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.

 

[teitan]

Same here. The PHB is where the actual mechanical rules of the game reside. The DMG is "just" fluff and the MM is just statblocks around base mechanics that aren't really changing. I'm looking forward to seeing what "fluff" they actually change in the DMG.

The DMG is only fluff if you’re a long time DM. Otherwise I think it’s now been proven it’s essential with all the YouTube influencers making videos about broken games and missing rules that if they actually read the book they claim you don’t need to read they would see either there is already a nifty optional rule or that the game is designed to be hacked by home games to play how you like and you don’t need an official rule as part of the philosophy of the design.

 

[Clint_L]

I'm looking forward to the DMG being a book I can seriously recommend to players who want to learn how to DM. You know, an actual guide. I think most of us will agree that this is the core book with the biggest upside potential, because few are hugely attached to anything in it, so WotC can really go to town.

I'm also looking forward to one of the stated goals of the MM, which is to add alternate versions of staple monsters at different challenge ratings. Weaker and strong versions of liches, vampires, etc. will go a long way towards helping build adventures at all levels, especially lower levels (I recently home-brewed a level 3 appropriate vampire for one campaign arc, and a level 4 appropriate lich). More monsters are always fun, and I'm a miniatures guy, so this means more miniatures to collect, too. I hope we get a few more of the eldritch horror variety, in particular.

The PHB is the book I am least looking forward to, but that's okay because I think the current game works very well, so all I want is some tweaking. As long as monks, warlocks, sorcerers and druids get fixed on par with the most recent version of rogues, rangers and bards, I'll be pretty content. And maybe one more thing for fighters, focusing on the leadership aspect of the class, so they feel less generic.

 

[tetrasodium]

The DMG is only fluff if you’re a long time DM. Otherwise I think it’s now been proven it’s essential with all the YouTube influencers making videos about broken games and missing rules that if they actually read the book they claim you don’t need to read they would see either there is already a nifty optional rule or that the game is designed to be hacked by home games to play how you like and you don’t need an official rule as part of the philosophy of the design.

But he's right about the actual rules & mechanics for play being in the PHB. It's hard for the DMG to be more than fluff without the mechanical hooks & attachment points for GM facing levers making room in the PHB rules & mechanics. The playtest packets we've been seeing have not been laying groundwork for those hooks & levers, packet6 even seems to have areas making efforts to wall off those hooks & levers from being added. elsewhere.

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

The DMG is only fluff if you’re a long time DM. Otherwise I think it’s now been proven it’s essential with all the YouTube influencers making videos about broken games and missing rules that if they actually read the book they claim you don’t need to read they would see either there is already a nifty optional rule or that the game is designed to be hacked by home games to play how you like and you don’t need an official rule as part of the philosophy of the design.

I was, of course, being super hyperbolic about there being no rules at all in the DMG, but my point still stands that there is really very little in the DMG that isn't "fluff". We're basically talking Chapters 8 and 9 here, and Chapter 9 is entirely variant and optional rules. I certainly understand where a lot of the rules make sense to be in the PHB since they're about what a player needs to know to actually play the game from their side of things, but it would be nice for WotC to invest a tad more on things that will help DMs, who have an infinitely harder job at the table than all the other players combined.

 

[Parmandur]

I was, of course, being super hyperbolic about there being no rules at all in the DMG, but my point still stands that there is really very little in the DMG that isn't "fluff". We're basically talking Chapters 8 and 9 here, and Chapter 9 is entirely variant and optional rules. I certainly understand where a lot of the rules make sense to be in the PHB since they're about what a player needs to know to actually play the game from their side of things, but it would be nice for WotC to invest a tad more on things that will help DMs, who have an infinitely harder job at the table than all the other players combined.

Check out Perkins video about the new DMG: it's going to be a very different structure, prioritizing the rules on how to run the game up front and center.

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

Check out Perkins video about the new DMG: it's going to be a very different structure, prioritizing the rules on how to run the game up front and center.

I watched the video when it came out and heard what he had to say. I'm hopeful that the promoted intent translates into the finished product, but we've gotten no previews of that content...

 

[teitan]

But he's right about the actual rules & mechanics for play being in the PHB. It's hard for the DMG to be more than fluff without the mechanical hooks & attachment points for GM facing levers making room in the PHB rules & mechanics. The playtest packets we've been seeing have not been laying groundwork for those hooks & levers, packet6 even seems to have areas making efforts to wall off those hooks & levers from being added. elsewhere.

And a lot of those are still optional and the DMG goes into more detail.