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.

​

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!

 

[Mercurius]

I personally believe the classic setting returning (Spelljammer) and the summer adventure are the same thing. I don't know if that qualifies as a new format or whether that's something else, but I do feel confident that the Spelljammer and Dragonlance books (both likely this year) will not share the same format to one another.

I could see Spelljammer being a hybrid setting/adventure like Witchlight or Strixhaven, or I could see Dragonlance having a reprint of some of the DL modules included.

Well, to do Spelljammer justice, it should be a box set, complete with resin ship figures (not cardboard cut-outs!).

So maybe the "new format" is:

A box set with everything you need to run a Spelljammer campaign, including a gazetteer, an adventure compilation, a map or three, and figures.

While not new to D&D, we haven't seen that sort of thing in 5E's run - at least not really.

 

[Mercurius]

It’s nothing but wild-eyed speculation on my part, but my theory is the Dragonlance is going to get its own slipcase of campaign setting + a ‘War of the Lance’ adventure book for the holiday shopping season. It’d be a new format, at least.

Joe Mangianello keeps referring to Dragonlance as ‘the Star Wars of D&D’, and I’m sure that’s music to Hasbro’s ears.

So they're leveraging Mangianello's star power? Of course he's a (late) Gen-Xer and presumably played/read Dragonlance as a kid, so has Gen-X sensibilities. Not to say that DL couldn't translate to a younger demographic, though.

 

[ersatzphil]

Well, to do Spelljammer justice, it should be a box set, complete with resin ship figures (not cardboard cut-outs!).

While I in no way mean to diminish the Spelljammer fandom, I suspect this is what everyone feels their favorite old setting needs to "do it justice". I could say the same about Planescape - minus the ship figures, of course.

A box set with everything you need to run a Spelljammer campaign, including a gazetteer, an adventure compilation, a map or three, and figures.

I don't think you're wrong, I just think you're describing the inevitable Beadle & Grimm's version.

 

[ersatzphil]

So they're leveraging Mangianello's star power? Of course he's a (late) Gen-Xer and presumably played/read Dragonlance as a kid, so has Gen-X sensibilities. Not to say that DL couldn't translate to a younger demographic, though.

He did an interview with Todd Kendrick a year ago, and casually dropped that he had official rules for draconians like 8 months before anyone knew anything about the Fizban's book:
YouTube link.

That being said, I think you hit the nail on the head - I reread a few of the novels during the lockdown, and they were way more YA than I remember them being. It's all about how they translate it to the contemporary audience.

 

[Mercurius]

He did an interview with Todd Kendrick a year ago, and casually dropped that he had official rules for draconians like 8 months before anyone knew anything about the Fizban's book:
YouTube link.

That being said, I think you hit the nail on the head - I reread a few of the novels during the lockdown, and they were way more YA than I remember them being. It's all about how they translate it to the contemporary audience.

Yup. I read--and absolutely loved--them first when I was 11-12, then again in late high school, I think, and started to go "hrm." I re-read them again in my late 20s, and couldn't finish them - although did enjoy the story, which holds strong in terms of adventure fantasy.

 

[Ancalagon]

Well, recall that Monsters of the Multiverse was supposed to come out in 2021, and was delayed: it is not inconceivable that they will have more than 5 books. They never promised a specific number, and they break patterns qll the time.

It's more of a "guideline" than a strict structure I believe.

 

[Ancalagon]

Yup. I read--and absolutely loved--them first when I was 11-12, then again in late high school, I think, and started to go "hrm." I re-read them again in my late 20s, and couldn't finish them - although did enjoy the story, which holds strong in terms of adventure fantasy.

But other books aged far better. I re-watched the LotR films at the beginning of the pandemic, and suddenly the "long hazardous journey" which is such a central theme in Tolkien's work suddenly made so much more sense. I suddenly felt that I understood the fear and uncertainty of the pandemic, or of a dangerous journey in unfamiliar lands, or of living through a world war, a bit better, and thus I understood Tolkien better.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Well, to do Spelljammer justice, it should be a box set, complete with resin ship figures (not cardboard cut-outs!).

So maybe the "new format" is:

A box set with everything you need to run a Spelljammer campaign, including a gazetteer, an adventure compilation, a map or three, and figures.

While not new to D&D, we haven't seen that sort of thing in 5E's run - at least not really.

I'd be super surprised if they did resin figure in a box, as cool as that would be. Love a box of any kind though!

 

[darjr]

Alright, I did find one cache of their comments:View attachment 155394

Oh I’m sure someone has an entire cache of their comments.

 

[Mercurius]

But other book aged far better. I re-watched the LotR films at the beginning of the pandemic, and suddenly the "long hazardous journey" which is such a central theme in Tolkien's work suddenly made so much more sense. I suddenly felt that I understood the fear and uncertainty of the pandemic, or of a dangerous journey in unfamiliar lands, or of living through a world war, a bit better, and thus I understood Tolkien better.

Yes. My point is that when you're 12, your "literary sensibilities" aren't as developed. Taste is refined over time, a palate developed.

I have found that the "best" literary works work on multiple levels. Take Le Guin's Earthsea books - they work as a coming of age adventure story for early adolescents, but deepen as one ages. And of course there's the level of knowing a thing or two about Jungian psychology and Taoism that brings a different element.

Lord of the Rings is similar, and I found my experience of it to be "v-shaped" over time. When I was a kid it was magical. When I was a young adult, I found it a bit archaic and preferred writing with a more personal and modern style. But then in my 30s, and moreso now in my 40s, I find it better than ever - both appreciating his world-building more deeply on an aesthetic level, but also Tolkien's wisdom at are embedded within it.

But I veer off-topic...