Wizards of the Coast have two big books coming out. Icewind Dale’s Rime of the Frostmaiden is due September 15th and the newly announced Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything due November 17th.
Pathfinder’s Paizo Publishing were the dominant sponsors at the inaugural Gen Con Online and I didn’t see Wizards of the Coast at UK Gaming Expo’s Virtually Expo.
So, today, Wizards of the Coast announced they do their own thing. They’re holding D&D Celebration 2020 and it’ll run from September 18 to September 20. That date is now locked in Geek Native’s convention tracker and yes, it clashes with PAX Online.
D&D Celebration 2020
The headline event is a huge session of virtual tabletop games. In Wizards of the Coast’s own words;
Celebrate the release of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden with a weekend of Icewind Dale–themed virtual play sessions and help us create the biggest virtual tabletop roleplaying game event ever! Fans will also get the chance to preview some content from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the forthcoming book featuring massive rules options, subclasses, and more for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
The bold emphasis is mine.
There are 199 virtual tables on Friday alone, and five different technologies are used. So, if Roll20 isn’t your favourite, you can find an alternative. However, Roll20 dominates.
Here’s the breakdown:
| VTT | Friday Tables |
|---|---|
| Discord | 37 |
| Google Chat / Hangouts | 3 |
| Fantasy Grounds | 8 |
| Roll20 | 132 |
| Zoom | 19 |
I imagine alternatives like Astral Tabletop and Foundry will be disappointed. However, there’s no surprise inclusion from D&D Beyond or even Wizards of the Coast themselves of their own branded platform.
In total, there are 601 virtual tabletop events, and the split of technologies used on each day is similar.
Extra Life
Mone raised in the event goes to supporting Wizard’s chosen gamer charity, Extra Life.
Included in the charity push is a new design of D&D Extra life t-shirts. Sales of that limited edition finish in 20 days.
You can pre-order Rime of the Frostmaiden and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything at Amazon.
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