D&D Direct 2024: What Happened This Year

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D&D Direct is a relatively new annual event for Wizards of the Coast, with the first event held in 2022. Since then, however, it’s grown into an important part of the Dungeons & Dragons brand, offering fans a sneak peak at what’s coming next in the year ahead in terms new DnD books and other gameplay initiatives.

The most recent 2024 D&D Direct marked a major milestone for Wotc as it ushered in the new Player’s Handbook and was a key part of the overall 50th anniversary D&D celebration. It was also much more slickly produced than the previous 2022 and 2023 events, and featured a number of major announcements for new products that haven’t been revealed before.

So just what can players expect in the next year? Below, we break down everything everything that happened at this year’s D&D Direct.

What was announced at D&D Direct 2024?

This year’s D&D Direct was held on August 27th, 2024 and was a pre-recorded video that was live streamed and featured numerous Wizards of the Coast employees, including recently appointed VP of Franchise and Product, Jess Lanzillo. Below are the key announcements and products that were featured.

• New 2024 DnD Core Books: Not surprisingly, there was a significant focus on the new Player’s Handbook, as well as the upcoming 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide (including never before seen artwork) and the 2025 Monster Manual (which also included new artwork).
• Dragon Anthology: Slated for a release in the summer of 2025, this will a book of 10 short adventures based around dragons and will be the first anthology using the 2024 rules. Notably, the name is not finalized and may be changed in the near future.
• 2025 DnD Starter Set: Scheduled for release in the fall of 2025, this will be a new box set that introduces the updated 2024 rules to novice players. The content will be based on the original Keep on the Borderlands adventure from 1979, which was also designed to introduce new players to DnD and also explores the legendary keep, the nearby wilderness and the dreaded Caves of Chaos.

• Local Game Store Early Access: Wizards of the Coast will now be providing LGS’s with products two weeks before the official release date. They will also be supporting play events to showcase products and bring in new players and customers.
• Magic: the Gathering DnD Cards: The team highlighted the upcoming MTG DnD Secret Lair cards which feature unique artwork and custom cards celebrating the 50th anniversary of the game.
• DnD LEGO Mini Figures: WotC took a closer look at the upcoming 12 LEGO mini figs which are available on September 1st.
• 3rd Party DnD Content: During the presentation, WotC indicated that they would continue to be working with third-party creators to support DnD 5e material, including releases on D&D Beyond. This includes partnerships with The Griffon’s Saddlebag, Hitpoint Press, MCDM, Loot Tavern, Kobold Press, Ghostfire Gaming, Dungeon Dues and Free League Publishing.

• Forgotten Realms Sourcebooks: Slated for release sometime in late 2025, this will be a box set that includes both a new Player’s Guide and Dungeon Master’s Guide focused on the Forgotten Realms. The books will include new subclasses, feats, backgrounds, spells and factions (such as the Harpers and Red Wizards of Thay). The book will also include details on specific locations, including Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, the Moonshae Isles, the Dalelands and Calimshan.
• DnD Virtual Tabletop: In the 2024 D&D Direct video, the team also showed more in-game footage and screengrabs from the upcoming VTT (also known as “Project Sigil”). This included the introduction of characters from the Baldur’s Gate 3 video game, as well as more information on how the platform will work. Notably, they confirmed it will only be available on PC at launch, although there are plans to roll it out to mobile devices and consoles.

Below is the full video of the D&D Direct 2024 stream.

What was announced at D&D Direct 2023

This 2023 D&D Direct was held on March 28th, 2023 and was hosted by popular Twitch streamer Gina Darling and comedian Ify Nwadiwe. A shorter production, it was for a little over 30 minutes and was broadcast on the official D&D and D&D Beyond Twitch and YouTube pages. A “post-show party” also took place on the D&D Beyond Twitch stream, although it was more of a community event, with no other major announcements.

Here’s a brief rundown of what was announced at D&D Direct 2023.

• New Minecraft DnD DLC: Wizards of the Coast and Mojang Studios released downloadable content for the popular Minecraft video game that incorporated a number of familiar DnD elements, including spells, ability scores, monsters, classes and dice rolls.
• New D&D Honor Among Thieves Trailer: During the presentation, Wizards of the Coast also unveiled a trailer for the Honor Among Thieves film, which was released several days later on March 30th, 2023.
• JoCat Original Animated Song: Popular YouTuber and animator, JoCat created a new animated video to promote PlayDnD.com, a website designed to get new D&D players up and running quickly with pre-made characters and simplified rules.
• New Hasbro Monster Toys: As part of their “Golden Archives” lineup, Wizards of the Coast unveiled a variety of new Habsro D&D action figures, including a new Xanathar beholder figure, a displacer beast and an owl bear, along with figures from the 80s cartoon and the Honor Among Thieves film.
• Magic the Gathering D&D Movie cards: The “Secret Lair” sub-brand of Magic the Gathering unveiled six new cards based on characters featured in the Honor Among Thieves film.
• Interview with R.A. Salvatore: Author of the popular Legend of Drizzt books, R.A Salvatore provided a brief interview where he discussed the 35th anniversary of his popular dark elf ranger and unveiled that the legendary drow city of Menzoberranzan would be included as a new location in the Neverwinter MMORPG.
• D&D Virtual Tabletop Preview: During the D&D Direct 2023 presentation, Wizards of the Coast also offered a bit more information on their upcoming 3D DnD virtual tabletop (now known as “Project Sigil”).
• WizKids Minis: The popular DnD miniatures designer unveiled two new figures: a mimic and an owlbear.
• D&D Documentary: The team unveiled that actor and longtime D&D player Joe Manganiello will be releasing a documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of D&D. He also mentioned a possible Dragonlance TV series (which was later scrapped in 2024).

Below is the complete video of the 2023 D&D Direct livestream.

What happened at D&D Direct 2022

Held on April 21st, 2022, the first annual D&D Direct was primarily used as a way to officially announce the return of the Spelljammer and Dragonlance campaign settings to the D&D 5e rules set. In many ways, however, it was a teaser to the larger Wizards Presents 2022 event, which unveiled the full run of books scheduled for publication in 2023 (including Keys from the Golden Vault, Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, The Book of Many Things, the redesigned Phandelver campaign, and the rebooted Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse).

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