Dungeons & Dragons – What Might Be Next for D&D in 2019?

Pen and paper role-playing games, and Dungeons & Dragons in particular, have been going through a bit of a resurgence lately. With that in mind, this D&D Beyond article recaps all the major Dungeons & Dragons releases from the past four years and then tries to predict what’s coming our way in 2019.

According to the article, we’re in store for three “backbone” D&D books, some third-party products, and even a “brand-new, big-budget” cRPG based on the fifth-edition rules that should be announced or even released in summer. And while this is all just speculation, given how specific it is, come summer I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for any cRPG-related announcements.

A few sample paragraphs:

Dungeons & Dragons is going places. More people are playing Dungeons & Dragons than ever before, celebrities are sharing their love for roleplaying and dungeon crawling in weekly livestreams and at lavish events like the Stream of Many Eyes, and Wizards of the Coast is publishing limited-edition copies of D&D books with stylish alternate covers for hard-core collectors.

But even as D&D caters to an audience wealthy enough to collect expensive miniatures and accessories, it’s clear that Wizards of the Coast and its partners still have their loyal fans in mind. In 2018, we saw two adventures released—one catering to players who love intrigue and low-level play, and one aimed directly at dungeon crawlers who have been champing at the bit for years for a high-level adventure. We’ve also recently begun exploring D&D’s broader Multiverse, with a tentative step into Eberron courtesy of the setting’s creator Keith Baker and Maze Arcana co-founder Ruty Rutenberg. And that’s to say nothing of D&D Beyond and other electronic D&D game aids like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, which are helping to bring our favorite game into the digital age, making it easier to play and transport than ever before.

It’s no stretch to say that 2018 was the biggest year yet for the current edition of Dungeons & Dragons. But where do we go from here? 2018 saw the unprecedented release of four D&D game books (up from three books in all previous years, except for its launch in 2014). Part of the promise of fifth edition was releasing only a few high-quality books each year in order to reduce system bloat and extend the edition’s lifespan. Will D&D continue to hold by this tradition, or will we see more books than ever this year? What will those books contain, and what major media event will we see to promote this year’s big adventure?

Let the speculation begin!

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Wild, Hopeful Speculation

It stands to reason that the autumn adventure will be accompanied by the usual supporting products: dice, map packs, miniatures, a DM Screen, and maybe even a board game. I hope that D&D will receive a brand-new, big-budget video game RPG, in the vein of Dragon Age. The D&D brand is large enough to leverage into a triple-A video game adaptation, and it would help the game reach the video game-playing audience. It might support the autumn adventure, but it could also stand alone. A planar angle could support a “loose link” between the RPG adventure and video game, because of the expansive nature of the D&D Multiverse.

If a huge new game like this is released, it would make sense for it to debut (or at least be demo’d) at the summer storyline kickoff event. On that note, the kickoff events have grown more and more accessible to the public with each passing year. Stream of Annihilation was strictly invite-only, and Stream of Many Eyes was only available to the public if they purchased an expensive ticket. One way to make the event more than just a show would be to get people to stay longer. Last year, a ticket got you a tour through the Waterdeep set and a drink in the Yawning Portal, then the chance to eat lunch and buy some swag outside the studio, followed by the live show you bought a ticket for. Then you were ushered out after those two or three hours. If guests were able to hang around longer, in a larger space, there could be room for partners creating other D&D products to show off what they’re planning for the year to come. In this scenario, the ticketing scheme would definitely be different from Stream of Many Eyes, where your ticket was tied to a specific live streaming show. Guests would likely purchase a general admission ticket, and then purchase tickets for other events they wish to go to.

We also already know one product that will definitely be releasing in February 2019: Tactical Maps Reincarnated. These full-color poster maps are compiled from 3rd and 4th Edition products, and support tactical gameplay. That’s great news if you’re a fan of crunchy combat encounters.