All the D&D announcements from Gen Con 2024 in one place
Aug. 1, 2024Updates on the virtual tabletop, Monster Manual, and more
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Want to know what’s new for one of thebest tabletop RPGs? Let’s dig in.
“Baldur’s Gate 3 lives on” in Project Sigil, the new D&D virtual tabletop
Wizards of the Coast has drawn back the curtain on its upcoming virtual tabletop, codenamed ‘Project Sigil.’ This is something of a cross between the 3D environments of Baldur’s Gate 3 with the functionality of D&D Beyond (interactive character sheets, clickable abilities, that sort of thing). We got a closer look at how it works for both players and Dungeon Masters during the panel, but the biggest takeaway might be thatyou can use Baldur’s Gate 3 characters to continue the party’s story.
More specifically, digital miniatures for Astarion and Karlach were shown off in Project Sigil. In fact, it was pitched as a way to go on new adventures with them.
“I think a lot of people are worried about what [Wizards of the Coast]’s going to do with BG3 characters and the story and all this stuff,” says game director Kale Stutzman. “What we’re trying to do is say, hey, why don’t you continue your Baldur’s Gate 3 story in here, use the characters however they ended up in your games?”
Naturally, this is just one option. Alongside a plug-and-play system for existing adventures, a lot of emphasis was placed on making your own maps using the built-in editor. Although you can create on a grander scale by putting down forests and creating castles, you can also get granular – like placing individual torches that can actually be turned on and off. In terms of how it works behind the scenes, it feels like the old Diablo map editor or a medieval spin on the Sims; you’re able to snap in walls, floors, accessories, and more from a menu along the bottom of the screen.
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It’s unclear what we’ll get for free in Project Sigil and what will be a paid extra, but head of Project Sigil Chris Cao says that you can “easily import existing D&D Beyond maps, characters, and monsters, with built-in rules integration.” So at least your D&D content should play nicely together.
We don’t have a release date just yet, but you cansign up for a closed beta of Project Sigil that’s launching this fall. When the system does eventually come out, it’ll be available on PC, mobile, and consoles.
Monster ‘families’ have been given a boost too. Before now, Crawford noted that vampires became less and less of a threat as players leveled up… but that’s about to change. There are now lower and higher-level vampiric creatures to do battle with, and this isn’t an isolated incident.
None of this eclipses the most important and world-shattering change that fixes a long-term injustice a decade in the making, though: housecats finally have darkvision in D&D.
“We’ve noticed over the last decade and in a lot of our own play tests how many rounds of combat can grind to a halt when you get to the Cleric’s turn,” he says. “The Cleric takes an action then a bonus action […] and so we needed to tighten that up.”
That kind of streamlining is very much par for the course with these new rulebooks. As an example, the PHB now starts with how to play the game rather than how to make a character – a first for D&D.
“We are always looking for ways to open more doors into D&D, [and] we felt one of those ways we can do that right here in the game’s main rule book is to do a better job of inviting you in right from the start,” says Crawford.
It’s not the only thing the team thinks will go down particularly well, though; True Strike has been boosted. Crawford says that it is now “delicious” because “we took it from a sort of buff spell that was almost always a trap to to something that some characters are going to cast round after round after round.”
“In effect, they’re like little DMs in the campaign running these sort of microcosm settings in the world that can operate while the other characters are off on adventures,” explains creative director Chris Perkins. “So a Bastion is kind of like another resource that characters have to get fun stuff – for their companions, for the party. But it doesn’t in any way, shape or form, interfere with what the character is good at. And that is going off on adventures and doing cool stuff.”
“This setting is complete,” he says. “It’s everything you need to basically just pick it up and play it. But it’s also been designed so that it is eminently customizable. We chose Greyhawk for a number of reasons. One, this is [D&D’s] 50th anniversary. And Greyhawk was the first published campaign setting. And so [there’s] a little bit of nostalgia. but also… one of the things we were struck by was how easy it is to customize. It is actually, in its original incarnation, very bare bones. And that’s what we really wanted in this Dungeon Master’s Guide – an example of what a campaign setting could be. But one that is not so overwhelming and not so fully fleshed out that a DM can’t take it and make it their own.”
Finally, another noteworthy change highlighted in the panel was the book’s 100+ pages of magic items. This includes loot tables which have been divided into thematically appropriate sections like ‘religious artifacts.’ Entries in the new Monster Manual will actually point you toward the appropriate DMG loot table, all to create a more cohesive world.
For recommendations on what to play while you wait, check out our guide to thebest D&D books. As for a change of pace, don’t miss thebest board games.
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