DK Books’ Dungeons & Dragons Encyclopedia (First Look)
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Article Summary
- Penguin Random House imprint DK Books has just released the new Dungeons & Dragons Encyclopedia.
- The illustrated reference book features hundreds of iconic locations, characters, monsters and magic items from D&D lore.
- The book is 320 pages in length and written by a team that includes RPG historian Jon Peterson and author Michael Witwer.
- It will be released November 10th, 2026, with the hardcover retailing for $60 USD and the eBook going for $19.99 USD.
Penguin Random House imprint DK Books has just released a new deep dive into the D&D multiverse with the official Dungeons & Dragons Encyclopedia. Developed by a team that includes longtime TTRPG historian Jon Peterson, the book explores some of the game’s most popular campaign settings, including Greyhawk, Dragonlance, the Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft. The encyclopedia also includes write-ups on a variety of iconic characters, creatures, locations and magic items.
The 320-page hardcover book will be officially coming out in November 2026, but you can pre-order a copy now from local game stores, bookstores and on Amazon. Below, we go through the A-Z of this latest D&D tome.
What is the Dungeons & Dragons Encyclopedia?
The D&D Encyclopedia is a 320-page illustrated reference book featuring hundreds of places, people, magic items and monsters taken from Dungeons & Dragons lore. The book is broken out into the following chapters:
- Locations: Features almost 200 locations, ranging from entire planes of existence like the Abyss, to nations such as Solamnia, cities such as Waterdeep and dungeons like the Temple of Elemental Evil.
- Inhabitants: Covers almost 400 of the most well-known heroes and villains of D&D, from gods such as Lolth the Spider Queen to the legendary archmage Elminster.
- Creatures: Lists almost 250 individual monsters, with everything from minor beings such as Flumphs and Ghouls, to existence-obliterating threats such as the Tarrasque.
- Paraphernalia: Lists almost 100 magical items, ranging from classic D&D staples like the Bag of Holding to legendary artifacts such as the Wand of Orcus.
- Appendix: This is a list of further readings, including a full breakdown of every D&D 5E supplement published to date.
Notably, every entry has a corresponding image taken from countless past and present D&D supplements. And while much of the info presented in the book will be familiar to hardcore fans, there’s still plenty of obscure deep-cut references to be found.
Who are the authors of the D&D Encyclopedia?
The book is written by a number of veteran RPG and Wizards of the Coast D&D collaborators, including:
- Jon Peterson: One of the most well-known TTRPG historians and author of Playing at the World, The Elusive Shift, and Game Wizards.
- Matt Forbeck: A New York Times bestselling author and game designer with more than thirty novels and countless games published to date.
- Michael Witwer: An author on numerous official D&D books, including Art & Arcana, the two Heroes’ Feast cookbooks and The Legend of Drizzt Visual Dictionary.
How much is the new D&D Encyclopedia?
The hardcover version of the book retails for $60 USD (not including shipping and handling), which is comparable to other similar releases that we’ve seen in the past from DK, which has published larger format coffee table-style books like the 2025 D&D Book of Dragons.
Notably, an e-book Kindle edition is also available for $19.99 USD, if you download it directly from Amazon.
When will the new D&D Encyclopedia be released?
The book will officially be available on November 10th, 2026, at which point you should be able to find it at most online and physical book retailers.
You can, however, pre-order it now from most major online and physical retailers.
Final Thoughts
Over the past few years, Penguin Random House has been producing a number of D&D tie-in books, including the recent DM’s Workbook of Worldbuilding and Player’s Workbook of Epic Adventures. With the Dungeons & Dragons Encyclopedia, fans will be able to get one of the most comprehensive views of the D&D multiverse in some time.
The book will officially be released on November 10th, but you can pre-order a copy now from your local game store, bookstore and on Amazon.
Below is a video from our official YouTube channel with a deeper dive into what’s included.
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Jason Volk is the Publisher of Dungeons & Dragons Fanatics and lives in the wilds of Western Canada. He has been playing D&D for over 25 years and is a huge fan of Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms. His favorite character of all time was a Necromancer named Neek who spent most of his adventuring career resurrecting the corpses of slain monsters. When he’s not playing TTRPGs, Jason enjoys video games, Magic: The Gathering, Warhammer 40K, watching football and spending time with his wife and adorably nerdy children.
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