D&D (2024) New D&D Edition's Player’s Handbook Alternate Art Cover Reveal

Polygon revealed the alternate art for the 2024 Player's Handbook.

"Illustrated by Wylie Beckert, the alt art cover of the Player’s Handbook (2024) features a party comprised of D&D’s four iconic classes — the fighter, the wizard, the cleric, and the rogue — all gathered around a friendly gold dragon, sharing tea. This gentle scene stands in stark contrast to the mainline Player’s Handbook (2024), which will have a bright, bold cover by Tyler Jacobsen with similar characters posed in the moments before striking a blow."

 

[Mercurius]

$60 is the price for new D&D books in general, but the new Core three are $50. Economy of scale, keeping rhe barrier of entry low, etc.

The new Core books are effectively 25% cheaper than the 2014 Core books were ($50 today would have been $37.74 in 2014 adjusting for inflation, $50 a decade ago would be way over $60 now) and larger (all 3 new Core books are 884 pages long).

Thanks. I've only checked it a few times, but it looks like Amazon is going to be discounting the pre-order a lot less...I imagine it will go down significantly, but as of this writing, Eve of Ruin is only 6% off and it releases in two days.

 

[Parmandur]

Thanks. I've only checked it a few times, but it looks like Amazon is going to be discounting the pre-order a lot less...I imagine it will go down significantly, but as of this writing, Eve of Ruin is only 6% off and it releases in two days.

Yeah, Amazon's deep discounts on D&D books tend to come into play over the long term, rather than immediately at release.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The latter. I'm a teacher so while I do prefer supporting my LGS, saving $20+ via the evil corporate overlord is often hard to ignore. On the other hand, I don't buy many D&D books these days, so I'm probably going to buy the alternate at a local game store.

(We also have a regional chain store that offers 20% D&D books, but they're hit and miss on alternate covers)

I hear ya on price pressures. This will be my first time, I think, buying an alternate cover when the book is released and I'm just trying to figure out the rules of the road.

 

[Charlaquin]

I hear ya on price pressures. This will be my first time, I think, buying an alternate cover when the book is released and I'm just trying to figure out the rules of the road.

Same, I’ve never gotten the alternate art covers despite liking a lot of them because they wouldn’t match with the standard ones I already had in my collection. But, now that the revised core books are coming out, it’s a good opportunity to not need to worry about them matching.

For those of you who have gotten alt art covers before, is it generally advised to talk to your LGS owner ahead of time and reserve a copy? Or is supply usually good enough you can just pick one up on or around release day?

 

[Zardnaar]

Think I'll get this one if possible.

 

[billd91]

Same, I’ve never gotten the alternate art covers despite liking a lot of them because they wouldn’t match with the standard ones I already had in my collection. But, now that the revised core books are coming out, it’s a good opportunity to not need to worry about them matching.

For those of you who have gotten alt art covers before, is it generally advised to talk to your LGS owner ahead of time and reserve a copy? Or is supply usually good enough you can just pick one up on or around release day?

Most of the special orders at my FLGS (Pegasus Games, Madison, WI) are for the alt-cover, but they also order a bunch of alt-covers for general sale. Depending on the specific book, the alt-covers can be around for a while. I think Tasha’s, Xanathar’s, and Witchlight alt-covers went pretty quickly, but Golden Vault has gone more slowly.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

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How is it "cheaper"? Oh, you mean that it's not as readily available from deep discounters like Amazon? I guess. The prices are the same, however.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Thanks. I've only checked it a few times, but it looks like Amazon is going to be discounting the pre-order a lot less...I imagine it will go down significantly, but as of this writing, Eve of Ruin is only 6% off and it releases in two days.

I've heard (unsubstantiated) from my Game Distributor that something has happened (the details are fuzzy) that "should" stop the discounts from being quite as big in the future. In the very least, Amazon seems likely to no longer be able to sell print books at less than Distributor Cost! (That one always IRKED me. Selling something to customers for less than what I sell them for is just competition. Selling them for less than what I can BUY them for is just "unfair".)

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Most of the special orders at my FLGS (Pegasus Games, Madison, WI) are for the alt-cover, but they also order a bunch of alt-covers for general sale. Depending on the specific book, the alt-covers can be around for a while. I think Tasha’s, Xanathar’s, and Witchlight alt-covers went pretty quickly, but Golden Vault has gone more slowly.

I can answer this, too: The first bunch of Alt-Covers were available to us for Initial Orders Only (when we're totally guessing how many we need) and once they were gone from our shelves, we could only get Regular Covers. More recently, the distributors have had more copies available for us to buy after the fact.

I don't know if it's that WotC is printing more of them, or that the distributors are ordering them to have in the warehouse longer (probably both). But most of the time we can get reorders on them, for a few months anyhow.

Who knows how that will translate to PHBs, though! I would like to think Available, but...

 

[Charlaquin]

I can answer this, too: The first bunch of Alt-Covers were available to us for Initial Orders Only (when we're totally guessing how many we need) and once they were gone from our shelves, we could only get Regular Covers. More recently, the distributors have had more copies available for us to buy after the fact.

I don't know if it's that WotC is printing more of them, or that the distributors are ordering them to have in the warehouse longer (probably both). But most of the time we can get reorders on them, for a few months anyhow.

Who knows how that will translate to PHBs, though! I would like to think Available, but...

So, I’m hearing, “ask at your LGS just in case”?