We are teaming up with incredible indie creators to celebrate the arrival of the new Monster Manual and all the new storytelling opportunities it offers by gifting a collection of exclusive tokens, maps, animations, and one-shot adventures to players who purchase the D&D 2024 Core Rulebook Bundle on Roll20. Each week, we’ll also be exploring what changes have been made to the four iconic creatures we’ve curated bonus collections around and chatting with the creators who have partnered with us on them. Our first bonus, available this week, is the ultimate Dragon Lair collection, which players have until February 18 to order and unlock.
The new Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual makes several significant updates to dragons compared to the 2014 version. The art alone has transitioned from static poses to creatures in action – and these handouts will make for spine chilling reveals on the Roll20 tabletop! Let’s have a look at some of the mechanical differences.
Integrated Spellcasting: Many adult and ancient dragons now have spellcasting abilities directly included in their stat blocks.For instance, red dragons can cast Fireball and black dragons have access to Vitriolic Sphere. This integration streamlines gameplay and emphasizes each dragon’s unique magical nature.
Enhanced Legendary Actions: Dragons’ legendary actions have been tailored to reflect their distinct personalities and abilities. For example, black dragons can summon insect swarms or decay the environment, while gold dragons might banish opponents to another plane. These changes aim to make dragon encounters more dynamic and challenging.
Improved Lair Mechanics: Encounters in a dragon’s lair are now more immersive and perilous.Dragons gain additional uses of legendary resistance and actions within their lairs, highlighting the advantage they have on their home turf. This encourages strategic planning from players when deciding where to confront a dragon.
Expanded Life Stage Lore: The new manual offers deeper insights into dragons’ life stages, detailing distinct motivations and behaviors for each phase—from territorial wyrmlings to ancient dragons exerting influence over vast regions. This enriches role-playing opportunities and narrative depth.
These updates collectively enhance the complexity and excitement of dragon encounters, providing Dungeon Masters with more tools to create memorable adventures.
Check back here after Feb. 4th for some stat block comparisons.
Because dragons are such an integral part of Dungeons & Dragons, we are excited to reveal the content inside the Dragon Lair bonus! Let’s dig into the details of each item, and catch up with their creators!
Animated Dragon Attack Overlays by LivingDungeons
These animated dragon shadows that pass over or circle your maps and strike fear into the hearts of even the most stalwart adventurers! Let’s hear from LivingDungeons:
What was your thought process when creating this particular offer for the marketplace?
Dread. Enough for a player to wonder why did the sky momentarily darken, and do I even dare to look up.
What inspired you to start creating maps/tokens?
I enjoy learning how to create things I regularly use in my hobbies. It also allows me a level of control that in the end gives me something specific to my needs.
What do you think is unique about your style and what tone do you hope to set at the table?
I typically try to go for ominousnessness or mystery. Anything that evokes a higher level of emotion out of the players.
Do you have any particular memories or experiences with dragons from your own table?
When the group realized the large shadow circling was from some sort of dragon, I enjoyed watching them scatter across the map. Perhaps too much so.
What things are you most curious and/or excited about as the new Monster Manual for D&D 2024 arrives?
I have yet to take a dive into the expectations, but I’m always excited about seeing new iconic art.
What is your favorite item you’ve made on our marketplace?
Many of my animated token packs have sets of taunts designed to bait the players, for example, classic kung-fu taunting. Playing on a player character’s ego is always fun to watch.
Fire Dragon Lair Maps by Domille
This is a collection of 15 unique variations on a dragon lair map to suit any campaign’s vibe. They include options in several colors and with different focal points at the top. We’ll let Domille tell you a little bit about their work.
What was your thought process when creating this map?
My followers were asking me for dragon lairs for a while. Dragons are some of my favorite creatures in the fantasy genre, so I wanted to create something grandiose. Something to do them justice: a setting that immediately sets players on edge, and communicates that the encounter that is about to take place is consequential.
What inspired you to start creating maps?
I was a DM for my D&D group and in 2018 I discovered some of the amazing map creators who’ve been leading the charge. I got so inspired, I started painting battle maps for my group in watercolor. My husband encouraged me to post the maps I created online. Eventually that lead to me doing it full-time and it is now my main source of income.
What do you think is unique about your style and what tone do you hope to set at the table?
It’s all about the drama and immersion! Keep players on their toes! I try to create settings and locations that make a DMs job easy. The images tell stories, and they make combat effortlessly engaging.
Do you have any favorite dragon memories from your own table?
I once killed a player character with dragon breath. The dragon was attacking a large city and the players were trying to defend it. It was the saddest I’ve ever felt for a PCs death.
What things are you most curious and/or excited about as the new Monster Manual for D&D 2024 arrives?
I am looking forward to creating new environments where all these new magical creatures can reside.
What is your favorite item you’ve listed on our marketplace and why?
Skull Island is one of my oldest maps – I drew it in early 2019, but it holds a special place in my heart. It was the first map that truly resonated with people. Before that, I wasn’t sure if my map-making efforts would ever go anywhere—most of the maps I created went largely unnoticed. But when Skull Island was released, the overwhelmingly positive feedback I received gave me the confidence to keep going. It marked a turning point and inspired me to continue creating.
Portal Packs – Token Essentials – Magnificent Dragons by Mythic Portal Games
This art pack includes 22 bordered tokens featuring every type of metallic and chromatic dragon so you can represent one of D&D’s deadliest foes and powerful allies in style! We caught up with Mythic Portal Games to learn more.
Why did you create this set of tokens?
They are a staple of nearly every fantasy story all the way back to Tolkien and ancient myths before. We wanted to provide a variety of classic D&D style dragons though for the old school purists that remember seeing the Ancient red dragon by Larry Elmore on the old red box. Then it was just about making sure players had a dragon for all seasons.
What inspired you to start creating maps/tokens?
We’ve been publishing on Roll20 for a long time, over eight years in fact. Back when we started the variety and depth of offerings were much more limited. We tried to build a map for a Dungeons & Dragons game and could not find a single spiral staircase. It was essential to the design of a particular location, so we went out and made one. That led to Building Essentials and dozens of products since. You can follow along with my creations on Facebook.
What do you think is unique about your style and what tone do you hope to set at the table?
Unlike solo artists that often focus on one style or niche, as a studio, MPG has half a dozen talented members on our team that create everything from classic tokens, to chibi style and we try to make materials for a variety of genres – even western and middle eastern. We hope that our quality assets make it easier for GMs to tell rich stories story that are engaging for their players.
Do you have any particular memories or experiences with dragons from your own table?
As a GM I tend to use dragons sparingly, because they are supposed to be rare and terrifying. I have vague recollections of flesh melting off bones when we faced a black dragon in my youth, but most vividly I remember my son running one of his earliest games with his tween friends that they charitably allowed the old man to play in. He took such delight in describing Cryovain and its destructive power, it (pun intended) gave us chills.
What things are you most curious and/or excited about as the new Monster Manual for D&D 2024 arrives?
I really hope this new monster manual has material that will delight and terrify players of old and the next generation. There should be some mystery about what the creatures can do to keep the game fresh, but I am hoping some of the old tried and true abilities remain in place for keystone foes – like dragons!
What is your favorite item you’ve listed on our marketplace and why?
That is a bit like trying to pick your favorite among your children. I will have to cheat and say I really love our tokens in the Token Essentials line. We have classic monsters, PC and NPC Tokens and even tokens that are compatible with western, sci-fi and horror games, not just D&D and Pathfinder. We really tried to make a really broad range of tokens with more to come.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our first spotlight on the marketplace creators who have contributed to our bonuses for the D&D 2024 Core Rulebook Bundle.
Check back next week to learn about the next creature, bonus collection, and its creators. Until then, happy adventuring!