D&D 5E D&D Direct: WotC's 2023 Announcement Showcase Livestream

D&D Direct, the half-hour livestreamed event where WotC will reveal its new Virtual Tabletop (VTT), talk about the future of D&D, and celebrate the new D&D movie, starts at 9am PT (5pm UK time)! Watch it below!

D&D Direct 2023 is a digital showcase that will feature announcements from all corners of the D&D fandom. Get a first look at the D&D virtual tabletop, tie-ins for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, exciting partnerships, and even hear about what to expect in future books. Deep dives for tabletop products will come later this year.

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Highlights/Contents

• D&D Minecraft is coming soon. You can download a Minecraft Monstrous Compendium at Minecraft.net.​
• Honor Among Thieves movie trailer.​
• Song cartoon about teaching your friends D&D.​
• Hasbro's 'March Monster Madness' D&D movie toys.​
• Magic: the Gathering cards featuring D&D movie characters.​
• Lolth's Warrior, R.A. Salvatore's new book in The Way of the Drow trilogy.​
• Trailer for Neverwinter video game Menzoberranzan.​
• D&D Digital Playspace--the upcoming new Virtual Tabletop playtest coming in late 2023.​
• Newsroom skit about a lifesized mimic and a baby owlbear escaping WizKids.​
• Joe Manganiello updates about his D&D documentary.​
• Chris Perkins & Jeremy Crawford on the D&D multiverse, Keys from the Golden Vault, Bigby Presents Glory of the Giants, Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk, Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse, Deck of Many Things, and hints about Vecna coming in 2024 in a worldhopping adventure, a Red Wizard story in 2025, and D&D cartoon villain Venger will return in an adventure.

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[Inxanity]

So, it looks like the teaser from last week didn't actually tease anything that was in the direct?

 

[UngainlyTitan]

D&D Virtual Tabletop: A Closer Look

Kale Stutzman, the game director behind the D&D VTT, gives an inside look at the goals behind the project, the latest news, and more information on ...

www.dndbeyond.com

Also, I don't agree at all that we need something as simple as MS Paint.

You can add in all the bells an whistles you like but the basic drawing tools should be basic. There are tons of software that can be used to create maps of any level of quality your skill can reach and they exist as stand alone applications. They do not need to be in the VTT and if there are such tools in the VTT, that is all well and fine but if I want to draw where my wall of fire is going to be in the game I should not need to watch a 2 hour Youtube tutorial just the figure out the editing window layout. (of how to get to the editing window in the first place)

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Canonically it's with the hard "g", as some book said it rhymes with "Wiggle". Though like all Planescape books in 2e, it's written in character.

Oh, to be sure, the people who pronounce Sigil with a soft 'g' are wrong ( ) - just noting that they exist.

 

[Zaukrie]

You can add in all the bells an whistles you like but the basic drawing tools should be basic. There are tons of software that can be used to create maps of any level of quality your skill can reach and they exist as stand alone applications. They do not need to be in the VTT and if there are such tools in the VTT, that is all well and fine but if I want to draw where my wall of fire is going to be in the game I should not need to watch a 2 hour Youtube tutorial just the figure out the editing window layout. (of how to get to the editing window in the first place)

Sure, but that's not what you said (or I read it wrong).....I agree, there should be easy ways to do things, and more complex ways to do more things.

 

[Saracenus]

So, it looks like the teaser from last week didn't actually tease anything that was in the direct?

The steam over the coffee mug was a reference to Sigil, so at least that was a relevant tease. The potatoes are a reference to the D&D Movie so ditto. I will have to re-watch it to catch anymore.

Oh and, PLANSCAPE CONFIRMED!

 

[darjr]

The hot cup of Joe.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Sure, but that's not what you said (or I read it wrong).....I agree, there should be easy ways to do things, and more complex ways to do more things.

You are not entirely wrong in the way you read me but why should a VTT support map creation at the level of GIMP, Illustrator, CorelDraw or so on?
Are you not better off learning to use a good image creation package and import the resulting images?

It is not the primary purpose of a VTT, a map is just an image (at least as far as 2d maps are concerned.)

 

[Zaukrie]

You are not entirely wrong in the way you read me but why should a VTT support map creation at the level of GIMP, Illustrator, CorelDraw or so on?
Are you not better off learning to use a good image creation package and import the resulting images?

It is not the primary purpose of a VTT, a map is just an image (at least as far as 2d maps are concerned.)

There is a ton of room between Gimp and Paint......Like, from here to tokyo amount of room.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

There is a ton of room between Gimp and Paint......Like, from here to tokyo amount of room.

Anything harder than MS Paint in a VTT and I am not interested. I would rather learn a stand alone application that I can use with any VTT.
Personally I use Dungeondraft and Wonderdraft, although my first ever VTT maps were done using GIMP.
I am not adopting a VTT for its art asset creation abilities, your mileage may vary.

 

[Zaukrie]

Anything harder than MS Paint in a VTT and I am not interested. I would rather learn a stand alone application that I can use with any VTT.
Personally I use Dungeondraft and Wonderdraft, although my first ever VTT maps were done using GIMP.
I am not adopting a VTT for its art asset creation abilities, your mileage may vary.

If I had to guess, it will be more like assets you put together, not create from scratch, but as you say, we just have different wants. I already have something that works great with 2D maps (Foundry).....so this needs something more....and it looks great right now.