As an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons player, I knew the name Mordenkainen quite well. Years later, it’s been fun to see the newest edition of the game not only pay tribute to older ideas and stories, but also actively incorporating them into the system.
In an old comedy skit from The Dead Alewives, a party is surrounded by ogres. One of them asks how this came to be. After all, he had Mordenkainen’s Magical Watch Dog cast …
Then, it turns out he didn’t actually cast the spell — if the DM is to be believed. That sketch is well-known to many D&D players, and I always think about it when I hear the name Mordenkainen.
The announcement of Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes offers an exciting addition to what has become my favorite edition of the game. In addition to providing a delightful array of new monsters to use in the game, the book will also feature monster lore and player options. The conflict between the githyanki and the githzerai (remember that from Spelljammer?) will be covered, along with the Blood War between demons and devils. The wealth of material should be fun to examine in detail once the book arrives.
The book also offers monsters and hooks to use for higher-level campaigns, making it easier to prepare a decent challenge for incredibly powerful characters. The extensive lore alone should be well worth the price of admission.
Per the official press release, it looks like FLGS customers can get their hands on the limited-edition cover version of the book on May 18. The release of the standard artwork version is 11 days later, on May 29. Will you be picking up this book for your next game?
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes is available for pre-order.
From the official press release:
“The Dungeons & Dragons team will be talking about Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes on twitch.tv/dnd in the coming months. Look for Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford to offer more insight on what’s in the book on Dragon Talk at 2pm PT on Monday, Feb 5th and for follow-up interviews with the team on the D&D Beyond YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/dndbeyond.”
