It’s a fresh new year, so join Rediscovered Realms on this week’s quest to explore the world of Dungeons & Dragons with their new 2024 Yearbook.
Remember your high/secondary school yearbooks? Well, don’t. This is nothing like them. It contains visions of wizards, and dragons, and battles, and evil monsters. Ok, so maybe it is like it was back in high school . . .
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It amazes me how much D&D merchandise gets pumped out these days. I’m not complaining, but it’s not only really hard to keep up with, but you would have to be rich to afford even 1/32 of the stuff that comes out!
Gold-piece envy aside, I still get super-excited for those treasures that make me feel like I’ve “discovered” them.
Such is the case with the D&D 2024 Yearbook.
I had no idea they made these, and they never showed up on any of my Google-curated (read, “Google-spying”) news feeds.
No, this tome came to my attention one day a couple months ago doom scrolling on eBay. It’s been sitting there in the office waiting to be featured in my newsletter since then.
Well, Tome, today’s the day. Let’s see what you’ve got.
Jeff Easley’s famous illustration of the Dungeon Masters Guide
Right off the bat, on page 7 is one of the best fantasy illustrations of all time - by Jeff Easley. This promises to be good!
Ok, a hodge-podge of short articles that are topical, but sound fun!
Playing D&D live in a CASTLE! Ok, that’s pretty awesome.
As a kid, I always loved activity books & puzzles. Did you? I thought it was cool they included several. Here’s a sampling.
That’s a really interesting fact about Jack Vance - I never knew that!
BTW: In case you didn’t know, the UK had a couple years of Dungeons & Dragons Annuals in the 80s that had a TON of activities in them . . . and they featured our favorite gang from the D&D animated series!
Rediscovered Realms quested with them recently - check it out here:
So, some fun stuff for sure, especially if you’re into the latest editions of D&D.
I, personally, have a strong preference for the art, style and content of the old school material, but can still appreciate a lot of the newer as well.
I wish though that with the 50th year celebration of Dungeons & Dragons in 2024, this yearbook would have included more classic content, but there was head-nod here and there.
Here at Rediscovered Realms, I try not to “review” items in the formal sense but prefer to have fun and celebrate all Fantasy creations in as much of a positive light as possible.
After all, it takes a lot of work & guts to create something from your imagination and bring it into the world. I feel that deserves a lot of respect and I try to give all the dignity I can afford.
“Opinions are like asp holes . . . every snake’s got one.” - J.Q. Graziano
With that said, I do have one big bone to pick with this yearbook.
Take a look at the list of artists that were given credit:
Notice anyone missing?
Yup. Jeff Easley, one of the most prolific D&D artists of all time - and whose Dungeon Masters Guide illustration was used in the introduction to this book - was not credited at all. Boo.
But hey, at least they left his signature in place this time . . .
Overall, this was a fun book to flip through. There were some cool art illustrations & engaging articles where a D&D fan (of any edition) could find something of interest, though it definitely is geared more towards the current day culture and new-school fans.
What do you think? Do you have this yearbook or plan to get one? Leave a comment below.
For our friends over in the UK (or anyone visiting!) the British Library is in the final weeks of its “Fantasy: Realms of Imagination” exhibit where it traces the evolution of the fantasy genre. February 25th is the last day. Man, I wish I could visit!
That’s another quest down, Rediscovered Realms Readers. I hope your year . . . and yearbooks . . . are off to a wonderful start!
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