D&D Creator Summit 2023: What Happened This Year

Wizards of the Coast experiences mixed results after hosting a group of D&D influencers and content creators

On April 3rd, 2023, Wizards of the Coast invited a select group of influential D&D YouTubers, bloggers, third-party content creators and social media pundits to their headquarters in Renton, Washington, just outside of Seattle. Dubbed the D&D Creator Summit, the goal was to smooth over some of the negative press that Wizards of the Coast had experienced in the wake of the OGL controversy and to perhaps generate buzz around upcoming Dungeons & Dragons products.

Below, we delve into what the D&D Creator Summit is all about, explore what happened during this year’s event, and look ahead to see whether or not Wizards of the Coast is likely to hold future summits.

What is the D&D Creator Summit?

News of the inaugural D&D Creator Summit first began to circulate on social media in early March, 2023. While Wizards of the Coast offered relatively few details about the event to the general public, the goal of the summit seemed to be to connect with D&D influencers, many of whom had been extremely hostile to Wizards of the Coast following the Open Game License controversy; in which Wizards of the Coast had announced (and then walked back) plans to remove access to the D&D license for third-party publishers and creators.

Notably, attendees to the summit were not required to sign a non-disclosure agreement prior to attending the event, and the entire summit took place in a little under 9 hours (including breaks), with presentations and Q&A from a variety of highly-placed Wizards of the Coast employees and Dungeons & Dragons team members.

What happened at D&D Creator Summit 2023

Held on April, 3rd, 2023 at Wizards of the Coast’s headquarters in Renton, Washington, the first ever Creator Summit featured roughly 30 in-person influential community members, with roughly another 100 members joining virtually (with the latter also getting exclusive access to “office hour” sessions with Wizards of the Coast staff).

Notably, the in-person attendees had their travel, meals and accommodations fully paid for by Wizards of the Coast (something which earned some online backlash from fans who worried that these individuals may be pressured to report favorably on the event).

The event consisted of opening remarks followed by several sessions (each of which was roughly 2-3 hours in length) that covered a range of topics, including the future of D&D, the upcoming Virtual Tabletop system and plans for the One D&D system. The event also included an American Sign Language interpreter for attendees with audio impairment.

Opening remarks from Cynthia Williams

Opening remarks were delivered by Wizards of the Coast CEO Cynthia Williams, who briefly discussed some of the plans for D&D going forward and revealed an upcoming “D&D accessibility program” designed to support players with a range of disabilities (a program that sounds similar to the DnD for All Kit previously released in 2022 by D&D influencer Jennifer Kretchmer).

First session: Q&A with Dixon Dubow

The first session was hosted by Associate Influencer Manager Dixon Dubow and was essentially an informal office hour Q&A. Dixon described the goals of the summit as being focused on “active listening” and explained that the event was designed to solicit direct, honest and constructive feedback from D&D content creators and third-party publishers. Dixon also discussed the challenges with identifying who “press” and “creators” are, and explained that Wizards of the Coast is looking into setting up a creator inbox for media requests specifically for the D&D brand (currently Wizards of the Coast uses a shared inbox for D&D and Magic the Gathering).

Second Session: D&D Beyond and Beyond

The second session was co-presented by Dan Rawson (Senior Vice President of D&D) and Marjory Laymon (Vice President of Product & Tech for D&D Beyond), who also introduced a number of additional D&D Beyond team members. The presentation consisted of a deeper dive into D&D Beyond, including plans to retire the existing D&D website and redirect all traffic to the D&D Beyond website. The two also VPs explained that the focus with D&D Beyond going forward will be to make play easier, enhance the mobile experience and provide easier access for new players. They also announced early plans to connect and integrate third-party publishers and homebrew content into D&D Beyond and the upcoming Virtual Tabletop platform. Finally, they explained that the team is planning to address issues around accessibility and will also be localizing D&D Beyond for other languages and regions around the world.

Third Session: D&D Virtual Tabletop

This third session was a presentation by Wizards of the Coast Game Director Kale Stutzman who explained that the goals of the upcoming DnD virtual tabletop were to make it “fun, convenient, authentic and immersive.” Stutzman explained that the VTT is currently in a pre-alpha state using the Unreal 5 engine, and that the remainder of 2023 will be focused largely on building out core mechanics. In 2024, the focus will then shift to character/miniature creation, encounter design, world building and the creation of a content library. The VTT will likely be released in some form in 2025 following additional playtesting and community feedback. Stutzman added that the VTT will (in theory) be playable on virtually any device, including PCs, smartphone and consoles. Notably, during the session feedback from attendees also resulted in an impromptu (and somewhat heated) discussion with Dan Rawson and D&D Executive Producer Kyle Brink, who were grilled on the company’s PR response to the OGL controversy.

Fourth Session: 2024 Core Rules Revision

The final session was presented by senior D&D game designers Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins and Josh Herman. The three designers discussed the ongoing One D&D playtest and changes coming to the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual. One key takeaway from the presentation is that One D&D will not be a version 5.5 or 6th edition of D&D. Instead, they plan to largely leave D&D fifth edition as is. As such, the core rulebooks which will be released in 2024 will have new art, a new structure and some new rules. They also broke out details regarding each new core rulebook.

• New Player’s Handbook: This will be larger than the current PHB and will include 12 classes, 48 subclasses, and 9 species (human, dwarf, halfling, goliath, dragonborn, elf, gnome, orc and tiefling). Additionally, the book will be adding new subclasses, backgrounds, feats, spells, equipment, and weapons. Notably, Crawford indicated that half-orcs and half-elf species aren’t being removed from any existing 5e materials, but won’t be included going forward in the revised edition or future materials.
• New Dungeon Master’s Guide: Will include more information to help DMs prep their first session and offer tips on what to do during common game issues (i.e campaign building, scheduling problems, player conflicts). Perkins added that the revised DMG is really designed to address three concerns from fans: “I don’t know what’s in the DMG”, “I can’t find what I need in the DMG”, and “I don’t use it”. The new DMG will also show the readers an example of an actual campaign structure in order to help new DMs create their own.
• New Monster Manual: The 2024 Monster Manual will includes a revision to most creatures with a Challenge Rating of 10 or higher. The book will also be largest D&D has ever released and will feature almost entirely new art. There will also be a focus on adding higher CR monsters and more NPCs. Perkins added that there is also discussion of including “apex monsters” that are over CR 20.

Notably, Perkins added that if you bought a book on D&D Beyond you won’t lose it when the three updated core books are released in 2024. That being said, any existing DnD 5e books will not automatically be updated to their new 2024 versions and must be purchased separately.

Will there be a D&D Creator Summit in 2024?

The 2023 D&D Creator Summit was somewhat of a mixed bag. While there was some new information available, many attendees also felt that the Wizards of the Coast team did little to address ongoing concerns around rebuilding community trust following the OGL controversy. Notably, there was also a significant number of technical issues which was problematic for virtual attendees.

Currently it’s unclear if Wizards of the Coast will be hosting any future Creator Summits, but Associate Influencer Manager Dixon Dubow said that that the summit was really a “small test for what we want to do on a much larger scale” and that “we don’t want this to be a one and done.” He also added that they’re looking to replicate the event in other international locations.

All of that suggests that there will likely be a D&D Creator Summit (or something similar to it) in 2024 and beyond.

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