This year, Wizards of the Coast will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the world’s most popular tabletop roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons. On the eve of one of the largest gaming conventions, GenCon, the team from Dungeons & Dragons invited members of the press for a special presentation. Updates and announcements were given by Jess Lanzillo, the Vice President of Franchise & Product, Lead Designer Jeremy Crawford, Creative Director Chris Perkins, Director of Project Sigil Chris Cao, and Kale Stutzman, the Game Director for Project Sigil. Here are the biggest takeaways from this event.

D&D 5.2 Will Be Part Of Creative Commons

Lanzillo’s presentation focused on how the team’s core responsibility is to the fanbase and community and that they come first. She touched on last year’s OGL controversy, stating that they heard the community loud and clear from that moment, which led them to submitting the Systems Reference Document (SRD) for D&D to Creative Commons. She shared that later this year they plan to submit version 5.2 into Creative Commons as well.

The 2024 Player’s Handbook Will Break From Tradition

Crawford & Perkins shared that one of the reasons why the Player Handbook was designed the way it was was, simply put, that’s how it was always structured; because of tradition. Referring to how the book starts with character creation first, Crawford announced that the 2024 Player’s Handbook will break away from that tradition and will instead begin with how to play the game instead of how to create a character. This received an audible approval from those who were in attendance.

DM Screen With UX In Mind

Perkins discussed the new DM Screen that will be released as part of the product line up for the 2024 version of 5th edition, stating that they listened to the best practices for user experience. The new DM Screen will be easier to read whether you are standing up or sitting down, and if you use a computer to place in front of the screen, then the screen will not obscure what they consider to be the most critical information you need.

Build Your Own World With D&D Virtual Tabletop

Cao & Stutzman showed a demonstration on how the new 3D virtual tabletop, dubbed “Project Sigil” will use Unreal Engine 5 for Dungeon Masters to create their own world using this new tool. The building tool was quite impressive and it will have a lot of opportunities to create different types of environments quickly. They will also include various types of minis, including beloved characters from the popular video game Baldur’s Gate 3, such as Astarion and Karlach. The closed beta for this tool will be open this fall for those who have a tiered subscription with D&D Beyond.

How Is 2024 Edition Will Work With D&D Beyond

While I was live posting these announcements on Threads, someone wanted me to ask Crawford how the 2024 Edition (which he confirmed that’s what it’s going to be called) will work with D&D Beyond. He said that essentially the way the rules will work is that it needs to be seamless for things that are contained in both books. So if there is a class, spell, attack, etc. that is listed in 5th Edition (5e) that received an update in the 2024 edition, then by default we will use the 2024 system to make sure that characters are using the same things. The example he gave here is if you have a 2014 wizard and a 2024 wizard in the party, they need to be casting the same Fireball spell. But if there is something in the 5th edition rules that is not mentioned or addressed in the 2024 edition, then the 2014 rule/class/feat/etc. will stay.

The 2024 Player’s Handbook will release on September 17th, 2024, the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide will release on November 12th, 2024, and the Monster Manual will release on February 18th, 2025. All three books are available for pre-order for digital and physical formats.