This Dungeons & Dragons book is the world-building deep dive you’ve been waiting for

polygon.com:

It’s a big year for Dungeons & Dragons. Not only has Wizards of the Coast released the final campaign for the original 5th edition rules, but also a slew of products in celebration of the game’s 50th anniversary — including three revised core rulebooks. Even if the D&D Lego sets and Converse sneakers weren’t your thing, you might be interested in their upcoming offering: Worlds & Realms: Adventures from Greyhawk to Faerûn and Beyond, written by former D&D designer Adam Lee (Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist).

Typically priced at $50, the book is available to pre-order ahead of its Oct. 29 release at a slightly discounted cost of $46.50. And if you’re someone who loves to immerse themselves in D&D lore and world-building, you’ll definitely want to check this book out.

D&D’s multiverse is extremely vast and complicated, and Worlds & Realms seems to fill a much-needed gap to help both newcomers and long-time players make sense of its fantastical realms. Featuring artwork pulled from 50 years of sourcebooks and adventures, each chapter of this illustrated guide takes a close look at one of the many worlds, planes, and settings in the D&D multiverse — from the beloved plane of Mystara, to the perilous Shadowfell, to Spelljammer’s boundless Astral Sea.

But this is no dry, matter-of-fact history book. Instead, readers will explore these settings through the narration of the archmage Mordenkainen, who shares his personal experiences of these locations and thoughts on the legendary characters who’ve lived there. Readers will dive deep into Mordenkainen’s beloved home of Greyhawk (the default setting for the soon to be released 2024 revision of the Dungeon Master’s Guide), and learn how his belief in the Balance influences his run-ins with creatures across the multiverse.

Worlds & Realms also features original stories by Jasmine Bhullar, Geoffrey Golden, Jody Houser and Eric Campbell, and Jaleigh Johnson.

Polygon has an exclusive first look inside