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!

 

[Parmandur]

Oh - I'm in no way saying it's wrong, just that it's a way weaker leap than the giff funko pop or the UA that we got. For many of us among the ancient dead, seeing Boo doesn't elicit a response of "oh hey Spelljammer", but rather:View attachment 155481
...now of course, were it to be an adventure that began in the city of Baldur's Gate and then went off into Wildspace...

They're also the main characters for the now long running Dungeons & Dragons comic, so for a lot of people Minsc & Boo are just synonymous with D&D at this point. And hey, look, there is an unannounced but leaked D&D Graphic Novel coming from Jim Zub, who uses the duo in his comics coming soon....

 

[Demetrios1453]

I'd agree, except it's becoming more and more obvious that they're positioning Boo to be the face of Spellnammer by linking him to all of these things. I wouldn't be surprised if the book's name is announced to be "Minsc and Boo's Adventures in Wildspace" or something like that.

My theory is that the adventure will have someone Spelljammer-y (a tinker gnome?) kidnap (hamster-nap?) Boo as one of the legendary miniature giant space hamsters, and it's up to us and Minsc to rescue him. I also have a feeling we'll see Lantan (the Realms' magitek land, and a known port for Spelljammer craft in past editions) here, as we were told during the run-up to ToA's release that we should keep an eye on Lantan when they were showing off the Chult map (which had Lantan on its northern edge).

 

[Demetrios1453]

Honestly doing the first Spelljammer stuff as an AP makes the most sense. It’s a 2E setting that wasn’t touched since. Ravenloft was basically the same, despite the 3X support from White Wolf. Eberron was created in 3E and supported in 4E, and had a ton of stuff for it still relatively recently, so just going full setting book made more sense. If they’re finally bringing back Spelljammer, they’ll likely give it the Avernus treatment or the Curse of Strahd treatment. Full AP with only the setting detail you need for the module along with the rules you’ll need to run it. The Multiverse UA races, the ship rules (if you actually need them), and the rest is adventure.

Honestly, there really isn't too much necessary for the actual "setting" stuff for Spelljammer. Races, ship descriptions, ship-to-ship combat rules, travel rules, descriptions of select crystal spheres, and tables on creating your own crystal spheres. For the rest, I assume that the adventure itself would include a description of the various locations in Realmspace, the Rock of Bral, and a bestiary anyway.

As a comparison, Strixhaven had 40 pages of setting material, 142 pages for the four linked adventures (which went from 1st through 10th level), and 42 pages for the bestiary. Honestly, that would work just fine for a combined Spelljammer setting/adventure, in my opinion. And that was just 224 pages; since this looks like it's getting the premier late summer release slot, there's no reason the Spelljammer book couldn't go up to 256 like Avernus or VRGtR or even 320 like Icewind Dale or Eberron, giving room for an even more substantial adventure and/or setting material...

 

[ersatzphil]

My theory is that the adventure will have someone Spelljammer-y (a tinker gnome?) kidnap (hamster-nap?) Boo as one of the legendary miniature giant space hamsters, and it's up to us and Minsc to rescue him. I also have a feeling we'll see Lantan (the Realms' magitek land, and a known port for Spelljammer craft in past editions) here, as we were told during the run-up to ToA's release that we should keep an eye on Lantan when they were showing off the Chult map (which had Lantan on its northern edge).

We're in agreement - my original guess was an adventure where the party travels to Lantan, perhaps by way of the portal in the Lantanese embassy in Waterdeep. Boo getting kidnapped to pilot / provide a power mechanism for a spelljammer would be perfect. There, they get ahold of a spelljamming ship, and travel to the Rock of Bral, where they uncover an illithid plot to extinguish the sun / finally defeat the gith / random villainous call-to-action - perhaps the apex of the adventure is venturing into the Far Realm itself to foil the plot. Call it "Lantan: The Sea Beyond the Stars", but that might be too close to Witchlight.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

No, you know this will be a grand adventure to find Boo's long-lost home world and many adventures will be had and friends made as the group searches for Grogu's Boo's family. Maybe he will even have his own viewing bubble on the top of the Jammer to watch from.

 

[darjr]

These guesses are strangely specific

 

[darjr]

Goodman Games used Gather Town for a virtual convention.

Pickup Games on Gather.Town this Friday Night!|Goodman Games

goodman-games.com

 

[teitan]

3e, notably, was the one time they didn't explain the changes via some cataclysm. There were some changes, but on the scale of other changes they had been doing throughout 2e. Instead, the official line was that any game representation of the Realms would necessarily be an adaption of how the Realms "really" is, and 3e was just a closer approximation.

They had the Vecna crossover modules to explain how things changed and why.

 

[darjr]

So Mike Shea says that a contact of his says that the presentation is a half hour long but the whole event is an hour and a half.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The secret is Boo can change its size thanks special magic item.

Vecna hasn't said his last word. I suspect he will be very important in a future event or story-arc.

There are past sci-fi franchises (Farscape, Babylon 5, Andromeda) what could be recycled for a licence as "guest artists" in Spelljammer. The factions of Starcraft are relatively easy to be adapted for Spelljammer, but Terrans would be more steampunk or magitek.

I see a great potential for the metaplot the rogue group of Githyankis from the module "the black spine" for Dark-Sun setting. Maybe they have conquered the crystal spheres next to the "crimson sphere"(Athas).

Maybe we will see an animated D&D show, but each episode would be an one-shot story with a different group of characters (as a compilation of pilot episodes). Why not one with the iconic characters of Greyhawk 3.5 Ed?

* Inmortal PCs are too powerful, and then they should be in a "far space" because they can alter the "metaplot" of the D&D multiverse.