# August 18th Tarrasque-sized D&D News (Poll)



## OB1

What do we think the big news will be from Wizards on August 18th?  Vote and discuss below!


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## Stormonu

It's a marketing gimmick to get eyes on the announcement.  It will be the typical fare of upcoming products for the next six months or so.

Guess I've been through too many GW "biggest announcements evar" to think it's anything groundshaking.


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## Jer

The dreamer in me: Opening up the remaining TSR settings on DM's Guild for publication.

The pessimist in me: D&D NFTs.


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## Ulfgeir

I think it is a close race between a reissue of an old setting, or the 50AE playtest. Voted for the setting.


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## Parmandur

Stormonu said:


> It's a marketing gimmick to get eyes on the announcement.  It will be the typical fare of upcoming products for the next six months or so.
> 
> Guess I've been through too many GW "biggest announcements evar" to think it's anything groundshaking.



Quite probably, though adding a VTT to Beyond is something thar they have both hinted at in the past, but would be legitimately huge for the industry.


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## R_J_K75

What a random day to pick for an announcement.


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## CleverNickName

Since the date coincides with the release date of Spelljammer, I think it's probably some free web-based content for it.  Maybe "here are the stats for the Tarrasque for you to use in Spelljammer" or somesuch.


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## GMforPowergamers

I put other being hopeful... 6e


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## MonsterEnvy

R_J_K75 said:


> What a random day to pick for an announcement.



It's Wizards Presents that day.

Anyway I think multiple things on that list can be true.


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## Parmandur

R_J_K75 said:


> What a random day to pick for an announcement.



Hardly, it's very calculated around their product schedule for Magic and D&D to keep up the hype engine.


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## Mind of tempest

I hope it will be big and interesting and really shake up the game.

but the realist in me says it will be something super dumb or just basic stuff they could have put in a 3-minute video.


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## OB1

Jer said:


> The dreamer in me: Opening up the remaining TSR settings on DM's Guild for publication.
> 
> The pessimist in me: D&D NFTs.



I'd be beyond shocked for an NFT announcement given how fast that bubble is bursting right now.


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## Jer

I forgot - Ray Winninger said last week on Twitter "fans will be surprised by how much we’ll reveal at #WizardsPresents. _Big_ announcements, including something we’ve been teasing for _years._" So I bet it's whatever that is.



OB1 said:


> I'd be beyond shocked for an NFT announcement given how fast that bubble is bursting right now.



Oh for sure - the two things I posted are both almost equally likely, which is "almost certainly not going to happen".  But you know how pessimism works - a 0.0001% chance of something bad happening means your brain is positive it's going to happen.


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## bedir than

I'm anticipating a one year product timeline to include at least one new video game, one boxed set or AP related to the movie, a tv show update and at least one MtG integration.

Plus all the MtG stuff and an original world and new video game


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## Mind of tempest

OB1 said:


> I'd be beyond shocked for an NFT announcement given how fast that bubble is bursting right now.



corporations figuring out want is a good idea is far more rare than their propaganda says it is.


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## Snarf Zagyg

#GREYHAWKCONFIRMED


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## overgeeked

No multiple choice?


Jer said:


> I forgot - Ray Winninger said last week on Twitter "fans will be surprised by how much we’ll reveal at #WizardsPresents. _Big_ announcements, including something we’ve been teasing for _years._" So I bet it's whatever that is.



Likely all the things on the poll plus more.


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## overgeeked

Snarf Zagyg said:


> #GREYHAWKCONFIRMED



#Mystara and #DarkSun and I'm in.


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## Tales and Chronicles

Following the trend of the past few years, with WotC pushing for the ''D&D brand'' and not only the TTRPG, I fear the news will be about something not related to the game itself.


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## Snarf Zagyg

overgeeked said:


> #Mystara and #DarkSun and I'm in.





If I had one wish that I could wish for this announcement, it would be that they would announce Greyhawk and all the gamers of the world would join hands and sing in the spirit of harmony and peace.

If I had two wishes that I could wish for this announcement, the first would be that they would announce Greyhawk and all the gamers of the world would join hands and sing in the spirit of harmony and peace. And the second would be that Hasbro would give other people stuff they want, to.

You know, if I had three wishes I could make for this announcement, the first, of course, would be that they would announce Greyhawk and all the gamers of the world would join hands and sing, the second would be for people getting stuff they like, and the third would be for Hasbro giving me 30 million dollars every month.

And if I had four wishes that I could make this for this announcement, the first would be the crap about Greyhawk and the gamers getting along and stuff and singing, the second would be other people nice stuff or whatever, the third would be for the money,  and the fourth would be for encompassing power over every living being in the entire universe.

Wait a minute, maybe the all-encompassing power should be the first wish, because it could all go boom tomorrow, then what do you got, y'know? No, no, Greyhawk and all those gamers singing and getting along ... that would be great, that would be nice. But wait a minute, who am I kidding? They're not going to be able to get all the gamers together. I mean, the logistics of the thing is impossible, more trouble than it's worth! So -- we reorganize! Here we go. First, the power. We go with that. Second, the money. And then give other people what they want ... NO, wait, we give ME what I WANT. Which is Greyhawk. And other people stinging and stuff. Oh wait, oh jeez, I forgot about revenge against my enemies! Okay, I need revenge against all my enemies, they should die like pigs in hell! That would be my fourth wish.

And, of course, my fifth wish would be for other games to get stuff they want. Like #DarkMystara .... _The Known World ... DARKLY._


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## Burnside

"Teasing for years"  makes me think Planescape, which certainly has been teased in various ways. But it's hard to parse what "years" means. The ~4 years that Winninger has been there? The ~8 years since 5E launched?

Official VTT feels like something they ought to do and would feel "big".

New adventure and classic setting could easily be the same product if it's Planescape and they handle it same way they are Dragonlance and Spelljammer.


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## Snarf Zagyg

How about a to-scale Tarrasque plushie?


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## Jer

Burnside said:


> "Teasing for years"  makes me think Planescape, which certainly has been teased in various ways. But it's hard to parse what "years" means. The ~4 years that Winninger has been there? The ~8 years since 5E launched?



Could be both.  They put a lot of little references in the DMG and sprinkle more in with each AP they publish.  So it could be something they had as a reference early on that Winninger wanted to expand on after he took over.



Burnside said:


> Official VTT feels like something they ought to do and would feel "big".



I just have a gut feeling that with the DDB acquisition so recent they haven't really had time to develop their own VTT, and I think modern day Wizards is far less likely to announce something that isn't ready to roll out quickly than they were 10 years ago (I also think that they're as likely to acquire a VTT as roll their own, possibly more likely).



Burnside said:


> New adventure and classic setting could easily be the same product if it's Planescape and they handle it same way they are Dragonlance and Spelljammer.



That works for just about anything tho - they could do the same thing with a Greyhawk release or a Dark Sun release.


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## Burnside

Jer said:


> I just have a gut feeling that with the DDB acquisition so recent they haven't really had time to develop their own VTT, and I think modern day Wizards is far less likely to announce something that isn't ready to roll out quickly than they were 10 years ago (I also think that they're as likely to acquire a VTT as roll their own, possibly more likely).




I totally agree with this, with the caveat that DNDBeyond was already working internally on a VTT. That project seems dormant for the past couple of years, but depending on how far along it was before the acquisition, it might not be THAT far from a launch.

I also agree that it would make more sense for them to buy Roll20 than to make their own VTT, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

Each year they DON'T have an official VTT (either by making one or buying one), they're leaving another year of money on the table imo.


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## R_J_K75

MonsterEnvy said:


> It's Wizards Presents that day.





Parmandur said:


> Hardly, it's very calculated around their product schedule for Magic and D&D to keep up the hype engine.



I was not aware this was part of their regularly scheduled programming


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## J.Quondam

A D&D theme park in the metaverse.


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## Jer

J.Quondam said:


> A D&D theme park










J.Quondam said:


> in the metaverse.


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## Burnside

Given the heavy Magic presence in the hype, could also be the launch of some sort of "digital home for all things Wizards of the Coast" portal site where you could play both games online. Maybe a VTT, maybe a Yawning Portal thing to hook you up with human DMs.

Could be that Atomic Arcade they trademarked a while back.


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## GMforPowergamers

Snarf Zagyg said:


> How about a to-scale Tarrasque plushie?



1:1... they only make 1, and it is going to have to stay outside Hasbro HQ


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## bedir than

This is the traditional time for MtG year ahead looks.
D&D being added to that is what makes this a Wizards event


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## Parmandur

R_J_K75 said:


> I was not aware this was part of their regularly scheduled programming



In prior years, this late August shindig was Magic exclusive, where they would lay out the next year of Magic peoduxt releases. This year, it's a co.bined event two days after the latest D&D release and between major Magic releases.


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## Dioltach

A new edition of Star Frontiers! And at the same time: officially licensed D&D tattoos!


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## grimslade

VTT announcement but no beta, just alpha footage. New MtG setting for both MtG and 5E to release simultaneously. An RTS game for Dragonlance to spin off from the board game battle system. Teasers for a previous D&D setting (May it be Greyhawk to appease Snarf and prevent his horrible wrath) Teasers for movie tie-ins.


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## Reynard

What if it is just, like, a literal Tarrasque mini?


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## MarkB

GMforPowergamers said:


> 1:1... they only make 1, and it is going to have to stay outside Hasbro HQ



It'd be too expensive anyway. As the saying goes, if you have Tarrasque, you can't afford it.


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## Retreater

I don't expect that they'll be announcing a playtest for the next revision/update while other products are still listed on the release schedule (that would cut into sales significantly). 
If I'm guessing, they are wanting that sweet VTT money. I'm predicting a partnership between DDB and Roll20: buy your stuff on DDB and use on Roll20, with Roll20 becoming the "almost official" VTT of D&D.


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## Steampunkette

It's gonna be a shotgun of stuff to overwhelm with razzle dazzle.

D&D Specific Announcements:
1) Next year's slate of products are revealed
2) Planescape and/or Dark Sun announced as part of the slate
3) Next Adventure Path/Campaign is announced as part of the slate
4) New D&D video game. 50/50 on it being AAA or Mobile
5) Keystone Art for D&D 50AE is unveiled
6) New trailer for Honor Among Thieves drops


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## Vaalingrade

To make me sad, it's going to be Planescape.


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## R_J_K75

Parmandur said:


> In prior years, this late August shindig was Magic exclusive, where they would lay out the next year of Magic peoduxt releases. This year, it's a co.bined event two days after the latest D&D release and between major Magic releases.



How may online platforms are they on as far as news goes, their website, twitter, facebook, Dragon+, DDB, & YouTube; did I miss any?  I'm not on any of these except their site which is terrible nowadays and I haven't gone there in ages. I wouldn't even know where to follow them to keep current on news and announcements.


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## Ruin Explorer

Other - None of the above, something that will only be exciting to serious fans and/or corporate.

Am I a cynic? Re: announcements of announcements? YOU BETCHA! 100% cynical of announcements of announcements. When people have something genuinely awesome to talk about, they just come out and say it, they don't try to build hype. When they have something that only fans will be excited about, then we get the announcements of announcements in a, shall we say, "strenuous effort" to build hype (it's better than "desperate effort").


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## darjr

Snarf Zagyg said:


> How about a to-scale Tarrasque plushie?



Chris Perkins comes on stage and the three guests and him and bow. Then they announce that D&D is an elaborate ritual to, finally, after all these years, summon the terrasque and destroy everything.

Fade with Chris cackling.


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## Ruin Explorer

Vaalingrade said:


> To make me sad, it's going to be Planescape.



Or to make me sad, it'll be Planescape, but like "maximum lame version", i.e. the "Monte Cook Faction War" version, where Sigil is run by three-letter agencies which make it sound like a mid-sized and insular/self-involved Midwestern city, and the Factions are scattered to the winds and barely detailed, and even portals are played down, but oh the Blood War, that'll be played up hugely and probably get more space than Sigil and portals and Factions put together (I say this because adventures recently still use Blood War stuff).


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## Jer

R_J_K75 said:


> How may online platforms are they on as far as news goes, their website, twitter, facebook, Dragon+, DDB, & YouTube; did I miss any?



Dragon+ has been cancelled - they're not doing that one anymore. So that's one less.  (To be fair they didn't really announce it so much as quietly let it die).



R_J_K75 said:


> I'm not on any of these except their site which is terrible nowadays and I haven't gone there in ages. *I wouldn't even know where to follow them to keep current on news and announcements.*



This is part of why I hang out on enworld - so I don't have to be on twitter or facebook.  Someone will let me know what's going on if I watch the front page and periodically check the "New Posts" threads to see what folks are talking about.


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## Ruin Explorer

I am willing to bet some kind of Internet Points that it isn't the 50AE Public Playtest, by the way, because there absolutely no chance that they would be doing a public playtest with out some kind of internal/friends-and-family playtest first, and if there was an internal/friends-and-family playtest, it WOULD have leaked, period. I might not have leaked beyond "there is a playtest!!" or a poorly photographed copy of a rules-sheet with some new rules on it or something, but it WOULD have leaked. D&D is too big, and D&D fans far, far too online for it not to have, in 2022.


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## MatthewJHanson

Steampunkette said:


> It's gonna be a shotgun of stuff to overwhelm with razzle dazzle.
> 
> D&D Specific Announcements:
> 1) Next year's slate of products are revealed
> 2) Planescape and/or Dark Sun announced as part of the slate
> 3) Next Adventure Path/Campaign is announced as part of the slate
> 4) New D&D video game. 50/50 on it being AAA or Mobile
> 5) Keystone Art for D&D 50AE is unveiled
> 6) New trailer for Honor Among Thieves drops



Pretty much my thoughts. I think Darksun will be the setting. I think Planescape is down the road but I think they'll put something in between Planescape and Spelljammer.

I think we've already been playtesting 50AE in the form of Tasha's and Monsters of the Multiverse, so I don't think we'll have a separate public playtest.


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## darjr

Whatever it is Ginny D is in the show so I’m going to watch. She’s awesome.


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## Jer

Ruin Explorer said:


> I am willing to bet some kind of Internet Points that it isn't the 50AE Public Playtest, by the way,



I agree, but because I don't think we're going to get a public playtest the way we did 10 years ago.  Because the changes aren't going to be as big as when 4e ended.

I expect a series of Unearthed Arcana to be the public playtest for this next iteration.  In fact I personally think that all of us commenting on the UA rules and using the books they've published in the last few years have all been participating in the 50th anniversary playtest already.


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## OB1

@Ruin Explorer I think this partially depends on what 50AE is.  If it's the same 5E ruleset with a different set of character generation options (racial features, class ability swaps, etc) I think they could go straight to playtest with the specific goal of, 'see if the 50AE fighter can play in the same campaign as the 5eOG fighter' it could be sent out in the same way they do UA material, without anyone leaking it beforehand.


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## Ruin Explorer

Jer said:


> This is part of why I hang out on enworld - so I don't have to be on twitter or facebook. Someone will let me know what's going on if I watch the front page and periodically check the "New Posts" threads to see what folks are talking about.



Definitely. RPG Twitter is extremely annoying to try and follow. It's very fragmented. It's very insular/in-crowd-y. People to _love _to talk about things that happened (good or bad) in incredibly oblique ways, without linking or referencing the actual game/event/person. So even though I follow a ton of people on RPG Twitter, I often find out more about RPGs from ENworld.

The only good thing is more video-game-y younger people getting into the RPG Twitter scene don't act like that (the above behaviour is mostly people like 30-55, so including people my age), and are much more helpful. Also it's nice that stuff like Kotaku and video game sites in general are beginning to cover TT RPGs more, and not just D&D either!


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## Charlaquin

Ruin Explorer said:


> I am willing to bet some kind of Internet Points that it isn't the 50AE Public Playtest, by the way, because there absolutely no chance that they would be doing a public playtest with out some kind of internal/friends-and-family playtest first, and if there was an internal/friends-and-family playtest, it WOULD have leaked, period. I might not have leaked beyond "there is a playtest!!" or a poorly photographed copy of a rules-sheet with some new rules on it or something, but it WOULD have leaked. D&D is too big, and D&D fans far, far too online for it not to have, in 2022.



I dunno, D&D Next did public playtest first and internal after.

Though, I agree there’s no chance of that being what the announcement is.


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## Ruin Explorer

Jer said:


> I agree, but because I don't think we're going to get a public playtest the way we did 10 years ago.  Because the changes aren't going to be as big as when 4e ended.
> 
> I expect a series of Unearthed Arcana to be the public playtest for this next iteration.  In fact I personally think that all of us commenting on the UA rules and using the books they've published in the last few years have all been participating in the 50th anniversary playtest already.



I suspect they're holding off playtesting of it until the VTT for Beyond is ready anyway, I think they'll release it via Beyond (albeit probably as free material) rather than UA, because that would be a great way to get people to sign up for Beyond and download the app and stuff (sadly the current app is trash - the previous one was much better for reading books).


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## R_J_K75

Jer said:


> This is part of why I hang out on enworld - so I don't have to be on twitter or facebook. Someone will let me know what's going on if I watch the front page and periodically check the "New Posts" threads to see what folks are talking about.



Same here. As much as I try and check the news here, I still miss stuff from time to time.


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## Jer

Ruin Explorer said:


> Definitely. RPG Twitter is extremely annoying to try and follow. It's very fragmented. It's very insular/in-crowd-y. People to _love _to talk about things that happened (good or bad) in incredibly oblique ways, without linking or referencing the actual game/event/person. So even though I follow a ton of people on RPG Twitter, I often find out more about RPGs from ENworld.



For me it's because Twitter's design seems to be carefully engineered to raise my blood pressure.  The user interface refuses to do anything but provide me a firehose of whoever I'm following along with posts it thinks I might be interested in.  There's no such thing as "RPG Twitter" as far as I'm concerned - there's just Twitter.  Everyone talks about everything all at once, it's impossible to have an actual conversation - nor does anyone really want one.  Too many people just looking to gain clout or to scream at each other.  It's just maddening - it feels less like a social media website and some kind of awful social media MMORPG and I don't think it's a coincidence that after I swore off Twitter last year my next visit to the doctor had my blood pressure no longer in the "borderline" range and had it settled back down into a normal range.[*]


[*] Note for humor impaired - this is mostly a joke.  Even though it's true.  It probably wasn't Twitter.  Probably.


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## Jer

Ruin Explorer said:


> I suspect they're holding off playtesting of it until the VTT for Beyond is ready anyway, I think they'll release it via Beyond (albeit probably as free material) rather than UA, because that would be a great way to get people to sign up for Beyond and download the app and stuff (sadly the current app is trash - the previous one was much better for reading books).



I'm actually assuming that once they get their act together the plan is that the UAs will start being released through Beyond and integrated into it instead of as PDFs.  I think that's also why Dragon+ went away - because it's redundant with DDB.

I also suspect that it will take longer for them to modify Beyond to be able to do this than they think it will.


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## MonsterEnvy

Vaalingrade said:


> To make me sad, it's going to be Planescape.



Planescape is awesome though.


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## Mind of tempest

darjr said:


> Chris Perkins comes on stage and the three guests him and bow. Then they announce that D&D is an elaborate ritual to, finally, after all these years, summon the terrasque and destroy everything.
> 
> Fade with Chris cackling.



Is it a bad sign that I honestly want this to happen?


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## Ruin Explorer

Jer said:


> whoever I'm following along with posts it thinks I might be interested in



You can fix that - I absolutely hate it and find Twitter unusable without the "thinks I might be interested in" stuff on. So I have it set to only show people I follow, and show in strict timeline order, rather than a post from 7 hours ago being further down than one from a day ago like normal Twitter does.

Unfortunately I can't remember what buttons I have to press to do that lol. And it still has "might be interested" stuff on mobile, even though it's off on PC.


Jer said:


> I also suspect that it will take longer for them to modify Beyond to be able to do this than they think it will.



Oh boy yup.

I dunno what exactly the problem at DNDBeyond is, but they went from rapidly upgrading and improving their platform, make fairly big changes at a decent rate from launch until late 2019, to gradually getting slower, and slower, and slower, and less capable, and slower from late 2019 until now. Whether it's just bad management, brain drain, underinvestment, sheer incompetence (I feel like, sadly there is some of that), bad prioritization, or some/all of those, I dunno (my guess would be all), but it's bad, it's real bad. There's stuff they literally expected to be done by early 2020 (so pre-pandemic even) that still isn't done, and that they're still cracking down on as if they were not owned by WotC, even though they're owned by WotC (their entire detailed excuse before was that their contract with WotC didn't allow this).

So I expect fixing DNDBeyond, if WotC even make a serious attempt and it doesn't suffer the "WotC curse" which has destroyed virtually every D&D-related IT project/game WotC has been close to (BG3 and Beyond being the only real exceptions, and no surprise those were the ones most distant from WotC until now), it'll be a long time before Beyond is improved to the standard I think they'd want to be encouraging mass sign-ups.


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## Burnside

Ruin Explorer said:


> Other - None of the above, something that will only be exciting to serious fans and/or corporate.
> 
> Am I a cynic? Re: announcements of announcements? YOU BETCHA! 100% cynical of announcements of announcements. When people have something genuinely awesome to talk about, they just come out and say it, they don't try to build hype. When they have something that only fans will be excited about, then we get the announcements of announcements in a, shall we say, "strenuous effort" to build hype (it's better than "desperate effort").




The last one turned out to be Spelljammer AND Dragonlance which tbf was a pretty respectable announcement.


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## Ruin Explorer

Burnside said:


> The last one turned out to be Spelljammer AND Dragonlance which tbf was a pretty respectable announcement.



Well, it would have been if they'd followed up with any more details about Dragonlance. It's still very sketchy, and I'm not keen on this "Your army combat will blow chunks unless you buy our wargame competitively priced at $69.99 as well!" approach they seem to be advocating, but I will retain final judgement on that until we get more details.

If it's a setting announcement, it'll be nearly meaningless because we can virtually guarantee they'll be silent about anything beyond the announcement and a couple of bits of art until after Dragonlance is out in order not to spoil DL hype/sales.

Oh actually here's what I think it probably is:

The First World campaign setting - I.e. loads of giants and elemental junk, two of my absolute least favourite elements of D&D (I don't hate Hill and Stone giants as they feel like actual archetypal "giants" to me, but the rest feel like '80s glam rock guys who got hit with enlarge and not in a good way). Four-classical-elements stuff though is THE WORST (in all RPGs). Well, para-elements are even worse but let's not go there.


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## Jer

Ruin Explorer said:


> I dunno what exactly the problem at DNDBeyond is, but they went from rapidly upgrading and improving their platform, make fairly big changes at a decent rate from launch until late 2019, to gradually getting slower, and slower, and slower, and less capable, and slower from late 2019 until now.



I strongly suspect that their core software design was something that the initial devs understood quite well, those devs left or rolled off to other projects at Fandom, and the new devs who are trying to maintain/expand the system do not have the understanding of the system that the initial devs did. Also that the original system was designed to be modular and extensible in ways that the original devs thought would be important for future use cases, but in fact they guessed wrong and extending it for the directions that Wizards has actually taken D&D is harder than it should be.

Not that I have any inside info or anything - this comes from years of experience on software projects and talking with folks who have their own years of experience on software projects, because that's the story of so many projects that have rolled out in the last 20 years or so.


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## Ruin Explorer

Jer said:


> I strongly suspect that their core software design was something that the initial devs understood quite well, those devs left or rolled off to other projects at Fandom, and the new devs who are trying to maintain/expand the system do not have the understanding of the system that the initial devs did. Also that the original system was designed to be modular and extensible in ways that the original devs thought would be important for future use cases, but in fact they guessed wrong and extending it for the directions that Wizards has actually taken D&D is harder than it should be.
> 
> Not that I have any inside info or anything - this comes from years of experience on software projects and talking with folks who have their own years of experience on software projects, because that's the story of so many projects that have rolled out in the last 20 years or so.



That sounds exactly right for the problems they're experiencing, and they did lose a bunch of people at least twice. Earlier this year they were so low on staff they had to cut first doing UA stuff at all, then cut even doing a lot of announcements and so on.


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## Parmandur

Ruin Explorer said:


> I am willing to bet some kind of Internet Points that it isn't the 50AE Public Playtest, by the way, because there absolutely no chance that they would be doing a public playtest with out some kind of internal/friends-and-family playtest first, and if there was an internal/friends-and-family playtest, it WOULD have leaked, period. I might not have leaked beyond "there is a playtest!!" or a poorly photographed copy of a rules-sheet with some new rules on it or something, but it WOULD have leaked. D&D is too big, and D&D fans far, far too online for it not to have, in 2022.



We've been playtesting it since 2019, though I expect a final UA big push within the next year similar to Xanathar's and Tasha's.


Jer said:


> I agree, but because I don't think we're going to get a public playtest the way we did 10 years ago.  Because the changes aren't going to be as big as when 4e ended.
> 
> I expect a series of Unearthed Arcana to be the public playtest for this next iteration.  In fact I personally think that all of us commenting on the UA rules and using the books they've published in the last few years have all been participating in the 50th anniversary playtest already.



This exactly.


OB1 said:


> @Ruin Explorer I think this partially depends on what 50AE is.  If it's the same 5E ruleset with a different set of character generation options (racial features, class ability swaps, etc) I think they could go straight to playtest with the specific goal of, 'see if the 50AE fighter can play in the same campaign as the 5eOG fighter' it could be sent out in the same way they do UA material, without anyone leaking it beforehand.



I think this is precious is happening. No fundamental changes, UA for what they want to change with Rave and Class.


Ruin Explorer said:


> Well, it would have been if they'd followed up with any more details about Dragonlance. It's still very sketchy, and I'm not keen on this "Your army combat will blow chunks unless you buy our wargame competitively priced at $69.99 as well!" approach they seem to be advocating, but I will retain final judgement on that until we get more details.



I mean...they are definitely talking about Dragonlance Thursday next.


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## Parmandur

R_J_K75 said:


> How may online platforms are they on as far as news goes, their website, twitter, facebook, Dragon+, DDB, & YouTube; did I miss any?  I'm not on any of these except their site which is terrible nowadays and I haven't gone there in ages. I wouldn't even know where to follow them to keep current on news and announcements.



Pretty much all of those yup, and the Magic team does Tumbler, too. It wasn't clear till the past few days that this would be as much a D&D event as a Magic event, though.


----------



## MonsterEnvy

Ruin Explorer said:


> You can fix that - I absolutely hate it and find Twitter unusable without the "thinks I might be interested in" stuff on. So I have it set to only show people I follow, and show in strict timeline order, rather than a post from 7 hours ago being further down than one from a day ago like normal Twitter does.
> 
> Unfortunately I can't remember what buttons I have to press to do that lol. And it still has "might be interested" stuff on mobile, even though it's off on PC.
> 
> Oh boy yup.
> 
> I dunno what exactly the problem at DNDBeyond is, but they went from rapidly upgrading and improving their platform, make fairly big changes at a decent rate from launch until late 2019, to gradually getting slower, and slower, and slower, and less capable, and slower from late 2019 until now. Whether it's just bad management, brain drain, underinvestment, sheer incompetence (I feel like, sadly there is some of that), bad prioritization, or some/all of those, I dunno (my guess would be all), but it's bad, it's real bad. There's stuff they literally expected to be done by early 2020 (so pre-pandemic even) that still isn't done, and that they're still cracking down on as if they were not owned by WotC, even though they're owned by WotC (their entire detailed excuse before was that their contract with WotC didn't allow this).
> 
> So I expect fixing DNDBeyond, if WotC even make a serious attempt and it doesn't suffer the "WotC curse" which has destroyed virtually every D&D-related IT project/game WotC has been close to (BG3 and Beyond being the only real exceptions, and no surprise those were the ones most distant from WotC until now), it'll be a long time before Beyond is improved to the standard I think they'd want to be encouraging mass sign-ups.



I don’t get this. Mainly cause I can’t see how D&D Beyond is broken?


----------



## MonsterEnvy

Ruin Explorer said:


> Well, it would have been if they'd followed up with any more details about Dragonlance. It's still very sketchy, and I'm not keen on this "Your army combat will blow chunks unless you buy our wargame competitively priced at $69.99 as well!" approach they seem to be advocating, but I will retain final judgement on that until we get more details.
> 
> If it's a setting announcement, it'll be nearly meaningless because we can virtually guarantee they'll be silent about anything beyond the announcement and a couple of bits of art until after Dragonlance is out in order not to spoil DL hype/sales.
> 
> Oh actually here's what I think it probably is:
> 
> The First World campaign setting - I.e. loads of giants and elemental junk, two of my absolute least favourite elements of D&D (I don't hate Hill and Stone giants as they feel like actual archetypal "giants" to me, but the rest feel like '80s glam rock guys who got hit with enlarge and not in a good way). Four-classical-elements stuff though is THE WORST (in all RPGs). Well, para-elements are even worse but let's not go there.



Fire and Frost Giants are from Norse Mythology. Cloud Giants are based on the one from Jack and the Beanstalk from memory.


----------



## Ruin Explorer

MonsterEnvy said:


> Fire and Frost Giants are from Norse Mythology. Cloud Giants are based on the one from Jack and the Beanstalk from memory.



I'm aware, but their presentation in D&D has been consistently_ cheesy hair-metal nonsense_, where they're just "big viking dudes who are on fire lolz". Compare and contrast the terrifying, primordial and bizarre fire giant from Elden Rings to "LOL IMA VIKING WOO" Fire Giants from D&D. There's absolutely ZERO sense of actual Norse mythology, just cheap Norse names and obvious aesthetics.


----------



## Ruin Explorer

MonsterEnvy said:


> I don’t get this. Mainly cause I can’t see how D&D Beyond is broken?



Really?

Beyond still hasn't implemented stuff that was in Theros in 2020, and still blocks players from sharing manual implementations of the same. If you think that's okay, well, I do not. I mean, to be clear, not just Theros, I believe every single setting book since has stuff that's not properly implemented (correct me if I'm wrong). A lot of their other implementations post-2019 have been extremely poor/half-arsed too.

They gave up on doing UAs, and stopped even being able to do announcements (for a while - this seems to be somewhat fixed at least), because they're critically understaffed, so...

If you've followed their development timeline and announcements, you'll have see how, into late 2018, they were doing solidly, progressing solidly, updating regularly, making real progress. Then it all went to hell (before the pandemic, to be clear, I'm sure that didn't help later). Progress basically stopped. Promises kept being made and broken. Then updates stopped. Then announcements about the timeline and development stopped - and I believe they may still be stopped or severely reduced.


----------



## Demetrios1453

As I said on the other thread, my theory is that they've genetically engineered an actual tarrasque, and will unveil "Tarrasquic Park"' which will be totally safe with no chance of escape at all....


----------



## Mind of tempest

Demetrios1453 said:


> As I said on the other thread, my theory is that they've genetically engineered an actual tarrasque, and will unveil "Tarrasquic Park"' which will be totally safe with no chance of escape at all....



I have hit the point in my life where death by a tarrasque is a net positive.


----------



## MonsterEnvy

Ruin Explorer said:


> I'm aware, but their presentation in D&D has been consistently_ cheesy hair-metal nonsense_, where they're just "big viking dudes who are on fire lolz". Compare and contrast the terrifying, primordial and bizarre fire giant from Elden Rings to "LOL IMA VIKING WOO" Fire Giants from D&D. There's absolutely ZERO sense of actual Norse mythology, just cheap Norse names and obvious aesthetics.



Fire Giants have never really been like Vikings, Frost Giants are like that. But Fire Giants are more like Dwarves in culture and appearance, they outright value smithing skill over brawn. Like I am getting the impression you have never read about them.


----------



## GMforPowergamers

Parmandur said:


> We've been playtesting it since 2019, though I expect a final UA big push within the next year similar to Xanathar's and Tasha's.



I would hope for BIG change test in UA... like "here is an alternate (insert class name)" or here are a list of alternate spells....


----------



## Stormonu

OB1 said:


> I'd be beyond shocked for an NFT announcement given how fast that bubble is bursting right now.



Ah, for the days of TSR and Spellfire/Dragon Dice, when they could jump on the deflating bounce palace to fall through into the swamp below...


----------



## Mind of tempest

MonsterEnvy said:


> Fire Giants have never really been like Vikings, Frost Giants are like that. But Fire Giants are more like Dwarves in culture and appearance, they outright value smithing skill over brawn. Like I am getting the impression you have never read about them.



regardless dnd giants need an overhaul badly.


GMforPowergamers said:


> I would hope for BIG change test in UA... like "here is an alternate (insert class name)" or here are a list of alternate spells....



nah it will be feats or spells at best maybe a race the days of big expansions are over.


----------



## Ruin Explorer

MonsterEnvy said:


> Fire Giants have never really been like Vikings, Frost Giants are like that. But Fire Giants are more like Dwarves in culture and appearance, they outright value smithing skill over brawn.* Like I am getting the impression you have never read about them.*



Do you really want to go there? Have a dick-size competition about lore? Because I don't think it'll end well.

Dwarves are, in most D&D settings, cheaply Viking-themed (rather than Jewish-themed as Tolkien somewhat questionably intended).

Fire Giants tend to double-down on that, particularly because of their Norse mythology association (a lot of people know who Surtur was - even more nowadays). Sure they've also got a Dwarf association, but it ends in the same place.


----------



## Jer

GMforPowergamers said:


> I would hope for BIG change test in UA... like "here is an alternate (insert class name)" or here are a list of alternate spells....



This is only if the Anniversary Edition will involve big changes.  I don't know that it will. 

I wouldn't be surprised if instead of a 5.5e it's more like a 5.25e.  Or a 5.1e.  Or a 5.0 Service Pack 1 edition.


----------



## Ruin Explorer

Jer said:


> I wouldn't be surprised if instead of a 5.5e it's more like a 5.25e. Or a 5.1e. Or a 5.0 Service Pack 1 edition.



I would be pretty surprised if it's less than a 5.5E, I have to say. The changes they've made via Tasha's and MotM being implemented in the PHB (including re-writes of all existing PHB races) and MM, and the DMG presumably being re-written to not suck horribly alone would make the changes significantly bigger than 3.5E.

So you'd have to do revisionist history and make it so 3.5E was only 3.25E or whatever to justify that.


----------



## MonsterEnvy

Mind of tempest said:


> regardless dnd giants need an overhaul badly.



Why I think they work fine in their current form.



Ruin Explorer said:


> Do you really want to go there? Have a dick-size competition about lore? Because I don't think it'll end well.
> 
> Dwarves are, in most D&D settings, cheaply Viking-themed (rather than Jewish-themed as Tolkien somewhat questionably intended).
> 
> Fire Giants tend to double-down on that, particularly because of their Norse mythology association (a lot of people know who Surtur was - even more nowadays). Sure they've also got a Dwarf association, but it ends in the same place.



Dwarves have Norse themes but are not Viking like themselves.


----------



## GMforPowergamers

Mind of tempest said:


> nah it will be feats or spells at best maybe a race the days of big expansions are over.



I don't know about that... now I doubt I will get what I want, but even just a tasha mods + 1 or 2 other tweeks monk or ranger I can see...



Spoiler: what I want



split fighter into 3 classes based on the PHB 3 subclasses so you have a simple champion, a gish eldritch knight as a half caster and a complex warlord/warblade/swordsage/animeswordguy based on battle master... so you don't have to water down some or over do some just so you can fit the others in...

then

Break up the Wizard too... have 3 or 4 casters each get 2 or 3 of the school specilization
Warmage (abjur and evocer)
Beguiler (enchant and illusion)
summoner (conjur and necromancy)
Oricale (diviner and transmuter)

then break the spells up more too... take that 3 or 4 casters the sorcerer and the gish (from the above fighter) and give them all lists that make sense with a bunch of over lap but each class gets 2ish spells per level they can cast that only they get and 1 or 2 spells that only half or so the classes get and the rest they can all get... so you don't have 1 class constantly getting better and better with more and more spells


----------



## GMforPowergamers

Jer said:


> This is only if the Anniversary Edition will involve big changes.  I don't know that it will.
> 
> I wouldn't be surprised if instead of a 5.5e it's more like a 5.25e.  Or a 5.1e.  Or a 5.0 Service Pack 1 edition.



i am still hopeing for 6e but you may be right... but I want to know this month


----------



## Ruin Explorer

MonsterEnvy said:


> Dwarves have Norse themes but are not Viking like themselves.



Except that in virtually all art since the 1980s* Dwarves have been depicted with stereotypically Viking-themed stuff (since LotR there's often some extra blockiness to it too, but it's still usually Viking-y). And they Norse names.

Is Dwarf culture like that? No. But that's not my point. I'm not doing a cultural analysis on a monster that looks like a viking, is called a viking name, lives in a viking-looking castle, and so on. Quacks like a duck...

* = I do like stuff like that PF2 supplement with an African theme where they go way broader on this stuff, and get away from that boring Viking-ness.


----------



## MarkB

Jer said:


> I strongly suspect that their core software design was something that the initial devs understood quite well, those devs left or rolled off to other projects at Fandom, and the new devs who are trying to maintain/expand the system do not have the understanding of the system that the initial devs did. Also that the original system was designed to be modular and extensible in ways that the original devs thought would be important for future use cases, but in fact they guessed wrong and extending it for the directions that Wizards has actually taken D&D is harder than it should be.
> 
> Not that I have any inside info or anything - this comes from years of experience on software projects and talking with folks who have their own years of experience on software projects, because that's the story of so many projects that have rolled out in the last 20 years or so.



Indeed. It doesn't even have to be anything specific. Once you start trying to expand, extend and adapt an existing piece of software to cover a multitude of different directions and developments, every new tacked-on or fudged piece of functionality is yet another bit of complexity that has to be taken into account when you're trying to add the next thing. It can build up to a huge amount of inertia over time that makes it exponentially harder to incorporate new features.


----------



## MonsterEnvy

Ruin Explorer said:


> Except that in virtually all art since the 1980s* Dwarves have been depicted with stereotypically Viking-themed stuff (since LotR there's often some extra blockiness to it too, but it's still usually Viking-y). And they Norse names.
> 
> Is Dwarf culture like that? No. But that's not my point. I'm not doing a cultural analysis on a monster that looks like a viking, is called a viking name, lives in a viking-looking castle, and so on. Quacks like a duck...
> 
> * = I do like stuff like that PF2 supplement with an African theme where they go way broader on this stuff, and get away from that boring Viking-ness.



Just on pure appearance Fire Giants don’t look very Norse.


----------



## Ruin Explorer

MarkB said:


> Indeed. It doesn't even have to be anything specific. Once you start trying to expand, extend and adapt an existing piece of software to cover a multitude of different directions and developments, every new tacked-on or fudged piece of functionality is yet another bit of complexity that has to be taken into account when you're trying to add the next thing. It can build up to a huge amount of inertia over time that makes it exponentially harder to incorporate new features.



What was particularly interesting here was that this whole thing emerged over the Supernatural Gifts in Theros. Somehow, I forget how, people knew about them well in advance, and they were discussed, and Beyond people said they wouldn't be implemented initially, but they were working on a system that would allow them to implement them, and that system would be finished within (at that time) three months. Then three months passed, but the Beyond people said, well, in order to get the stuff for Tasha's working (then a UA), we'll have to get this working, so it'll be soon! Then we kept getting "just wait for Tasha's, it'll be then". Then Tasha's came out and they still hadn't implemented Supernatural Gifts (or Piety, IIRC, which they also said would come).

Now it's late 2022, and whilst they implemented Tasha's, they still didn't do Supernatural Gifts, nor Dark Gifts from Ravenloft, and so on. And now it looks like they're not even tracking that. So they'd promised the same tech which would make Tasha's possible would work for these, but apparently not? They specifically said the tech for Tasha's would let them arbitrarily add any new traits (in the general sense) to a PC. But I guess that didn't happen.

It's pretty bad, frankly.

It was suggested to them that they just make all the Gifts into Feats (which is doable even using their own systems), but they repeatedly refused to do so on the specific grounds that they'd_ soon be available via a better system_.


----------



## Ruin Explorer

MonsterEnvy said:


> Just on pure appearance Fire Giants don’t look very Norse.
> View attachment 257457
> View attachment 257471



The first image looks plenty exaggerated Fire-Norse to me. It's absolutely classic. The second is atypical I admit.


----------



## Jer

MarkB said:


> It can build up to a huge amount of inertia over time that makes it exponentially harder to incorporate new features.



Yup. There's a reason the phrase "technical debt" gets used a lot in established projects....


----------



## Demetrios1453

MonsterEnvy said:


> Just on pure appearance Fire Giants don’t look very Norse.
> View attachment 257457
> View attachment 257471



They still originate in Norse myth, as the giants who lived in Muspelheim, led by Surtr.


----------



## MonsterEnvy

Demetrios1453 said:


> They still originate in Norse myth, as the giants who lived in Muspelheim, led by Surtr.



I know that, just saying appearance wise they don’t look as Norse as the Frost Giants.


----------



## Parmandur

GMforPowergamers said:


> I would hope for BIG change test in UA... like "here is an alternate (insert class name)" or here are a list of alternate spells....



Those aren't big changes, they've done both of those through Unearthed Arcana before. Big is "here is a new action economy." New Class or Spells are easily doable like they were for Xanathar's (Mystic and Artificer were both tested for Xanathar's, recall).


----------



## Parmandur

Ruin Explorer said:


> I would be pretty surprised if it's less than a 5.5E, I have to say. The changes they've made via Tasha's and MotM being implemented in the PHB (including re-writes of all existing PHB races) and MM, and the DMG presumably being re-written to not suck horribly alone would make the changes significantly bigger than 3.5E.
> 
> So you'd have to do revisionist history and make it so 3.5E was only 3.25E or whatever to justify that.



I think you are right about the level of changes, band that they will even call it a 6E. But nothing that has been show so far calls for a Next style Playtest, when the UA regime is already working on it.


----------



## kapars

There’s a new book placeholder on Amazon Canada






						Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Book): Wizards RPG Team: 9780786968282: Books - Amazon.ca
					

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Book): Wizards RPG Team: 9780786968282: Books - Amazon.ca



					www.amazon.ca


----------



## Parmandur

kapars said:


> There’s a new book placeholder on Amazon Canada
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Book): Wizards RPG Team: 9780786968282: Books - Amazon.ca
> 
> 
> Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Book): Wizards RPG Team: 9780786968282: Books - Amazon.ca
> 
> 
> 
> www.amazon.ca



Before we overanalyze this, all the details other than the release date are BS.

Could be Dragonlance...or something else.

Seems like a good release date for a Dominaria product.


----------



## darjr

Strangely advertised along stranger things things. Just me? Or anyone else getting that too¿


----------



## overgeeked

Parmandur said:


> Before we overanalyze this, all the details other than the release date are BS.



Maybe. The placeholder that turned out to be Spelljammer had the right price point from the start. It threw people off because they assumed it was a big box or that the price was wrong.


Parmandur said:


> Could be Dragonlance...or something else.



Could be. We don't know the dates of the DL stuff as yet. Could be the book or the box.

The US version is up. Price point of $50.






						Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Release: Wizards RPG Team: 9780786968282: Amazon.com: Books
					

Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Release [Wizards RPG Team] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Release



					www.amazon.com


----------



## Parmandur

overgeeked said:


> Maybe. The placeholder that turned out to be Spelljammer had the right price point from the start. It threw people off because they assumed it was a big box or that the price was wrong.
> 
> Could be. We don't know the dates of the DL stuff as yet. Could be the book or the box.
> 
> The US version is up. Price point of $50.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Release: Wizards RPG Team: 9780786968282: Amazon.com: Books
> 
> 
> Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Release [Wizards RPG Team] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Release
> 
> 
> 
> www.amazon.com



Well, at that price point, probably a hardcover.


----------



## overgeeked

Parmandur said:


> Well, at that price point, probably a hardcover.



Yeah, most likely Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.


----------



## kapars

darjr said:


> Strangely advertised along stranger things things. Just me? Or anyone else getting that too¿



I also see Stranger Things monster plushes


----------



## MonsterEnvy

Yeah probably Dragonlance


----------



## darjr

MonsterEnvy said:


> Yeah probably Dragonlance



Yea. I think you’re right…












						December
					

December is the last month of the year. Other names: Phoenix (Ergothian), Frost Eve (Plainsmen), Frostkolt (Solamnic), Cold-Lode (Dwarven), Winter Come (Elven), Blessings (Kender), Reward (Goblin), Habbakuk (God-days). December 6: Thanks a lot Day When kender give thanks for the objects that...




					dragonlance.fandom.com


----------



## Parmandur

MonsterEnvy said:


> Yeah probably Dragonlance



Very likely, but August to December is a long gap: I wouldn't be surprised if something else snuck in this year, either whatever Giants project James Wyatt is working on or a Magic Setting.


----------



## JEB

Jer said:


> I'm actually assuming that once they get their act together the plan is that the UAs will start being released through Beyond and integrated into it instead of as PDFs.



If that meant that only registered D&D Beyond users would be able to access and provide feedback on future UAs, that would be a mistake. The current model already limits their feedback pool to folks who pay attention to their web presence, that would restrict it much more.

If the D&D Beyond UAs remain publicly accessible and feedback is still through public polls, however, that would be fine.



Jer said:


> I think that's also why Dragon+ went away - because it's redundant with DDB.



100% agreed there, though.


----------



## Parmandur

JEB said:


> If that meant that only registered D&D Beyond users would be able to access and provide feedback on future UAs, that would be a mistake. The current model already limits their feedback pool to folks who pay attention to their web presence, that would restrict it much more.
> 
> If the D&D Beyond UAs remain publicly accessible and feedback is still through public polls, however, that would be fine.
> 
> 
> 100% agreed there, though.



D&D Beyond registration is 100% free...sure, at free, you are limited to the SRD, bit the free stuff is, well, free. And 10 million users being able.to ay around with the rules in their character sheet might give them some really useful data.


----------



## JEB

Parmandur said:


> D&D Beyond registration is 100% free...sure, at free, you are limited to the SRD, bit the free stuff is, well, free. And 10 million users being able.to ay around with the rules in their character sheet might give them some really useful data.



And as long as non-D&D Beyond users would still be able to see and provide feedback on future UAs, that'd be fine.


----------



## Nightfly

MarkB said:


> It'd be too expensive anyway. As the saying goes, if you have Tarrasque, you can't afford it.




#angryupvote


----------



## RFB Dan

My pure optimism hope is that WotC has worked out a deal with Iron Wind Metals to rerelease the classic Ral Partha D&D minis from the 90s. I would also love it of they opened up the hibernating settings to the DMs Guild. I find the idea of 5e Birthright intriguing...


----------



## Paul Farquhar

OB1 said:


> What do we think the big news will be from Wizards on August 18th?  Vote and discuss below!



I'm pretty certain that the correct answer is "other".

What it actually is, is a monster book focusing on giants and giant monsters (kaiju). It's quite literally tarrasque-sized, because it features tarrasques and similarly sized monsters.


----------



## seebs

OB1 said:


> What do we think the big news will be from Wizards on August 18th?  Vote and discuss below!



It will be news that can be taken out by a single 1st level wizard with Chill Ray, or whatever that stupid trick was.


----------



## R_J_K75

Parmandur said:


> ...I wouldn't be surprised if something else snuck in this year...



I really hope you are right, and it is something very cool, very unexpected and a physical D&D product that drastically deviates from the norm of what they've released previously.  A boxed set/slip case with 3-5 books that has something like the 2E Country Sites, City Sites and Dungeon Sites.  The Book of Lairs series or the World Builders Guidebook and Dungeon Builders Guidebook.  I know its wishful thinking and people are going to respond, "that's what DMs Guild is for, and there's little market for something like this", but between the rule's supplement books, monster manuals, and large hardback adventures I'd like to see them throw in something like this in there once in a great while. I got much use out of these types of books and would nowadays. I think it's safe to say that 5e will be winding down within the next year to year and a half and 5.5/6E will probably be released around this time in 2024 so I'm not really too interested in a classic campaign setting 5E conversion unless it's done this year or early to mid-next year.  I'm choosing other in the poll, not because it's what I think they are going to release but it's what I'd like to see, something nostalgic that's not a legacy campaign setting.


----------



## Ruin Explorer

Parmandur said:


> I think you are right about the level of changes, band that they will even call it a 6E. But nothing that has been show so far calls for a Next style Playtest, when the UA regime is already working on it.



Nonetheless I expect they will do a non-UA playtest, as it'd be extremely useful marketing, because the news would be spammed far and wide, and a bunch of people who have never played D&D, but have heard about it a ton (yes even including from bloody Stranger Things!) would download/access the playtest and likely be fascinated by it. Also as noted they could use it to push Beyond sign-up rates (and some of those will convert to subscribers, and subscription is the Holy Grail here).

Needed isn't always what matters!


----------



## Ruin Explorer

R_J_K75 said:


> A boxed set/slip case with 3-5 books that has something like the 2E Country Sites, City Sites and Dungeon Sites. The Book of Lairs series or the World Builders Guidebook and Dungeon Builders Guidebook.



I'd love that, but even in 2E, those _didn't sell_, that's real bar.


----------



## R_J_K75

Ruin Explorer said:


> I'd love that, but even in 2E, those _didn't sell_, that's real bar.



I know it's just wishful thinking


----------



## Reynard

Doesn't WotC have a sci-fi RPG in the works alongside their AAA sci-fi video game?


----------



## FitzTheRuke

Reynard said:


> What if it is just, like, a literal Tarrasque mini?



Been done:  "Tarrasque "Mini" (Though it's not out yet. Maybe they'll have some on display while announcing other things).


----------



## Reynard

FitzTheRuke said:


> Been done:  "Tarrasque "Mini" (Though it's not out yet. Maybe they'll have some on display while announcing other things).



dammitall!


----------



## MarkB

Snarf Zagyg said:


> How about a to-scale Tarrasque plushie?






GMforPowergamers said:


> 1:1... they only make 1, and it is going to have to stay outside Hasbro HQ



On consideration, I feel like there's a middle ground here. How about a plushy Tarrasque costume, plus some cardboard scale-model medieval city buildings? Then you can stage your own 50s-Godzilla-style Kaiju rampage scenes.


----------



## J.Quondam

MarkB said:


> On consideration, I feel like there's a middle ground here. How about a plushy Tarrasque costume, plus some cardboard scale-model medieval city buildings? Then you can stage your own 50s-Godzilla-style Kaiju rampage scenes.



Add a "Big Bag o' Gummi Peasants" to snack on during those kaiju shenanigans, and you could have a solid gold winner.


----------



## Remathilis

R_J_K75 said:


> What a random day to pick for an announcement.



Quakecon. Lots of gaming companies are holding announcements that day.


----------



## Li Shenron

OB1 said:


> What do we think the big news will be from Wizards on August 18th?  Vote and discuss below!



I think they'll announce the 50th anniversary edition, but I am not so sure there will be a public playtest, or if it will be an honest one.


----------



## R_J_K75

Remathilis said:


> Quakecon



Never heard of it, just seemed like a random Thursday to me. I stand corrected.


----------



## darjr




----------



## darjr

Amazon.com: Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Release: 9780786968282: Wizards RPG Team: Books
					

Amazon.com: Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Release: 9780786968282: Wizards RPG Team: Books



					www.amazon.com


----------



## darjr

Does the price difference match canada vs us dollars?


----------



## Nikosandros

darjr said:


> Does the price difference match canada vs us dollars?



Yes, 65 CAD is about 50 USD.


----------



## FitzTheRuke

darjr said:


> Does the price difference match canada vs us dollars?




Yes, those are the same thing: WotC's standard Hardcover MSRP listed in CAD and USD.

The one thing I find surprising is (if it's Dragonlance): I thought DL was in a new format. This is the usual MSRP of 95% of 5e HCs. I guess it's a standard HC if you don't get it bundled with the Board Game?


----------



## MonsterEnvy

FitzTheRuke said:


> Yes, those are the same thing: WotC's standard Hardcover MSRP listed in CAD and USD.
> 
> The one thing I find surprising is (if it's Dragonlance): I thought DL was in a new format. This is the usual MSRP of 95% of 5e HCs. I guess it's a standard HC if you don't get it bundled with the Board Game?



Dragonlance is just a Hardcover. But you can buy it packaged with the Boardgame.


----------



## Henadic Theologian

Parmandur said:


> Pretty much all of those yup, and the Magic team does Tumbler, too. It wasn't clear till the past few days that this would be as much a D&D event as a Magic event, though.




 If D&D is getting equal billing, it might help to compare it what what kind of MtG news we will be getting.

 For MtG we will be getting or likely getting:

 1. News and a spoiler on Dominaria United & Brothers War
 2. An announcement for what the next 4 Standard sets a few details each
 3. Some news on Unfinity, JumpStart 2022, and Warhammer 40k Commander Decks/Secret Lairs
 4. The announcements and news on Lord of The Rings set and other 2023 supplemental sets (most likely jncluding another D&D set, using the MtG art for Acererak hints at this)
 5. A news update on the Netflix MtG cartoon if only to sooth fears its been cancelled along with much of the rest of Netflixes animation department.
 6. MtG video game news


 So expect something on this scale for D&D.

 That could include news on D&D movies and TV (not just Honor Among Thieves), D&D video games (BG3 is getting full release this year), book announcements, details on Dragonlance, Planescape getting announce (the classic setting), a Dominaria setting book to celebrate MtG's 30the anniversary, 5.5e playtest, and the two new setting books for 2023.

 And I think the Tarrasque reference most directly relates to one of the new settjngs they've been teasing for years now, The First World, D&Ds new primal setting from the ancient past before all other material plane settings, before even the Dawn War. Tasha's, Fizban's, etc...,


----------



## Henadic Theologian

Stormonu said:


> It's a marketing gimmick to get eyes on the announcement.  It will be the typical fare of upcoming products for the next six months or so.
> 
> Guess I've been through too many GW "biggest announcements evar" to think it's anything groundshaking.




 More like for the next year and a half at minimum, with possibly a couple of announcements for 2024 as well if we go by what is expected MtG side.


----------



## Parmandur

Henadic Theologian said:


> If D&D is getting equal billing, it might help to compare it what what kind of MtG news we will be getting.
> 
> For MtG we will be getting or likely getting:
> 
> 1. News and a spoiler on Dominaria United & Brothers War
> 2. An announcement for what the next 4 Standard sets a few details each
> 3. Some news on Unfinity, JumpStart 2022, and Warhammer 40k Commander Decks/Secret Lairs
> 4. The announcements and news on Lord of The Rings set and other 2023 supplemental sets (most likely jncluding another D&D set, using the MtG art for Acererak hints at this)
> 5. A news update on the Netflix MtG cartoon if only to sooth fears its been cancelled along with much of the rest of Netflixes animation department.
> 6. MtG video game news
> 
> 
> So expect something on this scale for D&D.
> 
> That could include news on D&D movies and TV (not just Honor Among Thieves), D&D video games (BG3 is getting full release this year), book announcements, details on Dragonlance, Planescape getting announce (the classic setting), a Dominaria setting book to celebrate MtG's 30the anniversary, 5.5e playtest, and the two new setting books for 2023.
> 
> And I think the Tarrasque reference most directly relates to one of the new settjngs they've been teasing for years now, The First World, D&Ds new primal setting from the ancient past before all other material plane settings, before even the Dawn War. Tasha's, Fizban's, etc...,



The Magic show is supposed to he seen this year, I forgot about that.


----------



## Parmandur

Reynard said:


> Doesn't WotC have a sci-fi RPG in the works alongside their AAA sci-fi video game?



Not that they have said, but given that we have MtG themed D&D books and D&D themed Magic card sets...I wouldn't put any new IP outside of the realm of possibility for a crossover.


----------



## aco175

I would love to see something cool, but likely will see something few will care about.  Maybe an actual advent calendar this year (which popped on another thread), A new DM screen for Spelljammer, or they bought the rights to Batgirl.  

Holding out hope for something I will buy...


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## Reynard

Parmandur said:


> Not that they have said, but given that we have MtG themed D&D books and D&D themed Magic card sets...I wouldn't put any new IP outside of the realm of possibility for a crossover.



This is what I was recalling. For some reason I thought there was an associated ttrpg.


----------



## Parmandur

Reynard said:


> This is what I was recalling. For some reason I thought there was an associated ttrpg.



I wouldn't be surprised if they go there, when all is said and done. Developing a TTRPG is much less work than the video game.


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## ECMO3

OB1 said:


> What do we think the big news will be from Wizards on August 18th?  Vote and discuss below!



Stupid questions:

What does 50AE and AAA stand for?

My online search indicates those acronyms refer to a really powerful .50 caliber handgun and Anti-Aircraft Artillery (flak) respectfully and I don't believe it is those things.


----------



## EzekielRaiden

If it isn't a "5.5"/"50AE"/etc. playtest, it's the announcement of a classic setting. I favor the former, but only by a small amount.


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## Parmandur

ECMO3 said:


> Stupid questions:
> 
> What does 50AE and AAA stand for?
> 
> My online search indicates those acronyms refer to a really powerful .50 caliber handgun and Anti-Aircraft Artillery (flak) respectfully and I don't believe it is those things.



AAA is the term in the video game industry for flashy big budget games, like Assasin's Creed or Baldur's Gate 3.

50AE means "50th Anniversary Edition," because the D&D team has said that theybare working on a new iteration of the core rules for 2024, but because it isn't clear if thst really means "6E," ambiguous a term as that might be, it is at least generally agreed that it is a 5oth Anniversary product.


----------



## overgeeked

Reynard said:


> This is what I was recalling. For some reason I thought there was an associated ttrpg.





Parmandur said:


> I wouldn't be surprised if they go there, when all is said and done. Developing a TTRPG is much less work than the video game.



Wonder if it’s Star Frontiers.


----------



## Stormonu

ECMO3 said:


> Stupid questions:
> 
> What does 50AE and AAA stand for?
> 
> My online search indicates those acronyms refer to a really powerful .50 caliber handgun and Anti-Aircraft Artillery (flak) respectfully and I don't believe it is those things.



50AE = 50 year Anniversary Edition

Not sure about triple-A in this case, probably in relation to a video game, as in "by a well-known name brand company", such as EA (Electronic Arts) or the like.


----------



## vecna00

Super Pie in the Sky hope: They actually spill the beans on everything through the end of 2023, with some info on the 50AE. Also, the resurrection of the print versions of Dungeon and Dragon magazines. I have a feeling these are not likely, but I want them.

Realistic Expectation: They announce the date for Dragonlance and that Planescape is coming. They'll also throw in a new AP.

Big Fear: The presentation is an hour long, with 55 minutes of Magic announcements and 5 minutes of "Here's the date for Dragonlance, see you in December!"

I would not be surprised to hear something about Archetype's sci-fi game or an MtG crossover campaign.


----------



## Parmandur

overgeeked said:


> Wonder if it’s Star Frontiers.



Well, they did say that it was an original Sci-Fi IP, being made by the Mass Effect guys...but I wouldnbe surprised if it "evolved" into Star Frontiers along the lines because they own the name and it has some cache.

Now that I think about it, Chris Perkins did go on about Star Frontiers quite a bit in some of the Spelljammer info videos they put up...it would be really funny if they are dropping a 5E compatible Star Frontiers TTRPG in the near future to be a more straight Space Opera dovetailed Spelljammer zanniness.


----------



## Parmandur

Stormonu said:


> 50AE = 50 year Anniversary Edition
> 
> Not sure about triple-A in this case, probably in relation to a video game, as in "by a well-known name brand company", such as EA (Electronic Arts) or the like.



WotC owns multiple large video game studios now, and has said that they intend to become AAA video game makers. So, eventually we should hear more about that.


----------



## Parmandur

vecna00 said:


> Big Fear: The presentation is an hour long, with 55 minutes of Magic announcements and 5 minutes of "Here's the date for Dragonlance, see you in December!"



I think that is not the case, given the D&D team seems to have realized people were thinking this and are rushing out tondispell that notion.


----------



## vecna00

Parmandur said:


> I think that is not the case, given the D&D team seems to have realized people were thinking this and are rushing out tondispell that notion.



It's why it's called a "Big Fear!" Do not try to dispel my fear with your logic, sir!


----------



## Parmandur

vecna00 said:


> It's why it's called a "Big Fear!" Do not try to dispel my fear with your logic, sir!



Fair enough.


----------



## Ruin Explorer

Reynard said:


> This is what I was recalling. For some reason I thought there was an associated ttrpg.



There were a lot of very wishful-thinking-y posts all but claiming there necessarily had to be a TTRPG, which frankly, were rather silly.

What a lot of people didn't seem to get is that Archetype Entertainment is an AAA games studio, and nothing to do with TTRPGs, per se. Their job is to make an AAA CRPG, and that's hard enough. They certainly won't be designing around a TTRPG or the like (as people have suggested).

However as @Parmandur says, once the CRPG is made, then it'd be relatively easy to use the IP/art to make a CRPG which matches with that. This is assuming it even gets finished, not cancelled - and that's far from guaranteed. Archetype opened in 2019, and seem to have only gone into even pre-production this year (from announcements), and are still seemingly staffing up (and announced a big upstaffing earlier this year, but don't actually seem to have gained many staff yet), and seem to be well below AAA levels for the 2020s. So even assuming they succeed in staffing up to AAA levels and start full production this year, we'd be looking at a 2025 release at the soonest, with 2026 or 2027 being more realistic.


----------



## Paul Farquhar

Just want to point out that a sci fi RPG/CRPG would not count as *D&D *news. So cannot be the thing referred to.

I still maintain that "tarrasque-sized" is literal, not metaphorical.


----------



## Reynard

Paul Farquhar said:


> I still maintain that "tarrasque-sized" is literal, not metaphorical.



An "Apocalypse Stone" style edition ender centered on the Tarrasque -- or a whole invasion of them. They will reveal that is what destroyed the First World and the cycle has come around again and now every setting is going to face down a scrum of tarrasques!


----------



## Mind of tempest

Reynard said:


> An "Apocalypse Stone" style edition ender centered on the Tarrasque -- or a whole invasion of them. They will reveal that is what destroyed the First World and the cycle has come around again and now every setting is going to face down a scrum of tarrasques!



how can a tarrasque destroy a planet they are bearly city busters, they are not even a continent cracker like Godzilla earth.


----------



## Nikosandros

Mind of tempest said:


> how can a tarrasque destroy a planet they are bearly city busters, they are not even a continent cracker like Godzilla earth.



A tarrasque wizard did it.


----------



## Mind of tempest

Nikosandros said:


> A tarrasque wizard did it.



wizards cap at 9th level magic they are chumps, come back when they grind up super galactic clusters for a level Googleplex spell.


----------



## Reynard

Mind of tempest said:


> how can a tarrasque destroy a planet they are bearly city busters, they are not even a continent cracker like Godzilla earth.



A "scrum" of tarrasques is 999,999 of them. Everyone knows that.


----------



## RFB Dan

overgeeked said:


> Wonder if it’s Star Frontiers.



If it is (and that would be awesome) that would be the final artery to pop in Justin "Grits" Lanasa's head.


----------



## overgeeked

RFB Dan said:


> If it is (and that would be awesome) that would be the final artery to pop in Justin "Grits" Lanasa's head.



Who?


----------



## RFB Dan

overgeeked said:


> Who?



He's the owner of the New (fake) TSR who claims he has the rights to the Star Frontiers name.


----------



## Horwath

GMforPowergamers said:


> I put other being hopeful... 6e



2024, 50th anniversary; 5.5E
2034, 60th anniversary; 6E


----------



## GMforPowergamers

Horwath said:


> 2024, 50th anniversary; 5.5E
> 2034, 60th anniversary; 6E



that would kill D&D for me and my group unless 5.5 is huge


----------



## Horwath

GMforPowergamers said:


> that would kill D&D for me and my group unless 5.5 is huge



5E is successful so I do not expect "huge" changes in how classes look.

but I do expect removing the "feats optional" default,

moving towards pointbuy/array as default ability generation, same as fixed HPs per level

possible return of 5min short rest for using HDs and moving most abilities towards long rest or at-will

all races will have +2/+1 or +1/+1/+1 maybe +2/+1/+1

everyone having a feat at 1st level and most likely at 4th level in addition to class gives ASI's

All classes having 6 "slots" for skills, armor proficiencies and cantrips at 1st level. Additional depending on class in next 2/3 levels.
0 additional for multiclassing
With max and min limits for every class,

I.E:
figther: 
armor; max heavy (3 slots), min light (1 slot)
skills; max 3, min 1
cantrips; max 1, min 0

rogue:
armor; max medium, min none
skills; max 5, min 3
cantrips; max 2, min 0

cleric:
armor; max med, min none
skills; max 3, min 1
cantrips; max 4, min 2

wizard:
armor; max light, min none
skills; max 3, min 1
cantrips; max 5, min 3

ranger:
armor; max heavy, min light
Skills; max 5, min 1
cantrips; max 3, min 0


----------



## GMforPowergamers

Horwath said:


> 5E is successful so I do not expect "huge" changes in how classes look.
> 
> but I do expect



I am always amazed that people on these boards have such insider information (or supreme confidence)  to tell people what to expect like we know...

did you expect the race stat mods to be removed? How long BEFORE they did it did you except it?


----------



## Horwath

GMforPowergamers said:


> I am always amazed that people on these boards have such insider information (or supreme confidence)  to tell people what to expect like we know...
> 
> did you expect the race stat mods to be removed? How long BEFORE they did it did you except it?



Honestly? Some kind of from start of 5E, as they added in 4E limited choices for non humans where to put +2 racials.

Also, didn't we have class +1 and race +1 bonuses in playtest? So all could have primary at least 16?


----------



## Paul Farquhar

GMforPowergamers said:


> I am always amazed that people on these boards have such insider information (or supreme confidence)  to tell people what to expect like we know...



It doesn't take insider information, just a bit of common sense, and the ability to disentangle "what I want" from "what makes commercial sense".


GMforPowergamers said:


> did you expect the race stat mods to be removed?



Yes.


GMforPowergamers said:


> How long BEFORE they did it did you except it?



I'm surprised they made it into 5e in the first place.


----------



## GMforPowergamers

Paul Farquhar said:


> It doesn't take insider information, just a bit of common sense, and the ability to disentangle "what I want" from "what makes commercial sense".
> 
> Yes.
> 
> I'm surprised the made it into 5e in the first place.



yeah... got it... you know... perfect. 

I guess I should tell my group we should call it a day.


----------



## Paul Farquhar

Horwath said:


> All classes having 6 "slots" for skills, armor proficiencies and cantrips at 1st level.



I agree with your other predictions, but this seems unlikely to me. It's too much +complexity.


----------



## Parmandur

GMforPowergamers said:


> did you expect the race stat mods to be removed? How long BEFORE they did it did you except it?



I remember Crawford talking about that about 2018.


----------



## Simon Collins

Kaldheim - Wikipedia
					






					en.m.wikipedia.org
				



Giants, multiverse, MtG crossover. That's my guess for one of the announcements.


----------



## Alby87

I just had an idea... And if the big change today is the release of 5.5... Today? Hear me in this: if you have the PHB, DMG or MM, starting from today you have access to the new books in D&D Beyond. After that release, they can fine tune and apply errata live, with just a news to tell people what has been changed, following people discussions. In 2024, they will print those book as the 50th Anniversary Revision, and they have plenty of time to do the transaction between online to book: typesetting and new art.


They will boost the sale on D&D Beyond of the core books
People will check and give feedback on the books...
...that still will be sold in two years, but what probably will be the cleanest and not needing errata version ever!

What do you think?


----------



## WarDriveWorley

Maybe they're opening a tarrasqueic park on an island off the coast of costa rica


----------



## South by Southwest

Some kind of business partnership?


----------



## OB1

Alby87 said:


> I just had an idea... And if the big change today is the release of 5.5... Today? Hear me in this: if you have the PHB, DMG or MM, starting from today you have access to the new books in D&D Beyond. After that release, they can fine tune and apply errata live, with just a news to tell people what has been changed, following people discussions. In 2024, they will print those book as the 50th Anniversary Revision, and they have plenty of time to do the transaction between online to book: typesetting and new art.
> 
> 
> They will boost the sale on D&D Beyond of the core books
> People will check and give feedback on the books...
> ...that still will be sold in two years, but what probably will be the cleanest and not needing errata version ever!
> 
> What do you think?



This is a really interesting thought.  They could even give users the option to toggle between the old and new rules both as a playtest of the new and a market test to see how many people switch over.


----------



## dave2008

When are these announcements coming? I assume it is on Seattle time?


----------



## Henadic Theologian

dave2008 said:


> When are these announcements coming? I assume it is on Seattle time?




 9am pst, 12pm est.


----------



## Reynard

dave2008 said:


> When are these announcements coming? I assume it is on Seattle time?



9 Am Pacific.


----------



## Paul Farquhar

WarDriveWorley said:


> Maybe they're opening a tarrasqueic park on an island off the coast of costa rica



You would need something bigger than Isla Nublar for a Tarrasqueic Park. May I suggest the British Isles? I reckon WotC could pick it up dirt cheap in the fire sale.


----------



## Vaalingrade

Come oooon Advanced D&D. ~crosses fingers~


----------



## Reynard

Vaalingrade said:


> Come oooon Advanced D&D. ~crosses fingers~











						Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)
					

The standalone 'advanced 5E' backwards compatible tabletop RPG!




					www.levelup5e.com


----------



## Henadic Theologian

Could also be an announcement of more D&D TV shows and/movies or multiple things, instead of just 1 big thing.

 Or WotC is finally buying Games Workshop and will come out with Warhammer 40k 5e.


----------



## Reynard

What if it is just a Tarrasque card in Magic?


----------



## Vaalingrade

Reynard said:


> What if it is just a Tarrasque card in Magic?



There are already Edrathi (sp?) in MtG.


----------



## Alby87

Called it!!!!! Sorry for the useless post... but called it!


----------



## OB1

In the end, it was all of the poll options except for the All Access Content Tier.  Think it def lived up to the Tarrasque sized hype!


----------

