In the wake of Dungeons & Dragons‘ 50th anniversary last year, Wizards of the Coast prepped new versions of its core trio of rulebooks: the Players’ Handbook, the Dungeon Masters’ Guide, and the Monster Manual. While these releases aim to be, as Jeremy Crawford, D&D’s principle Rules Designer, said in 2024, “the best versions of these books that we could make,” there’s one little detail absent that some fans may find disappointing.
As Polygon discovered, the era of the fantasy legal disclaimer has come to an end, and it gives as an example the following: “Disclaimer: Wizards of the Coast is not responsible for the consequence of splitting up the party, sticking appendages in the mouth of a leering green devil face, accepting a dinner invitation from bugbears, storming the feast hall of a hill giant steading, angering a dragon of any variety, or saying yes when the DM asks, ‘Are you really sure?'”
In fact, Polygon rounds up a selection of the disclaimers from over the years, sure to spark nostalgia for longtime fans, and notes that the last example of the Fifth Edition fantasy disclaimer appeared in July 2024’s Quests From the Infinite Staircase. The outlet got a confirmation from Crawford himself, and Polygon wrote that “fantasy legal disclaimers are no more. Other, slightly more overt Easter eggs can be found throughout the latest D&D books, he said, including things like cameos from the characters in the original Saturday morning cartoon show from the 1980s. But these in-fiction snippets of fantasy legalese have gone the way of THAC0 [the now-discontinued roll To Hit Armor Class 0].”
What are your thoughts on the fantasy disclaimer being taken away, and “slightly more overt Easter eggs” being swapped in? Let us know in the comments below.
Update, Feb 15, 12:45pm: An earlier version of this story incorrectly noted that Polygon had listed out all of the disclaimers, rather than a selection; it also featured confusing wording that made it seem as if a quote from Polygon was a quote from Crawford. io9 regrets the errors and has corrected them.
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