Memorial Day sales are flying on everything from TVs to Switch games, but D&D books haven't been left behind – you can get impressive discounts on almost everything for the current edition. While those price cuts average 40% (or thereabouts), they go up to a full 52% off in some cases.
Still, not all D&D books are created equal. There are a few I'd recommend getting your hands on while they're cheap… and a handful I'd avoid. As a case in point, I'll always go to bat for Candlekeep Mysteries, currently $26.10 at Amazon (was $49.95). This collection of one-shot stories aren't just good for dropping into an existing campaign or running when your party is short on time; they're all brilliantly written as well, with some making up my favorite adventures outright due to their premise or sense of humor. (It's a similar story with another one-shot anthology, Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, which is 52% off at Amazon right now.) By the same token, I'd highly recommend Curse of Strahd even if it wasn't $27.49 at Amazon rather than almost $50. Few adventures have such a strong atmosphere or narrative as this gothic horror, so I have no qualms about pointing you in its direction ahead of this Memorial Day.
As for newer books, the just-released Vecna: Eve of Ruin has hit what I think might be, or is at the very least a few cents away from, its lowest-ever price of $47.99 over at Miniature Market rather than $59.95. While it's not necessarily my favorite D&D adventure, it's one of the rare few to actually focus on high-level characters and is a whistlestop tour through many of the game's best settings.
At the other end of the scale, I'd steer clear of the core rulebooks from this week's Memorial Day sale. Despite being cut in price quite drastically, they're due to be replaced within the next few months. As such, I'd make do with the free core rules while you can – otherwise you'll spend a fair chunk on something that's probably going to be outdated by the end of this year.
There are plenty of other books that are worth your attention, of course, so I've rounded up the ones I'd make a beeline for below. You can find the full sale at Amazon's D&D page here (scroll down until you hit the physical books), but in the meantime, let's dig into the specifics.
There are a few other books I'd recommend in this Memorial Day sale, but the sales aren't quite as strong so we'll blaze through them here. For starters, you can get one of the current edition's first and biggest adventure – Tyranny of Dragons, which is a solid "party must save the world from terrible evil" gambit – for a lot less at $28.75 via Amazon rather than $50. As for those at the other end of the scale, the superb beginner adventure Phandelver and Below is currently $34 at Amazon instead of $59.95. It's the stuff of classic swords and sorcery, introducing newcomers to D&D in an accessible yet compelling way.
For other recommendations, check out our guide to the best D&D books or the best tabletop RPGs.
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