If you held out for D&D Beyond’s Black Friday sale expecting big bargains, you might feel a bit let down. This year’s lineup is modest, but there are two standout items worth considering — just remember to share the loot with your adventuring party.
The D&D Beyond 2025 Black Friday collection contains seven offers and runs through midnight Pacific Time. Prices below reflect the physical+digital bundle where available:
- Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants — $69.95 (was $89.94)
- Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage — $59.95 (was $79.94)
- Vecna: Eve of Ruin — $69.95 (was $89.94)
- Adventure Anthology Bundle (includes Quests from the Infinite Staircase, Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, Keys from the Golden Vault, and Candlekeep Mysteries) — $159.85 (total products valued around $210)
- The Deck of Many Things — $69.99 (was $99.99)
- Rules Expansion Gift Set (includes Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse) — $129.95 (was $169.95)
- The Making of Original D&D: 1970–1977 — $59.97 (was $99.95)
Overall, the selection is underwhelming if you were hoping for the latest releases. Notably absent are many 2024 products — items you can currently find discounted elsewhere, such as the Stranger Things tie-in Welcome to the Hellfire Club, the recent starter box Heroes of the Borderlands, and several Eberron bundles including Rising from the Last War and Forge of the Artificer. And yes — I remain unimpressed by Vecna: Eve of Ruin.
Still, two entries make the sale worthwhile for many collectors and Dungeon Masters: The Making of Original D&D: 1970–1977 and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage. They serve very different appetites but both deserve shelf space.
The Making of Original D&D: 1970–1977
This is a historical volume rather than a rules supplement: a meticulously assembled account of the game’s creation told through primary documents from Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. If you love old-school gaming history, this book is exceptional — it includes previously unreleased artifacts such as a 1974 draft of Original D&D typed on Gygax’s machine with annotations by both creators, magazine clippings, fan writings, and a facsimile of the earliest Original D&D printings. For those who want the authentic provenance without paying collector prices for original prints, this is the closest and most rewarding alternative.
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
For players and GMs who crave pure dungeon-crawl immersion, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is hard to beat. Undermountain — Halaster Blackcloak’s remarkable and dangerous creation beneath Waterdeep — is a classic “mega-dungeon”: dozens of levels of escalating threats, secrets, and factions. The structure is ideal for an extended campaign; its difficulty scales with depth, allowing parties to explore shallow levels early and venture deeper as they gain power. Beyond monsters and traps, each level contains plots and rivalries that can drive rich role-play and long-running story arcs. DMs will find an abundance of ready-to-run material, plus plenty of hooks for expanding or grafting levels into your own world.
Whether you’re watching the final season of Stranger Things and want a taste of how D&D looked in its early days, or you’re itching to run marathon dungeon sessions like the show’s characters, these two picks are the highlights of D&D Beyond’s sale. Just don’t splurge on Vecna: Eve of Ruin unless you’re curious — consider these two first.
Source: Polygon
