.

3.0
- PHB - August
- DMG - September
- MM - October

3.5
- DMG - June
- PHB - July
- MM - July

4E
- PHB - June
- DMG - June
- MM - June

5E (2014)
- PHB - August
- MM - September
- DMG - December

5E (2024)
- PHB - September
- DMG - November
- MM - February
Still, I do not think either of those necessitates such a long staggering release cycle. It is likely something as boring as a logistics issue that is the major culprit.



The only edition that did not have staggered releases was 4E, which was a system that very much necessitated the purchase of all three books at once.

Easing the burden on stores makes some degree of sense, however, I'm not sure how relevant that is anymore. Amazon, big box stores, and Beyond mostly invalidate that as an issue.

Heck, they've already shown willingness to have content launch at different times for game stores when they let it hit Beyond a month early or whatever that was.

That makes sense. A couple other obvious reasons:

1. If they won't have the last book done until February, they'd probably rather hit the holiday season AND the anniversary for the PHB and DMG rather than wait until February for the bundle.

2. Staggering releases lets you spread out media coverage and marketing. Like, if they released all 3 at once, you'd see a bunch of articles about the "new edition" probably focusing mostly on the PHB... stagger them and you get an extra month to talk about the DMG and then the MM.

1. That doesn't explain staggering the PHB and DMG though.

2. This might be true to a degree, but not really for any dedicated sources. From a content creation standpoint you'd want to cover each individually to ensure you're getting the search results and to maximise your return on the books.

Given that D&D is both the biggest fish in it's pond and the most popular it's ever been, people will talk about the books regardless. Dragging out the discussion of the core books like that doesn't really seem like it would move the needle much, especially since the relative markets for the books shrinks after the PHB releases.

[KorvinStarmast]

It's February 12th as I type this, and the MM isn't due until Feb 18th 2025???? What the actual ****.

They claim that it is backwards compatible, so you can use the old MM until the new one comes out.

I can understand a staggered release, but 5 months between the 3 Core books is absurd. I honestly fully expected the PHB to be September, so I'm internally cheering at myself for calling that. But the DMG/MM? Wow. Crazy.

Typical WotC skull****ery.

[Psyren]

I am actually curious what the art count is between the three core rulebooks. The 5E MM had 150-ish monsters, then extra art for NPCs and Animals. It is a hefty amount for sure. Although, WotC has known they will be producing new core rulebooks for a long time now and most of the monsters are very generic/iconic, so they would likely have a very long lede time on the creation of this massive amount of art.

Monsters also require more fine tuning & play testing, at least if you want to get them right. For the numbers to be correct, you also have to have a very good idea of how powerful the players will wind up being.

Still, I do not think either of those necessitates such a long staggering release cycle. It is likely something as boring as a logistics issue that is the major culprit.

Even if you're right, a more demanding art pipeline could still be related to logistics.

The only edition that did not have staggered releases was 4E, which was a system that very much necessitated the purchase of all three books at once.

I agree that historical context is useful here.

And 5e being successful =/= staggered releases being the best thing to do.

It doesn't make it a bad thing to do either. But if 2014's success isn't enough of a reason, DES and ZRN gave more.

I'm not going to view that as a positive just because they made a massive blunder in giving a May date. They didn't push it back to give 4 more months, they claim it was never May to begin with.

That still means they have a lot more time than they would have with a May release. Whether it was a genuine typo or a rapid adjustment isn't relevant.

At the end of the day it's still a concerningly close release date given the last UA and that they're working on three books simultaneously to some degree. 2014 books were riddled with editing errors, I wouldn't be surprised if these were too, and for a massive company and expensive books, it really shouldn't be.

If you really see this as a likely problem, wouldn't releasing them all simultaneously make it worse?

Given that D&D is both the biggest fish in it's pond and the most popular it's ever been, people will talk about the books regardless. Dragging out the discussion of the core books like that doesn't really seem like it would move the needle much, especially since the relative markets for the books shrinks after the PHB releases.

However little you feel it will move the needle, it will still be a longer news cycle than a simultaneous release would, even if just due to their own press junkets.

[Unoriginal]

spending, what is it now, 45 bucks? Been a while since I looked at the price tags--

More like 60 bucks.

[Rukelnikov]

This is also my first time being around for an edition swap (well, they're not calling it an edition swap, but it pretty much is); my first game would've been right around when Tasha's came out.

It's not an edition swap, that's the let down part.

[animewatcha]

More like 60 bucks.

Given rate of inflation and things, might turn to 70-80 dollars by the time they come out.

[Unoriginal]

Until then. We get to make due with a 1-13 adventure and an attempt at a 10-20 adventure multiverse-style.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1660...-book-releases

The Staircase one is the one where Venger and other classic D&D villains are supposed to show up, then?

Though I suppose they could show up in the Vecna one.

[Beelzebub1111]

"Hey, DM I just got the new players handbook, I have so many cool new options I can't wait to use, when can we play?"
"5 months from now I will be able to start planning out a campaign with a full understanding of how my end of things will work."

Plenty of time for theorycrafting youtubers to build the most broken characters you can imagine that the designers didn't catch.

[Oramac]

Plenty of time for theorycrafting youtubers to build the most broken characters you can imagine that the designers didn't catch.

To be fair, that's probably what we're going to be doing here too.

[Beelzebub1111]

To be fair, that's probably what we're going to be doing here too.

May as well throw on RPGNet, ENWorld, Reddit, on top as well. My point was more More time before the game can actually start being created a half a year from when the PHB releases.

[Unoriginal]

They claim that it is backwards compatible, so you can use the old MM until the new one comes out.

Which beg the question of why anyone should pay another 60 bucks for this it's-totally-the-same-edition MM.

I honestly can't wait for the WotC folks to finally go "actually you need to buy the new MM to play."

[Envyus]

They claim that it is backwards compatible, so you can use the old MM until the new one comes out.
Typical WotC skull****ery.

Nah that’s just how D&D is 4e is the only edition where the releases were not staggered.

[Envyus]

Which beg the question of why anyone should pay another 60 bucks for this it's-totally-the-same-edition MM.

I honestly can't wait for the WotC folks to finally go "actually you need to buy the new MM to play."

They will be different, but the old one can be used as well. (Just the old one will have worse design)

[Blatant Beast]

They didn't do that in 2014 either though, the three books were staggered back then too. If it ain't broke...

It is broke, however. Why would a consumer elect to purchase the revised Monster Manual, if they have been playing One D&D for 5 months, without one.

If the new Dungeon Master's Guide is being reworked to have a better layout, and clearer DM advice, (Has WotC even announced their design goals for the revised DMG and MM, beyond more profit?), then ideally the revised DMG should be released at the same time as the PHB.

A one month wait, between the revised PHB and DMG is not horrible....but 5 months for the Monster Manual is a bit much, unless WotC is making the Revised Monster Manual a compendium and includes revised statblocks from other books, and a lot of well designed new creatures.

[tokek]

Young whippersnappers don't know they are born. Took nearly a year for the 1e DMG to come out after the PHB

Fortunately as this new set of books look to be closely compatible with the current 5e set I don't think the lack of a DMG will stop us playing with the new PHB stuff and I'm really confident that the lack of a MM update will not matter much. We know from MoTM what the changes are going to look like and they are not really dramatically game-changing.

I'd rather they get the DMG right. I have always felt that the DMG was the weak link in the 5e lineup.

[Psyren]

It is broke, however. Why would a consumer elect to purchase the revised Monster Manual, if they have been playing One D&D for 5 months, without one.

The same reason they'd buy any book - it contains information and artwork they're willing to pay for. That's what WotC is betting on, anyway.

In addition, 10 years ago Basic got released before the PHB. If they do that again, we'll have everything we need to play OneD&D even before the PHB drops. Even if they don't, it's highly likely that the new Basic will drop well before the MM or even the DMG.

If the new Dungeon Master's Guide is being reworked to have a better layout, and clearer DM advice, (Has WotC even announced their design goals for the revised DMG and MM, beyond more profit?), then ideally the revised DMG should be released at the same time as the PHB.

Chris Perkins did actually did provide a number of design goals for the new DMG; see my post in the "noncombat skills" thread for the relevant quotes.

As far as why they shouldn't be released simultaneously, posters like ZRN and DragonEyeSeeker provided salient points that I haven't seen anyone refute yet.

I honestly can't wait for the WotC folks to finally go "actually you need to buy the new MM to play."

Why would they when that's false? You can play the game just fine with nothing but Basic, even; keep in mind that Basic contains literally hundreds of monsters at all CRs.

[titi]

What would they gain from releasing all books at once?
They would have to pay to store everything while waiting all the books to be printed, which to my understanding take several months.

[Beelzebub1111]

Here's the thing. One of the issues with the current monster manual is that the monsters are mechanically boring and encounters are difficult to balance. If you introduce all these player options before you can even see how they are fixing the monsters using the old rules won't that create a disconnect once its released if things are being fixed?

if things aren't being fixed in the new edition then why should I buy it at all?

[KorvinStarmast]

Here's the thing. One of the issues with the current monster manual is that the monsters are mechanically boring

No they are not.

and encounters are difficult to balance.

No, they are not.

if things aren't being fixed in the new edition then why should I buy it at all?

Xanathar's had a useful variation on encounter balancing (by CR and creature number) did you try that? A number of folks I play with like it better than the encounter values from the Basic Rules / DMG.

[Arkhios]

Young whippersnappers don't know they are born. Took nearly a year for the 1e DMG to come out after the PHB

This made me smile out loud. Silly as it is, it's also true. People these days are accustomed to getting everything they want at once, and when it doesn't happen, they get all mad about it. Like, wtf? Why?