Dungeons & Dragons' next core books given a 2024 release date, only to vanish
Wizards of the Coast quickly pulled images dating several products, but the internet doesn’t forget so easily.
Update: Wizards of the Coast provided a statement to Dicebreaker via email:
Product release dates for 2024 were erroneously posted on social media last week and were factually incorrect. We can confirm all products mentioned will release in 2024, with specific launch dates by product to be announced at a later date.
The original article follows.
A series of social media posts promoting Dungeons & Dragons’ 2024 lineup of releases originally contained release dates for the popular tabletop RPG’s new trio of core rulebooks, but those posts have apparently since been deleted and replaced.
D&D’s creators took to the PAX Unplugged stage on December 1st to chat about RPG’s past and future, which included a new adventure anthology, a historical making-of book and a massive campaign with evil lich Vecna on the cover. The main attraction was a piece of art promoting the 2024 edition of the Players Handbook, which D&D's social media accounts mirrored except for one curious addition - a supposed release date of May 21st, 2024. The PAXU panel delivered no such dates to the attended crowd and audience watching the livestream.
The images with attached release dates were quickly scrubbed from Wizards of the Coasts’ social feeds, replaced by the same images used during the PAXU panel, but not before ENWorld staff member Morrus rehosted them to the community forums.
According to the images, D&D’s 2024 core rulebooks would release in late May alongside the Vecna: Eve of Ruin campaign adventure. The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1976 would follow on June 18th, providing players a history book from the RPG’s earliest days, while adventure anthology Quests From The Infinite Staircase drops on July 16th.
It seems likely that D&D’s associated social media accounts simply used the wrong images when cross-promoting information revealed at the PAXU panel where Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Amanda Hammon and James Wyatt laid out plenty more information about these upcoming books. Dicebreaker has reached out to Wizards of the Coast for more information but did not receive a reply prior to publication.
Public playtesting on material that will eventually fill the three new core volumes colloquially called One D&D (it’s definitely not 6th Edition) or simply D&D 2024 recently wrapped up with a second pass at the Barbarian, Druid and Monk player classes. That timeline conceivably leaves enough rope for WotC’s design teams to prepare the books for a May 2024 publication date - Crawford mentioned during the panel that the company is actively working on the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual.
D&D previously delayed the Deck of Many Things due to defects and misprintings plaguing a significant portion of the physical cards comprising the notorious magical artefact within the RPG’s universe. If I were a massive corporation hoping not to bungle the largest product release of the last decade (that they also want to stay relevant for the next ten years), I’d also be cagey about prematurely announcing a street date for my new core rulebooks. The future is an unpredictable space, and global distribution is only slightly less chaotic.
Update: The article now clarifies where the innaccurate release dates initially appeared.