Published Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Dungeons & Dragons is the most famous tabletop roleplaying game (or TTRPG), and it has been for a long time. Despite some bumps on the road, it has remained in publication since 1974. Here at the Edwardsville Library, we have a sizeable collection of resources for the 5th edition of D&D, encompassing both sourcebooks and adventures. If you want to go beyond just checking out some of our books, we will have a D&D session here at the library on June 22 from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM. Any adult is welcome to sign up; everything needed to play the session will be here at the library for players. Now go explore some dungeons and slay (or befriend) some dragons!
Rulebooks
Through the library, you have access to many rulebooks for Dungeons & Dragons. These include books that every player needs, like the Player's Handbook, and more recent additions to the rules, such as Xanathar's Guide to Everything and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
Player's Handbook
This text is an essential reference for every Dungeons & Dragons player. It contains rules for character creation and advancement, backgrounds and skills, exploration and combat, equipment, spells, and much more.
Dungeon Master's Guide
The first book any prospective Dungeon Master will need to run their own game. All you need to run a Dungeons & Dragons game is your imagination, some dice, and this book. The Dungeon Master's Guide teaches you how to run D&D adventures for your players: how to invent monsters for them to fight, mysteries for them to solve, and fantasy worlds for them to explore.
Monster Manual
The second book any prospective Dungeon Master will want so they can run their own game. This Monster Manual presents a horde of classic Dungeons & Dragons creatures, including dragons, giants, mind flayers, and beholders. A monstrous feast for Dungeon Masters ready to challenge their players and populate their adventures. The monsters contained herein are culled from Dungeons and Dragons' illustrious history, with easy-to-use game statistics and thrilling stories to feed your imagination.
Xanathar's Guide to Everything
The beholder Xanathar, Waterdeep's most infamous crime lord, is known to hoard information on friend and foe alike. He catalogs lore about adventurers and ponders methods to thwart them. His twisted mind imagines that he can eventually record everything! Assembled here for the first time are a set of new rules and story options for all the character classes in the Player's Handbook, including over twenty-five new subclasses. The book also presents new spells for both player characters and monsters. Dungeon Masters will find new rules for traps, magic items, downtime activities, and more - all designed to enhance a D&D campaign and push it in new directions. Amid all this expansion material, the Xanathar offers bizarre observations about whatever his eyestalks happen to glimpse. Pray they don't come to rest on you! If you want to see Xanathar himself, check out the adventure Waterdeep: Dragon Heist; just be sure he doesn't see you first.
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
The wizard Tasha, whose great works include the spell Tasha's hideous laughter, has gathered bits and bobs of precious lore during her illustrious career as an adventurer. Her enemies wouldn't want these treasured secrets scattered across the multiverse, so in defiance, she has collected and codified these tidbits for the enrichment of all. Baked into this book are rule options for all the character classes in the Player's Handbook - including new subclasses. The book is also sprinkled with the archmage's musings on everything from her wizardly rivals to the nature of the multiverse.
Adventures
Of course, all those rulebooks have a purpose. That purpose is to facilitate you and your party embarking on an adventure! The library has a large collection of adventures for 5th Edition D&D, and below is a sample of the books we have available.
Candlekeep Mysteries
Candlekeep Mysteries is a collection of seventeen short, stand-alone D&D adventures designed for characters of levels 1-16. Each adventure begins with the discovery of a book, and each book is the key to a door behind which danger and glory await. These adventures can be run as one-shot games, plugged into an existing Forgotten Realms campaign, or adapted for other campaign settings.
Curse of Strahd
Under raging storm clouds, the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of Castle Ravenloft. The wind’s howling increases as he turns his gaze down toward the village of Barovia. Far below, yet not beyond his keen eyesight, a party of adventurers has just entered his domain. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they came — all according to his plan. A lightning flash rips through the darkness, but Strahd is gone. The master of Castle Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited. For a collection of thematic player and dungeon master rules and character options related to this adventure, check out Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft!
Rime of the Frostmaiden
Beneath the unyielding night sky, you stand before a towering glacier and recite an ancient rhyme, causing a crack to form in the great wall of ice. Beyond this yawning fissure, the Caves of Hunger await. And past this icy dungeon is a secret so old and terrifying that few dare speak of it. The mad wizards of the Arcane Brotherhood long to possess that which the god of winter's wrath has so coldly preserved--as do you! What fantastic secrets and treasures are entombed in the sunless heart of the glacier, and what will their discovery mean for the denizens of Icewind Dale? Can you save Ten-Towns from the Frostmaiden's everlasting night? Brave the frozen North of Faerun in this Dungeons & Dragons adventure for characters level 1-12.
Tyranny of Dragons
The return of Tiamat. The forces of Tiamat, Queen of Evil Dragons, bring war to the Forgotten Realm. Led by the sinister Cult of the Dragon, an army of dragons and foul villains wage a merciless campaign to unleash their draconic god upon the world. Opposing them is a desperate alliance including the heroic Harpers and treacherous Zhentarim. This fragile coalition needs heroes to unite them and find ways to resist the draconic threat. Do you have the courage to stand against the Cult of the Dragon and the threat of Tiamat's immortal tyranny? Tyranny of Dragons combines and refines two action-packed Dungeons & Dragons adventures, Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat, into a single sweeping campaign. It also includes a gallery of concept art providing a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of an epic adventure spotlighting Tiamat, one of the most legendary foes in D&D. For more draconic options for both players and dungeon masters, check out Fizban's Treasury of Dragons!
Tomb of Annihilation
Dare to defy death in this adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game. The talk of the streets and taverns has all been about the so-called death curse: a wasting disease afflicting everyone who’s ever been raised from the dead. Victims grow thinner and weaker each day, slowly but steadily sliding toward the death they once denied. When they finally succumb, they can’t be raised—and neither can anyone else, regardless of whether they’ve ever received that miracle in the past. Temples and scholars of divine magic are at a loss to explain a curse that has affected the entire region, and possibly the entire world. The cause is a necromantic artifact called the Soulmonger, located somewhere in Chult, a mysterious peninsula far to the south, ringed with mountains and choked with rainforests.
Wild Beyond the Witchlight
Once every eight years, the fantastic Witchlight Carnival touches down on your world, bringing joy to one settlement after the next. Its owners, Mister Witch and Mister Light, know how to put on a good show. But there’s more to this magical extravaganza than meets the eye! The carnival is a gateway to a fantastic Feywild domain unlike anything found on the Material Plane. Time has not been kind to this realm, however, and dark days lie ahead unless someone can thwart the dastardly schemes of the Hourglass Coven.
Sign Up to Play D&D at the Library!
About the Author
Logan is a Circulation Clerk and started working at EPLin May of 2021. He is studying History at SIUE, and he enjoysreading Fantasy and Sci-Fi in particular, but will give pretty muchanything a try.
