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D&D (2024) "The Future of D&D" (New Core Books in 2024!)

The online D&D Celebration event, which has been running all weekend, comes to a close with The Future of D&D, a panel featuring WotC's Ray Winninger, Liz Schuh, Chris Perkins, and Jeremy Crawford, hosted by Elle Osili-Wood. https://www.enworld.org/threads/a-closer-look-at-januarys-rules-expansion-gift-set.682894/ Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse A treasure trove of...

The online D&D Celebration event, which has been running all weekend, comes to a close with The Future of D&D, a panel featuring WotC's Ray Winninger, Liz Schuh, Chris Perkins, and Jeremy Crawford, hosted by Elle Osili-Wood.

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D&D is exploring the multiverse
Revisiting classic settings. 1st of 3 settings (Ravenloft) released this year. Next year, the other two major classic D&D settings come out. Both in formats they've never published products before.

Plus a "little peek" at a third classic D&D setting - a cameo.

In 2023, yet another classic setting is coming out.

Evolving D&D
Because of new players, they're always listening. Exploring new styles of play (like no combat needed in Wild Beyond the Witchlight). Also presentation of monsters and spells. New product formats. More adventure anthologies.

Making products easier to use. Ways to create the best experience. Experimenting and looking into technology.

Approaches to Design
Wild Beyond the Witchlight has interior design and tools to make running the adventure easier. Story tracker, guidance.

Beyond the books, they want to make different and varied products - packaging and form factor. Things different to hardcovers and boxed sets.

A blog post is coming soon detailing some of the changes, with more to come in future posts.

50th Anniversary in 2024
They've begun work on new versions of the core rulebooks. Recent surveys tie into that. They're still making plans, but expect more surveys. More will be said next year.

They will be completely compatible!

New experiences in the digital arena.

January Gift Set
Rules Expansion Gift Set -- Xanathar, Tasha, and a new book: Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse. All in a slipcase. Was intended for the Holidays, but global production issues mean January instead. There's also an alternate cover version.

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Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse
A treasure trove of creature related material from previous products compiled into one book and updated.

Opportunity to update material with a feel for how the 50th Anniversary books will be.

Improvements based on feedback, rebalancing, new and old art.

Over 250 monsters, and 30 playable races. All of the setting agnostic races that have been published outside the Player's Handbook.

Some content from Witchlight, Fizban's, and Strixhaven was influenced by Mordenkainen's.

Available first in the gift set, but separately later in the year.

Monsters alphabetized throughout rather than using subsections.

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Stat block changes --

Spellcasting trait is gone. Spellcasting action, slimmed down. Spellcasting monsters need less prep.

Spell slots are gone for NPCs. Regular actions that would have once been spells.

It was too easy for a DM to use spells which result in the monster having a too low effective CR.

Monsters can be friends or foes, and some magic will help rather than hinder PCs.

Where are we going?
More adventure anthologies. Another classic setting fairly soon.

Two all-new settings. Completely new. In development stage, an 'exploration' phase, testing the viability of them. They might not see the light of day.

Retooling nostalgia and blending it with new concepts. A blend of things that you know, and things that they have never done before.

In the short term -- more news next month about a new product for 2022 which goes into a new scary place we've never been before.

Boo the miniature giant space hamster
Below is an sketch from Hydro74's alt cover, which features Boo the miniature giant space hamster.

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Scribe

Legend
Hey, you guys can love and have fun with silly. D&D sales are doing great so whatever it takes to keep D&D going works for me. Just saying it's taken a serious turn.

I mean, it depends on what one focuses on I think.

Core books? Straight up Fantasy.
Most of the Adventures? Fantasy.
XGtE, MToF? Perfectly fine.
Guide to Ravenloft? Again, read some of it, it's adult horror.

Feywild? It's how you pitch it. Yes, it could be cute, or it could be fairy tales of kids getting cooked into a snack.

Now, I did my time at school, I'm not interested in doing that again, but someone IN school, may love it, and 'its not harry potter'people can claim all they want, but give 100 people a 25 word description on this setting, and they will say 'oh, Harry Potter.'

Wizards can be so lucky to have such an easy, modern, trope to ride.

That said, outside of my own stubborn lines in the sand, the only books I skip automatically, are because they are MTG.

The rest is serviceable if not for me being stubborn.

The book being announced will "goes into a place we've never been to before" that is "wonderful, scary, players will be absolutely terrified when they go into it, setting." Not sure if Spelljammer counts for that, as its not entirely new.
I really wonder if Far Realm will appeal, or if I'm off on my guess.
 



I'm not going to go too in depth, but my main gripes (mechanically) with the race are:
  1. Their innate spellcasting is weaker than almost every other spellcasting race's innate spellcasting (most of the subraces only get 1 spell once per long rest, while Water and Fire Genasi get that and a cantrip, which is just straight up worse than Drow, Hexblood, Fairy, and Triton spellcasting).
  2. Water Genasi are supposed to be an aquatic race, but they can't breathe underwater (strangely, Air Genasi sort of have the ability to do this). Edit: It has come to my attention that I somehow completely missed the "Amphibious" feature. Ignore this completely.
  3. They just straight up get less racial features than other races (compare them to an Elf or Dwarf, and you'll see it), and a lot of them that they do get are just awful, in that they're so situational that you're almost never going to be able to make use of them (like the Earth Genasi's Earth Walk and the Air Genasi's Unending Breath).
Like I said above, the Fire Genasi is the most playable Genasi subrace. I personally would have them become Lineages, so a Dwarf, Orc, or any other non-human race could become a Genasi, but I also would like for their lore to match their racial mechanics. Nothing about the race's features connects them to their Genie parent, they're just elemental in nature. (Genies get Darkvision, Flight, and other features that the Genasi don't get, while Genasi get abilities and spells that none of the Genies get.)

Not all Genasi are related to Genies, the Genasi of Abeir are related to Primordials and their servants I believe.

Otherwise I agree with this, although I'll not Water and Fire Genasi get piles of useful abilities, Air and Earth one use of one good spell, and a ribbon ability so even within the race, there is imbalance. They are still better then the poor Kenku however.

It's because they created them based on the 2e Genasi which had cool flavour, but awful designs.

3e/3.5e and 4e had far, far better designed Genasi that were well balanced with each other and had more Genasi variety (for example Thunder and Void Genasi).

So I hope they fix them and the Kenku, everything else is just tweaks.

Genasi are very important to the Forgotten Realms and Planescape, and moderate presence in Eberron and Nerath, and could fit into a few more settings like Ravenloft, so are very important race to get right. They should even be in the Core 3 in 2024 along with Goblins, Orcs, Aasimar IMHO.
 


Levistus's_Leviathan

5e Freelancer
Now, I did my time at school, I'm not interested in doing that again, but someone IN school, may love it, and 'its not harry potter'people can claim all they want, but give 100 people a 25 word description on this setting, and they will say 'oh, Harry Potter.'
I know that I could easily turn a school adventure into a horror story.

"You show up late to class, and you forgot to do your Math homework! Oh, the humanity!!!"
 

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