Spelljammer D&D Direct Live Report: 9am PDT (5pm BST) SPELLJAMMER CONFIRMED! DRAGONLANCE!

D&D Direct, WotC's new video-format announcement show launches today at 9am PDT (5pm BST). If you aren't able to watch it, I'll be updating this article live. Feel free to comment below! Once it launches, you will need to refresh this page when you want to see new updates. The video is expected to last about 30 minutes.

If you CAN watch it, you'll find it on YouTube or Twitch at the above times. Otherwise, follow along below!

• 45 mins to go. Live updates incoming!
• 30 mins to go!
• 5 minutes to go!
• Here we go! Opens with a sea shanty.
• Forgive typos. They talk fast and I can't type.

• Spelljammer is confirmed!
• They talk REALLY FAST!
• Spelljammer Adventures in Space, project lead Chris Perkins, Trystan Falcone graphic designer
• Cities built on asteroids, dead gods floating in the ether
• 6 races---astral elves, autognomes, hedozi(?), gif, plasmoids, thri-kreen
• 3 hardcovers in a slipcase: Astral Adventurers Guide, Boo's Astral Menagerie, Light of Xaryxis adventure
• Prequel adventure in July
• Wizkids miniatures

Other stuff also discussed!

• Baldur's Gate 3 CRPG preview video (game is in 2023)
• Journeys Through Radiant Citadel intro video -- 3 of the adventures are: Wages of Vice (5th level), Caribbean; Orchids of the Invisible Mountain (14th level), feywild, far realm, Whistler new monster; Fiend of Hollow Mind (4th level), skeletons and spirits

• "Campaign Cases" -- Creature tokens! Terrain tiles! July!

D&D Movie directors now onscreen. The movie in March 2023 is called HONOR AMONG THIEVES.

• New D&D starter set. Comes with 'digital onboarding'. Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. We knew about that one.
• D&D digital monstrous compendium. Available to those with WoTC or D&D Beyond Accounts. Volume 1 has an eldritch lich and the 10 legged asteroid spider. And the starlancer. Might have misheard some of that!

• MMO Neverwinter video. Dragonslayer begins June 2022. (I wonder if they'll need a dragonance for that?)
• New D&D actual play video, Legends of the Multiverse. Lots of 80s cartoon style soft rock music. Boo is in it.

WIzKids skirmish game D&D Onslaught. October

Finally -- DRAGONLANCE WARRIORS OF KRYNN! SHADOW OF THE DRAGON QUEEN!

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

But it would have been untruthful.

No it wouldn't have. Saying "I really hope that the next classic setting book is Planescape or Dark Sun" isn't untruthful. It seems pretty accurate to what you were saying. Making it some sort of ultimatum (i.e. publish Planescape or Dark Sun or else I'll stop buying from you) wasn't necessary. Or explicitly saying that you're being bitter just to add more bitterness. Especially when one of the settings you mentioned wanting (Dark Sun) is probably coming really soon.

I had been planning to get Spelljammer, assuming it came out, but 192 pages? No thanks, not unless reviews from even bitter cynics are super-positive (as opposed to "fans" who never review anything negatively, only with varying degrees of positivity lol).

I don't know if you're accusing me of being a "fan that never reviews anything negatively", because if you are, you're extremely inaccurate. I hated the Strixhaven book, still hate the SCAG, and really wish that this release of Spelljammer had more content. That is a major part of these books that I'm not okay with. I'm not a huge fan of some of their more recent books (Strixhaven, Candlekeep, Monsters of the Multiverse), but I also thought that Fizban's was amazing and a superior monster book than the others we've gotten in 5e.

If you want a taste of what Spelljammer in 5e will look like, check out their free spelljammer monster PDF that they released today. That preview alone is enough to sell me on the book. I don't care if it's shorter and more expensive than I would have preferred, the art and monster design in this PDF is amazing, and it will be well-worth buying for me just for the space combat, spelljammer races and monsters, and vehicle rules.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don't know if you're accusing me of being a "fan that never reviews anything negatively", because if you are, you're extremely inaccurate.

I'm not even aware of you doing reviews, so yeah that's not about you mate.

I'm talking generally about a larger phenomenon that isn't just about D&D or TTRPGs, but where there's a kind of friendly, nice fan who does reviews, and all their reviews will be positive. They're basically grading between 8/10 and 11/10. I'm not saying they're bad people, but I find that sort of criticism to be valueless to me.

It's not an "ultimatum", either, it's just a comment. What you think I'm The Riddler and I expect WotC to release Planescape or I'm going to blow up Gotham? Tick tock tick tock WotC LOL jesus wept. No. It's just me commenting that like, I'm not impressed and I see no reason to give them money (including for DDB) until they give me something I'm impressed by. I'm already not giving them money - it's just it's gonna continue lol at the current rate.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I'm curious as to how they're packing the 12 'cliffhanger' episodes (1 for each level) into 64 pages. That's 5 pages per episode plus 4 pages of intro. Either this is going to require a lot of DM imagination or is almost nothing but text.

I'm wondering that myself. Maybe they got the page count wrong?

 

[overgeeked]

I'm curious as to how they're packing the 12 'cliffhanger' episodes (1 for each level) into 64 pages. That's 5 pages per episode plus 4 pages of intro. Either this is going to require a lot of DM imagination or is almost nothing but text.

Or it’s high page-count to play-time material. Lots of fights that reference stat blocks in the monster book. Lots of ship-based adventures that reference the player’s book. One episode per four-hour session. That’s a fair amount of play time. Most WotC modules are decompressed compared to TSR’s modules. Maybe they’re learning something from the OSR on module design. And book design. Can’t help but think of OSE when I see 64-page hardbacks.

 

[OB1]

I'm wondering that myself. Maybe they got the page count wrong?

So an article I was reading on another site notes that each episode is meant to be played in 2-4 hours. Guess that could fit into 5 pages if it's mostly text? Similar to an AL game?

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Last complaint (I swear) on the Spelljammer price.

This is all the content for the new box set Stormwreck... and all for $20. That's an absolute steal, and I hope it's a little evidence that WotC doesn't have to release content exclusively at $70+ price points.

 

[whimsychris123]

I have not read all 400+ posts, but I see that people are unhappy about the price tag. I have to add my name to the chorus of the unhappy. I had guessed that it would be two hardcovers in a slipcase for Spelljammer. Three hardcovers are cool, but at 64 pages each for $70? Disappointing. And I don't really use DM screens and I already have three. It feels like less content, more money. I guess if I want Spelljammer, I'll need to pay the price, or just get it on DND Beyond, which also has a jacked-up price of $50 (normally, a book with the same amount of pages or more is $30).

But happy about the announcements overall. Spelljammer and a new Dragonlance campaign? Super exciting!

 

[ersatzphil]

I don't know if you're accusing me of being a "fan that never reviews anything negatively", because if you are, you're extremely inaccurate.

I really don't think you need to take that personally - the internet is full of reviewers who breathlessly announce that every time WotC puts out a book, it's the best RPG product invented by Man.

 

[overgeeked]

Last complaint (I swear) on the Spelljammer price.

View attachment 155752

This is all the content for the new box set Stormwreck... and all for $20. That's an absolute steal, and I hope it's a little evidence that WotC doesn't have to release content exclusively at $70+ price points.

It’s called a loss leader.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I'm talking generally about a larger phenomenon that isn't just about D&D or TTRPGs, but where there's a kind of friendly, nice fan who does reviews, and all their reviews will be positive. They're basically grading between 8/10 and 11/10. I'm not saying they're bad people, but I find that sort of criticism to be valueless to me.

From my experience, this is true for literally every fandom on the face of the Earth, so long that it is of sufficient size.

It's not an "ultimatum", either, it's just a comment. What you think I'm The Riddler and I expect WotC to release Planescape or I'm going to blow up Gotham? Tick tock tick tock WotC LOL jesus wept. No. It's just me commenting that like, I'm not impressed and I see no reason to give them money (including for DDB) until they give me something I'm impressed by. I'm already not giving them money - it's just it's gonna continue lol at the current rate.

I was just saying that your post was overly negative for no real reason. I get that you're salty about this release, but that's really no excuse to add to the toxicity for what could have been a neutral post ("I really wish that they would officially publish Planescape and Dark Sun").