Two superstar players were secret dragons in D&D's debut public showing of its 3D virtual tabletop

Gen Con 2024 just wrapped up in Indianapolis, Indiana. It ran from August 1 to August 4. Gen Con is North America's biggest tabletop gaming convention. That means Dungeons & Dragons was in the house—and it was handing out 3,000 early copies of the new D&D 2024 Player's Handbook. That's right: 3,000 lucky Gen Con goers got it 45 days before the rest of us plebes can find the book on store shelves September 17.

Gen Con also saw the first actual play demonstration of D&D's upcoming 3D virtual tabletop (it's 3D&D, har har). It's called Project Sigil, a nod to the city at the center of D&D's Planescape campaign setting, and it's powered by Unreal Engine. Unreal typically powers video games—big ones like Fortnite, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Sea of Thieves. That should tell you how beautiful these maps and minis are before you even see the screenshots or watch the video. 

Want to get in on the Project Sigil closed beta? You'll need a (free) D&D Beyond account, and then you'll clicky the sign-up button here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/project-sigil. No telling how long the wait could be. But developer Wizards of the Coast already has a working prototype up and running, and running so well they showed it off at Gen Con in front of hundreds. It appears they've made solid progress in the two years since the VTT's announcement in August of 2022.

Now I'm finally getting to the actual play, called "An Astarion and Karlach Adventure: Love is a Legendary Action." 

My goodness, there is no better-titled adventure in all of 5e right now.

Aabria Iyengar not only has one of the dopest names in the game, she was the one sitting behind the Dungeon Master's screen at Gen Con's D&D actual play of the Project Sigil 3D virtual tabletop. Joining her onstage was Anjali Bhimani, veteran of the Exandria Unlimited and Candela Obscura actual plays. Brennan Lee Mulligan, an improv theater-trained dungeon master that does nothing but blow people's minds. And then two voice actors from Baldur's Gate 3, Neil Newbon who plays smarmy heartthrob Trickster Rogue, Astarion, and Samatha Beart who plays the Love of my Life Tiefling Barbarian, Karlach. (Yes, that's a subclass in the upcoming 2024 Player's Handbook.)

These five gather to play some gosh darn D&D and have a good time doing it. This one-shot two-hour adventure takes place in the Forgotten Realm's Underdark. They all meet in a tavern (classic!) called the Chill Touch. Less than 10 minutes into this video and my love of Karlach is reaffirmed—as if it had gone anywhere—and my newfound appreciation of Astarion is beginning to smolder.

Jump ahead to the video's 1:16:00 mark to see Project Sigil's big 3D VTT reveal. It starts behind with a low camera angle shot of Karlach and Astarion's backsides, blown up for the big screen on stage behind them. 

They also immediately tackle the new way in which surprise is handled in the 2024 Player's Handbook. Instead of characters taking on the Surprised condition which prevents them from acting for an entire round, surprised characters instead roll initiative at disadvantage. It wonderfully simplifies how Surprise works in D&D 5e, which has frankly left tens of thousands of tables confused for an entire decade now.

I also adore dear Brennan Lee Mulligan who accidentally rolled initiative with his real dice instead of the VTT's virtual dice on screen. That's my guy. As fun as this 3D VTT looks as a video game, I do love me some real dice. To the point where I wake up every morning and roll and d20 to see how my day will go. Been doing it since high school. I graduated high school in 1996.

And if you hadn't guessed it yet: Brennan Lee Mulligan's cleric and Anjali Bhimani's wizard are the secret dragons in An Astarion and Karlach Adventure: Love is a Legendary Action.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Inspires Legions of Fans at Gen Con 2024

New Player’s Handbook Sold Out for the 50th Anniversary

RENTON, WA – August 5, 2024 – More than 64 million D&D fans love THE WORLD’S GREATEST ROLEPLAYING GAME and a huge number of them were in Indianapolis this past weekend. At Gen Con 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana, more than 3,000 lucky DUNGEONS & DRAGONS fans got their hands on early copies of the 2024 Player’s Handbook before it releases widely on Sept 17th. More than 10,000 fans played D&D at Gen Con, including the amazing cast of the immersive live D&D game which featured Neil Newbon (Astarion) and Samantha Béart (Karlach), reprising their roles from the smash hit Baldur’s Gate 3, alongside Brennan Lee Mulligan, Anjali Bhimani, and Aabria Iyengar as DM.

"It was so cool being in the audience when Aabria revealed Brennan and Anjali were both playing secret dragons in the D&D Live game,” said Jess Lanzillo, VP of D&D Franchise and Product at Wizards of the Coast. “Gen Con 2024 was such a celebration of the five decades of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and a testament to the countless imaginations that have been inspired by this special community.”

The climactic encounter in the adventure titled “An Astarion and Karlach Adventure: Love is a Legendary Action” played out in Project Sigil, an upcoming immersive 3D sandbox that empowers fans to build their own D&D experience using Unreal Engine 5. Anyone can sign up for the Project Sigil closed beta at DnDBeyond.com/project-sigil. All you need is a free D&D Beyond account!

Everyone is talking about the D&D Live game from Gen Con 2024! Head to youtube.com/@DNDWizards to check it out today at this link: https://youtu.be/Cn7XLBykzEU. The YouTube Premiere of “An Astarion and Karlach Adventure: Love is a Legendary Action” will be live at 3pm PT!