D&D (2024) Wizards Presents Live Coverage

Hello, Darryl here standing in for Morrus with live coverage of the Wizards Presents live stream! This post will be updated throughout the presentation with news updates for Dungeons & Dragons. The event hosted by Jimmy Wong, Sydnee Goodman, and Ginny Dee starts at 9:00 AM Pacific and, while live-streamed, was pre-recorded and expected to last about an hour.

Over the weekend in advance of the stream, this placeholder pre-order page popped up on Amazon for a “Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Release Hardcover" with a retail price of $49.95 and release date of December 6, 2022. It’s highly likely this is Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon hardcover sourcebook that, along with the large-scale battle game Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn, was announced back in April for a release this year.

The stream is now archived on the D&D YouTube channel for those who missed the stream.

The pre-show featured a comedy sketch about working in the Wizards of the Coast offices with Magic: The Gathering characters terrorizing their co-workers.

The show starts proper with Magic: The Gathering news with the Middle Earth crossover in Universes Beyond.

The Dungeons & Dragons news starts with Jeremy Crawford introducing the new initiative called "One D&D". Chris Perkins reiterated what was said back during "D&D Next" playtests in 2013/2014 that there won't be any new "editions" of D&D but that the 2024 version will refine 5th Edition by building on that rules framework. All three core rulebooks will get a refresh, with Chris Perkins saying he's restructuring the DMG to be more friendly to new players. The "three pillars" of One D&D will be:

• D&D Rules. This takes what we love about fifth edition and updates the rules of the game to reflect the feedback we have heard from players and where the game is today.
• D&D Beyond. This will be the platform for your digital D&D collection, content, and tools.
• D&D Digital Play Experience. In early development, D&D Digital will offer an immersive player experience, rich creation tools for Dungeon Masters, and a connected space for DMs and players to get together and play D&D.

The new VTT will be in Unreal Engine 5 using 3D models of...well, models. All the footage is of the pre-alpha build, but the tabletop looks like a tabletop with minis and terrain thanks to tilt shift camera technology. The idea is to sell adventures with pre-built dungeons that you can play as-is or disassemble into parts for use your own games.

Playtesting begins today on the new rules system with a FAQ already live on the D&D Beyond website covering all three pillars and announces that the first digital/physical bundle will be Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon.

Not mentioned on the stream, a full one-hour video about the playtest for the Character Origins popped up on the official D&D YouTube channel:

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More Magic: The Gathering news about tournaments and the 30th anniversary celebration including in-person events. So a chance for the D&D fans to catch their breath.

The 35th anniversary of Drizzt Do'urden will see reprints of all 39 books in the series with new covers both in print and digital format. There will also be a new "visual dictionary" released on March 7, 2023 (pre-order link on Amazon). From the product description:

A visually stunning exploration of a legendary fantasy world

The Forgotten Realms offer D&D players an endless array of secrets to uncover, foes to fight, and treasures to be taken. But there is one name that has always stood out from the rest: Drizzt. Drizzt Do’urden.

This legendary drow elf ranger has been adventuring across the Forgotten Realms for decades, whether through New York Times bestselling fantasy novels or award-winning video games. Now Drizzt will take readers on a spectacular journey through his world.

This book showcases Drizzt and his travels through the Forgotten Realms in never-before-seen detail, with the glorious artwork produced by Wizards of the Coast put center stage. From the glaciers of Icewind Dale to the teeming cities of the Sword Coast, and the sinister shadows of the Underdark to the chambers of Mithral Hall, fans can explore the Realms through Drizzt’s eyes as never before with this immersive, extraordinary guide to their favorite fantasy setting.

Finally, there will be a new Legend of Drizzt webcomic on Webtoons featuring Briennelle Zaharina, Drizzt and Catti-brie's daughter, who will take her father's sword Twinkle and go out to prove she's just as much of a hero as her parents.

Back to M:TG with more tie-ins...it was previously announced one of them would be Warhammer 40000 but there will be a live stream on September 12th announcing details. The big announcement: Doctor Who for Commander formats.

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The stream reminds us of this week's release of Spelljammer: Adventures in Space with an animated commercial. The cartoon features a Spelljammer space hamster mother telling a scary story to her child of a frightening "hooman", who she says is too strange to be real before drawing a dagger and doing battle with a beholder.

Now, Dragonlance! "This is D&D telling a war story." Lots of art previews from Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon, which will be set in the War of the Lance telling side-stories outside the events of the novels. Kender confirmed as a playable race, along with the Knights of Solamnia and Tower of High Sorcery plus many new feats. Pictured above, Lord Soth will be on the alternate cover. The setting is built to work alongside the Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn board game as a mass combat optional rules set you can play on its own or add into Shadow of the Dragon Queen as a rules expansion.

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We got a trailer for a new starter set for Japan that seems to lean heavily on isekai tropes with three normal people hauling a cart before they're surrounded by magical flames and attacked by zombies. They transform into their characters and defeat the zombies just as a large dragon shows up...moving back to the table to show everyone playing at the table. The set is coming this winter.

Now for the entire year of 2023 Dungeons & Dragons releases (well, almost the entire year as Jeremy Crawford clarified in Twitter this was just "some of the products" coming):

• Keys from the Golden Vault, a heist anthology adventure collection coming in Winter 2023
• Bigby Presents Glory of the Giants, a collection of lore about giants set to be the "definitive" book on giants coming Spring 2023
• Phandelver Campaign will expand the setting of Phandelver from the original Starter Set into a full campaign coming Summer 2023
• Book of Many Things draws from the iconic magic item coming in Fall 2023
• Finally...Planescape (!!!) coming in Fall 2023

And the stream closes out on Magic: The Gathering news for Dominaria United and other big releases for 2023.

PS. Thanks to @darjr for grabbing screenshots of the presentation while I was frantically typing to keep up.

 

[Parmandur]

So you are saying this change will never actually come in to play because the DM will have to do more work to prevent it? Then why make it in the first place?

No, I'm saying that DMs are already doing that work. Or ought to be. If one is already letting people make rolls that are impossible for their character, that is diverging from the RAW and RAI as it stands.

 

[MarkB]

No, I'm saying that DMs are already doing that work. Or ought to be. If one is already letting people make rolls that are impossible for their character, that is diverging from the RAW and RAI as it stands.

But with autosuccess on a 20, the criteria for what is impossible is no longer simply "can't roll high enough to meet the DC".

 

[Parmandur]

But with autosuccess on a 20, the criteria for what is impossible is no longer simply "can't roll high enough to meet the DC".

Yeah, but the Criteria was always fuzzy, and "don't let a non-proficient PC roll" has been actively promot3d for the entire Edition. The Wizard cannot roll to participate in the high jump at the Olympiad, the Barbarian cannot roll to read the ancient inscription. This is already how 5E works, that's not a change.

 

[MarkB]

Yeah, but the Criteria was always fuzzy, and "don't let a non-proficient PC roll" has been actively promot3d for the entire Edition. The Wizard cannot roll to participate in the high jump at the Olympiad, the Barbarian cannot roll to read the ancient inscription. This is already how 5E works, that's not a change.

Still, this particular proposed rule seems to be causing some of the greatest confusion and consternation out of all the playtest content so far. If it does persist into the finished product, I hope they include significantly more specific guidance as to how to adjudicate when a roll is warranted.

 

[Parmandur]

Still, this particular proposed rule seems to be causing some of the greatest confusion and consternation out of all the playtest content so far. If it does persist into the finished product, I hope they include significantly more specific guidance as to how to adjudicate when a roll is warranted.

I mean, is it really...? As they point out in the video, it already an extremely common house rule (see also, Critical Role), so I doubt many in the surveybwill object to what is a non-chsnge for their table. And there aren't narrative implications if gating, as per RAW and RAI, is being used.

 

[MarkB]

I mean, is it really...? As they point out in the video, it already an extremely common house rule (see also, Critical Role), so I doubt many in the surveybwill object to what is a non-chsnge for their table. And there aren't narrative implications if gating, as per RAW and RAI, is being used.

The dedicated thread on the topic is up to 13 pages, mostly consisting of arguments regarding the circumstances under which a check should be deemed impossible.

 

[Parmandur]

The dedicated thread on the topic is up to 13 pages, mostly consisting of arguments regarding the circumstances under which a check should be deemed impossible.

Only 13 pages? How many posters are involved? Perhaps a dozen, 20 at the outside?

The line is fuzzy, because Rulings, Not Rules. It is individual DM prerogative. But now part of the calculus is just simply "do I want this character to possibly accomplish this narratively?" Like the 6 Stength Wizard becoming an Olympian. Of no. Them don't allow a roll. Simple.

 

[glass]

This is a total tangent, because truly wacky edge cases like this shouldn't be taken into account when evaluating a proposed rules change

Normally I would agree with you. But if the rule's only possible effect is introducing "truly wacky edge cases" that is worthy of comment.

No, I'm saying that DMs are already doing that work. Or ought to be. If one is already letting people make rolls that are impossible for their character, that is diverging from the RAW and RAI as it stands.

Under the 2014 rules, simple arithmetic does the job automatically so the DM does not need to. If you want to do it anyway, that's up to you, but when I am running the game I have too many other things to be doing to bother with pointless busywork.

 

[Parmandur]

Normally I would agree with you. But if the rule's only possible effect is introducing "truly wacky edge cases" that is worthy of comment.


Under the 2014 rules, simple arithmetic does the job automatically so the DM does not need to. If you want to do it anyway, that's up to you, but when I am running the game I have too many other things to be doing to bother with pointless busywork.

I mean, if you don't want to follow the existing rules guidance, that's fine...but it's not the rules fault if you allow the wimpy Wizard to become an Olymoic Champion.

Just because some people ignore a rule doesn't mean that following that rule is a rules change. And the autocrit/fail change, which is a change, is already live and active in the community via homebrew...interacting with the rules as written.

Also, how is saying "are you proficient in Athletics?" hard, or really even work...?

 

[glass]

Also, how is saying "are you proficient in Athletics?" hard, or really even work...?

Bring those goalpost back!

I mean, if you don't want to follow the existing rules guidance, that's fine...but it's not the rules fault if you allow the wimpy Wizard to become an Olymoic Champion.

The 2014 rules DO NO ALLOW A WIMPY WIZARD TO BECOME AN OLYMPIC CHAMPION. Purely by RAW and simple arithmetic. No guidance or DM busywork required.

That is the whole point: This change either create stupid results in cases which uncommon, but given 5e's maths not that uncommon. Or the GM can do a bunch of extra work to prevent those stupid results, in which case it does nothing at all (except creating that extra busywork).