As previously reported on this blog, Wizards of the Coast will be debuting a worlds-spanning event known as the Abyssal Plague early next year, with the release of the novel The Temple of the Yellow Skulls by Don Bassingthwaite in March of 2011. Though the novel takes place in the world of the core D&D rulebooks, the effects of the Abyssal Plague will be felt across all the worlds of D&D. According to the original announcement the Abyssal Plague will be featured not only in D&D novels but also in game products, though no specifics are yet known. In fact relatively little is know about what the Abyssal Plague will be but perhaps we will learn more later this week at Gen Con.

In addition, as previously reported, Wizards is releasing a prequel novella (The Gates of Madness) in 5 parts. It was previously announced that this tale would only be available in select paperback releases througout the rest of the year. However, part 1 of The Gate of Madness has now been made available as a free download on WOTC’s website. You can download your copy here. I have not yet had a chance to read this, but it will no doubt shed some light on what we can expect. And don’t forget part 2 will be released tomorrow in the first book in the new D&D novel line, The Mark of Nerath by Bill Slavicsek.

In other Abyssal Plague news, we can now report that book #2 of the Abyssal Plague series (the sequel to The Temple of the Yellow Skulls) will be a Forgotten Realms novel called Sword of the Gods by Bruce R. Cordell and will be released in April 2011.

For more information of Bruce R. Cordell’s previous Realms novels, check out our new Forgotten Realms novel list here.