Dungeons & Dragons unveils big year ahead for adventures, action figures, collectibles, and more

This week D&D Direct and Wizards of the Coast unveiled a trove of new releases, forthcoming 2023 Dungeons & Dragons adventures, action figures, collectibles, brand partnerships, including Minecraft, and more during its D&D Direct presentation. The new tie-in movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is the centerpiece of the year, with action figures of the characters from the movie along with the classic D&D cartoon on their way (see links to order below), along with collectible monster figurines of the Xanathar, Owlbear, and Displacer Beast from the movie.

Adventures coming this year include Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk, Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse–Return to Sigil, and The Deck of Many Things.

Fans of the world of Minecraft will see a mash-up of worlds, as the video game opens up to include the Forgotten Realms. WizKids will release a 20-inch-tall mimic and an 11-inch baby owlbear figure. And PC, Xbox, and Playstation players will encounter R.A. Salvatore’s Menzoberranzan, the 25th expansion for the popular online game Neverwinter.

What’s Next

Along with the new adventures announced for 2023, D&D Direct telegraphed themes to watch for in 2024 and beyond. For 2024 look for Vecna to return as key villain, hot on the heels of his focus in the Stranger Things TV series, and from the new movie, the Red Wizards will be key in 2025. Venger from the 1980s animated series will be back, too, and from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, look for more from the League of Malevolence.

Minecraft x D&D

The Minecraft announcement is more about bringing D&D into Minecraft than Minecraft into D&D. How would that work?–D&D Beyond users can find out by downloading here the new Minecraft x D&D Monstrous Compendium, incorporating five iconic mobs from the Minecraft game to D&D, including the blaze, creeper, ender dragon, enderman, and wolf of the overworld. Available in the coming weeks a downloadable Minecraft game will feature dice rolling for combat and four classes: Paladin, Barbarian, Wizard, and Rogue. Think Lego Star Wars or Lego Batman, but swap in the block-verse of Minecraft with D&D settings and characters.

Lots of D&D Action Figures!

Check out more detailed photos and pre-order the Golden Archive six-inch movie action figures now here at these links: Edgin, Holga, Simon, and Forge.

The Cartoon Classics series looks great, too (including dice!). Find more photos and order those here: Hank, Sheila, Presto, Diana, Eric, and Bobby & Uni.

And there’s more! Check out Super 7’s line of ReAction Vintage D&D classic Kenner style 3 3/4 figures here: Sorceress, Efreeti, and Githyanki.

And you can pre-order all these figures at Entertainment Earth here, too.

More Drizzt

One of my reviews of R.A. Salvatore′s Drizzt series (Boundless) is on the cover of his volume Relentless, and the author discussed his next book in The Legend of Drizzt, Lolth’s Warrior (available for pre-order now here at Amazon).

Magic: The Gathering

Secret Lair is a Magic: The Gathering sub-series offering limited-release bundles of cards and it next will feature a set from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (with a cool flip card for Doric, reflecting her druid Wild Shape ability).

More D&D

The presentation featured a trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves with primarily scenes we’ve seen before. It previews a new virtual tabletop gameplay option, D&D Playspace, creating a visual world for your gaming night, bringing together players from anywhere into a single online experience.

Watch the entire D&D Direct presentation streaming on YouTube below: