What’s Planned for the Dungeons & Dragons 50th Anniversary?
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We look into Wizards of the Coasts upcoming plans as DnD prepares to level up
2024 marks a major milestone in the history of Dungeons & Dragons, with the popular tabletop roleplaying game celebrating its 50th anniversary. To commemorate the event, current DnD publisher Wizards of the Coast has announced a number of initiatives, including several new products and publications. They’ve also hinted that more as-yet-to-be-announced plans may be in the works.
So just what can we expect in the coming months as DnD finally kicks off its Golden Anniversary? Below, we break out all the details.
New Core Books
Perhaps the biggest part of the Dungeons & Dragons 50th anniversary celebration is a set of new DnD Core Books. It’s important to note that these are not a new edition of the game, but are rather an update to the existing DnD fifth edition rule set which were originally released back in 2014. This new Core Set includes:
- New Player’s Handbook: The new PHB is being released as part of the larger One D&D update, the code name for Wizards of the Coast’s ongoing playtest. The new book will include tweaks to classes and subclasses, enhancements to combat (including a new Weapon Mastery system), updates to spells and spell slot progression, plus brand new artwork.
- New Dungeon Master’s Guide: The new DMG will include a significant update to the overall structure of the 2014 version and is designed to be more user friendly for new Dungeon Masters, including breaking out how to build campaigns and adventures. The book will also include a section on the DnD multiverse, new magic items, maps and examples of building unique game worlds.
- New Monster Manual: The updated MM will feature over 500 unique monsters (including a number of new creatures that have never appeared before). In addition, the book will include updates to monster Challenge Ratings (CR), new lore & backgrounds, new artwork and the introduction of new organizational “Monster Families.”
New Adventures
During the 2023 PAX Unplugged 50 Years of D&D Adventures Panel, the Wizards of the Coast design team unveiled that three major new adventures would be released as part of the anniversary celebrations. This includes:
- Descent into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth: A single-session dungeon crawl that’s a modern update update to the the classic first-edition adventure Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth which was written by DnD co-creator Gary Gygax back in 1982. Notably, the new 2024 version will include an old school tournament scoring system (something which was commonplace back during early RPG gaming conventions in the 1980s).
- Vecna: Eve of Ruin: This new campaign will take characters from Levels 1 to 20, with the action taking them across the multiverse and featuring encounters from some of DnD’s most iconic characters. As the title suggests, players will also be facing down the dreaded Arch-Lich Vecna himself, who has emerged from the shadows to threaten all of existence.
- Quests from the Infinite Staircase: An anthology of adventures that are similar to the 2017 book Tales from the Yawning Portal, this book will feature a series of classic DnD adventures that are updated for the modern 5e system. The book will also include a brand new never-before-seen character from the multiverse who was teased in the accompanying artwork (see image below).
New History Book
During the PAX Unplugged event, Wizards of the Coast also announced that as part of the 50th anniversary DnD celebration they’ve been releasing a new non-fiction retrospective entitled The Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons: 1970-1976. This historical work would look back on the origins and early years of DnD and includes original artwork and previously unseen correspondence between DnD creators Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
As of this writing, Wizards of the Coast has only teased a few pages of content, with the official release date scheduled for June 18th, 2024.
DnD Documentary
At the most recent D&D Direct (which was held in March 2023) actor and longtime DnD fan Joe Manganiello announced that he was currently in the midst of directing and producing the official D&D 50th Anniversary documentary, working alongside RPG scholar Jon Peterson and filmmaker and writer Kyle Newman among others. The upcoming film includes never-before-seen archival materials and interviews with key figures in the game’s history.
Notably, Manganiello has indicated that the documentary is also meant to launch a related online documentary series and podcast that further explores the cultural history and cache of DnD. While an exact release date has yet to be announced, in a video posted on the official DnD YouTube channel, Manganiello confirmed that the documentary would be coming out in 2024 to coincide with the 50th anniversary celebration.
New LEGO Set
In 2023, the LEGO Ideas D&D 50th Anniversary Contest was announced in which fans were invited to submit ideas for possible DnD-themed LEGO sets, with the winner becoming an official LEGO set .
After poring over the entires, judges from both LEGO and Wizards of the Coast announced the winning DnD LEGO set on January 2023. The entry is entitled Dragon’s Keep: Journey’s End and was created Lucas Bolt (aka BoltBuilds), an amateur LEGO designer and video game artist. Bolt’s winning design is actually four unique DnD environments in one: a Witches Tower, a Tavern a Dungeon and a Crypt.
Since then we’ve heard very little about the final product, but given that it’s part of the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, it’s likely that the final set (which may be modified from Bolt’s original design) will be released sometime in 2024.
New WizKids Miniatures
Popular DnD toy creator WizKids has also announced a number of new products designed to tie in to DnD’s 50th anniversary. This includes a new life-sized red dragon wyrmling statue, along with a variety of miniatures as part of their “Icons of the Realms” series, which features characters and creatures that first appeared in old school DnD game books back in the late 70s and early 80s.
As one of Wizards of the Coast’s closest partners, it’s also likely that WizKids has other products that will be launching throughout the year as part of the ongoing celebration.
New Commemorative Stamps
As part of the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, the United States Postal Service recently announced that it will be releasing a series of commemorative DnD stamps. Each set will include 20 individual stamps with 10 unique pieces of art pulled from Wizards of the Coast’s archives. Notably, all of the images have appeared in past DnD and Magic: The Gathering supplements and includes a variety of familiar art, including the iconic image by fantasy artist Larry Elmore that appeared in the 1983 “red box” version of DnD.
All of the images were selected for usage by longtime USPS Art Director Greg Breeding and resized to be able to fit into the limited space available on a single postage stamp. The packaging the stamps will be included in will also likely include a DnD flourish, although the USPS hasn’t released any details on that just yet.
New D&D Converse Running Shoes and Apparel
In February 2024, Wizards of the Coast announced that they’ve partnered with Converse to release new official Dungeons & Dragons 50th anniversary merchandise that will likely include both shoes and clothing (although details have not yet been released).
Notably this isn’t the first time that the two brands have worked together. In fact, in 2016 a post on Twitter (now X) from the official Dungeons & Dragons account featured a photo of custom-made Converse shoes that were given to the team.
New Swag
Wizards of the Coast has also indicated that they’ll be releasing a number of products that specifically tie into the upcoming celebrations. For example, they’ve recently launched a DnD 50th anniversary wall calendar. Like the commemorative stamps from the USPS, this calendar also includes images from existing DnD and Magic: The Gathering art work, but has been called out specifically as it ties in to the ongoing celebrations.
DnD Branded Pop-Tarts
In a somewhat strange move, Wizards of the Coast has also announced that they’ll be creating 50th anniversary DnD Pop-Tarts. Like the partnership with Converse, this isn’t the first time that DnD has appeared with the popular frosted snacks.
In fact, in 2020 the two brands worked together to release a limited edition “Frosted Goodberry” product (which was essentially a DnD themed version of the popular Wildberry product). Those particular DnD Pop-Tarts were created as a tie-in to the releases of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Notably the back of the box contained the spell for Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. The product also pays a nod to the infamous goodberries which often appear in DnD campaigns.
Final Thoughts
The 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons marks a major milestone for the legendary tabletop roleplaying game. Wizards of the Coast, hn promoting the event as much as many fans expected given the hype in 2023. That being said, it’s still relatively early in the year and it’s likely that things will be ramping up soon.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story as it develops and will update this page as we learn more. In the meantime, below is a brief thank you video released by Wizards of the Coast to celebrate DnD’s Golden Anniversary.
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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).
