Minecraft’s explosive Creeper, teleporting Enderman, and colossal Ender Dragon are coming to Dungeons & Dragons. The digital content, titled Monstrous Compendium Volume 3, will be available through D&D Beyond, publisher Wizards of the Coast’s official portal for digital D&D content. Wizards and Minecraft maker Mojang announced the new compendium on Tuesday during a D&D Direct streaming presentation.
Of course, there was nothing stopping fans of the classic tabletop role-playing game from creating their own version of these monsters before today. It’s just that these have been made in partnership with Mojang. The Microsoft-owned studio has also worked with Wizards to create some 10 hours of D&D-themed DLC for Minecraft — a project that was also revealed today. Moreover, design work on the tabletop creatures has been handled by Wizards’ Dan Dillon, a veteran game designer with experience on both Pathfinder and D&D.
“They don’t interact in the normal action system,” said Dillon, somewhat cryptically, during a press briefing earlier this week. “They work in a way that makes them more reminiscent of how they operate in Minecraft. So that’s going to be a funny sort of twist on how a monster works.”
Previous entries in the Monstrous Compendium series have included Monstrous Compendium Volume One: Spelljammer Creatures and Monstrous Compendium Volume Two: Dragonlance Monsters. Notably, only Spelljammer Creatures has so far been released as a PDF file. Meanwhile, Dragonlance Monsters was only made available through D&D Beyond. The same is true of Volume 3.
Today’s announcement is not the first partnership to bring outside IP into D&D. Previous partnerships have included Nerds candy, Penny Arcade’s Acquisitions Incorporated, and Critical Role’s various campaigns. Fans should expect more of these kinds of crossovers in the future, especially given the success of Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond initiative, which has so far included partnerships with iconic brands such as Fortnite, Street Fighter, Warhammer 40,000, and The Walking Dead.
The Minecraft DLC for D&D will be free for anyone with a valid login for D&D Beyond, which Wizards’ parent company Hasbro purchased nearly one year ago in April 2022. D&D Beyond is expected to be the linchpin of One D&D, the next iteration of D&D. Described as a refinement of the game’s popular 5th edition, it will include the D&D Beyond platform’s existing character creation tools, item database, and Dungeon Masters’ tools. It will also receive a robust digital tabletop component, including 3D scenery and miniatures, further cementing tabletop role-playing’s future online.
