Dungeons & Dragons Will Announce New Products at Gen Con, Modules Returning to Game

Wizards of the Coast plans to use Gen Con as a launching point for future products. During a press briefing at Gary Con on Thursday, Head of D&D Franchise Dan Ayoub said that they would be announcing the product tied to the Season of Champions at Gen Con this year. Additionally, starting at Gen Con in 2026, D&D will also announce the roadmap for the upcoming year at the convention, which will include announcements of upcoming Seasons, announcement of new products, and other "stuff" tied to the season.

Ayoub told the press briefing that early feedback for the seasons have been "fantastic," so it appears that this will be the standard moving forward.

Later in the press briefing, Ayoub noted that the lengthy delay in announcements was due to a combination of internal reorganization for the D&D team and a shift in which products would be released in 2026. He also said that adventure modules will be returning to Dungeons & Dragons as part of the new Season models, although it's unclear whether this will be through the D&D Encounters program, Adventurer's League, or through some other kind of unannounced product.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I said that about Greyhawk and Spelljammer and yet here we are.

Spelljammer seems pretty ideal for adaptations to other formats.

Treasure Planet did just OK for Disney, but a Spelljammer cartoon series with lots of sweeping views of ships sailing through the Astral Plane, set to a rousing score, seems pretty exciting, even for people who don't think of themselves as D&D fans.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Spelljammer seems pretty ideal for adaptations to other formats.

Treasure Planet did just OK for Disney, but a Spelljammer cartoon series with lots of sweeping views of ships sailing through the Astral Plane, set to a rousing score, seems pretty exciting, even for people who don't think of themselves as D&D fans.

Ultimately, most of these things are all about the execution.

Dial H for Hero could have been Ben 10, if DC Comics had ever had the vision and the execution.

 

[Remathilis]

My money is on Champions being Dragonlance related due to the push of Dragonlance characters in Idle Champions this year, the new Lord Soth art on the roadmap image, and it being a nice reference to Champions of Krynn. I would imagine Dark Sun more being called "Season of the Apocalypse" or something similar.

I'm fully convinced the Soth art is for Ravenloft and everything else is tea leaf reading. Dark Sun literally has three UAs worth of playtests to prove it's existence and people rather grasp onto a partial picture in one piece of advertising as proof of some product that they made up in their heads to exist.

From now on, I'm going to argue Champions of actually going to be a Planescape product and feature the Mystic UA subclasses. It makes as much sense as any other theory.

 

[Clint_L]

Seeing as the OGL was invented to offload module creation onto 3pp due to small margins and the need for a large library/inventory of them, I wonder what their strategy is this go around. In the end, even a lot of the 3pp turned from adventure modules to settings as that where the money was at that time.

This is true. However, I suspect that DnDBeyond has very much changed the game in this regard, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of these modules are only available digitally through DDB. I suspect that the popularity of products like One Shot Wonders on DDB has shown them that there is good profit to be made on $10-15 digital modules.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

This is true. However, I suspect that DnDBeyond has very much changed the game in this regard, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of these modules are only available digitally through DDB. I suspect that the popularity of products like One Shot Wonders on DDB has shown them that there is good profit to be made on $10-15 digital modules.

It would also explain why they want to put a big push on the FLGS as well - to put out more and more DDB exclusives would make us FLGSes angry, but not if we're being given other helpful concessions.

And they could collect them into print anthologies later (even, possibly, only collecting the well-received ones).

 

[Reynard]

I hear you but when people are going to complain anyway, a completely new is just more of a gamble compared to sneaking in a few new things inside something old.

Sure. I am not saying it is the right business decision. How would I know? I am saying I want them to make something truly new for D&D, because I want to be excited for D&D. That's all.

 

[Lanefan]

Modules' returning will only work if there is a lot of them and you can mix and match them

And if you can buy them in hard copy at your FLGS.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sure. I am not saying it is the right business decision. How would I know? I am saying I want them to make something truly new for D&D, because I want to be excited for D&D. That's all.

Young children get excited about things because everything is new to them. When you get old you have seen it all before.

 

[Reynard]

Young children get excited about things because everything is new to them. When you get old you have seen it all before.

Until you haven't. I don't buybthe kind of cynicism you are peddling, and don't appreciate the implication either.

 

[Parmandur]

But he described the shake-up to explain why they waited to announce things (which happened much later) and said that they chose to rearrange the schedule a bit. Things that would have happened more recently than what you're saying, I suspect.

My point only being that they may have moved DS back a year after all. Maybe, maybe not. I was very certain we'd see it this year, now not so much, is all.

Yup, for sure, all sorts of possibilities. Hard to say what exactly happened at this point