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!

 

[overgeeked]

I pulled out my Adventurer's Guide to Eberron from 2008 to check and I was right - it's a 64 page hardcover. As is the Dungeon Survival Guide that came out the same year. I assume that Wizards has a mock up to look at and it looks fine,but to me the slipcase is going to look a little anemic with three books that thin in it. I can see how they're going for a modern version of the old boxed set idea, but I dunno - I'll have to see how it feels when I actually have a copy in hand.

However as a counterpoint on the price issue - the cover price on those books was $20 back in 2007. So three of them would have been $60 and when you add in the slipcase, map and GM screen and inflation over the years means the price is about the same. Which I was not expecting.

And there’s Amazon. You’re all-but guaranteed to get $10-20 off retail, bringing the actual price down to exactly where everyone complaining about it says would be fine.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Nope. Mine is in same place, but whilst Spelljammer was exotic I never found it even as compelling as the FR.

And the approach sounds likely to be extremely expensive with zero justification. If it isn't, great! But I'll believe it when I see the price.

Looks like the set is $50* for three books, slipcase, map and screen.....good price for me! (I don't do minis).

True on that being the era of settings, though. I was in to Spelljammer, Planescape, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft but I did not go anywhere near Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk or Birthright later as the content (at the time) felt too specific for me to use in my homebrews. As a result, I favored the more exotic settings for offering stuff that was outside my own campaign's normal scope.

*or wait sounds like I am quoting the PDF price? Is $150 really correct???? Gah!

EDIT 2: Okay $70 per Amazon. A bit steeper, but for the extra map and screen I can see it. I'm okay with this, but I can see more budget conscious gamers being unhappy for valid reasons, books are getting costly.

 

[Jer]

And there’s Amazon. You’re all-but guaranteed to get $10-20 off retail, bringing the actual price down to exactly where everyone complaining about it says would be fine.

The problem with the Amazon approach is that some folks prefer to support local game stores, so it isn't a complete answer.

 

[Staffan]

I mean barring a ship-sized portal in Sigil itself (which seems extremely unlikely)

One of the Planescape books has an anecdote about someone ordering a "squid" from a local merchant and ending up with a squidship instead of a cephalopod.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I mean I definitely makes it easier to take the one book out to toss to your players for PC options without needing to worry about them peeking at monsters or the adventure.

Yes this here is why I like the format.

 

[Parmandur]

...I think I must have missed any Giff funerary rites in the video, but I can roll with that.

Fat fingers, autocorrwct for crewmate, lol

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I like Spelljammer, but not $150.00 like the Core Rules or Expansion Gift sets much.

It would be a hard pass if it was what you proposed.

Wait....$150??? I thought the slipcase set was less. Okay need to research.
EDIT: Comprehension failure on my part. $70. Okay then.

I can totally understand how this would be a tough sell overall, but I am in the crowd that was ready to fork out $150 for three books if they were full size tomes, fyi.

 

[overgeeked]

The problem with the Amazon approach is that some folks prefer to support local game stores, so it isn't a complete answer.

If people want to support their local shop, that’s great, but they already accept paying more than most everyone else. With inflation, three hardcovers, a slipcase, a double-sided map, and a DM’s screen, $70 is a fair price.

 

[overgeeked]

Wait....$150??? I thought the slipcase set was less. Okay need to research.

It’s $70. People are being really loose with their comparisons.

 

[Parmandur]

Plus, you get a nifty DM's screen, which cost $15 when bought separately.

So that's 206-220 pages plus a DM screen, in a format that is a bit easier to use, for $70. Or $33 if you have D&D Beyond and the Legendary Bundle. Accounting for the DM screen cost alone Means this is an increase of just $5 over the 220 page Volo's Guide to Monsters.

And that $5 can be attributed to inflation, as dave2008 and others have said.

There it is: three $20 books (based on PRERECESSION prices, even!) and a $15 DM screen: not a "deal" per se, but fair based on market prices.