TASHA’S CAULDRON OF EVERYTHING

We talk to the legendary Jeremy Crawford about, well, everything

Why was Tasha chosen to be the lead for this book?

Tasha’s backstory is one of the most storied in the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse. Adopted daughter of Baba Yaga, archmage, Witch Queen, creator of the Demonomicon—these are just a few of Tasha’s claims to fame. Plus, she is one of the distinguished characters whose name graces a spell in the Player’s Handbook: Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. We’ve wanted to feature Tasha for a while, and we thought she could provide some entertainingly wry observations in the latest rules expansion for D&D. We also have more plans for her. Expect to see her marshalling her power and wit again in the future!

Can you tell us more about the lineage options, and the steps D&D are taking towards inclusivity?

When making a D&D character, you choose whether your character is a member of the human race or a member of one of the game’s fantastical races—various peoples, such as elves and dwarves, who have magical origins. Your choice of D&D race gives your character various traits, including modifications to your core abilities, like Strength or Wisdom. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduces the option for you to customise several of those racial traits, specifically proficiencies, languages, and ability score bonuses. We included this option because we wanted to give players more flexibility when choosing the race/class combination for their characters and to make it easy to disentangle the game’s fantastical peoples from their folkloric assumptions, which are sometimes uncomfortably reminiscent of racial stereotypes in the real world. We don’t want any D&D group to feel hedged in by stereotypes. Our philosophy is to empower groups to play with and alter longstanding elements of fantasy in ways that are meaningful and joyful for each group.

This book contains more detail on group patrons, can you tell us about your favourite patron and how you expect DMs to use the patron system?

As a DM, my favourite patron is the Ancient Being. There are so many delicious storytelling opportunities if you’re getting your quests from a being who defies mortal limits and whose agenda could affect the entire world. I expect each DM and player will have their own favourite group patron. Whichever patron a group chooses, a patron has the ability to set the tone of the campaign the DM creates. For instance, two groups could be given the same quest, but if one group works for a religious order and the other works for an aristocrat, the two groups are likely to have very different experiences as they embark on that quest.

How do you think players will react to the new rules for magic environments?

Each supernatural region in the book offers a range of possible experiences, from the sublime to the horrific. D&D groups are in for tons of surprises as they venture into these regions and discover the possibilities. I think many adventures are going to be enhanced by the twists and turns presented in these extraordinary places.

What do you think the players will be most excited about, and what do you think the DM’s will be most excited about?

I predict players will be most excited about the optional class features in the book. In Unearthed Arcana—the playtest series on the D&D website—we presented early versions of those class features, and we got more positive feedback for them than we’ve received on anything else in Unearthed Arcana. Now that the features are in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, players everywhere will be able to add new capabilities to their favourite classes. As for DMs, I think they will be most excited by the inspiration that the book provides. We made sure to pack the entire book, including the player options, with storytelling nuggets that DMs can use when creating their own D&D stories. On almost any page you turn to in the book, there’s a seed that a DM can nurture into adventure.

Renegade Game Studios

If you share the personality trait of being a sucker for good packaging, is sure to draw you in. A cute cat face on the front, unfolds into a full cat body, held together by its paws. It’s a great set up for a game, the fun starts with the box, and the cat goodness doesn’t stop there. You may have figured from the title that this is a game where you’ll be stacking cats, which in this case are six different styled card cats. The goal is not to make the tallest tower though, but to rid your hand of cats, and when the tower falls, the person who caused it to do so must keep all of the fallen cats.

To make it less a game of balancing and adding in the element of chance,

you’ll be rolling your dice to see how to stack the cats. This might be upside down, it might be on another card, but it will inevitably make that building a little more precarious. It’s a great family game because a tower that falls because of a lack of dexterity is just as likely to do so as a result of a bad roll, which helps even out the playing field.

It’s fun and straightforward, but it’s not a perfect game. There’s a storyline about the cats trying to stack because Catty Fatty wants the dried fish hung high on the shelf, that isn’t really necessary, plus whilst the artwork is bright, colourful, and fun, being printed on card that you then have to fold makes the creases prone to breakages. Will it last a long time? Probably not. However, having said that, for some light fun, Cat Tower is as comfortable as a cat snoozing on the bed, to keep on the shelf.

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PLAY IT?

MAYBE