The Lore Glossary in the D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide is a wacky Who's Who of D&D's past 50 years

"This may surprise you, but in 50 years of D&D, we've created a lot of lore." Lead Dungeons & Dragons designer Chris Perkins isn't kidding. Keeping it all straight is the Lore Glossary in the upcoming D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. Some of the iconic characters and locations that are covered:

• Acererak: appearing on the cover of the old 2014 DM's Guide
• Adamantine
• Alustriel Silverhand: with a pronunciation guide saying it's uh-loose-tree-uhl
• Ashardalon: a D&D 3e threat that eats pre-incarnate souls and has a Baylor for a heart
• Baba Yaga: the mother of witches, synonymous with the boogeyman
• Bahamut/Paladine/Fizban: father of metallic (good) dragons
• The Companions in the Hall
• Demogorgon
• Elder Evils: a catch-all term for "weird, ancient, horrible, evil things"
• The Great Modron March: Every 17 x 17 years, modrons sweep through the multiverse ("no one" knows why, and Chris Perkins isn't talking)
• Heroes of the Realm: the 1980s D&D cartoon characters
• Lloth: appearing on the alternate cover of the new 2024 DM's Guide
• Mithral: Not "mithril" lest ye be sued by the Tolkien Estate
• Niko the Cleric: one of the '80s Heroes of the Realm but only recently introduced in 5e
• Prince of Frost: a D&D 4e spoiled rich kid Son of the Summer Queen
• The Raven Queen: D&D 4e God of Death, who has lived on where much of 4e is forgotten
• Tasha: of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything fame
• Tiamat/Takhisis: mother of chromatic (evil) dragons
• Vlaakith: Githyanki lich queen made better known through the Baldur's Gate 3 video game

Many of these people, places, and things have appeared in D&D sourcebooks and adventures with little or no context. Publisher Wizards of the Coast expected knowledge of these things to exist in players' and DMs' shared knowledge—or that the Internet would fill in those gaps. Thankfully, they now see fit to collect this knowledge into one place. This is so the DM's Guide will no longer be that one book nobody reads.

For instance, Adamantine appears in the 2014 Player's Handbook, but you're never told what Adamantine is. Now it appears in the Lore Glossary, which also points you to Adamantine armor and weapons in chapter 7.

Hopefully Alustriel Silverhand is cross referenced with several other people in the Lore Glossary. Chris Perkins rattles off the top of his head that Alustriel is one of the Seven Sisters who counts Drizzt Do'Urden and Elminster among her friends. These are folks appearing in lots of new D&D 2024 Player's Handbook art, so this Lore Glossary is where you'd go to find out who they are. 

This section is a robust collection of D&D's 50-year history. But there's still an element of the unknowable to many of them, especially the gods or Elder Evils. That's part of the fun: leaving room for interpretation, or keeping details completely obscure. This gives a Dungeon Master—for whom this sourcebook is written—to come up with their own versions and interpretations. 

Chris Perkins goes on to say that the Lore Glossary makes apparent how "wacky" and "elastic" D&D is. This is a showcase of D&D's flexibility, variety, and identity, without ever making it feel generic. 

The D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide releases November 12, 2024.