WotC D&D Direct--Learn About Upcoming D&D On April 21st!

D&D Direct is a 30-minute video which WotC will be releasing on April 21st at 9am Pacific Time (5pm BST, if I have my time zones correct). They'll be using it to reveal stuff about upcoming D&D projects (including video games and entertainment). The video will be presented by Anna Prosser and B. Dave Walters.

This is being billed in an emailed announcement entitled "Learn Everything That’s Happening This Year for Dungeons & Dragons" as the "first ever D&D Direct", so presumably there are more planned.

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The D&D Team at Wizards of the Coast is excited to debut D&D Direct, a jam-packed thirty-minute video presentation on April 21 at 9:00 AM Pacific Time.

Tune in to see exclusive reveals from the world's greatest roleplaying game, including video games, entertainment, and more, guided by hosts Anna Prosser and B. Dave Walters.

D&D Direct will be broadcast on the D&D YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/DNDWizards) and Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/dnd) channels.

To find out more on D&D Direct go to dnd.wizards.com and follow the official D&D social media accounts for more updates.

See you on April 21 at 9:00 AM PT for the first-ever D&D Direct!

 

[OblivionDrive]

Yeah, no way they would keep pushing an "April Fools!" joke that hard. Spelljammer Confirmed, with a veneer of plausible deniability till next week.

I mean it’s less “April Fool” and more “running joke for the last three or so years” but yeah it definite feels at this point like we’re all just playing the biggest “gosh I have no idea what you’re talking about” possible, with a big theatrical wink attached to it.

I honestly am just at the point where I don’t know if I prefer that tactic or the old days where we just had next to no clue what was coming out any given release until the invariable Amazon leak happened.

 

[ersatzphil]

The just sort of review the M&M material.

That said, Mindflayers play a big role in BG3, and a Mindflqyer plot would make q good Summer Adventure...if that's still a thing?

I've been beating this drum for a bit:

At the recent D&D Celebration livestream, he said they'd be making an announcement in October, and that he was completely unable to even offer a hint that wouldn't let the entire cat out of the bag (my phrasing): link to video. Personal guess? Spelljammer is the next big adventure book, and it involves going to the Far Realms.

Perkins said players would be absolutely terrified of the new product, and that it brought D&D to a place we haven't been before. Again, just a guess.

Plus of the big 5e D&D adventures, I don't believe we've had one with Mind Flayers as the big bads yet.

This point I suspect I was incorrect on - he was probably talking about Call of the Netherdeep.

I've been letting this percolate in my head for a bit, and I'm reminded of how Dan OBannon, the screenwriter for the movie 'Alien' described his film - he said if HP Lovecraft's stories were about finding ancient evils from beyond the stars here on earth, that this movie was about going out beyond the stars and encountering the ancient evils on their home turf.

 

[Parmandur]

I mean it’s less “April Fool” and more “running joke for the last three or so years” but yeah it definite feels at this point like we’re all just playing the biggest “gosh I have no idea what you’re talking about” possible, with a big theatrical wink attached to it.

I honestly am just at the point where I don’t know if I prefer that tactic or the old days where we just had next to no clue what was coming out any given release until the invariable Amazon leak happened.

I like this, it's fun.

 

[Parmandur]

I've been beating this drum for a bit:



This point I suspect I was incorrect on - he was probably talking about Call of the Netherdeep.

Yeah, I do suspect almost that there might not be a Summer Adventure at all, since there has never been more than 2 big Adventure books in a year for 5E, but who knows?

 

[ersatzphil]

Yeah, I do suspect almost that there might not be a Summer Adventure at all, since there has never been more than 2 big Adventure books in a year for 5E, but who knows?

You know, you're right - some thread around here somewhere had a nice gantt-style chart listing every 5e release, but I can't seem to find it:

2014: Hoard of the Dragon Queen + Rise of Tiamat
2015: Princes of the Apocalypse + Out of the Abyss
2016: Curse of Strahd + Storm King's Thunder
2017: Tomb of Annihilation + Tales from the Yawning Portal *
2018: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist + Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
2019: Baldurs Gate: Descent into Avernus + Ghosts of Saltmarsh *
2020: Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
2021: Candlekeep Mysteries * + The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

The fact that we've already getting a big adventure and anthology this early in the year really does throw things off. 2020 was the one year we only got one adventure, but we also got two campaign settings in the same year - Theros and Wildemount - and players options in Tashas. Then again, we were supposed to get one more book than usual this year as I recall... and there's the question of whether or not MotM counts, as it seemed to have gotten pushed back...

 

[Mark Craddock]

Hasbro has been doing these Direct programs for a couple of years now.

 

[Parmandur]

You know, you're right - some thread around here somewhere had a nice gantt-style chart listing every 5e release, but I can't seem to find it:

2014: Hoard of the Dragon Queen + Rise of Tiamat
2015: Princes of the Apocalypse + Out of the Abyss
2016: Curse of Strahd + Storm King's Thunder
2017: Tomb of Annihilation + Tales from the Yawning Portal *
2018: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist + Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
2019: Baldurs Gate: Descent into Avernus + Ghosts of Saltmarsh *
2020: Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
2021: Candlekeep Mysteries * + The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

The fact that we've already getting a big adventure and anthology this early in the year really does throw things off. 2020 was the one year we only got one adventure, but we also got two campaign settings in the same year - Theros and Wildemount - and players options in Tashas. Then again, we were supposed to get one more book than usual this year as I recall... and there's the question of whether or not MotM counts, as it seemed to have gotten pushed back...

One of the things that makes following this exciting is that they have been shaking things up and adapting over time. Either they aren't doing a big splashy storyline AP this year, and that's a change, or they have three Adventure hardcovers, and that's a change. And Witchlight and Strixhaven shoe they may just be be ding the categories all together. We'll know soon enough.

I kind of felt after Icewind Dale that maybe the "Sword Coast Cycle" thst Perkins had been working on was done...

 

[ersatzphil]

And Witchlight and Strixhaven shoe they may just be be ding the categories all together.

For better or (imho) worse, I could see both / either Spelljammer or Planescape getting the Strixhaven treatment.

 

[ersatzphil]

2014: Hoard of the Dragon Queen + Rise of Tiamat
2015: Princes of the Apocalypse + Out of the Abyss
2016: Curse of Strahd + Storm King's Thunder
2017: Tomb of Annihilation + Tales from the Yawning Portal *
2018: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist + Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
2019: Baldurs Gate: Descent into Avernus + Ghosts of Saltmarsh *
2020: Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
2021: Candlekeep Mysteries * + The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

…wait, was Descent into Avernus really the first alt-art adventure book?

 

[Parmandur]

For better or (imho) worse, I could see both / either Spelljammer or Planescape getting the Strixhaven treatment.

I think a Strixhaven approach is much more likely than a big Adventure book, but I expect something more like Ravenloft.