WotC Pax Unplugged D&D Presents Panel teasers about 2020

[Quickleaf]

Pax Unplugged D&D Presents video

Was listening in the car yesterday, and I noticed two titillating nuggets. If this has already been mentioned elsewhere on the site, feel free to merge or disregard.

First off, Chris opened by explaining that D&D Presents is meant to tie in directly to future D&D products, offering teasers and showing DMs how to use the WotC modules in their games.

Levistus involved in 2020 book/storyline?
At 3:47:51 Mica Burton asked the audience whether she should play a regular tiefling or a Levistus tiefling. Crowd responded resoundingly in favor of a Levistus tiefling. Chris Perkins followed up, saying how "I can't begin to tell you how well that's going to work into the 2020 experience we're going to have." Levistus is an archdevil entombed in ice who rules a layer of the Nine Hells called Stygia.

Spelljammer stuff involved in 2020 book/storyline?
At 4:01:22 an audience member asked: "I saw you were using the Dragonmark rules. Are you guys going to be using more content from Eberron and possibly going there?"
To which Chris Perkins answered: "We will not be going to Eberron, but I'm pretty loose as a DM about pulling stuff in from other settings. Including stuff we haven't even released yet, like, hey, I can throw some Spelljammer stuff into this campaign if I want to. And I will! So if a player wants to play with some Eberron material, Dragonmarks, whatever, I'm all for it."

 

[Prakriti]

Levistus involved in 2020 book/storyline?
At 3:47:51 Mica Burton asked the audience whether she should play a regular tiefling or a Levistus tiefling. Crowd responded resoundingly in favor of a Levistus tiefling. Chris Perkins followed up, saying how "I can't begin to tell you how well that's going to work into the 2020 experience we're going to have." Levistus is an archdevil entombed in ice who rules a layer of the Nine Hells called Stygia.

Hum. They just did Descent into Avernus, and I doubt they'll do another Nine Hells adventure so soon after the first one, so I'm guessing there's some other connection here. Maybe a winter-themed adventure (Icewind Dale?), a planar adventure, or a Volo's-style book about fiends.

 

[gyor]

Perhaps Levistus is the main villian of Dark Alliance, which is set in Icewind Dale.

And there are Spelljammer elements in BG3. If these get special TTRPG adaptions, that could explain them both.

 

[Quickleaf]

Hum. They just did Descent into Avernus, and I doubt they'll do another Nine Hells adventure so soon after the first one, so I'm guessing there's some other connection here. Maybe a winter-themed adventure (Icewind Dale?), a planar adventure, or a Volo's-style book about fiends.

Bryn Shander in Icewind Dale features heavily in Sword King's Thunder, and there was a solid description of Icewind Dale along with a random encounter table. It's a pretty small region, but I guess they could zoom in on the other Ten-Towns of Icewind Dale.

It struck me as an interesting comment for exactly the reason you mention.

There might be a way to bring the Ring of Winter story arc to fruition, which they've been hinting at with Sword King's Thunder and Tomb of Annihilation.

Ring of Winter. Prince of Frost. Icewind Dale. Spelljammer that also traverses seas/rivers. The River Styx. Tantlin (Levistus' City of Ice, a planar hub on the Styx). I could see writing a connection between them, though that would definitely be a wicked curve ball.

 

[dave2008]

Spelljammer stuff involved in 2020 book/storyline?
To which Chris Perkins answered: "We will not be going to Eberron, but I'm pretty loose as a DM about pulling stuff in from other settings. Including stuff we haven't even released yet, like, hey, I can throw some Spelljammer stuff into this campaign if I want to. And I will! So if a player wants to play with some Eberron material, Dragonmarks, whatever, I'm all for it."

I don't feel like this statement is a hint that spelljammer is coming in 2020. The "stuff we haven't released yet,..." covers a large amount of material, most of which will not be coming out in 2020.

 

[gyor]

Bryn Shander in Icewind Dale features heavily in Sword King's Thunder, and there was a solid description of Icewind Dale along with a random encounter table. It's a pretty small region, but I guess they could zoom in on the other Ten-Towns of Icewind Dale.

It struck me as an interesting comment for exactly the reason you mention.

There might be a way to bring the Ring of Winter story arc to fruition, which they've been hinting at with Sword King's Thunder and Tomb of Annihilation.

Ring of Winter. Prince of Frost. Icewind Dale. Spelljammer that also traverses seas/rivers. The River Styx. Tantlin (Levistus' City of Ice, a planar hub on the Styx). I could see writing a connection between them, though that would definitely be a wicked curve ball.

Dark Alliance is set in the past, not the 5e era.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Dark Alliance is set in the past, not the 5e era.

Was there a statement on that?

 

[Leatherhead]

Was there a statement on that?

It's not so much a statement as an observation on the timeline. The game is set after the events of The Crystal Shard. Which happened sometime back in second edition.

It could still use 5e inspired rules (but that's not likely given the genre)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It's not so much a statement as an observation on the timeline. The game is set after the events of The Crystal Shard. Which happened sometime back in second edition.

It could still use 5e inspired rules (but that's not likely given the genre)

Well, “after the events of TCS” would be a statement on the timeline, AFAIC. I didn’t know that was the case and haven’t seen a description that said that. Probably because I haven’t looked into the game much at all.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Teasing Spelljammer is a running joke at WotC. I wouldn't read anything into it at all.