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.

 

[tetrasodium]

I'd rather the modules be as setting-agnostic as possible, so one can more easily drop them into whichever campaign or setting one is running.

It seems like they are moving that way. I've seen pictures of recent adventures that list basic details like remote forest village in a page1 box but can't be bothered to find it. I'm sure someone will have it handy and link or copy-paste it up

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If they put out small soft over modules, wouldn't bet on less than $30 a pop. Might be lucky to get that these days.

Maybe they have come up with some genius method of printing them more cheaply, such as employing all the people who have lost their jobs to AI to copy them out by hand.

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe they have come up with some genius method of printing them more cheaply, such as employing all the people who have lost their jobs to AI to copy them out by hand.

Biggest issue for WotC and pricing is that they print in the USA mostly.

That could be changing, who knows.

 

[bedir than]

It seems like they are moving that way. I've seen pictures of recent adventures that list basic details like remote forest village in a page1 box but can't be bothered to find it. I'm sure someone will have it handy and link or copy-paste it up

With Encounters they say they're tied to the other products within the season (Ravenloft is next). The mentions of modules today said that they would be directly tied to Greyhawk -- and are described in almost the exact same way Encounters are

 

[WhatTheEyeSees]

Dark Sun may be "nobledark", a special subgenre there the good guys win in the end but with a lot of pain and sacrifice. DS was very "dark" for the D&D standars but allowing enough space for the hope. The sorcerer-kings were ruling for a lot of time but they started to fall.

Birthright could be perfect for romantasy, and this can be "family-friendly". D&D has got a lot of memes about bards in heat.

Witchlight could be "grimmbright" (a fantasy where the good wins but the main characters aren't good people).

I know it is a long shot, but Birthright as romantasy would be awesome. I would buy it.

 

[bedir than]

I know it is a long shot, but Birthright as romantasy would be awesome. I would buy it.

Is there anything Romantic (modern) about Birthright?

 

[MGibster]

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.

I thought giving up on modules was a short-sighted decision. Yeah, they're not very profitable, but they keep people interested in playing and sometimes they lead to bigger intellectual properties. Ravenloft started out as a simple module.

 

[MGibster]

Is there anything Romantic (modern) about Birthright?

You've got to have some romance before you get to the birthing.

 

[Von Ether]

I thought giving up on modules was a short-sighted decision. Yeah, they're not very profitable, but they keep people interested in playing and sometimes they lead to bigger intellectual properties. Ravenloft started out as a simple module.

Hindsight: 20/20. WotC would have had to go all digital much sooner in an industry not embracing it just yet. You need a wide selection of adventures to make adventure line profitable overall, but then the overhead nickles and dimes you to death.

It probably would have been more predictable for WotC to try modules as a random/blind envelope product before trying digital.

 

[Scott Christian]

I'd rather the modules be as setting-agnostic as possible, so one can more easily drop them into whichever campaign or setting one is running.

I understand this sentiment. But to me, it makes the adventure lose its flavor. A module in Eberron, should have some semblance of Eberron. A module in Shadowfell, should reflect that. If you make all of them setting agnostic, you get very little breadth of detail. Should they make some setting agnostic? Yes. But setting ones should be viable too.