D&D: a new manual is expected by the end of May

The new fifth edition manual of Dungeons and Dragons will be called Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. From Wizards have made it known that the manual is mainly intended for two types of players: those who read the manuals for fun and those who are eager to have new beasts at hand (with new statistics and abilities) to crash into the faces of the players.

Far from being the usual umpteenth manual of monsters, the new born in Wizards of The Coast is a memorial, for an bestiary it's a historical - geographical essay which bears the signature of one of the oldest characters in the game, so ancient that it was born even before the game itself (in its official version) saw the light and publication.

Who is Mordenkainen?

There are a few names in the history of Dungeons and Dragons that have carved out a particular place in the mythology of the game. Apart from that of the creator, Gary gygax, there are those of the characters created at the dawn of the game, by Gygax himself and his other associates.

Mordenkainen it was created by Gary Gygax himself in 1973 as a player character, Level 1 Wizard. He became the main character of Gygax, who used him practically continuously for twelve years, at a time when his friend Rob Kuntz replaced him at the helm of the campaign as Dungeon Master. Along with seven other characters created by Gygax, Mordenkainen joined the Circle of Eight, a very powerful cabal of wizards.

Over the years and due to the editorial vicissitudes of Dungeons and Dragons, the author of the game ended up losing his copyright on Mordenkainen, whose identity was later remodeled to make the character one of the most powerful wizards in the D&D Multiverse, and the Circle of Eight a tool under his control.

Regardless of his history, the character of Mordenkainen is one of the oldest ever, born almost simultaneously with the game of Dungeons and Dragons itself. Furthermore, as any player worthy of the name knows, many of the most powerful arcane spells carry the name of Mordenkainen, including the Reggia Meravigliosa and the Private Sanctuary.

Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes

This brief introduction was necessary to explain Wizards of The Coast's choice to use the character of Mordenkainen as a narrating voice of a new manual that aims to delve into some breeds and to provide new material about monsters to the very large numbers of players who today play D&D Fifth Edition.

The short presentation of the book, which can be found online for some time for the pre-order of the volume, reads:

This book is based on the writings of the world famous wizard of Greyhawk, collected during a lifetime of research and study.
In his travels to other realms and other planes of existence he has made many friends and risked his life an equal number of times to accumulate the knowledge contained herein.
In addition to Mordenkainen's reflections on the endless wars of the Multiverse, the book contains game statistics for dozens of monsters: new devils and demons, different varieties of elves and duergar, and a vast array of other creatures from all planes of existence.

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Insights into small breeds

The volume consists of 256 pages in color, it naturally boasts an illustrated hardcover and will be placed on the American market at the cost of 50 Dollars (as can be verified on Amazon). Some pages have already been made public in preview and from their reading it emerged that great care has been taken by the authors to better outline and deepen as much as possible the racial connotations di Halfling and Gnomi. It is not mostly a matter of regulatory notions, but of narrative insights into the history and culture of these two races and of amusing as well as useful ideas to give depth to a character allowing him to escape from the schematization of the cliché paradoxically exploiting the cornerstones of the cliché.

The reason why Mordenkainen would have decided to dedicate an entire chapter to the little people is that they are a precious exception in the Multiverse, as they have managed to "live a peaceful life for centuries away from the battles and rivalries of the tall people."

Halfling culture

Particular emphasis is given to luck halflings enjoy. This sort of innate ability to survive in a funny or daring way in dangerous situations is explained with the particular benevolence of Yondalla, the traditional halfling deity, able to balance fate so that she always turns in favor of one of her children.

THEinnocence of the Halflings is a topos that has accompanied fantasy literature ever since JRR Tolkien described the Shire as an oasis of peace and quiet in a world shaken by centuries of power wars. In Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes this characteristic of the Halflings is further remarked so that, according to the author, all the scholars he consulted agree that the ability to circumvent the typical bad luck of the Halflings is a gift of nature and that this gift was granted because the deities recognize the importance of preserving the halfling worldview and the peaceful world they have built.

An interesting feature introduced by Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes into the Halfling culture was once again contained in a nutshell in Tolkien's masterpieces, but only today seems to have been fully and worthily recognized in the setting of Dungeons and Dragons: the collecting of stories. All Halflings collect objects that they are linked to a particular story, daring or heroic, since they believe that every object is impregnated with spirit of that story. "The shoes that Tim-tom wore when he escaped the wolf" and much more precious junk of this kind can constitute a small household wealth that will make the house of a Halfling resemble the small and comic version of a dragon's lair, since it will be crammed with every tiny and curious treasure imaginable.

Character traits of gnomes

Some of the pages that have been made public are also included tables for the random generation of character traits typical of gnomes, according to a practice that was introduced in the Fifth Edition with much success. Through these tables it will be possible to identify sections of the personality, ideals, ties and defects which will give a gnome character greater depth while fully respecting the traditional fantasy cliché that has been generated over the years around this race. In fact, among the “ties” we can read “any object of great quality or expression of high craftsmanship must be protected, respected and taken care of”; among the defects could not miss "you are not able to keep a secret" or "during a fight you prefer to hide (rather than fight)".

In the only visible textual paragraph about gnomes, the innate ability of gnomes to master the magic instinctively: the gnomes cast without the need for material components a spell to conceal oneself, blindness / deafness, blur, alter oneself.