Hi folks,

With June comes Fiendish Codex 1: Hordes of the Abyss – delving into all manner of things demonic. I can still remember flipping through the 1st edition Monster Manual so many years ago, suitable awed by its demons and devils (personally, I happened to like the old “Type 1—VI” monikers). In fact, I’m still waiting for the right time to get that bone devil tattoo I’ve always wanted.

For the D&D website, we’re planning a horde of content to coincide with Fiendish Codex 1. For starters, R&D came to the website team with a request; while the FC1 sourcebook contains a number of demon lords (just take a look at the Table of Contents to find out which ones), R&D wanted a fair representation of their aspects. These will appear on the website throughout the month – 11 aspects in all.

Material cut from the sourcebooks due to space considerations often make ideal web enhancements; unfortunately, not every book has this available. This month, however, we have been given such “cutting room floor” material for FC1—including a new monster, a new detailed abyssal layer, and several short layer descriptions. Plus, we’ll offer a look at the artwork of D&D’s demons throughout the editions, tactics & tips for combating various demonic foes, and even more specialized half-fiend templates.

What else is going on with the website? Our You Craft the Creature is rapidly reaching its conclusion, with final written concepts being voted on. Our Year of the Dragon competition is also choosing its final competitors, for dragon of the year. Design & Development has kicked off into D&D Minis. And Keith Baker—previously buried in books and projects!—will soon be returning with new Eberron articles, including his Eberron Expanded. In fact, we’ll be presenting a fair bit more coverage of Eberron in the months ahead, which has admittedly been in need of some website love!

As always, we welcome your feedback. If there are things you like or don’t like about the website, please let us know. In fact, there’s now even a direct email address for you to send your comments and suggestions to: dndfeedback@wizards.com. Fire away!

Many thanks,
Bart Carroll