by Lady Rukiara in May 29,2014

Dungeons and Dragons is a game that has its ups and downs in the current market it is in, and with 4th Edition a lot of hardcore players were in a riot.

Disliking 4E for many reasons, but that can be covered in a large article all on its own. Because of the complete "botch" that many players believe 4E is I've heard time and time again people swearing off purchasing anymore editions.

What on earth could Wizards possibly do to bypass this hole they have dugged themselves in? Well, they figured it out. Yesterday Mike Mearls on wizards.com announced that the new edition of D&D will be available to download on their site as a free PDF. Now this PDF covers lvls 1-20, classes cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard, and the dwarf, elf, halfing, and human race options.

Mearls says that "Basic D&D is a PDF that covers the core of the game. It’s the equivalent of the old D&D Rules Cyclopedia, though it doesn’t have quite the same scope (for example, it won’t go into detail on a setting)." 5th Edition has gone through multiple play test packets and revisions, in a lot of ways with some of the new changes they are making it looks like they are trying to cater once again to the hardcore gamers, where as fourth edition was intended to cater to new players.

I am of the opinion that giving away the game for free will ensure that hardcore fans get a hold of the game and are able to take a peak and, hopefully, will persuade them to purchase the full books. It's a brilliant plan if they can pull of 5th Edition to the fans likings. Though with the change of times also comes change in price, as these books are goign to be running $50 a piece, so they better be impressive!

On the Wizards website when you go to the links they provide in order to take a glance at their Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and other supplements the covers do appear to have a classic yet new and epic style to them, even I admit to be taken completely aback by them. Check out some of them below.

Click the images for a bigger view.

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Players Handbook Cover Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Monster Manual Cover Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide Cover  

The release dates are all mixed rather than a single date. The Starter Set is much cheaper than the other books, which is said to be in about $19.99, however, at the time of making this post Amazon is showing $12.65. So not a bad time to pre-order it if you intend too, you can follow the link to the Starter Set Here. 

Even the hardcover Core Rulebooks are currently marked down to $30 rather than their normal price of $50.

Release Dates Below:

  • Starter Set and Basic Game: July 15th, 2014 
  • Players Handbook: August 19th, 2014
  • Monster Manual: September 30th, 2014
  • Dungeon Master's Guide: November 19th, 2014

As well as a few other releases schedule for side supplements.

Despite my remarks about hating the way they were doing the new logo, the way they have it set up on the books is extremely awesome. If they had chromed the Ampersand it would look a bit tacky. But minimizing the text on the covers and focusing on the epic artwork is never a bad thing.

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