We’re here in June with another edition of tabletop RPG news! People come to StartPlaying to find quality game sessions with professional Game Masters, but we also round up the week’s biggest news stories for your convenience. This week, Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds made huge acquisitions, Paramount stopped its DnD show, and WotC showed off a shiny new Monster Manual cover.
Roll20 Acquires Demiplane
Leading virtual tabletop Roll20 made another huge acquisition this week. The company now has Demiplane, a rules nexus and character sheet creator. Demiplane gained a lot of traction over the past few years for giving the same ease of character creation as D&D Beyond, but for other popular game systems like Vampire: the Masquerade, Avatar: the Roleplaying Game, and Daggerheart. The acquisition will have no effect on existing accounts or subscriptions, and Roll20 is currently surveying users on how they’d like to see Demiplane integration.
Fantasy Grounds Hires D&D Beyond Founder Adam Bradford As Chief Development Officer
Smiteworks announced this week that it appointed Adam Bradford as CDO. Bradford is well known in the tabletop industry for his work on digital platforms. He founded D&D Beyond and moved on to Demiplane, leaving in the wake of its recent acquisition by Roll20. As the new CDO, Bradford will be working to expand Smiteworks’ Fantasy Grounds software. The announcement says that he will focus on the user experience and community engagement to enhance its market presence.
Paramount Dispels DnD Live-Action Show, Hasbro Attempting To Revivify
There was a DnD TV show in the works for Paramount+, but Deadline reports that the streamer is backing off. The original order was for eight episodes of a live-action series as a joint effort between Paramount and Hasbro. Now, Hasbro is working alone to retool the series to shop to other networks. This includes a change of creative teams. No news on the story or possible characters has been revealed.
Dungeons & Dragons Reveals New Monster Manual 2024 Covers
Wizards of the Coast revealed the final piece of cover art for its new DnD trio of core books. The upcoming 2025 Monster Manual features Minsc and Boo with the Blackstaff fending off a Beholder, Mimic, goblins, and other iconic monsters. The Monster Manual alternate cover stars a Mind Flayers that looks a lot like the Emperor from Baldur’s Gate 3. The Monster Manual will be the last of the core books to release, aiming for months after the other two in February 2025.
With that cover reveal, this edition of TTRPG news is done and over. Thanks for reading and coming to StartPlaying. If you play in the coming week, may your dice be kind.
