We got our first look at D&D Digital (also referred to simply as D&D Virtual Tabletop), Dungeons & Dragons’ upcoming virtual play experience, back in March of 2023 and sadly have not heard much about it since, aside from it being in “early” development. There was even a post in 2023 that said they would “ slowly open up playtesting to more and more players throughout the year as we feel confident in the features we have ready to show,” though there hasn’t been much news of this yet. The current D&D Beyond website does have a virtual play function with D&D Beyond Maps and allows for a decent online play experience, for those who want to play virtually, but it also still leaves a lot to be desired. Players must switch between the map screen and their character sheet in order to perform checks and rolls, and the interactive map itself is a simpler 2D system that does mimic a tabletop with icons for players and other characters, but is visually basic and does not necessarily provide an intuitive experience for DMs. There are similar alternatives, such as Roll20 and Foundry, that may provide a slightly better experience but still leave much to be desired for those playing entirely virtually.

But the first clips of the D&D Digital Experience in 2023 showed 3D visuals with well-designed figures to represent characters, fun animations, integration with D&D Beyond to import existing characters, and what appeared to be, dare I hope, all-in-one screen controls for dice rolls. Additionally, now more than ever visual appeal is critical to the success of games, especially as streaming and video content creation continues to grow in the gaming community, and meeting that need improves immersion. More than that, what I think is most important about this upgrade is the accessibility it will give the game to long-distance friends and players such as my own group to have a fun, immersive online experience playing the game over a discord call (though I’ll admit it was a bit funny to see the group with both a tabletop map and laptops in front of each of them all sitting together in the first look video). It’s difficult to replicate the feel of sitting at a table as a group in an online space, and I think removing some of the inconveniences of the existing online format on top of a visual improvement will expand the game’s audience to allow for this.

Though it’s been a long year, we finally got our first hint at the release, with a vague promise of it coming soon during the 2024 Player’s Handbook Reveal. While I desperately want to hear more specific news of its arrival, after listening to the developers gush about the “streamlining” and “top-to-bottom” improvement of the game in the 2024 Core Rulebook update which will be released beginning in September of 2024, my excitement for the coming era of D&D and hope for an imminent announcement about the release of D&D Digital has been renewed.

It’s only natural that a revamp of the rules and polishing of the game mechanics themselves would be finished before a new digital play experience, and their timing for completing these is certainly smart. The developers themselves nodded to the experience of playing Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian’s immensely popular RPG which released in 2023 and uses the D&D system, as an experience that motivated them to make several of the specific changes and upgrades they did. In the same vein, they described the process of refining and upgrading the game as doing “wish fulfillment” with 10 years of feedback on a tried and true system. They used the example of incorporating many popular “house rules” like drinking a healing potion as a bonus action rather than an action in turn-based play, which has now become an official game rule (to much applause). Here’s hoping the game also inspired some options for screenplay in their digital play experience.

They’ve also done in-depth upgrades to character options, backgrounds, weapon techniques, and more which seem to expand what has always been the game’s best strength: flexibility and creativity in character development and expression. That enticing immersive experience of transforming into anyone you desire and identifying with a wide range of characters, supported by beautiful new artwork. Their reveal video was loaded with love for the experience of holding the book, a game and piece of art all in one, and I hope to see this same kind of love for the online experience. As a player whose D&D friends are largely long-distance, I long to upgrade my experience in the game more towards that of those who play together in person, and I think the vision for D&D Digital taps into and satisfies this need perfectly. I can already envision a future of streamers and online players immersing themselves in a new online experience that’s dynamic and engaging in the way we saw in those first enchanting clips in 2023, and hopefully the release of the new 2024 Core Rulebook is paving the way for that vision to become reality very soon.