A fan-favorite character from the Baldur's Gate series will soon have a starring role in a Dungeons & Dragons book, as Boo's Astral Menagerie will take the hamster and his human companion throughout the Spelljammer campaign setting. Wizards of the Coast revealed some incomplete cover art for a D&D book starring Boo back at D&D Live 2021, but the content of the book was unknown at that time.
Boo debuted in the original Baldur's Gate game, as the animal companion for Minsc, a human ranger who kept Boo with him at all times. Minsc believed that Boo was a miniature giant space hamster, as those things technically exist in the D&D multiverse, though most people suspected that Boo was just a regular hamster. The current edition of D&D is set centuries after the events of Baldur's Gate 2, but Minsc and Boo are still adventuring in the modern era, as they were both petrified and unfrozen, allowing them to survive into the D&D 5e version of the Forgotten Realms.
Wizards of the Coast revealed during the first-ever D&D Direct online showcase that the Spelljammer campaign setting is returning, in the form of the Spelljammer: Adventures in Space box set. Spelljammer: Adventures in Space actually contains three books, one of which is Boo's Astral Menagerie, which acts as the bestiary for the Spelljammer campaign setting. The cover art depicts Boo sitting on Minsc's shoulder, as they ride through a sea of stars on the back of a monster.
Boo's Astral Menagerie contains new monsters for the Spelljammer campaign setting, including space clowns, vampirates, murder comets, giant space hamsters, solar dragons, and lunar dragons. The book will also contain stats for enemy versions of the D&D races from the Spelljammer setting, which were hinted at in a recent Unearthed Arcana article. Players will be able to create characters from these races by using the rules in another book from the Spelljammer: Adventures in Space set, called Astral Adventurer's Guide.
There have been several D&D 5e books that have featured character viewpoints, such as Fizban's Treasury of Dragons and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Boo's Astral Menagerie is the first one to star a character who was introduced in the D&D video games, but there are few worthier choices than Boo, as he's one of the most beloved characters in the Baldur's Gate franchise. The duo that was first introduced in the Baldur's Gate series has since gone on to be part of the D&D comic books series, and it's great to see Minsc and Boo be part of D&D in the long-awaited Spelljammer campaign setting.
Boo's Astral Menagerie will be part of the Spelljammer: Adventures in Space campaign set for Dungeons & Dragons, and it will launch on August 16, 2022.
