Lore & Legends, written by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman (Raiders), Jon Peterson, and Sam Witwer (Being Human, Smallville, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed), and containing a forward by Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), contains a wealth of beautiful illustrations within it, focusing on what would come to be AD&D Fifth Edition, but including photographs and artwork from key historical and nostalgic steps along the evolution of the great roleplaying game, from its inception to current day. The book visits D&D's humble beginnings, touches on its successful and... less successful attempts at approaching new versions of the game over the years and documents how Wizards of the Coast sought to create a version that would be the best of D&D, by bringing the best bits forward, but also by investigating new play mechanics in order to make the game more play-centric and less math-heavy. A vital part of getting this process right was not only having massive amounts of beta testing, where players could feel it out and see what worked and didn't, but actually listening to that feedback and rapidly updating the beta rules and getting new feedback from the changes. But, the details can be found within the tome...
There are also a lot of references to D&D's effect on culture and entertainment... which goes beyond being a source of entertainment for those people who play it... extending to references to D&D in television shows, both live-action and animated, as well as actors and voice-actors playing D&D as entertainment for themselves and for viewers who can watch or listen to those antics. Within these pages, you'll find discussion of Critical Role, Acquisitions Incorporated, Stream of Many Eyes, and D&D Live, featuring gameplay by a host of celebrities.
Some of my favorite bits are the "Who is..." asides that appear in grey-blue sections, always on the right side (an odd-numbered page) being a half-page in height or more. These asides give a quick, yet surprisingly detailed overview that reveals the first appearance of a particular character, a description of that character's general disposition or what makes them unique and their reappearance in the 5th Edition. Basically, their "Lore," if you will. These characters are all legendary and many have expansion guides attributed to them, such as Fizban (Fizban's Treasury of Dragons) or Tasha (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)... or are well-known for their preponderance of spells, such as Mordenkainen and Bigby (If you know who that is, raise a hand...).
In addition to the gorgeous full-color illustrations, some of which fill two pages, there are also some studies of individual monster illustrations, showing both the final illustration and some of the sketches that were made while visualizing these characters... or, in some cases, various versions that were made through different versions of the game, as the monsters' appearances were reimagined and the artistic style became more realistic. The artwork, in general, and these sketch studies, especially, might be of interest to any aspiring fantasy artists, as it gives a glimpse into the process of the creation and evolution of these iconic D&D denizens.
The way I see it, this book would make a great gift for any D&D enthusiast who doesn't have it already. If they don't know much about the history, the history will entertain them. If they know everything there is to know, they'll no doubt determine something that was left out and have a grand time sharing that fact with others. Those who don't care so much about the history will surely enjoy the beautiful illustrations. So, really, pretty much any D&D fan would enjoy this book. Well, so long as they have the strength to use it. And the aforementioned stout, Dwarven coffee table.
*Seriously, I was reading this with it on my lap until I noticed some physical fatigue setting in. Please use at your own discretion. If unsure, please consult your local Ergonomancer.
