WotC Was just one D&D book announced at D&D Live 2020?

[Parmandur]

They did it the last couple of years or so though, if only teasing us like they did for Eberron. I imagine they're doing some last minute adjustments on the product which is causing delays to the announcement. Given that they did say "later this year" only a few days ago makes me pretty certain that we'll be hearing an announcement relatively soon.

Ravnica was announced in July, and Eberron Wasn't actually announced until August. Dungeon of the Mad Mage was announced in the same weekend as Dragon Heist, but that's a different situation.

I wouldn't expect real details on the Q4 book until August. August to November is three months, which is their preferred window for product ramp up at any rate.

 

[Parmandur]

They did the Class Feature Variants UA, and this "racial rework" feature they mention seems to be on theme with that.

They were probably working on racial variants for a while (it's been a couple years since they did any race stuff for UA, it's a different animal than Class stuff for introducing new options), and probably wanted to go further in changing how "race" works in D&D for a looooooong time. The situation probably just gave the the impetus to go a little further. Very excited to see what they have cooking.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

There have been various mentions on Dragon Talk of a Q4 book. Not much saying what it is though. In agreement that we will probably learn about it in August, or perhaps September after Icewind Dale's release.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Ravnica was announced in July, and Eberron Wasn't actually announced until August. Dungeon of the Mad Mage was announced in the same weekend as Dragon Heist, but that's a different situation.

I wouldn't expect real details on the Q4 book until August. August to November is three months, which is their preferred window for product ramp up at any rate.

Eberron was announced as a tease at the very end of the Decent event on May 19th of last year.

 

[Parmandur]

Eberron was announced as a tease at the very end of the Decent event on May 19th of last year.

There was a tease, bit all they did was show a picture. Similarly, they teased just before the stream that there would be a new book latter this year that massages the way D&D approaches Race. But we had no info on the Eberron book until August 13, and some people went so far as to be skeptical there would be an Eberron book!

 

[Demetrios1453]

There was a tease, bit all they did was show a picture. Similarly, they teased just before the stream that there would be a new book latter this year that massages the way D&D approaches Race. But we had no info on the Eberron book until August 13, and some people went so far as to be skeptical there would be an Eberron book!

There are pretty different levels to the teases in question here. After the Descent tease, which was done as the finale of a live event, we knew an Eberron setting book would be released by the end of the year. The mention of a potential 2020 November release is a one sentence reference in a press release concerning an entirely different matter, with no clue what it is other than it will update some previous questionable material.

I do believe that under different circumstances, they would have teased us with more on the November release over the weekend, but necessary adjustments in the product caused the announcement to be moved back.

 

[Parmandur]

There are pretty different levels to the teases in question here. After the Descent tease, which was done as the finale of a live event, we knew an Eberron setting book would be released by the end of the year. The mention of a potential 2020 November release is a one sentence reference in a press release concerning an entirely different matter, with no clue what it is other than it will update some previous questionable material.

I do believe that under different circumstances, they would have teased us with more on the November release over the weekend, but necessary adjustments in the product caused the announcement to be moved back.

On the other hand, Ravnica was not teased at all. And there are two new books coming out before November, still!

 

[Mercurius]

I would guess there are a few factors involved. One, with two books announced and on the way, they will wait until at least one of them is out. That brings us close to August. Two, they just announced Icewind Dale, so will let that settle in. Three, what we do know is that there is a book that includes player customization; given the recent concerns, they're almost certainly making sure that whatever book comes out, incorporates these concerns to some degree. Presumably they were doing that already, and are working with at least one consultant, but they might also be sticking their finger to the wind and seeing how the community responds to their announcement. Not sure if that is at all related to announcing what the book is, though.

Anyhow, I would guess that we'll get trickles and rumors over the next month or so, but the official anouncement won't come until August, but probably before Icewind Dale comes out. Part of their marketing strategy seems to be stringing us along in terms of anticipation (and I don't mean this in a pejorative way). So we have:

...Icewind Dale is announced...
July 21: Theros
...digestion of Theros/rising anticipation for Icewind Dale...
...Theros is metabolized, anticipation on ID wanes...
...new book is anounced...
Sept 21: Icewind Dale
...digestion of ID/rising anticipation fo next book...
Nov XX: New book

It is kind of like overlapping waves...WotC wants to make sure at least one book is "cresting" in terms of anticipation, and probably only one at a time.

 

[Ash Mantle]

Y'know, along with any book announcements, I'd love it if there might be any announcements of further collaborative games. All of the games that were played over DNDLive 2020 were amazing, if they could continue them that'd be excellent as!

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

...Icewind Dale is announced...
July 21: Theros
...digestion of Theros/rising anticipation for Icewind Dale...
...Theros is metabolized, anticipation on ID wanes...
...new book is anounced...
Sept 21: Icewind Dale
...digestion of ID/rising anticipation fo next book...
Nov XX: New book

Theros has been out since June 2nd. People have been using it for weeks now. Just the physical book was delayed.