Our initial exposure to Magic Digital Next came a little over a year ago in a presentation by Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner. At that time, we saw it only as a new Magic: The Gathering product, albeit a sophisticated one for a range of players. From a new article posted online by Wizards of the Coast President Chris Cocks, we now learn, though, that Magic Digital Next (though not specifically named in the article) is just one part of a more comprehensive digital strategy update being pursued by WOTC.

Cocks describes “adjustments to and increased investments in our digital teams” as the “biggest move” currently underway at the company. WOTC has created a new Digital Games Studio with significant new outside talent, the existing Magic Online team, and digital art and game design staff.

But these changes don’t pertain just to Magic. Rather, WOTC is looking to apply a digitally integrated experience to all its games (including Dungeons & Dragons), incorporating such elements as augmented-reality games, MMOs, tournament organization, home game management, and other “unexpected settings, genres, and platforms.”

We are reimagining digital versions of Magic and other Wizards games… We will bring our characters and worlds to other games and experiences… We will make your Wizards experiences more efficient, connected, and convenient.

Perhaps we might hear more about this initiative from Hasbro leading in to New York Toy Fair.

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Wizards of the Coast’s next Dungeons & Dragons adventure product is to be an anthology of classic modules updated for Fifth Edition. Tales from the Yawning Portal will include in one 248 page hardcover volume:

• Against the Giants
• Dead in Thay
• Forge of Fury
• Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
• Sunless Citadel
• Tomb of Horrors
• White Plume Mountain

Despite the title’s tie-in to the Forgotten Realms—the Yawning Portal is a tavern in that setting’s city of Waterdeep—also in the book will be tips for placing the various adventures in other classic D&D campaign worlds: Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Eberron.

Tales from the Yawning Portal will hit general retail on April 4th, priced at $50. Hobby game stores should have it a week-and-a-half earlier, on March 24th.

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Assault of the Giants, the next Dungeons & Dragons-derived board game from WizKids, is scheduled to hit retail in February. When it does, expect to see two versions. Both are meant for 3-6 players, with each controlling a particular clan of giants (hill, frost, fire, etc.). Both have players working simultaneously on a general war and the pursuit of goals unique to each clan. Both use the same map board and cards.

What’s the difference, then? One, the Standard Edition for $80, features 14 plastic miniatures molded in different colors. The other, the Premium Edition for $130, features the same miniatures but individually painted.

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Today, Dungeons & Dragons, the swing, and Fisher-Price Little People were inducted in to the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York. Each year, the Hall of Fame at The Strong’s National Museum of Play recognizes two or three toys for longevity, innovation, achieving icon status, and fostering discovery.

Regarding D&D, Curator Nic Ricketts was quoted:

More than any other game, Dungeons & Dragons paved the way for older children and adults to experience imaginative play. It was groundbreaking. And it opened the door for other kinds of table games that borrow many of its unique mechanics. But most importantly, Dungeons & Dragons’ mechanics lent themselves to computer applications, and it had a direct impact on hugely successful electronic games like World of Warcraft.

Past inductees include the Barbie dolls, Chess, the Atari 2600 Game System, Lincoln Logs, the rubber duck, Slinky, Twister, and other toys and games.

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When I reviewed Princes of the Apocalypse, I commented that the first half of the book “can almost be used as just a setting book for the Dessarin Valley”. But that didn’t prepare me for what I’d find when opening up Storm King’s Thunder: over a fifth of this 256-page book is devoted to quick looks at an area that makes up the Dessarin Valley, and areas north of Mirabar, south past Daggerford, and as far east as Anauroch. Those “quick looks” are anywhere from a paragraph of few lines to a full page, several with suggested encounters (most centered around the giant activities that drive this book’s campaign). In the section before that, two major locations in the Dessarin Valley are detailed (and one location far to the north). Combine this with Princes of the Apocalypse, and you’ve got a fantastic gazetteer for your campaign. A section of Mike Schley’s Forgotten Realms map is used in that 50+ page setting section.

Your players will be at one of the three locations very early in the campaign, defending the location from attack. However, you’re not just playing your heroes, each player at the table is given an NPC they’re in control of. While the battle rages on, your heroes and these others aren’t necessarily in the same location. The NPC survives? They’ve got some storylines your players can follow up on, things that require your heroes to travel quite some distance to complete – one has your heroes escorting the character to the next town over to meet their boss who then tasks them to safeguard a wagon to a town way the heck far away after which they get an anonymous bundle that directs them to a town even further away in the opposite direction where they’ll get their final reward which is pretty cool indeed.

Storm King’s Thunder seems to have a lot of travelling involved.

It feels natural to compare Storm King’s Thunder to Princes of the Apocalypse. Both take place in the same general area (although this giant adventure can take heroes far afield from the valley). Both have a preferred story progression while including some free-form events. Both have a large section dedicated to the overall setting, tempting the Dungeon Master to make it her own. However, while Princes is set up assuming the heroes would tackle the elemental cults and temples in a level-appropriate manner, there’s nothing stopping a group of 4th level heroes from stumbling into an area designed for 7th level adventurers, complete with a staircase leading down to a place for 10th level heroes, Storm King’s Thunder has an adventure flowchart designed to avoid just that issue. This isn’t to say there’s a lack of choices for the players.

The adventure proper begins with a choice of the three locations mentioned earlier. If your heroes head to the major location far to the north, they don’t have the adventuring goodness that’s at the two different major locations in the Dessarin Valley. Likewise, the middle part of the campaign offers to take the heroes to multiple locations, but they only need to go to one to progress to the conclusion. This final act has some branching options as well. In other words, my group playing Storm King’s Thunder will most likely have a wildly different story to tell than your group playing the same campaign.

Storm King’s Thunder forgoes standard XP and leveling, opting to reward the players by completing goals. Each section of the book has a character advancement sidebar, giving direction for when the heroes gain levels. Thus, that middle part of the campaign where the players have multiple paths but only need one to advance the storyline, they all hit 9^th level when completing that mission. Less bookkeeping, more adventure, if you ask me.

The cartography is all over the place within this product. However, unlike earlier storyline campaign books, none of the maps are signed, so it’s difficult to tell who did what. You’ve got some things that look more like general fantasy maps instead of something worthy of the word “cartography”. You’ve got small maps that incorporate hand-drawn imagery to stuff that looks like it’s built using basic shapes in Illustrator or thrown together using different terrain packages in Roll20. Then you’ve got the map of Triboar, which looks completely hand-drawn. There are six different cartographers listed in the credits, all with differing styles. This probably won’t bother you, but in my day job as a graphic artist working with book layouts similar to this, it bugs the heck out of me.

The artwork, also with some varying styles, is much more in sync. Those NPCs your heroes could control? There’s eighteen of them with a large range of body sizes, skin color, and ethnicity (if you translate all the fantasy races over to “human”). The collage of images on the cover is impressive – you can see the standalone King Hekaton on the first page of the book and the combined illustration collage before graphic elements were added to it on the second page.

Several tie-ins to this storyline are available and planned, including an Assault of the Giants boardgame from WizKids, Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds ready-made adventures, and more.

A copy of Storm King’s Thunder was provided free for review by Wizards of the Coast.

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The National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play has announced 12 finalists for potential induction in the class of 2016. The finalists are:

• Bubble Wrap
• Care Bears
• Coloring Book
• Clue
• Dungeons & Dragons
• Fisher Price Little-People
• Nerf
• Pinball
• Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots
• Swing
• Transformers
• Uno

Final selection of inductees will be made by a national advisory committee and the results announced November 10th. Usually 2-3 are chosen. Criteria include:

• Icon-status—the toy is widely recognized, respected, and remembered.
• Longevity—the toy is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over multiple generations.
• Discovery—the toy fosters learning, creativity, or discovery through play.
• Innovation—the toy profoundly changed play or toy design.

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The latest story-line for Dungeons & Dragons saw its official launch this week with the full retail release of the Storm King’s Thunder adventure book ($50 suggested retail). Developed in-house at Wizards of the Coast, Storm King’s Thunder sees the player characters defending the Sword Coast in The Forgotten Realms against the depredations of ravaging giants.

The adventure covers character levels 1-11, for the first five in a more traditional progression and in the later levels with a modular approach. The book includes an adventure flowchart to help guide the dungeon master, as well as an appendix with suggestions for integrating it with other published adventures. Part of the story involves the characters making use of the giants’ own rune magic to craft new fantastic items.

For those playing Dungeons & Dragons remotely online, licensed versions of Storm King’s Thunder are also available in Fantasy Grounds ($35) and Roll20 ($50). The story line makes an appearance as an expansion to the Neverwinter MMO. And coming from WizKids are a Storm King’s Thunder Icons of the Realms miniatures series (later this month) and an Assault of the Giants board game ($100, May 2017).

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With live streaming of tabletop roleplaying games drawing larger audiences, Wizards of the Coast appears ready to take the trend to a new level and possibly a wider audience. On Sunday, the ongoing series Acquisitions Incorporated broadcasts live from the PAX West convention in Seattle to 300 movie theaters around the country. Tickets are available through Fathom Events. Attendees will also receive a 32 page Dungeons & Dragons adventure module, Cloud Giant’s Bargain.

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The gang from My Little Pony play Dungeons & Dragons on this new t-shirt from Hasbro. Shirts run $25-29, with profits from the sale going to the Points of Light Foundation.

Join the adventuring party of Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and of course Pinkie Pie, for the most pony-riffic celebration of friendship this side of the Forgotten Realms!

Friendship & Magic

It’s How We Roll

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Clockwork is a 17 page supplement of gear-based magic for Dungeons & Dragons. Kobold Press’ first volume of a Deep Magic series for Fifth Edition, the ebook ($4 via DriveThruRPG) presents a Clockwork domain for clerics, the Great Machine pact for warlocks, a school of magic for wizards, and of course lots of new spells.

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