The 2024 revision to the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook will be out roughly six weeks earlier than anticipated, but only at the Gen Con tabletop gaming convention and in extremely limited numbers. The announcement, made late last week, heaps on additional complexity to an already unconventional product launch for publisher Wizards of the Coast.
First teased as “One D&D” in 2022, Wizards has pitched the revised version of 5th edition D&D as an upgrade to the core rules with loads of changes. It’s also backwards compatible with the rules first introduced in 2014. The first of three core rulebooks, the Player’s Handbook, will still be releasing widely on Sept. 17 at places like Amazon. Local game stores will have physical copies available two weeks earlier, starting Sept. 3. That happens to be the same day the content unlocks digitally for those who pre-ordered direct from Wizards. But, in addition to that Sept. 3 soft launch, now Wizards says that roughly 3,000 copies will be available even earlier on Aug. 1 for select attendees of Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Of course, there are likely to be around 80,000 attendees as this year’s Gen Con, so not everyone who attends will get a copy. Full details on how to make the attempt have been posted on the official D&D website, and involve working with the convention’s notoriously wonky event ticketing system.
