Wizards of the Coast returned to GenCon strong.

I woke up to an hour-long video of the presentation of the D&D Vision for 2027. There were a lot of things that were announced or things that we somewhat knew about but got more information about. I would lie if I said I am not excited for some, so let’s take a look at them. You can find the video itself below, as well as a recap on D&D Beyond. The order of the things mentioned is different between the video and the recap, but I will just go with the order of the recap for this one.

Dark Sun

I was fairly sure this was coming, and I wasn’t the only one. We’ve gotten some hints through the Unearthed Arcana instalments over the past year. I started playing D&D way after Dark Sun had been released, and I never got the chance to explore the setting. I’ve heard a lot of people say good things about it. I’ve also heard a lot of people express concerns about how a setting like Dark Sun, and a lot of its dark concepts, could be brought back at this time. I understand this concern, but when you have a universe like the one of Warhammer 40K thriving, I don’t know why a darker D&D setting cannot exist. What I found interesting in the keynote was this quote by Greg Bilsland about Dark Sun.

And we are bringing it back in a big way, as D&D’s first mature rated setting. So much so, that the laywers told us we have to shrink wrap it and put a label over it

Unless Greg was just joking, Wizards has very seriously thought about Dark Sun and that they probably cannot half-ass it.

Regarding products for Dark Sun, what has been announced so far are two books, one Gameplay Expansion titled Blood and Power and one Setting Expansion titled Edge of Oblivion. They also mentioned a limited edition Player’s Handbook with limited edition art for Dark Sun, which was not shown in the keynote. To get a bit nitpicky, what does Setting Expansion mean in the context of a setting that hasn’t seen any publications for 16 years? But that’s probably me being weird with the new classifications of books.

The Season of Champions—D&D: World of Warcraft

Okay, I need to put a warning here that I am not 100% objective here because I love Warcraft. When the collaboration got leaked about a week ago, I started thinking about the possibilities. And, to be honest, I am pleased with what was announced for D&D: World of Warcraft. We are getting a lot of cool stuff in a Gameplay Expansion. Basically, we get all the classes of WoW, most of the species (most because I don’t think 4 more Elf species are necessary), spells, magic items, and dungeons. Also, I really enjoyed the not-so-subtle references to a lot of cool things in WoW, like the Tier 2 Judgment Armour on the cover of the book.

There are also going to be some accessories in the form of map packs, minis, and a gorgeous Dungeon Master Screen. I am not a huge fan of dedicated screens, but this one…as I said, I cannot be 100% objective here.

D&D: Universes Beyond

Okay, here’s the thing. The World of Warcraft for D&D is not a one-time thing. During the keynote, they announced D&D: Universes Beyond. If you are not following Magic: The Gathering, Universes Beyond is basically what they call all the franchise collaborations. And since it has been overwhelmingly successful with Magic: The Gathering, it makes sense they are bringing it to D&D as well.

When I say overwhelmingly successful, let me explain a bit. Overall, the Universes Beyond MtG sets do great sales. They have the potential to bring new people into the game through something they are already familiar with, or just make sales to people who really like a specific franchise. This usually makes those sets overperform compared to the universes within ones. For example, (and yes, this is one extreme case, but this is what is usually presented in board meetings) the Final Fantasy MtG set made 200 million dollars in sales in one day. Yeah…

The next Universed Beyond D&D release is going to be Star Wars. No more information was given about it during the keynote.

D&D Icons

Joe Manganiello is the Chief Creative Officer for D&D Icons and came up on the stage along with Luke Gygax, Tracy Hickman, and R.A. Salvatore. The idea, from what I understood, is to bring back legendary creators to collaborate with the D&D team. Based on the names mentioned above, the first 3 projects are related to Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Drizzt Do’Urden, respectively. While we are going to see TTRPG products through this initiative, I think I heard in the keynote that there are going to be other products as well.

As for me, I am looking forward to seeing what this thing is going to bring TTRPG wise. Am I going to like everything? No. But, like with Dark Sun, I want to experience older creations.

Greyhawk

We knew about Melf’s Guide to Greyhawk already. On the keynote, there was an announcement for a Greyhawk adventure titled Greyhawk: Crown of the Witch Queen. It is going to be villain-focused, and that explains the two Unearthed Arcana instalments we got about villainous options.

New Studio Partnerships: Ravenloft, Eberron, and the Forgotten Realms

Now this was an interesting one. D&D Beyond has partnered with various studios to bring their content on the platform. This feels like an extension of this, with partnerships with studios to create “official” content for D&D.

We are getting something for Ravenloft by Ghostfire Gaming in 2027. In 2028, we are getting an Eberron adventure that features the Lord of Blades from Visionary Productions, as well as something related to the Forgotten Realms by Kobold Press. As an Eberron fan, I look forward to that adventure. Regarding Ravenloft, I do hope we see something new, because I feel the setting is being stretched a bit too much. As for the Forgotten Realms, that setting is huge, so I would like to see something we haven’t seen before, or at least recently.

D&D Beyond

I do not use D&D Beyond, really. But since part of my job is related to development, I really appreciated it when the Executive Producer of D&D Beyond mentioned they are rebuilding some existing features the users have issues with. Doing this may seem obvious, but in many cases, prioritising new features puts fixing existing ones in the backseat.

As for new features, there is a new Looking for Group (LFG) feature, which will also allow Local Game Stores to post their upcoming events. Wizards of the Coast already has an event locator, but I guess it’s not seeing that much use, or they wanted to move the D&D stuff to D&D Beyond as the main hub of the game. There was also an announcement for an app that will help during play. I will reserve my thoughts for when it’s out, because I am planning on testing it. The idea is that it’s going to simplify playing the game even more. This kinda made me wonder a bit. They already market a character builder on D&D Beyond because it’s really hard to make a character. In a game they created. With the rules they created. So yeah, it feels a bit weird to me.

And that’s it, basically. There was a small announcement regarding the video game Warlock, but the main announcements will be made at Gamescom, as well as for the continuation of the Game Masters actual play series. I haven’t had any prior experience with either, so I will be checking them out.

Overall, I am waiting to see how the new idea of Seasons is going to play out. I am interested in the announced content and willing to give them a look. And I think that’s all from me. Now I will get back to looking at pictures of cool stuff from GenCon and be jealous about it.

And until next time, have fun!