D&D 5E WotC Announces An Impending Announcement: New Setting, Storyline

Early this week, WotC announced on Twitter that today there would be some kind of announcement on their Twitch channel. Those who heard that announcement and tuned in were treated to an announcement that the new storyline will be announced at a live event in June.

The press release announcing the impending announcement also mentions a new setting, as well as the storyline, so it sounds like it might not be set in the Forgotten Realms (or maybe is in a new region - to 5E - of the Realms, such as Icewind Dale). The adventure and the setting might be the same thing, or they might be completely different things. Recently, WotC has released a bunch of settings: Eberron, Ravnica, Wildemount, and the upcoming Theros.

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline

The new storyline specifically will be revealed at 12pm PST (8pm GMT) on Thursday, June 18th.

The June event will raise money for Comic Relief, and will feature celebrities including Brandon Routh (Superman), and will preview the brand new storyline. It takes place June 18th-20th. Other names involved include Felicia Day, Deborah Ann Woll, Amy Acker, David Harbour, Matthew Lillard, and more.

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 PRESS RELEASE

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RENTON, WA – May 21, 2020 – People all over the world continue to stay safe by staying home, but that doesn’t mean the adventuring has to stop. Dungeons & Dragons is more popular than ever because it allows people to weave compelling stories together even when they’re physically apart through online videoconferencing. Now, Wizards of the Coast brings the stars to this virtual table with D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage. An amazing cast of characters led by expert storytellers preview the latest D&D storyline with live gaming sessions, all while raising money for Red Nose Day to help the most vulnerable children across the US and around the world, who have been so affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.The adventure begins 10:00am PT on June 18, 2020 and will run through June 20, 2020 at dungeonsanddragons.com.

D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage features big personalities playing elves, wizards and fighters to accomplish quests using their imaginations. Funny people like Brian Posehn, Kevin Sussman and Thomas Middleditch will work together to solve problems or, more likely, cause some hilarious new ones. WWE ® Superstars Xavier Woods ®, Tyler Breeze ®, Ember Moon ®, Alexa Bliss ® and Dio Maddin ® will contend with beefcake destroyer Jeremy Crawford, a.k.a. Principal Rules Designer for D&D. Deborah Ann Woll will lead a group of actors in improvising a way to help people in a fantasy world not that different from ours. And principal D&D writer Chris Perkins takes players

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline as well as accompanying new products plus tons of unique gameplay available on June 18, 2020. D&D Adventurers League has four new short adventures everyone can enjoy. By donating a small amount to Red Nose Day, fans will have access to sign up for D&D sessions with players around the world! During #DnDLive2020, fans will also be able to choose the character best suited to help the region through Reality RP, a mashup of fantasy storytelling, community engagement, and reality television.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

How do you know there are no dragons in the real world? Can you prove it?

It's impossible to prove a negative. The antivax community repeatedly uses this argument to support their harmful claims. I can prove that dragons aren't real with logic, but you can't use evidence to prove an imaginary creature's nonexistence.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

So, back on topic, I think that the new setting they referenced in this announcement was either talking about the Theros book or an upcoming setting, probably Planescape.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Problem with Theros as the new setting. It releases online June 2.
Unless the announcement wants to retroactively announce it.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Problem with Theros as the new setting. It releases online June 2.
Unless the announcement wants to retroactively announce it.

Yeah, I don't think Theros is the new setting. Maybe it was just quirky writing, but if they wanted to avoid confusion or speculation on this new setting, they probably would've said, "and the new setting, Theros!" or something like that.

 

[Azzy]

Problem with Theros as the new setting. It releases online June 2.
Unless the announcement wants to retroactively announce it.

With the removal the the "new setting" phrase on the wesite, maybe they just meant a new setting for the adventure/storyline—moving away from the Swordcoast and into Icewind Dale—instead of a campaign setting.

 

[Quickleaf]

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More grist for the rumor mill! I didn't see this mentioned yet, and don't know how closely Idle Champions tracks to the D&D storylines (there were events connected to Tomb of Annihilation, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus), but there's a temporary campaign event going on for Idle Champions called The Great Modron March.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

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More grist for the rumor mill! I didn't see this mentioned yet, and don't know how closely Idle Champions tracks to the D&D storylines (there were events connected to Tomb of Annihilation, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus), but there's a temporary campaign event going on for Idle Champions called The Great Modron March.

Maybe a reference to a planescape setting book, maybe not.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The thing is there are people still "alive" in modern Toril that were alive during the time of Netheril

Eye witness accounts are rarely accurate and never unbiased.

BTW the great glacier isn't fully natural either. It's the result of a demigod of ice and cold being entombed and the glacier growing around his corpse

This sounds very much like the myths used by the ancients to explain natural phenomena in the real world. The Eberron book makes it clear that such stories may be myth or allegory, not literal truth.

Even if it's pure coincidence that the demigod of ice happens to be trapped just where you would expect there to be an icecap on a terrestrial planet, it still fails to explain how the ice could move up hill - also the demigod of anti-gravity?

 

[Xenonnonex]

This sounds very much like the myths used by the ancients to explain natural phenomena in the real world. The Eberron book makes it clear that such stories may be myth or allegory, not literal truth.

Even if it's pure coincidence that the demigod of ice happens to be trapped just where you would expect there to be an icecap on a terrestrial planet, it still fails to explain how the ice could move up hill - also the demigod of anti-gravity?

In that case it is literally true. You can of course change it for your home game.

Magic. It does not have to explain anything.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

With the removal the the "new setting" phrase on the wesite, maybe they just meant a new setting for the adventure/storyline—moving away from the Swordcoast and into Icewind Dale—instead of a campaign setting.

I find it difficult to believe that there are some people are still expecting a campaign setting to be announced - it makes my point about bias quite nicely though.