Remember when Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium was set to come out earlier this year, and then vanished from the Dungeons & Dragons 4e product schedule? Whether you missed it or not, it was essentially the exciting new Adventurer’s Vault 3 – and it just disappeared!
Rarity Indeed
With the new magic item rarity rules introduced, along with its flaws (i.e. not enough common items, far too many uncommons, and very few rares), MME was a great opportunity to fill in those gaps. In addition, the realization that there were far too many bland, unexciting, or vaguely described magic items in 4e made the impending release of MME all the more exciting to help out in that area as well.
But then, the Emporium exploded! Or perhaps it faded back into the Shadowfell or whatever evil or mischievous demiplane had captured it. Some of us even feared it had been… disintegrated or disjoined altogether.
Until now! Mordenkainen’s Magificent Emporium is back, and coming soon – September 20th! Just before fall officially begins, we’ll finally have our hands on the next generation of D&D 4e magic items, treated with the depth and attention of the Monster Vault series. A fine blend and balance of crunch and flavor (which Leonine Roar is all about!). Expanded lore and adventure ideas. A pleasure to read for both players and DMs.
Back Cover Preview
This isn’t your original PHB’s magic items anymore, folks! Still not convinced? Here’s the magic of MME’s back cover to feast your eyes upon:
A wondrous collection of magical treasures for any campaign.
Few wizards know more about magic than the mighty Mordenkainen, whose arcane achievements are without peer. He’s the Archmage of Adventure . . . and no stranger to unearthing hidden lore. Stand aside, Tenser! Back to the books, Otiluke! Few can match Mordenkainen’s collection of magic items. Still, he hardly seems the type to settle down and open a magic shop. And yet . . .
Welcome to Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium, a wondrous collection of magic items—each one with a story to tell. This tome provides Dungeon Masters with a ready assortment of treasures to tempt greedy players, along with historical nuggets and alluring adventure hooks that set these items apart from your run-of-the-mill flaming sword or bag of holding. This book adds rich flavor to the treasures and trinkets presented within, and a dash of inspiration for Dungeon Masters looking to liven up a monster’s trove. Hold on to your magic hats—everything must go!
What Do You Think?
Are you getting MME for yourself or your playgroup? How excited are you about this release? What’s the one thing that intrigues you most about it so far?
Kilsek
Magic Items have always been my favorite aspect of D&D. From the time I picked up that DMG at a garage sell for 50 cents almost 20 years ago to today. I love to find them when I’m playing, and I love to design them and hand them out when I’m the DM.
I wasn’t especially impressed with the items in the 4E DMG, and took a break from the game shortly after it was released, but from what I hear Wizards has made some decent steps in bringing magical items since then so I’m looking forward to it.
Welcome to Leonine Roar, Psynister, and thanks for your comment! Welcome back to D&D!
Yes, 4e itself is going through some positive changes with releases like the Monster Vault series and hopefully MME as well. The Essentials line and Heroes of Shadow basically began a shift in focus to a smoother game with a greater balance of storytelling/RP and rules elements, and it’s only gotten better – so I’m pretty excited about MME!
Did you catch that it was only going to be available in hobby stores? It sounds like it might be a smaller print run, so the book could still be hard to find.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ro3/20110718
Glimm, yeah I saw and that and I have mixed feelings. It does raise some intriguing questions and situations, doesn’t it? Is Wizards going to do this more often? Is MME really going to be “rare” to track down and buy?
While I understand the Wizards wants to concentrate on the community of D&D players and gamers more than ever, I’m not sure this is the best solution. After all, doesn’t it focus on one particular community and shut out another?
It’s going to be very strange if you really can’t find MME online anywhere to buy.
I can see it at chapters.indigo.ca (with a release date of January 1, 2035). I’m not sure if this is for the September release or left over from when it was supposed to come out before.
I certainly hope that it will be available at places other than hobby stores. It’s going to be very hard for me to get it, since hobby stores where I live are few and far between.
Is there any indication if this book will finally make sure every level has items of all three rarity levels? The magic item rarity rules, at the time they came out, seemed to overlook the fact that you can roll any rarity of item at any level, yet that you didn’t actually HAVE items of any rarity for that level available.
Ven, thanks for you comment and welcome to Leonine Roar!
That is one big hope, that we see the rarity lists further populated and expanded in MME. However, it’s still unclear whether that will, in fact, get done here or whether that’ll be an online rules update.
[…] like Heroes of Shadow, the Monster Vault series, and the highly anticipated upcoming Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium), are sorely missing in 4e, and they do add that important touch of flavor to the game that helps […]