D&D's Gen Con keynote, featuring new announcements, will be livestreamed on YouTube

Wizards of the Coast will make new announcements about Dungeons & Dragons on Thursday, July 30th at Gen Con. Wizards of the Coast announced new details about their Gen Con plans for Dungeons & Dragons, with a full slate of programming available here. Of particular note is the "D&D Vision Keynote 2027: A New Dawn of D&D" featuring Dan Ayoub, Head of D&D Franchise at Wizards of the Coast, for the Vision Keynote 2027 and hosted by Baldur's Gate 3's Theo Solomon. The keynote address will feature new announcements about Dungeons & Dragons (likely including the November 16th D&D product) and will also likely feature announcements about D&D's 2027 slate. The keynote starts at 6 PM on Thursday.

Wizards previously stated that they would be making annual announcements about Dungeons & Dragons at Gen Con, including a timeline for future releases. It stands to reason that we'll be getting multiple announcements about D&D, including a possible Dark Sun campaign book and also the new villainous subclasses that have been recently playtested.

For those not attending Gen Con, the keynote will also be livestreamed on D&D's YouTube page.

 

[Reynard]

My bet is we get an official worlds beyond announcement with info about one off settings coming to DDB like Transformers.

They will go all-in on 3pp being added to DDB.

Recent DDB survey also asked about adding other D&D editions to DDB.

My prediction is less WOTC content but massive DDB push.

I know that was the plan, but I wonder if the recent X-Box news has made them reconsider. Game Pass ended up doing more harm than good, and pushing too much on Beyond could have similar results for D&D.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I know that was the plan, but I wonder if the recent X-Box news has made them reconsider. Game Pass ended up doing more harm than good, and pushing too much on Beyond could have similar results for D&D.

That dial is probably being constantly adjusted as is. Xbox Game Pass was a firehose, though, providing vastly more new content than D&D Beyond does.

 

[Reynard]

That dial is probably being constantly adjusted as is. Xbox Game Pass was a firehose, though, providing vastly more new content than D&D Beyond does.

Sure, but they have shown more and more interest in adding subscribers with free material. That said, D&D books are not "free" to subscribers so you are probably right. Until they start cannibalizing book sales it is probably less apt comparison than I initially thought. It's more like Steam, I guess.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sure, but they have shown more and more interest in adding subscribers with free material. That said, D&D books are not "free" to subscribers so you are probably right. Until they start cannibalizing book sales it is probably less apt comparison than I initially thought. It's more like Steam, I guess.

Game Pass has given out access to some games that are so time-consuming, they become the only game anyone plays. I don't know how they were deciding what games to add to it, but they were making a lot of weird choices.

Something like Apple's (obviously much smaller) Arcade subscription is probably a healthier model, in that you get access to a lot of games that you will beat in a week or so, and there's always another new short thing to play. You don't ever play Monument Valley III or whatever and say "I could just buy this game, pay a smaller fee, and never need the Arcade subscription again." Monument Valley is great, but it's got a beginning, middle and end.

Back to D&D Beyond, it's possible that they eventually put out so many good magic items, like climber's ammunition, etc., that people don't want a big book of magic items, but that seems like it'd be a long way off and involve years of subscription revenue before putting a dent in book sales.

I don't trust that WotC has the attention span to keep drops going that long anyway.

 

[mamba]

Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Death Saves get announced as part of the “Black Label” imprint, and are basically glorified 3rd Party books where WotC licenses out the settings back to their original creators (and Joe gets to make his home campaign official).

I would not mind that at all, the only thing that might suffer is the art budget

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would not mind that at all, the only thing that might suffer is the art budget

Speaking for myself, I think all three lines would be great with black and white interior art, as they all feel very 1E to me.

 

[Belen]

Game Pass has given out access to some games that are so time-consuming, they become the only game anyone plays. I don't know how they were deciding what games to add to it, but they were making a lot of weird choices.

Something like Apple's (obviously much smaller) Arcade subscription is probably a healthier model, in that you get access to a lot of games that you will beat in a week or so, and there's always another new short thing to play. You don't ever play Monument Valley III or whatever and say "I could just buy this game, pay a smaller fee, and never need the Arcade subscription again." Monument Valley is great, but it's got a beginning, middle and end.

Back to D&D Beyond, it's possible that they eventually put out so many good magic items, like climber's ammunition, etc., that people don't want a big book of magic items, but that seems like it'd be a long way off and involve years of subscription revenue before putting a dent in book sales.

I don't trust that WotC has the attention span to keep drops going that long anyway.

Nothing prevents them from forcing a subscription for players to have access to custom character builders for worlds beyond. If they add Transformers, then maybe the character builder for it is not free or maybe the book is required by all players in order to build a character and play in the game.

I think the main goal though will be to get as many people on DDB as possible.

It would work and I would support a worlds beyond covering 5e versions of game like Transformers, Star Wars, Mass Effect, etc.

 

[TravDoc42]

An update to Spelljammer or Planescape that will be a huge improvement

Manifesting this!! I loved the lore and art of the new Spelljammer, but I would love to see a new and improved version with better rules!!

As for Planescape... well, look at my profile picture+!

 

[Tigris]

Dice like that always have a chicken-and-egg problem associated with them: without mechanics that actually use them, there's basically no market for selling them except as an oddity, but any mechanics that do rely on them will be strongly resisted because so few people have the relevant dice.

This is why boxed sets and components like in boardgames should be more common.

D14 d16 d18 would be perfect for system where mechanics increase and decrease dize sizes.

I dont think thats useful in 5e but systems like cortex prime could benefit from it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Manifesting this!! I loved the lore and art of the new Spelljammer, but I would love to see a new and improved version with better rules!!

Obligatory plug for Limithron's Guide to Naval Combat, their 5E version of the excellent Pirate Borg naval combat rules.