D&D (2024) "The Future of D&D" (New Core Books in 2024!)

The online D&D Celebration event, which has been running all weekend, comes to a close with The Future of D&D, a panel featuring WotC's Ray Winninger, Liz Schuh, Chris Perkins, and Jeremy Crawford, hosted by Elle Osili-Wood.

D&D is exploring the multiverse
Revisiting classic settings. 1st of 3 settings (Ravenloft) released this year. Next year, the other two major classic D&D settings come out. Both in formats they've never published products before.

Plus a "little peek" at a third classic D&D setting - a cameo.

In 2023, yet another classic setting is coming out.

Evolving D&D
Because of new players, they're always listening. Exploring new styles of play (like no combat needed in Wild Beyond the Witchlight). Also presentation of monsters and spells. New product formats. More adventure anthologies.

Making products easier to use. Ways to create the best experience. Experimenting and looking into technology.

Approaches to Design
Wild Beyond the Witchlight has interior design and tools to make running the adventure easier. Story tracker, guidance.

Beyond the books, they want to make different and varied products - packaging and form factor. Things different to hardcovers and boxed sets.

A blog post is coming soon detailing some of the changes, with more to come in future posts.

50th Anniversary in 2024
They've begun work on new versions of the core rulebooks. Recent surveys tie into that. They're still making plans, but expect more surveys. More will be said next year.

They will be completely compatible!

New experiences in the digital arena.

January Gift Set
Rules Expansion Gift Set -- Xanathar, Tasha, and a new book: Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse. All in a slipcase. Was intended for the Holidays, but global production issues mean January instead. There's also an alternate cover version.

D&D 5E - A Closer Look At January's D&D Rules Expansion Gift Set

WotC earlier announced a D&D Rules Expansion Gift Set for January, which includes three books - Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and the new Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse. These were intended for the holidays, but the global production issues...

www.enworld.org

Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse
A treasure trove of creature related material from previous products compiled into one book and updated.

Opportunity to update material with a feel for how the 50th Anniversary books will be.

Improvements based on feedback, rebalancing, new and old art.

Over 250 monsters, and 30 playable races. All of the setting agnostic races that have been published outside the Player's Handbook.

Some content from Witchlight, Fizban's, and Strixhaven was influenced by Mordenkainen's.

Available first in the gift set, but separately later in the year.

Monsters alphabetized throughout rather than using subsections.

D&D 5E - Zooming In On Monsters of the Multiverse [UPDATED!]

Earlier, WotC announced Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse, a new D&D compilation of monster material from previous products updated to a new format. These screen grabs are as good as I could get them. They're not terribly clear, but you can make more out than in the original...

www.enworld.org

Stat block changes --

Spellcasting trait is gone. Spellcasting action, slimmed down. Spellcasting monsters need less prep.

Spell slots are gone for NPCs. Regular actions that would have once been spells.

It was too easy for a DM to use spells which result in the monster having a too low effective CR.

Monsters can be friends or foes, and some magic will help rather than hinder PCs.

Where are we going?
More adventure anthologies. Another classic setting fairly soon.

Two all-new settings. Completely new. In development stage, an 'exploration' phase, testing the viability of them. They might not see the light of day.

Retooling nostalgia and blending it with new concepts. A blend of things that you know, and things that they have never done before.

In the short term -- more news next month about a new product for 2022 which goes into a new scary place we've never been before.

Boo the miniature giant space hamster
Below is an sketch from Hydro74's alt cover, which features Boo the miniature giant space hamster.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I said solved

Then you're asking for an impossible feat. There's no way to 100% solve the problem. Every edition before D&D 5e has died. 5e will die to. The best that we can hope for is to keep it going for as long as possible.
(I forgot to mention setting books. More settings that cover a more wide range of themes of fantasy will help out a ton, especially if/when we get a prehistoric setting, or a futuristic/modern setting, and Planescape/Dark Sun translated to 5e.)

 

[doctorhook]

I'm hoping they'll call it AD&D. But that's not likely.

More likely R5E. Revised 5E.

Ah we’ve already got A5E coming up (Advanced 5E—Kickstarter begins soon!) but it’s not an official revision, alas. Still I’ve got somewhat more faith in ENPublishing than I do in Hasbro right now

 

[grimslade]

There is a lot more they can do with 5e. The base game is sound, but the D&D Next playtest showed how much more there can be done within bounded accuracy. The Dials and Knobs have been installed so far with child-proof tampering. Time to release the helicopter development style.
If they start releasing content that expands the game, versus the replication of subclasses and spells, I can see the current edition lasting more than a decade. There are glimmers of brilliance every few books, but WotC is very conservative with their second golden goose. Magic the Gathering is pretty conservative in its development too but is still fundamentally the same.
I hope we get Spelljammer but it may just be the cameo setting in a Lantan adventure. Planescape seems a solid bet. I think Greyhawk would be closer to the 50th anniversary slate of releases. Dark Sun would be glorious, but until we see some defiling rules in playtest and a 4th(?) run at a psionics system, I don't see it next year. So Planescape and Dragonlance with Greyhawk in 2024.

 

[doctorhook]

I’m also curious (and excited) about the 2 settings in current development that are brand new and if they are fully developed, be the first new ones since Eberron in 2004. Chris seemed excited about them and one could be the far realm mention in posts above.

Ah I’m afraid they’ll just be “new” (ie: to D&D) Magic the Gathering settings instead. So far those have been pretty great! But they’re somewhat smaller than a typical D&D setting

 

[Urriak Uruk]

This panel also confirmed 3 classic settings are coming, 2 in 2022, 1 in 2023. New formats, but dunno what that means.

My bets are Planescape, Dark Sun, and Dragonlance. Sorry Mystara, it just can't hold up to those three.

 

[Mercurius]

The D&D "base" is not the same as it was even seven years ago. Back in 2014, the base was comprised of long-time D&D players and people who had started with 3E or 4E. Since then, the base has exponentially grown, mostly with younger people new to gaming, as well as a much larger international contingent.

I don't think anyone--even that new base--knows how long their interest will remain. WotC doesn't know. They're hoping that most of the gains can be maintained, but it is also possible that the current popularity is faddish and will contract again. But even so, will it contract from 50 million (or whatever) to 25 million, and still be more popular than anytime before the last few years, or will it collapse back to 5 million?

It is also worth nothing that these new fans came into a game that is overall less crunchy than the past couple editions, and it may be that their focus is less on the game mechanics and more on the stories and worlds--which makes sense, considering WotC's publishing schedule. So it may be less important to reset interest via a new rules set than it is to continually churn out new stories and worlds, which doesn't require a new edition--just revisions to the core rules every so many years.

 

[JEB]

And, a new book will be announced next month.

Kind of weird that they didn't announce the new book along with everything else.

Meanwhile, I expected Wizards to do an update to existing monsters and races, to match their new design philosophy, but I'm pretty surprised to see it as soon as January. (And it sounds like it would have originally been this year, apparently!)

I also wonder if we'll start to see certain books (mainly thinking of Volo's) allowed to go out of print, now that an all-in-one update will be available without older 5E baggage. Though that may wait for the general-release version of Monsters of the Multiverse. (Or they'll just coast until the "anniversary edition" comes out.)

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

This panel also confirmed 3 classic settings are coming, 2 in 2022, 1 in 2023. New formats, but dunno what that means.

My bets are Planescape, Dark Sun, and Dragonlance. Sorry Mystara, it just can't hold up to those three.

I'm going to say that it's a toss-up between Dragonlance and Spelljammer right now, and will be at least until we know what book the Boo-cover book will be (which they said will be coming out next year).

 

[Malmuria]

It is for now. My speculation is that 6-10 more years is alot of time. 5e may very well might not be satisfactory that far into the future. I know 5e already feels a little stagnant for me. Will others feel that way in 6-10 more years? Will they start looking for other games?

I think their goal is to keep adding new players and to not split the player base with a new non compatible edition. It would be a disaster to move to a new edition only for half of the players to stick to the old edition.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Nentin Vale was designed to be incomplete, to be a sandbox. And it is perfect for a world-size second Sigil. Everything from the rest of the multiverse can visit Nentir Vale, and this can explain where come from all the future possible new PC races, classes and monsters.

We don't know the possible plans for a reboot of the crystal spheres (Spelljammer) or if the return of the chronomancers could alter the metagame (today thanks Disney's Loki Show and the TVA the idea of timecop fighting in a multiversal war may be popular).

I guess Hasbro's strategy is to promote old lineas could become multimedia franchises, different products. Here Dragonlance has got a lot of tickets to get the jackpot.

Dark Sun will come back, but the subsystem for the psionic powers still need a lot of work, and now some players want to get some ideas from Pathfinder occultist classes.

Planescape can return, at least a planar handbook and some modules. My theory is after Baldur's Gate III the next project will be the videogame Planescape 2, or a remake of the first.