The fiftieth year of Dungeons and Dragons is drawing to a close. After a 12-month birthday bash, things are starting to wind down – proverbial plates are being cleared away, and we have a quiet moment to reflect on how everything went. The party popper has been pulled, and its contents can’t be put back in.
So, how was 2024 for D&D? By my books, it went far better than I expected it to. But rather than reveling in the success of the new rulebooks, I’m looking forward with a slight feeling of dread – and that’s all down to how digital D&D as a product is developing.
Let me explain what I mean by giving you a quick recap of the year in D&D. It’s my job to observe and record every industry update or rule change for DnD classes and DnD races, so I’ve put together a brief overview of where Dungeons and Dragons – and its publisher Wizards of the Coast – is currently at.
2024’s first D&D books lean hard on nostalgia
Before we got the new rules, we got two adventure books that aimed to get us excited about the new rules. I reviewed both of them:
Both of these books relied on nostalgia. The first was a Marvel-esque multiverse-hopper that brought us back to some of 5e’s most famous (but not necessarily balanced) dungeons. Its biggest settings made a short appearance, as did some of the game’s most famous faces.
Vecna, the guy on the cover, was barely in it, though. Eve of Ruin follows a disappointingly common trend in D&D books because it’s a real ‘fixer-upper’. I believe the core ideas at its foundation have merit, and they could make for a genuinely memorable campaign. However, the execution is so shallow that it’s a hard sell to DMs who don’t like heaps of homework.
Quests from the Infinite Staircase was a much stronger poster child for the new era of D&D. Yes, it was a little unoriginal to put out another anthology of classic, past-edition adventures. However, the variety and quality of said encounters were great, and they were tied together with a novel hook that I’m still using in a monster-of-the-week campaign.
The 2024 Player’s Handbook arrives, and it’s actually pretty great
In my 2024 Player’s Handbook review, I gave the new rules a 9/10. This shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody – surveys sent out early this year suggest that many people now like the updated D&D classes. Wizards of the Coast has put its money where its mouth is and delivered an approachable, improved version of D&D (even if, in play, it still feels like fifth edition, but with everything moved slightly to the left). I wasn’t quite as impressed by the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, but it was a hit with many other reviewers.
I dove deep into the new rules, scouting out the weirdest rule changes and which magic items and spells were actually new. The rest of the D&D community was equally busy, sussing out the most broken builds and overpowered combos just weeks after the release date. Goliath martials, Conjure Minor Elementals, and the Nick Weapon Mastery now rule the day.
Our class guides offer pretty comprehensive coverage of what’s new:
Not content to be left out, the Artificer rolled up in December 2024 with a new playtest document. Right now, the proposed changes cause as many problems as they solve, but hopefully with some fine-tuning, the Artificer will be up to the standard of its fellow 2024 classes.
D&D goes even more digital, with mixed success
The quality of the Player’s Handbook distracted us from Wizards of the Coast’s monetization tactics, but only for a moment. The company that brought us the OGL scandal didn’t blunder quite so hard this year, but there were a few business decisions that shook our faith. Pretty much all of them had to do with D&D’s digital future.
First, Wizards suddenly re-designed D&DBeyond in April, and one of its handiest features went missing. Previously, users could purchase individual spells, feats, and other character options without having to fork out for a full book. This choice was removed this year, and the move looked particularly anti-consumer. Wizards’ community support team acknowledged fan ire and said it was gathering feedback, but we haven’t seen any other official statements on the subject.
While digital bundles that made buying a collection of books cheaper were also axed, that same update made it possible to buy digital and physical bundles from D&DBeyond. These were marketed with a cringe-inducing DLC chart that set our teeth on edge, and things seemed to get worse from there.
In early September, many players received a message claiming that, due to an error, their paid-for pre-orders of the new rulebooks were canceled. Thankfully, Wizards acknowledged and appeared to resolve many of these cancellations within 24 hours, but it was a bumpy start for D&D Beyond’s biggest pre-order.
One proposed change to D&DBeyond was so unpopular that it caused widespread backlash. In late August, Wizards of the Coast announced it would be deleting the 2014 versions of spells and magic items from the platform. These would still be found in their original, digital sourcebooks, but they would be much harder to source for anyone not planning to switch to the 2024 rules. This decision, however, was quickly walked back after fan feedback.
These may feel like small annoyances in the grand scheme of things, but Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks hints that a darker future is on the horizon for digital D&D. Despite the backlash against AI art found in 2023 D&D books, Chris Cocks put out some seriously pro-AI statements throughout 2024. Apparently, all his friends already use AI in their D&D games, and Hasbro has already made use of the technology – but he can see it playing a big role in Dungeons and Dragons’ future in particular.
In last year’s Christmas roundup, I discussed AI at length, and it’s a little depressing to be having these same conversations again 12 months later. Last year, a host of tabletop RPG publishers made statements and bans against the emerging tech, with most citing the unethical treatment of creatives as their primary reason for doing so.
Wizards of the Coast is aware of these contentious concerns, and it repeatedly promised it wouldn’t be using AI art back in 2023. However, the higher-ups at Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast’s parent company, perhaps didn’t get the memo.
What’s next for Dungeons and Dragons?
So far, the answer to this question seems to be ‘more of the same’. The DnD release schedule tells us that 2025 will start with a new Monster Manual. This completes the core rulebook trilogy, and we can finally assess how well-balanced the new version of fifth edition is. It seems like the challenge is being upped a little – when I met with designer Jeremy Crawford this year, he promised that the new monsters would hit us like a truck.
D&D has trumpeted its long legacy for an entire year now in the form of nostalgic book content and odd licensed products. However, this self-congratulatory attitude seems set to continue. 2025 will bring two books diving into The Forgotten Realms, the RPG’s most famous setting, as well as a rather unoriginal book themed around dragons.
Personally, I’m most nostalgic for the times when D&D tried to create something new. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the last time it tried this, it was nominated for an excellence award for design. However, this doesn’t seem to be part of Wizards’ current product strategy.
What will likely be new is Dungeons and Dragons 3D virtual tabletop. There’s still no concrete release date for Project Sigil, a glitzy Unreal Engine VTT, but we’ve known about it for two years at this point – an update must be on the horizon.
I was pleasantly surprised by Maps, D&D’s official 2D VTT. However, I remain nervous about Project Sigil. We’re yet to learn how this shiny new product will be monetized. It’s been confirmed that there will be a certain amount of free access, but you’ll also pay a premium for D&D miniatures and other perks. This smells like a system of microtransactions – and based on the D&DBeyond changes made throughout 2024, I’m not certain they’ll fall in favor of the consumer.
The 2024 rules prove that Wizards of the Coast is capable of creating and maintaining a game that feels great to play. However, in an era of such enormous political and technological change, it’s hard to ignore the decisions of the companies behind that game, however entertaining a game it might be. Faith in the designers may stay stable, but corporate trust remains rocky at best.
If you’d like to learn more about the year’s biggest D&D news stories, here are a handful of extras: DnD adventure design pioneer Jennell Jaquays died in January, and D&DBeyond added a new, ban-worthy Illrigger class in November.
Source: Wargamer
