Wizards of the Coast announced its 2026 Dungeons & Dragons publishing plans at the GAMA Expo in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 3, introducing a live-service-inspired 'seasonal' structure with themed releases starting in April. The roadmap features three seasons—Horror, Magic, and Champions—grouping core sourcebooks, adventures, accessories, digital tools, and events around unifying narratives, following a lighter 2025 schedule after the 2024 5.5e core rulebook updates.
At the GAMA Expo, Senior Vice President Dan Ayoub unveiled the 2026 roadmap, shifting to themed 'Seasons' to enhance community engagement, similar to live-service games. Each season anchors a flagship sourcebook with supporting products, D&D Beyond integration, and events.
Season of Horror (April-June): Centers on Ravenloft: The Horrors Within ($59.99 USD, physical June 16; digital June 2 for Master Tier, June 9 for Hero Tier on D&D Beyond), revisiting Domains of Dread with new Darklords, monsters, fear/dread rules, horror subgenres, NPCs like Rudolph van Richten, eight subclasses (e.g., Reanimator Artificer, Hollow Warden Ranger), species, backgrounds, and Dark Gift feats. Features an alternate Strahd cover by Pam Wishbow. Pre-orders open April 13. Supporting products ($24.99 USD each, June): 60-card Tarokka deck, DM screen, map pack.
Season of Magic (July-September): Highlights Arcana Unleashed ($49.99 USD, September), offering high-magic subclasses, spells, scalable evolving magic items, and character options. Includes Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall ($29.99 USD) adventure on a Wizard War against Thay's Red Wizards, tying into a storyline teased in March 2023 (originally for 2025).
Season of Champions (October-December): Sourcebook details TBD; additional Q4 releases include D&D Reference Card Decks for spells, magic items, and monsters. A fourth major product is slated for winter 2026 (speculation on Dark Sun from playtests).
Other 2026 releases: Dungeons & Dragons Crochet: A Book of Many Patterns (March 31), Player’s Workbook of Epic Adventures (May 5), Dungeon Master’s Workbook of Worldbuilding, and novel The Feywild Job (June 30).
Wizards revived the D&D Encounters program for local game stores, with kits for opening weekends and weekly play. The roadmap builds on D&D's popularity surge from Baldur's Gate 3, with Hasbro planning a sequel game and HBO TV series. Doug Bowser, former Nintendo of America president, recently joined Hasbro's board.