During today’s D&D Direct video presentation, Wizards of the Coast announced new partnerships with toy manufacturers Hasbro and WizKids to expand the D&D brand beyond digital games to physical collectables.
The first of these new collaborations is with Minecraft and the release of a new Minecraft D&D DLC, which will be available on the Minecraft Marketplace in Spring 2023. Hasbro, of course, is WotC’s owner.
Riccardo Lenzi, Senior Producer at Mojang Studios, who make Minecraft, told the press;
We’re incredibly excited to partner with Wizards of the Coast, to introduce a brand new, story-driven Dungeons & Dragons DLC to Minecraft! We can’t wait for the community to dive in and experience a blocky take on the world of D&D.
In this new Minecraft D&D DLC, players may pick between Barbarian and Wizard classes and explore five legendary Forgotten Realms places like Candlekeep and Icewind Dale while facing classic monsters like beholders, mimics, mindflayers, and dragons! In this new adventure, players can choose their characters’ stats and roll 20-sided dice to select how to progress in fully-voiced dialogue.
Golden Archive
Hasbro will reveal more on another stream, on the 29th of March, at the Hasbro Pulse Fanstream and that news will build on the release of the Golden Archive and Xanathar, an owlbear and the Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves displacer beast.
Menzoberranzan
R.A. Salvatore’s writing in the Legend of Drizzt was interviewed on the D&D Direct stream. With the imminent release of Tao of Drizzt and the culmination of the latest trilogy starring the drow ranger, Lolth’s Warrior, Salvatore reflected on the figure who has meant so much to fans.
Gearbox Publishing and Cryptic Studios, both partners of Wizards, have collaborated with Salvatore to produce Menzoberranzan, the 25th expansion for the popular MMO Neverwinter. The new expansion, currently available on PC, Xbox, and Playstation, allows players to explore the hazardous city for the first time in the game.
In the interview, Salvatore said;
It’s very different to write for a video game than writing for a novel. You’re going to walk down the road looking at the world through Drizzt’s eyes. When I’m writing a video game, however, the most important character in a video game to the player is the one they are playing. In Neverwinter, the work they are doing always astounds me and the fact that they are piggy-backing on stuff I did makes me feel very good.”
D&D Replicas of the Realms
On the stream, WizKids introduced new Replicas of the Realms models. There’s the mimic treasure chest and the 11-inch-tall cute baby owlbear.
Joe Manganiello
Joe Manganiello’s D&D documentary for the 2024 50th Anniversary was covered, further pushing the tabletop game into multimedia.
D&D’s official VTT
I also notice that Wizards now refer to the D&D virtual tabletop as a D&D VTT. When the project was first announced as part of the plans for One D&D, it was referred to as a playspace.
What do you think? Measured observations are welcome and you can leave them in the comment section below.
