As Dungeons and Dragons moves into the next phase of its development, and as we move into the holiday season, it’s time to look at the best gifts for every kind of geek.
As Dungeons and Dragons celebrates its 10th year of 5th edition, it also celebrates its 50th year overall. In those many years, adventures of every kind have been developed, from mysteries to science fiction, space travel to celestial intrigue. No matter the kind of geek you love, we have a gift suggestion for them! Check this list for gifts of all ages, interests, and passions.
For Youngsters
For the newest players, there are unique resources to help them learn the ropes, explore their ideas, and build creativity. The “Young Adventurer’s Guide” series has books for creating characters, going on quests, and exploring every other aspect of gameplay. Two of these books are explored below.
Characters and Quests – $13.99
This resource can be used for exploring the character creation process, and follows players’ adventures through their entire campaign. Players can even chronologue their friends, allies, and even their accomplishments and enemies.
This book introduces players to the many worlds, magics, and features found in the multiverse. This resource also makes a great tool for DMs to introduce some of the most iconic features of these worlds to prepare new players for their campaign. Spelljammer campaigns, for example, heavily feature space travel and special ships for traveling through the wilds of the galaxy.
For Mystery Fans
For those who love a clever intrigue, deft mystery, or daring cypher, there are pre-made adventures and settings just for these players. Check out these resources to bring great mysteries to the game table.
This collection of adventures features a library full of mysteries. Every chapter is centered on a mystery novel which players get to live through in order to progress the story. Players can also make friends with the powerful librarians in order to assist them in other journeys for their campaign. After all, where better to find esoteric knowledge than a massive magical library?
The Book of Many Things – $99.99
This resource is centered around the classic magic item, The Deck of Many Things. One of the classic cards is the Puzzle card, which has its own chapter of the book dedicated to new challenges including puzzles, riddles, and traps players must outwit in order to progress. Note that while this product was announced to be released in November, a manufacturing defect has delayed delivery of this product until January 2024, but pre-orders are still being accepted.
For Epic Fantasy Lovers
For players obsessed with powerful epic fantasies, such as the Chronicles of Narnia, the Lord of the Rings saga, or the Inheritance Cycle, many options exist to explore these worlds, or new ones.
Dungeons & Dragons Rules Expansion Gift Set – $78.18
This boxed gift set included Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. These two resources bring new options for players to choose from. Whether your player wants to play a cleric devoted to peace, a mighty samurai, or a sword-swinging sorcerer, these resources give your characters all of the options needed to play truly epic and fantastic heroes. As a bonus, the resource includes Monsters of the Multiverse and a Dungeon Masters’ screen, so this makes a great gift for all kinds of Dungeons and Dragons players.
This adventure gives players the classic fantasy experience of dealing with the threats of goblins, magic, and villains, while continuing the adventure found in the Mines of Phandelver starter kit. This makes a great gift for new players and veterans alike, especially if they’d like the nostalgic experience of returning to Phandelver, one of the earliest experiences for players in 5e.
For Science Fiction Devotees
For players who want to see the stars, wield high-tech weapons, and live their robotic science fiction dreams, there are resources to draw on for building and playing in these worlds.
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space – $47.15
This collection of books provides rules for space travel, space ships, and monsters and ships that can travel through space. Extended rules are also provided for ship-to-ship combat, repairing a ship, and even space piracy.
Eberron: Rising from the Last War – $34.98
This all-inclusive resource provides everything needed to play characters in the steampunk-adjacent world of Eberron. Players can build a robotic Warforged character, able to be upgraded with armor, weapons, and other special features. They can also play the Artificer class, capable of creating and using extraordinary scientific armor and weapons for themselves and allies to use.
For Magic: the Gathering Collectors
Since both Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons are owned by Wizards of the Coast, it only makes sense that the two games would eventually tap the wealth of lore present in both worlds. M:tG featured the Forgotten Realms D&D setting, and D&D has featured two of the iconic planes visited by planeswalkers for the last 30 years. Each has its own vibe, but just like M:tG games, players may wish to include content from both realms to have the exact adventure they want to play.
Mythic Odysseys of Theros – $23.49
Players can clash with the gods, monsters, and magics of ancient myth in this all-inclusive resource. Whether players want to face a gorgon, slay a hydra, or even play as a centaur, minotaur, or triton, they can live their favorite mythical lives in Theros. Players can meet iconic characters, such as Iroas, a deity of Theros they may have collected in M:tG, allowing them to bridge the gap from Magic: the Gathering to Dungeons and Dragons.
Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica – $24.90
With this all-inclusive resource, players can journey into the realm of Ravnica, a plane controlled by the collection of powerful political groups known as the Guilds. Whether your player wants to be a lightning-slinging wizard of the Izzet guild, or a necromantic druid of the Golgari, M:tG fans can ally with or combat any of the 10 guilds.
For Horror Fans
These resources help dungeon masters craft the perfect worlds for their horror-loving players. Whether you’re looking for vampires, zombies, or even want to tap the world of Jurassic Park, the options feel endless in Dungeons and Dragons.
Curse of Strahd Tarokka Deck – $8.04
This deck of cards allows DMs to raise the tension with an in-hand (and affordable) accessory that can be passed around or handed to the players. The Tarokka deck can be used in other contexts, but the Vistani people are great oracles of fate, and the Tarokka deck is their tool of choice.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft – $34.98
The setting for Curse of Strahd, Ravenloft is back with a guide to its world, this time centered on the places and people rather than the Big Bad. The rules for vampire-spawn make an appearance along with the races of Hexblood (a cursed child created by a night hag) and the Reborn (a creature returned from death, marked by death but with some original abilities from their former race). The expanded realms of death, the Vistani people, and undead monster rules are included to help players and storytellers bring their horrific visions to life.
In this adventure, players must face the living dead, deadly traps, and even dinosaurs and their undead forms. The kinds of evil that circumnavigate death tend to draw attention in the process, and players will be challenged to find a way to permanently end the terror of a lich intent on immortality. Whether you want to play with Frankenstein’s monster, evoke the frightening world of Jurassic Park, or just face undead hordes, everything you need is in this resource.
*Disclaimer: The author of this post received some of these products for review. Those products are reviewed elsewhere on GeekDad, and the inclusion of those products is based on the author’s honest belief that these gifts are impactful, meaningful, or just downright useful to their recipients.
