Dungeons & Dragons has released the core rulebooks for its updated Fifth Edition, the 2024 Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the 2025 Monster Manual. They are filled with revised rules, spells, and monsters that make the game more challenging and fun for the entire group.
Related
Dungeons & Dragons: 8 Best Monstrosities In The 2025 Monster Manual
They’re not natural, except when they are.
They are also filled with little references, Easter Eggs, and nods not only to each book, but to outside media as well, such as video games and old cartoons. An expansive list of every single tiny reference would be exhaustive, but we did compile the most significant Easter Eggs found among all three books.
7
The Gold Dragon
It Represents The Anniversary Of D&D
From the many nods to all things D&D found in the books, few are as sentimental as the gold dragon in the cover of the 2024 Player’s Handbook. It was so important to include said creature that it appears in both cover versions and on the sides of the Dungeon Master’s Screen.
The significance is the anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, a hobby that is now 50 years old. If compared to wedding anniversaries, this would make it the golden anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, hence why the first book of the three to be released has a gold dragon front and center.
They Are More Than Guidance
The 2025 Monster Manual is filled with art and lore text to contextualize the stat blocks, letting Dungeon Masters know how a given creature acts in its environment. It also has quotes from fictional characters who have faced those creatures, setting a tone of awe, despair, or camaraderie.
Plenty of these comments, however, are also references to famous figures and their role in the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse. The book is filled with them, but the best examples are Baba Yaga in the arch-hag entry (establishing her as an arch-hag) and Vi in the blob of annihilation entry, the renowned artificer from Eberron, detailing how terrifying the creature can be.
5
Magic Items Used In The Art
A Taste Of What Lies Ahead
In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, there are plenty of art pieces with characters using magical items. These aren’t mere illustrations; the items end up looking like in the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, and no piece of art represents this better than the hag shop found in the first chapter of the Player’s Handbook.
Related
Dungeons & Dragons: All Blight Monsters, Ranked
For these D&D blights, their bark is just as bad as their bite.
A great number of magical items can be recognized behind the green hag, chief among them the Bag of Holding, the Alchemy Jug, and the Quiver of Ehlonna. As an added bonus, the sorceress seems to be casting Friends or some other spell to aid in the transaction.
4
Characters From The Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon
Both Them And Their Items Make An Appearance
The Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was a kid’s show from the 80s that lasted three seasons, covering the adventures of a few children from the real world trapped in the land of the TTRPG. Due to the fond memories many veteran fans have of the show, the characters make an appearance in the books, appearing first in the Player’s Handbook, chapter two.
Since the characters appear as adults in the art, it is safe to assume they never found a way back to their world after the show was over.
They are more prominent in the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, particularly the section about magic items. There, you can find Hank’s Energy Bow, Diana’s Quarterstaff of the Acrobat, and even Presto’s Hat of Many Spells, with rules that make them function just like they did in the cartoon all those years ago.
3
Spell Art Nodding At Features From Other Books
Dragons Can Cast Spells Now
The 2025 Monster Manual came with many changes and updates for lots of creatures, with the dragons being the most changed ones. The adult and ancient versions of all dragons (except for white ones) have the spellcasting feature, something alluded to in the Player’s Handbook: the art example for Control Weather is an ancient brass dragon casting the spell instead of any kind of humanoid.
Related
Dungeons & Dragons: 8 Best Fey In The 2025 Monster Manual
You don’t need to head to the feywild to encounter Dungeons & Dragons’ fey creatures.
The art for the Gate spell also has a reference to a different book, in this case to the Dungeon Master’s Guide. While the bard Otto is seen using the Gate spell, it isn’t a spell normally available to bards; he is actually casting the spell thanks to a magic item, the Cubic Gate.
2
Characters From Baldur’s Gate 3
Who Knows How Many Are Hidden
A character that is often referenced in D&D media is Minsc, the heroic ranger who has traveled through a lot of places in the multiverse. His most prominent appearances in the three books are in the adventure examples of the Dungeon Master’s Guide and on the cover of the Monster Manual.
Minsc also appears as a playable (if slightly hidden) character in Baldur’s Gate 3, but he isn’t the only character from the video game that can be found in the books. Astarion appears in the art for the Daylight spell in the Player’s Handbook, and considering he isn’t on fire, it is hard to say if he still has the tadpole in him or if something far worse has happened.
1
The Character Classes Appearing Throughout The Books
They Are Having Their Own Adventures
The art examples for each of the classes showcase an archetypal example of each class, and if you look closer, you can see them having adventures together all throughout the book. The druid, in particular, had a great career, exploring with the warlock in chapter one of the Player’s Handbook, healing the barbarian in the art of Lesser Restoration, and adventuring through Pandemonium in the Dungeon Master’s Guide after a slight cosmetic change.
The subclasses are seen more prominently in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, making all sorts of combinations among them. If these are their canonical adventures, then we are sad to report that the life domain cleric is dead, as per the art depicting him in the Death section of the DM’s Toolbox.
Dungeons & Dragons
- Original Release Date
-
1974
- Player Count
-
2+
- Age Recommendation
-
12+ (though younger can play and enjoy)
- Length per Game
-
From 60 minutes to hours on end.
- Franchise Name
-
Dungeons & Dragons
- Publishing Co
-
Wizards of the Coast
- Brand
-
Dungeons & Dragons