Although we have yet to test it in-game, the new Player's Handbook (2024) is as exciting as promised

I've been known on occasion to read RPG sourcebooks for fun. I don't need to play every game published to get something out of it – in fact, no one has time to join me in every game I find interesting, least of all me – but a good one usually gives me the feeling that how it to play, or tell a story in their world. That hasn't always been the case with Dungeons & Dragons. While tons of older D&D books are fascinating to flip through, the most useful ones—the core rulebooks, including the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual—usually leave me with a mild headache. I am far from alone in this.

Wizards of the Coast, the Hasbro-owned shop responsible for all things D&D, is using the famed RPG's 50th anniversary to address this. After years of playtesting, plans, and changing plans, the public will get their first taste of the 2024 Player's Handbook at this weekend's Gen Con. Polygon took a look at it courtesy of Wizards, and yes, they may have succeeded in exactly what they set out to do. The Player's Handbook (2024) is a shockingly accessible refresh of D&D's Fifth Edition, a modern and clean reworking of the first book every D&D player reads—and one they'll likely stick with for generations.

A point of order: I've only had the new manual for a couple of days and haven't had a chance to run a game with it yet. Any interesting or unfortunate wrinkles in the way the updated game plays will continue to emerge in the weeks and months that follow as the book breaks containment and spreads through the roleplaying masses. So I can't tell you how this new version of D&D plays. However, I can tell you how this book feels just to read: it feels amazing.