Today, Wizards of the Coast is launching Drops, a new benefit for D&D Beyond subscribers. New content will, well, drop weekly on Thursdays in addition to a monthly Drop on the first Thursday of every month. This first Drop is basically a combination of the two, releasing 500+ items.
“D&D Beyond Drops is the way that we are updating our subscription service,” said Jay Jani, technical product manager for D&D Beyond, to create “an ever-growing evergreen content library.”
The batch dropping today is substantial, including 125 maps, a new background, 5 spells, 250 image reveals, 5 feats, 10 stickers, and more. This new member benefit is available to all Hero and Master tier subscribers. Wizards is essentially “flipping the switch” on this new benefit and every Hero or Master tier subscriber will have access to the material starting today, May 7.
In addition to making a D&D Beyond membership more valuable to subscribers, Drops will allow Wizards of the Coast to release material that might not fit the mold of a physical product launch as well as bring back some old favorites. An example of the former is a Wild West Wizard, and the latter includes spells from prior editions updated for the current edition, like Stick to Snakes.
Drops also allows Wizards to provide content to those who aren’t interested in participating in a given season’s theme.
“There will be instances where we align to the books or whatever major release is going on, but it won’t be purely in support of books. June might have Ravenloft content but [we] want to strike the balance of supporting core play as well as those who aren’t interested in the current season,” said Jani.
What Will DDB Drops Cost?
Drops is not associated with a new subscription tier and prices for Hero and Master tier subscriptions are staying the same. If you subscribe to either tier, you get Drops automatically. It's a value add for your membership.
”It was important to us that if you are a Hero or Master tier subscriber, you just get this,” said Brian Perry, executive producer for D&D Beyond. “We asked non-subscribers what would you want for subscriptions to D&D Beyond and this was the number one thing they asked for. There will not be a price increase associated with this and both Hero tier and Master tier subscribers get all this material.
“Our previous subscription benefits really kind of relied on just giving players cosmetic options as well as giving [content] to them in a limited sense,” added Jani. “So essentially before they were time limited where were you had to be subscribed for January to get that perk, but February came around, and you subscribed, then you didn’t get that January perk anymore. And so we wanted to remove that aspect and make it so that if a person subscribes two years from now, they’ll get access to everything up to that point and they’ll get access to future drops as well, as long as they remain subscribed.
What’s in the DDB Drop?
Drops are a mix of material to give players more options to create fun characters, and tools and information for DMs to help them run their campaigns, throw together encounters quickly, and more. The material will be a mix of new content and things from prior editions updated for 5E.
Drops will also strike a balance between evergreen content and material that ties into a current season.
“So right now we’re in the season of horror, which of course, is a horror-themed thing, but not every group wants to engage with horror,” said Jani. “In instances like this, we can help serve different interests for both players and DMs. A DM may not be able to use something from the book because it doesn’t fit their current campaign and so that’s why as we’re giving them the weekly drops and the monthly drops, it’s stuff that can pull from all over the varying themes and pieces of D&D, so that they can really pull it into their game with minimal fuss, and they don’t have to worry that, oh, this is a hyper specific situation that I can only use if I play this specific game.“
“For players, we want to make sure that we’re letting them express their creativity, whether it’s through new spells or new backgrounds. Just any way that they can be like, you know what, I kind of want to explore this character archetype, and now I have the content to do so,” added Jani.
What Are Weekly DDB Drops?
Weekly Drops are modular content for DMs. Weekly Drops come in two varieties.
The first kind is called Drop-in Encounters. Those are essentially encounters where you don’t really need a lot of story or context.
If, for example, your players are traveling to the next city over, and you’ need an encounter to surprise them on the way, you could decide on classic bandits, go to the DDB library, look for bandit ambush, add it to your game, and you’re all set. Wizards has done all the prep work of setting up tokens, setting up the fog of war (the areas the players can’t see on the digital map), and so forth.
The second kind are storied encounters, which will debut in Q3. These are encounters that will involve a bit more context or story.
“Let’s say werewolves take a hostage. What might the ramifications be? What if the players opt to negotiate with the werewolves? Or what if they opt to just straight up attack it? There is a little bit more context or nuance needed there,” said Jani. Storied Encounters will fill that slot.
What Are Monthly DDB Drops?
Monthly Drops are the bigger stuff. For DMs it’s things like brand-new maps, brand-new monsters, stickers, and other tools you can use within the maps VTT. As for players, it’s more variety and more things for building characters.
Even though some Drops content is geared toward players and other content is for DMs, both Hero and Master tiers get all of the same material. Why? Because maybe a player wants to try DMing, especially if the DM can’t run one week. Also, some DMs also play,
What’s in the First DDB Drop?
The May 7 Drop has 500+ items, including:
- 125 Maps
- 10 Stickers, themed for Nature and Terrain Features
- A New Background
- 250 Image Reveals
- 5 Feats
- 5 Spells
- and more.
The maps from Drops will be directly added to your Maps browser in a new section called “Subscription Library.” The new map library will follow a strict and intuitive taxonomy so if you’re looking for town maps, you go to the urban section. The religious section has subcategories for temples, ruins, and so forth. This section answers a common request and serves one of a DM’s biggest needs.
DDB subscribers will also receive another 250 images for the Maps VTT that can be used as reveals for campaigns. The images are from 5th edition and are designed to address common DM needs.
The new background is called “Pact Seeker.” It lets a player strike a deal with an extraplanar entity, without forcing them to become a full-fledged warlock. It also allows access to a new type of feat called Planar Pact feats.
Planar Pact feats come in two varieties: Fey Pact and Infernal Pact. Both provide abilities according to their extraplanar type. General feats can help build on that pact.
The five spells are ones from older editions of D&D, updated for 5E. In addition to the previously mentioned, Sticks to Snakes, the Drop spells include Leomund’s Lamentable Belaborment, which forces your enemies to argue with each other, ignoring events occurring around them, and Astral Flood, which channels a torrent of energy from the Astral Sea.
All of the Drops content is “being put through their mechanical paces” by the TTRPG studio. It’s play tested to ensure that it meets D&D standards just like book content does. They’re also striving to balance how much is new material and how much is revised older material.
Other DDB Drop Details
Drops are not part of a DM’s content sharing options. That’s only for books bought in the marketplace. However, a DM can check a box and their players won’t see the Drop content until the DM has a chance to review it.
The DDB team is also looking to improve tools, including better ways to support in-person play and bring reveals to the table if the DM is not using the digital map. Some of those improvements will come later this year.
DDB is starting Drops with all in-house content, be it new or revised from prior editions. Wizards does have plans to include third-party content, but that will happen later.
