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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[mamba]

This, most of this is why the OGL thing happened. Licensing and transmedia deals. This and The Planes of Existence reforged as the D&D Multiverse. It is all about transmedia licensing.

they can do all of that with the OGL in place

This is also one of the reasons for streamlining One D&D, to make it easier to code for VTT, and also to make it more accessible.

this is making virtually no difference to the complexity / time involved in developing a VTT. Best case (for you…) this saves them a few weeks out of a 3 digit number of development years. A drop in a barrel. Worst case it makes no difference whatsoever.

Being more accessible might be a consideration, not sure why you make that sound like a bad thing

 

[Weiley31]

This is what I think of when I see the Lady of Pain. Like I said new style is a tad more.... happy.

She hasn't had to deal with Vecna's crap since the end of 2E nor has she had to deal with any Faction crap.

Heck, I'd get a new haircut and feel happy too because of that.

 

[Zaukrie]

I want the factions beck like they started. Great role playing opportunities. Other than that, I'm likely good with any fluff changes

 

[Burt Baccara]

they can do all of that with the OGL in place

I know that, you know that. Lawyers and media licensing folk who are experts in media deals might still look sideways at copyleft and open licenses, or hear of the history of 4e and decided that is a risk, and as a lawyer their job is to remove risk. Who knows, but I'd guess this is the part of the WotC building that the OGL mess came out of.

this is making virtually no difference to the complexity / time involved in developing a VTT. Best case (for you…) this saves them a few weeks out of a 3 digit number of development years. A drop in a barrel. Worst case it makes no difference whatsoever.

Going to disagree here. Cleaner rules design can mean cleaner code to support the rules. It also means code that can be reused more easily across genres or properties. With 3.x keywords were introduced to D&D, this is a clean-up and update of keywords and the logic behind the rules system.

Being more accessible might be a consideration, not sure why you make that sound like a bad thing

Nope, not saying simplification is a bad thing at all.

 

[Parmandur]

I want the factions beck like they started. Great role playing opportunities. Other than that, I'm likely good with any fluff changes

It seems the art piece they showed includes characters who died in the 2E metaplot...ao, reboot seems likely.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

I want the factions beck like they started. Great role playing opportunities. Other than that, I'm likely good with any fluff changes

Keys from the Golden Vault seems to imply that the Fated are operating out of Sigil again and mentions the existence of an entirely new Faction: The Fixers, a Faction dedicated to maintaining the balance of the Blood War (perhaps the natural evolution of the old "celestial-backed arms dealers" plotline).

Whether that means we're getting a version of post-Faction War Sigil where the Factions have been allowed to return or a remixed version of pre-Faction War Sigil is unclear.

 

[DarkCrisis]

It seems the art piece they showed includes characters who died in the 2E metaplot...ao, reboot seems likely.

I honestly can't wait to see how they lighten up and re-flavor Plansescape/Sigil. Or at least as much as they can cram into 5 pages of lore.

 

[dave2008]

they can do all of that with the OGL in place


this is making virtually no difference to the complexity / time involved in developing a VTT. Best case (for you…) this saves them a few weeks out of a 3 digit number of development years. A drop in a barrel. Worst case it makes no difference whatsoever.

Being more accessible might be a consideration, not sure why you make that sound like a bad thing

The also mentioned putting the current core books in the VTT, so 1D&D is definitely not making it easier for them as they will have to update to whatever that becomes.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I have said several times the faction war could continue in the Gatetowns.

 

[Maggan]

The divide is typically on whether the 'g' is hard or soft.

Some pronounce it Sih-gill, others Sih-jill.

Fun fact in Swedish we prononcue it Si-gill. Close to the Planescape pronounciation.