D&D 5E D&D Celebration Schedule Announced

WotC has posted the schedule for it's D&D Celebration online event taking place from 18th-20th September.

The event includes a range of panels and live games, including sessions on Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, mental health, inclusive dungeon design, and including asian stories in your games. These include people such as Daniel Kwan (Asians Represent) and Sara Thompson (The Combat Wheelchair), who have both spoken publicly about problematic issues in D&D.

 

[Reynard]

I wish it would say who the groups were doing the adventures. There doesn't appear to be any information on the games.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Those panels look pretty interesting. There's also going to be Adventurers League games going on. Looking forward to some more Icewind Dale content.

 

[LordEntrails]

@Reynard
My understanding (from trying to volunteer to run some games) is that all the DMs are being provided by Baldman game via the Herald's Guild.

 

[Rhineglade]

I find myself having a hard time getting my head around making all the D&D races the same. In the real world, I understand the truth that we are all human beings and are all equal with varying talents and abilities. In a D&D setting, however, I always saw it as being purposefully DETACHED from the truths of reality. And in this regard, each race was made purposefully unique. By blending everything together and mellowing out the "viva la difference" there no longer seems to be any special "cool factor" since you can basically get the same traits no matter who you play. Is this just me?

 

[Reynard]

@Reynard
My understanding (from trying to volunteer to run some games) is that all the DMs are being provided by Baldman game via the Herald's Guild.

Oh! I thought it was a live stream event, like there was going to be a Mercer game and a Woll game. I misunderstood the event.

 

[BigZebra]

I find myself having a hard time getting my head around making all the D&D races the same. In the real world, I understand the truth that we are all human beings and are all equal with varying talents and abilities. In a D&D setting, however, I always saw it as being purposefully DETACHED from the truths of reality. And in this regard, each race was made purposefully unique. By blending everything together and mellowing out the "viva la difference" there no longer seems to be any special "cool factor" since you can basically get the same traits no matter who you play. Is this just me?

Well let’s see how the rules turn out. I hope they can make them stand out in another way. Pathfinder 2e did something similar and that seems to work even though calling something ancestry instead of race does seem a bit performative to me. But we also have to accept that race is such a loaded word nowadays so an alternative term is probably a good idea none the less.

 

[Fallen star]

Unless someone is coming to confiscate your Players Handbook, you can just ignore those rules.

 

[Parmandur]

Oh! I thought it was a live stream event, like there was going to be a Mercer game and a Woll game. I misunderstood the event.

It's a little of both: some celebrity games, but they are also running AL tables, including their first online Epic event set in Icewind Dale.

 

[Weiley31]

I find myself having a hard time getting my head around making all the D&D races the same. In the real world, I understand the truth that we are all human beings and are all equal with varying talents and abilities. In a D&D setting, however, I always saw it as being purposefully DETACHED from the truths of reality. And in this regard, each race was made purposefully unique. By blending everything together and mellowing out the "viva la difference" there no longer seems to be any special "cool factor" since you can basically get the same traits no matter who you play. Is this just me?

My humblest of opinions is that if you want to continue using the racial/ability modifier rules as is, you can still do that. If you want to spice things up and use the variant Lineage rules for races in Tasha's or you just want to do something crazy like a Goliath Hexblade warlock and not get screwed by the racial ability modifiers, then the Lineage system has your back.

Nothing is forcing you to use either method or to not use the term "race" anymore. Pick and choose the bits you want and roll it all to your liking.