Wizards of the Coast are most famous for Dungeons and Dragons, which has risen to popularity off the back of shows like Stranger Things, Big Bang Theory, and the Dungeons and Dragons movie.
Every year Wizards of the Coast host D&D Direct - an online showcase of everything they've got planned for the year. They use it as an opportunity to share updates on previously announced content, tease brand new content, and plug their new projects, including the Virtual Tabletop that is currently in the works.
So what was teased in this year's D&D Direct 2023?
Minecraft crosses over with D&D
As well as a brand new Minecraft DLC themed around D&D, Wizards have also announced a new Monstrous Compendium - Volume 3: Minecraft Creatures - which is available to download at no cost now.
It includes multiple well-known creatures from the Minecraft universe to drop into your D&D campaigns, complete with D&D stat blocks and flavour text.
Some highlights include the Creeper, which doesn't follow the standard D&D action system, the Ender Dragon, including End Crystals that allow it to heal, and the nightmare-fuel Enderman, which wields a trait called "Evasive Teleportation".
This collaboration marks something of a two-way street between Mojang and Wizards of the Coast, with them working together to bring us content from both universes within the realm of the other.
When the Minecraft DLC releases in Spring 2023, you will be able to experience the world of D&D in Minecraft, and starting today, you can also experience the world of Minecraft in your D&D Adventures.
Secret Lair drop
To celebrate the new film, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Wizards of the Coast has revealed an awesome new Secret Lair drop, with the pack featuring six cards based on the characters of the film.
You'll be able to grab Edgin, Forge, Holga, Simon, Doric, and Xenk, all of them with artwork made to look just like the actor that plays that character.
Not only do they include some historic keywords, each of the cards has an effect that flavours them to the character in question - Simon for example, is a wild magic sorcerer, and his card has you roll a d20 with varying effects depending on the roll.
There's also a rumour there's another secret card that's being kept under wraps - you can preorder this set starting today.
Hasbro Figurines
Hasbro has already announced Dicelings and 6" figures of the character from Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Theives, but now we can add to that some more Golden Archive releases, including Xanathar, an owlbear, and the displacer beast from the movie.
Details on this are still scarce, but Wizards are promising more at the Hasbro Pulse Fanstream on March 29th.
A Chat With R.A. Salvatore
It wouldn't be D&D Direct without some mention of Neverwinter, which is now releasing an expansion inspired by R.A. Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt.
Menzoberranzan, which is available now, is a collaboration involving R.A. Salvatore, and D&D Direct flavoured this segment with a video of R.A. Salvatore chatting about Drizzt Do'Urden, the character in his Legend of Drizzt series.
He also spoke about the conclusion of his latest trilogy, Lolth's Warrior, which is due to release in September.
D&D Virtual Tabletop update
Among all the other announcements, Wizards showed us how their Virtual Tabletop is coming along, and gave us a view of the presenters of the showcase playing on the virtual tabletop.
They hinted that it will be available on multiple platforms, and we got a peek at the models, dice rolls, and generally how the virtual tabletop runs.
There's still no official word on release, but they're hoping we'll be able to play it "this year", and it seems to be coming along nicely - there's now a ruler that lets you see the distance between characters and objects, as well as the ability to change the lighting, weather, and ambience.
We also got to see the "encounter mode", which shows how combat will look in the 3D virtual tabletop. It's all animated, including attacking animations and spells.
It's very community focussed - you'll be able to share things online, and download things made by other players. It will include everything in the Monster Manual, and is designed to generally streamline the experience of playing D&D with friends from a distance.
Wizkids Replicas of the Realms
Wizkids have been making replicas for a while, their latest addition is a mimic and an owlbear, with the mimic measuring 20 inches tall, and the baby owlbear figure coming in at 11 inches.
The mimic looks like a treasure chest with a purple tongue and teeth, and the owlbear features cute "puppy dog" eyes.
50-Year History of D&D Documentary
2024 will be the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons, and to celebrate it Joe Manganiello will be bringing us a documentary on the inspirations of D&D, and it's evolution over time.
2023 and Beyond
D&D DIrect rounded off with a look at whats to come in the future, with Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford showing us the stories that are coming next.
Although it's not news (it was announced last year), we got confirmation that a Planescape book is still in the works, and we got a name - Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse.
They also confirmed Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants is coming Q3 2023 (which we already knew), as well as Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk (which we also already knew, although we didn't have a name for that either).
Finally in 2023 will be a story revolving around the magical item, The Deck of Many Things.
Beyond 2023, D&D Direct teased the return of Vecna in 2024, featuring in a world-hopping adventure teasing at many deeper plots to come in the future.
The Red Wizards, stars of the D&D movie, will have their own epic story in 2025, and fans of the D&D Cartoon will be excited to hear that Venger, the show's antagonist, will return in a new D&D Adventure soon after.
Finally, they teased more to come involving the League of Malevolence, made famous in the 2021 adventure "The Wild Beyond The Witchlight".
You can catch up on the D&D Direct showcase here, and watch trailers, videos, interviews, and more.
