Last week I was lucky enough to take part in Wizards of the Coast’s webinar where we were given a little insight into the upcoming Magic Premier sets and Universe Beyond collections. Even more exciting, for me at least, is all of the Dungeons and Dragons news, and there is a lot, from new Dragonlance adventures to a brand-new system that will remove editions and bring everything into one continuously evolving tabletop gaming experience.

There is a lot to sift through and unpack, but I will do my best to not get lost in my nerdy rambling. Let us start with a little Magic to get this ball rolling. Our main host of this webinar was Greg Tito, and covering Magic the Gathering was Liz Stewart.

Kicking it off with Universes Beyond, we have previously had the likes of Rick Grimes, Godzilla, Chun-li, and even Fortnite. As of October 7th, we will get a collaboration with Warhammer 40K. Fans of 40K will be excited as four factions will be under your command. The four are Chaos factions, the Imperium, the Necrons, and the Tyranids. Each deck has been said to keep to the lore and tactics of each faction.

Not only that but with this set is the re-introduction of the Sol Ring cards, one for each of the four factions being brought in. That is not all coming, as next year, in time for Wizard’s 30th Birthday is the Dr. Who collaboration, also in time for the Dr’s 60th birthday. Not much was said about the set, but what we do know is that there will be familiar enemies, wonderful partners, and the many iterations of the Doctor Him/Herself.

The big Magic the gathering set coming in the 3rd quarter of next year is the Lord of the Rings. What makes this one special is that not only will we get the physical sets, but digital as well – it will be available on MTG Arena. These will be modern legal sets, and when you collect enough of a certain set, will depict scenes from LOTR. This looked amazing. Now I am super excited as I play Arena, so being able to get these digitally is great, as well as themed battlefields, avatars, and pets. So that is something to look forward to next year, especially for collectors given the unique card back imagery.

Ending the already packed Magic ensemble, we also have a massive continuous release of one of the biggest stories in Magic the Gathering, starting with Dominaria Unlimited this September, focusing on the Phyrexian War with Dominaria. Around the same time will see the release of The Brothers War, where we will go back to the beginning of Magic the Gathering itself, and there is nothing I love more than a deep dive into lore. Following on from Dominaria will be Phyrexia: All Will Be One, March of the Machines, and March of the Machines: The Aftermath. These will continue the story from Dominaria Unlimited. The last two sets are the Wilds of Eldraine and The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, which will be a lot of fun, and as a bonus, there will be Dinosaurs.

With the MTG news out of the way, we can move on to Dungeons and Dragons, one of my hobbies. Not only do I DM, but I also play as a character in podcasts and help host D&D discussion podcasts, so to start us off, let’s start with Spelljams. Spelljams is a musical album that uses the joint efforts of many artists to bring a soundtrack to the recently released Spelljamers. This portion of the Webinar was hosted by legendary designer Chris Perkins, Spelljams product manager Chris Lindsay, and produced by Chris Funk from the Decemberists, as they spoke of and let us listen to snippets of music from the album.

Unfortunately, I did not know any of the artists except Reggie Watts, but the album was Inspired by the Flash Gordon Soundtrack. It also gave me Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1&2/Hasselhoff theme song vibes on a couple of songs. You will also be able to get the Artifact Edition which will include a vinyl copy and artwork inspired by the music and Spelljamers. This album is available now for digital download and streaming, so make sure you check it out – you might even want to use some of the songs in your own Spelljamer game.

Dragonlance, one of the most well-known story arcs, is now back with Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Now, obviously, we did not get the entire story told to us as that would ruin it, but we do know that there are many factions and the threat of Tiamat’s return. That, however, is just the surface of this massive announcement, as not only are we getting a new Dragonlance adventure, but we are also getting a board game, Warriors of Krynn, that you can play separately or in tandem with Shadow of the Dragon Queen.

To speak about this incredibly exciting project we had the lead designer, F. Wes Schneider, and art directors, Kate Irwin and Bree Heiss. We looked at many artworks from the story and were able to take a look at the board game, which will offer a unique battlefield experience that you can use to weave into the overarching story. The standard physical and digital bundles, as well as a massive digital and physical deluxe bundle that will include everything, will be coming soon and can be pre-ordered now.

However, Dragonlance is not the only thing to get excited about. We have some new source books on the horizon. We were not able to get a full in-depth look into these, but we got the gist of them. These are all coming next year, so it gives us something to look forward to. Firstly, we have Keys from the Golden Vault, a heist-like adventure. Bigby returns with Bigby Presents Glory of the Giants, in a similar vein to Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, but with giants – one I will be picking up.

Next, we have The Book of Many Things, of course, inspired by the Deck of Many Things, one of the most chaotic items to ever exist in D&D, so this should be a lot of fun. We have two returning campaigns, with the first being the unnamed Phandelver Campaign, which will expand on Mines of Phandelver, and then we have Planescape, which will be rolled out similar to Spelljamer, and see us jumping into different planes of existence.

Lastly, and what I am most excited about, is One D&D, the new generation of D&D where it will be ever-evolving, where the game itself is at a good place and they will just build on it and expand everything. The older editions will still be playable with new content, but this will be more of a foundation with more races, classes, magic, items and so much more being added, it makes sense to just build up instead of continuously starting anew with more editions. With Wizards of the Coast’s acquisition of D&D Beyond, new and innovative steps can be taken to help out newer players and DMs.

I am super excited about the digital mini and dungeon tool that’s in the works, as it uses Unreal Engine to be able to build your very own dungeons. It is going to be good, in theory at least, but we will just have to wait and see. Though what I think for me is that everything will be in one place, which is what gets me excited. The rollout has started and you can check out playtest packets right now on D&D Beyond. The actual release date is in 2024 but we can check it out and give our feedback on the playtests that will be released.

With this new direction, it will be even easier to fall headfirst into the world of D&D, and with player characters being more customizable than ever, I am so keen to try out the new ever-expanding systems. Now is the time to check out Dungeons and Dragons if you have not already, or if you have been too scared to dip your toes in, so come on in, the water is fine. If anything here has left you thinking that this looks interesting, please head over to the Wizards of the Coast website for their Wizards Presents video, or find it below.