DnD Local Game Store Early Access Program Returns
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Friendly Local Game Stores (often simply abbreviated to FLGS) are a key part of the Dungeons & Dragons ecosystem, offering a way for players to purchase products and also grow the larger community of players.
In recent years, Wizards of the Coast has had a somewhat rocky relationship with these smaller retailers. One of the biggest complaints has been that new DnD game books can be pre-ordered via the D&D Beyond platform, which allows players and Dungeon Masters to view digital copies weeks before they’re available to the general public in FLGS’s and other retailers.
Recently, however, Wizards of the Coast has announced the return of an initiative known as the Local Game Store Early Access Program, which allows retailers to distribute pre-orders of books weeks before the primary release. It’s a surprising move from the DnD publisher and offers. Below we break out what is means for DnD players and sellers alike.
What is the Local Game Store Early Access Program?
The Local Game Store Early Access program is an initiative run by Wizards of the Coast that allows local game stores in the U.S. and Canada to take and distribute pre-orders of official DnD books and products up to two weeks prior to their global on-sale date.
The program will kick off with the release of the upcoming campaign book Vecna: Eve of Ruin. Local game stores who opt into the program will be able to start collecting pre-orders immediately and then sell them in-store on May 7th, 2024 which is a full two weeks ahead of the books global release date of May 21st.
Notably, books can only be sold in-store or for in-store pickup, which mean that online sales or shipped orders are not included. Wizards of the Coast will also be offering FLGS promotional social media and signage materials to help promote key releases and drive pre-order sales.
What DnD books will be available for the Local Game Store Early Access Program?
It’s important to note that not all DnD publications qualify for the program. In fact, only the following books will be available:
- Vecna: Eve of Ruin (Early Access May 7, 2024)
- Quests from the Infinite Staircase (Early Access July 9, 2024)
- Player’s Handbook (2024) (Early Access September 3, 2024)
- Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024) (Early Access October 29, 2024)
- Monster Manual (2025) (Early Access Feb 4, 2025)
Notably, the upcoming non-fiction title The Making of Original D&D: 1970-1977 is not included in the promotion. Additionally, the Local Game Store Early Access program is available to any local game store, not just retailers who are part of the Wizards Play Network, which is a program that provides additional marketing and sales support to approved vendors.
Why should DnD players care about the Early Access program?
While this might seem like something that will be of interest only to FLGSs, this is actually a fairly significant shift for players too as it essentially means ending the D&D Beyond monopoly on early releases. In fact, for the first time players will now be able to physical copies of books weeks before they’re released to other traditional retailers.
It’s a surprising win-win for Wizards of the Coast, players and retailers.
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Cameron Nichols is a Senior Editor who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and has been playing D&D since the early 90s, when he was introduced by his older brother and cut his teeth on AD&D 2nd Edition. Since then he’s played virtually every RPG he could get his nerdy little mitts on (including a weird Goth phase in the early 2000s when he rocked Vampire: The Masquerade pretty hard). His favorite D&D campaign setting is the Forgotten Realms and his favorite character to play was a Half-Orc Barbarian named Grug (who was unfortunately devoured by a gelatinous cube).
