Forgotten Realms Books to Have Several Digital DLCs, Including One Featuring Asterion

Wizards of the Coast plans to release several "digital DLCs" alongside the upcoming Forgotten Realms rulebooks. This week, Game Informer released a pair of articles about the upcoming Forgotten Realms rulebooks. Tucked away in the article is the announcement that the upcoming releases will include several "digital DLCs" that expand on the new setting. One example was Asterion's Book of Hungers, which focuses on urban vampire adventures featuring the character from Baldur's Gate 3.

No other details were made available about the upcoming releases, such as whether the new supplements will be paid DLC or free to D&D Beyond subscribers. Wizards has released several digital-only supplements alongside their various books, ranging from mini-bestiaries to supplementary adventures, but all were free to D&D Beyond subscribers or available as pre-order bonuses.

Since the Forgotten Realms books aren't currently available for pre-order, it's hard to say whether this is a new strategy or simply a continuation of current works. The fact that Wizards commissioned art specifically for Asterion's Book of Hungers and the usage of the phrase "digital DLC" suggests that this might be a new monetization scheme for the company, albeit one that makes sense given the growing use of D&D Beyond's marketplace.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Nowhere does it say these “DLCs” will be free. Indeed, I will be shocked if they are.

There are free to people who buy the print book.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

It would be rough attending Pride in Palm Springs as a frog, but 100% worth the risk.

I was thinking more about stuff like this:

 

[Charlaquin]

There are free to people who buy the print book.

And you know this how?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There are free to people who buy the print book.

That isn't what "DLC" typically implies.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I would like to formally state my opinion here upon the internet.

WOTC invested a ton of money into D&D Beyond and continues to do so. I think its reasonable to assume D&D Beyond is a big focus for them. Publishing exclusive stuff on DDB would be part of that strategy. It's the same with them wanting to publish popular material from other publishers there too.

I think we should expect WOTC to publish exclusive stuff on DDB and I'd be surprised if that didn't include character options.

That doesn't mean we have to be happy about it. I certainly don't mind people pushing back against it. If they sold exclusive material as PDFs we could download directly, I'd be a lot less miffed about it. Sure, we can do a bunch of yoga to get the text on our machines (By the way, in a totally unrelated subject: Obsidian Web Clipper is a really great plug-in!).

So yeah, WOTC is going to put exclusive content on D&D Beyond but now that the core books are in print and the 5.2 SRD is out, we're not beholden on WOTC for 5e material -- even 2024-styled 5e material.

Now I think WOTC has been a great steward of D&D over the past couple of years (really, since the OGL turn-around). They've released the 5.1 and 5.2 SRD in the CC. They've put their books on several competing digital platforms. They continue to sell books in physical forms we can hold onto for a thousand years.

But WOTC is under no obligation to sell us material the way we want it and we are under no obligation to buy anything from them we don't want.

As Jerry at Penny Arcade stated so well, we bought the one hamburger we can share with our friends for the next thirty years. We really don't need anything else. And, if you do want more stuff, there are hundreds of publishers building thousands of products you can use to run awesome games for your friends.

Don't depend on WOTC for your happiness with D&D and RPGs.

 

[Amphytrion]

But it’s a matter of if you like humour in that style or not. I found the DA:I companions boring and humourless. Taken together, the BG3 companions form a party of Guardians of the Galaxy style misfits. Which is a good match to how we play D&D. But I know some tables prefer to treat everything with deadly seriousness, and the DA:I companions are more like that.

I don't think that's why. I like Guardians of the Galaxy, and my tabletop games aren't deadly serious at all.

I also think that DA:I companions are similarly a motley crew of misfits with constant banter, as is usual in the genre and goes way back before either DA:I or BG3. One writes erotica fanfiction, the other is hardened kill-joy who is secretly a reader of the first, one is ghost that recites pop culture references from Mean Girls to FullMetal Alchemist via spooky rhymes, etc. The world in DA:I is more serious and more cohesive, that's true. I love FR, but it's more of a kitchen sink--so maybe DA:I was a bad example.

I played Wrath of the Righteous recently, and that's set in a similarly kitchen sink world as FR, though as a game it's on a much, much tighter budget. I love a good majority of WotR's companions too. In some ways, I think Astarion walks the same lane as Daeran Arendae from WotR, but while I absolutely adore Daeran (he's probably my favorite in that game), Astarion does nothing for me.

Anyhow, I don't mean to derail the thread. Astarion clearly has many fans and it's a good idea to make a product centered on him even if I personally do not care for it. WotC should probably cash in on all the breakout BG3 characters (none for poor Wyll, I imagine. He'll be lucky to get an easter egg someday).

It occurred to me that if Beadles and Grim does a platinum box for the two FR books, they may include paper versions of the DLCs as well.

This is a good point. Even if it doesn't, I suppose it gives B&G the opportunity to create products in the future that include paper versions and copilations of these DLC.

 

[GarrettKP]

It’s also highly speculative to assume they’ll be free and contain short adventures. The fact of the matter is, we don’t know their contents or pricing. We just know that they’re digital only, which I strongly dislike for the reasons we’ve been discussing. And I think people who say “well if it wasn’t digital only, the content wouldn’t be released at all” are assuming too much.

You’re making a huge leap in logic. The article called the Astarion book about “how to run Vampire Urban Adventures.” It isn’t about player options.

 

[Charlaquin]

You’re making a huge leap in logic. The article called the Astarion book about “how to run Vampire Urban Adventures.” It isn’t about player options.

It doesn’t really make a difference. If it does or doesn’t contain player options, I still don’t like that it’s digital only, and I still don’t think that not printing whatever content is going to be in it is the only economically feasible alternative to it being digital only.

 

[Charlaquin]

I also think that DA:I companions are similarly a motley crew of misfits with constant banter, as is usual in the genre and goes way back before either DA:I or BG3. One writes erotica fanfiction, the other is hardened kill-joy who is secretly a reader of the first,

Varric writes original erotica, not fan fiction.

 

[Remathilis]

It doesn’t really make a difference. If it does or doesn’t contain player options, I still don’t like that it’s digital only, and I still don’t think that not printing whatever content is going to be in it is the only economically feasible alternative to it being digital only.

I applaud the principled stand that if you can't get Astarion's Guide in print, you'd rather not have it. I assume you also avoid all streaming services and only buy physical discs for movies, music and video games.