D&D (2024) D&D Mysteries of the Multiverse Reveal

The last segment of today's D&D Direct presentation featured Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford, both D&D game architects. They talked about what adventures to expect the rest of this year, what's coming next year, and beyond, all centered around the D&D Multiverse.

After a recap of the adventures to date, Perkins and Crawford showed some art from Bigby Presents: The Glory of the Giants, coming this year. Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk will explore the mysterious obelisks that have been appearing in adventures over the last nine years and connects to The Lost Mines of Phandelver.

That will be followed by Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse, which will lay groundwork for a major adventure in 2024. Lastly for 2023, they'll delve into the chaos-causing Deck of Many Things, and the story behind the legendary item.

A major D&D villain will be making his return in 2024. Vecna's true cosmic horror will be unleashed in 2024 with a world-hopping adventure that will celebrate D&D's 50 year history and reveals deeper plots for years to come.

But Vecna is just one-part of D&D's interconnected storytelling. A lot more will be revealed in the next five years. For example, the Red Wizards of Thay will be featured in a 2025 adventure, and Venger from the D&D cartoon will return to be the main antagonist in another future adventure. The League of Malevolence, introduced in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, will seek power across the multiverse in stories to come.

All in all, Crawford and Perkins teased many more adventures to come, some of which will interconnect, building a big story that plays out throughout the D&D Multiverse.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hmmh. I am not sure. D&D is about playing your own story. Playing the story you just saw in a cinema seems lame.

You're not sure that handing people a simplified copy of the rules and an adventure to play immediately would create new gamers?

In a world where people continually complain that there aren't enough D&D groups out there, WotC should be doing everything they can to change that.

So how would you do a tie in adventure other than the prisoner 13 thing.

Pick any of the background characters from the movie. Make them a patron. Set it outside Neverwinter. Have an adventure.

The heist book overall is probably a good tie in, as heists play a big role in the movie.

It's a great tie-in, in the "I found it in the back of a locked file cabinet in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door that said 'beware of the leopard'" kind of way.

There are about to be millions of people who will be walking out of the D&D movie over the next couple of weeks. If your job is to expand the number of players/customers in the universe -- and this, in fact, is the job of quite a number of people -- "we think they will, on their own, find their way to a bookstore and, on their own, figure out which $50 adventure book to purchase after they purchase $150 in other books, and become lifelong gamers" doesn't cut it.

The on-ramp needs to be as easy and possible. Ideally, it should be free with a ticket. Barring that, it should say "HONOR AMONG THIEVES" on it, to make sure there's no confusion about the connection between the movie and the game.

If these extra efforts only turned 5% of an estimated one million cinema-goers into regular D&D customers, that's 50,000 more customers, more than many whole RPGs today have.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The main issue with meta plot is that you start needing to homebrew things as your game starts to diverge from it. If Sigil crashes into Krynn or something you're going to have a harder time making use of future products.

This is the problem with being beholden to anyone else's lore. In the end, it will always break your heart or, at a minimum, become a headache.

Be your own masters.

 

[vecna00]

You're not sure that handing people a simplified copy of the rules and an adventure to play immediately would create new gamers?

In a world where people continually complain that there aren't enough D&D groups out there, WotC should be doing everything they can to change that.

Pick any of the background characters from the movie. Make them a patron. Set it outside Neverwinter. Have an adventure.

It's a great tie-in, in the "I found it in the back of a locked file cabinet in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door that said 'beware of the leopard'" kind of way.

There are about to be millions of people who will be walking out of the D&D movie over the next couple of weeks. If your job is to expand the number of players/customers in the universe -- and this, in fact, the job of quite a number of people -- "we think they will, on their own, find their way to a bookstore and, on their own, figure out which $50 adventure book to purchase after they purchase $150 in other books, and become lifelong gamers" doesn't cut it.

The on-ramp needs to be as easy and possible. Ideally, it should be free with a ticket. Barring that, it should say "HONOR AMONG THIEVES" on it, to make sure there's no confusion about the connection between the movie and the game.

If these extra efforts only turned 5% of an estimated one million cinema-goers into regular D&D customers, that's 50,000 more customers, more than many whole RPGs today have.

Even a little "Go here for the free Basic Rules!" could go a long way.

 

[bedir than]

Why weren't they handing out quickplay kits or at least slapping QR codes for them up at every screening?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sending people to D&D Beyond -- where there's a ton of articles up right now for new players -- is good, but it's still one more step than the ideal. Ideal is something you can read in the car on the way home instead of having to go to a website. But this is a good step.

 

[bedir than]

Sending people to D&D Beyond -- where there's a ton of articles up right now for new players -- is good, but it's still one more step than the ideal. Ideal is something you can read in the car on the way home instead of having to go to a website. But this is a good step.

I bet the QR Code is to PlayDnD.com, which is all about new player onboarding

 

[UngeheuerLich]

You're not sure that handing people a simplified copy of the rules and an adventure to play immediately would create new gamers?

No. This is the part I had no doubts about. I thought you meant playing parts of the movie story. This would be something I found downturning...

I like your idea of chosing one of the movie characters as a patron for a heist.

This could be a good way to have a movie connection. Maybe have doric assign them to protect an emerald enclave village from being wiped out while she will go on her quest to get rid of the new lord.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Sending people to D&D Beyond -- where there's a ton of articles up right now for new players -- is good, but it's still one more step than the ideal. Ideal is something you can read in the car on the way home instead of having to go to a website. But this is a good step.

I think people find a way to read an online source in the car these days...

 

[Parmandur]

It seems like there will be a metaplot, but I am not sure how they would "impose" that. I mean there have been many a D&D plot and meta-plot before and none of it has ever affect my games. I really can't imagine how they can change anything in my game, even if they wanted too.

I think that's why they are leaning into the multiverse terminology, which Marvel has made mainstream: theybcan present a version of a world or events...but your version doesn't have to match.

They've been doing thst for ten years, honestly, and I don't expect that approach to change all that much. We might get Vecna's Reign of Terror, but I doubt there will be a canonical resolution, just as with every 5E Adventure: metaplot as a field of possibilities, rather than set events.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The movie starts today and I am seriously consodering watching the OV version although I don't have time...