Wondering what the future holds for Dungeons & Dragons organized play in your store? Here, we'll cover seasons—a new approach to framing products, play, and participation—alongside upcoming play programs and expanded D&D event types to help your store grow its community.

Early Access Expansion for Ravenloft: The Horrors Within

We're taking a step forward in bringing early access to more WPN stores around the world. In addition to the United States and Canada, WPN stores in the United Kingdom and Europe will be able to offer early access for Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.

This allows more stores to bring players in early to experience Ravenloft's newest products through seasonal events, offer products ahead of other channels and global release, and create a strong in-store experience tied to one of D&D's most iconic settings.

This marks an important step as we explore expanding early access to more regions, and we'll assess this rollout to inform future expansion.

Introducing Dungeons & Dragons Play Seasons

Seasons are a way to highlight what's new and exciting in Dungeons & Dragons. They shift the focus from individual products to broader themes that span multiple products, in-store play, and engagement over defined periods.

A season will typically be divided into three phases:

• The preview phase, where details of major releases are revealed, preorders open, and engagement begins through our social and community channels.
• The celebration phase, where the featured major release becomes available in-store, and D&D Encounters Celebration events launch in-store play.
• The weekly play phase, where the major release is available globally, and players can continue their adventures with D&D Encounters Weekly Play.

During the season, multiple products around the theme are released, both from Wizards of the Coast and our licensed partners. For example, during Season of Horror, Ravenloft: The Horrors Within is the major release supported by ancillary products, with licensed products from partners such as WizKids, FanRoll, Sirius Dice, and more.

Season names are thematic, chosen to encompass more than just a single book. They cover a constellation of products available for D&D fans of all types!

D&D Encounters Returns

Engagement in each season will be supported by organized play, with a particular emphasis on driving play in your store, the place for premium experiences and connection for your local communities. Our primary program is D&D Encounters.

The new D&D Encounters program has evolved; it now features an opening celebration event, followed by a month's worth of short, weekly sessions that highlight our feature release for the season and keep players coming back for more.

Celebration Event

Organized play in your store begins with D&D Encounters Celebration, a multi-table event where players work toward a shared goal. You can schedule the event the first weekend after the featured release (either early access or wide release, depending on your region), or the second weekend for stores with scheduling conflicts.

Each season, the D&D Encounters Celebration event features:

• A robust three-hour adventure with rules for engaging up to four tables (approximately 20 players) at one time
• Accessible play for all skill levels, typically with level 3–5 characters provided or the option for players to create their own
• Participation rewards for players and Dungeon Masters (for stores that receive physical play kits)

D&D Encounters Weekly Play

After your players have begun their seasonal journey with the Celebration event, the fun continues over four weeks of play, featuring short session play designed to fit perfectly into an after-school or after-work foray.

We recommend (though do not require) Wednesdays as the day for D&D Encounters Weekly Play (or a consistent day between Wednesday and Sunday). Weekly Play events start the Wednesday following the Celebration event.

There's enough content for four weeks of Weekly Play events, but five weeks available for scheduling. This allows stores that host their Celebration event during the second week after release to still run a full four weeks of Weekly Play events. For example, if your Celebration event is on the first Wednesday of the event window, schedule Weekly Play on each of the next four Wednesdays.

Each season, Weekly Play features:

• A shorter play session centered on a large, detailed encounter designed for 90 minutes to two hours. Each session includes a light narrative connection, making it easy for new players to join at any time and without concern about missing previous weeks.
• Continued use of characters from the Celebration event, with characters leveling up on weeks 1 and 3.

D&D Encounters Play Kits

D&D Encounters Celebration and Weekly Play adventures will be accessible to everyone through a digital play kit and D&D Beyond. WPN stores in select regions will have access to a physical play kit containing materials to entice players to join a game in-store and that position your store as the premier place to play.

Physical kits are available in English only and limited to the first 1,000 eligible stores to schedule D&D Encounters Celebration events (check the events page for the current season's Celebration event to find details on how to get physical play kits).

For Season of Horror, only stores in the following countries are eligible to receive physical play kits: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Australia, and New Zealand. We will be evaluating expansion to additional markets for future seasons.

Physical kits contain the following materials:

• 5 printed copies of the D&D Encounters seasonal adventure material, including both the Celebration event and Weekly Play
• A pack of 25 premade characters (5 packs with 5 different characters in each pack) for use during the season
• 5 printed tactical maps used in the Celebration event
• Player rewards for up to 25 players (exact reward may vary from season to season)
• Rewards for up to 5 Dungeon Masters (exact reward may vary from season to season)
• Printed organizer instructions

All stores will have access to the digital play kit. Though the digital play kit does not include the physical player and DM rewards, it provides all materials needed to run the adventure as a PDF. Stores also receive five D&D Beyond claim codes to be distributed to Dungeon Masters, allowing them to claim the adventure and maps free of charge on the first day of early access.

Additional marketing materials for each season will be available via the Marketing Materials page.

Key Dates: Season of Horror

Here is an example of how a season may be structured using key dates for the Season of Horror.

• April 13: Product details and marketing assets are published to the WPN website and distributors begin taking preorders.
• April 20: D&D Season of Horror event scheduling opens, including D&D Encounters Weekly Play and D&D Encounters Celebration scheduling/sign up for physical kits for eligible stores (supplies are limited, so check the season's Celebration event page for specific details).
• May 13: Player-facing information on D&D Encounters Season of Horror is available on D&D Beyond, pointing to WPN stores to find a game.
• May 19: Digital kit with adventure PDF available; D&D Beyond claim codes sent to stores.
• June 2: First day of WPN store early access in US, Canada, UK, and Europe, and WPN store early sales begin for Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.
• June 5–14: D&D Encounters Celebration runs in stores with early access.
• June 10: First Wednesday for scheduled D&D Encounters Weekly Play for stores with early access. Weekly Play scheduling is recommended for Wednesday through Sunday each week. Once Weekly Play is turned on, it is always available in case you want to rerun the seasonal adventures.
• June 16: Ravenloft: The Horrors Within wide release.
• June 19–28: D&D Encounters Celebration runs in stores without early access.
• June 24: First Wednesday for scheduled D&D Encounters Weekly Play for stores without early access.

More Event Types for D&D

Starting April 2026, we're adding new D&D event scheduling templates to Wizards EventLink to clarify play formats, help you diversify your D&D schedule, and make it easier for players to find the right game on the Store & Event Locator. The new event types are:

• D&D Encounters Celebration Event
  This is the big seasonal launch event. For stores with early access, this begins the first weekend after the early access release of a featured product; for stores without early access, this begins the first weekend after wide release.
• D&D Encounters Weekly Play
  These are the weekly event play sessions that build on the Celebration event. We recommend scheduling these events on Wednesdays (or a day between Wednesday and Sunday that works for your store) weekly throughout the season until the final session.
• D&D Legends of Greyhawk
  A new secondary play program available to stores, Legends of Greyhawk is an ongoing "living campaign" that uses 5.5 rules forward. Adventures are created by a select group of organizer partners and are available as monthly bundles on D&D Beyond. Find out more information on Legends of Greyhawk.
• D&D Adventurers League
  The legacy ongoing campaign that uses material going back to the beginning of fifth edition. Adventures are created by the community and available on DMs Guild. You can find more information on the D&D Adventurers League Resources & Links page.
• D&D Learn to Play
  An event type for your learn-to-play or demo sessions of the game. This event type signals that these sessions are specifically for new players.
• D&D Campaign
  This is a catch-all event covering anything happening in the store that involves ongoing play that's not a part of any other programs, such as a campaign hosted by a store employee or frequent Dungeon Master using custom rules.
• D&D One-Shot
  This is another catch-all event useful for single-session play that doesn't connect to any other sessions. Great for special events custom-made for the store's community.

Frequently Asked Questions

How limited are the physical play kits for D&D Encounters?

For our first season, we are producing 1,000 play kits. These are limited to stores in US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Australia, and New Zealand; one per store and while supplies last. Each play kit supports up to 25 players and five Dungeon Masters. If you have more players, digital kits can provide the playable content needed to scale up to any level. We will assess future physical kit production based on program engagement in stores.

How do I get the adventure material for each season of D&D Encounters?

WPN stores that schedule D&D Encounters events will have access to downloadable PDF versions of the adventures that will be available approximately 2–3 weeks before the start of the season. These can be distributed to your Dungeon Masters so they can begin preparing.

In addition, we will send five D&D Beyond claim codes for the adventure material. These should be distributed to your Dungeon Masters and will allow them to claim the seasonal adventure free of charge on D&D Beyond on the first day of early access for the major seasonal release.

Print versions of the adventures will be available in the physical kit to stores that qualify—enough copies for five Dungeon Masters to have one.

Why are there scheduling restrictions on D&D Encounters?

D&D Encounters gathers together more than just the community of players at your store—it is a shared moment in time everywhere a group chooses to participate. Everyone playing the same adventures at the same time builds a powerful connection and helps players feel like they are part of something big. D&D Encounters Celebration events will only be schedulable for the first month, starting on the Friday after early access begins where available or the Friday after wide release for other regions. For D&D Encounters Weekly Play, we recommend scheduling events from Wednesdays to Sundays.

What do I do after the D&D Encounters season has concluded?

Once the season is finished, we recommend that you keep the same day of the week as your D&D day. You can offer other D&D play opportunities during this time, such as continuing with material from the most recent release, hosting Legends of Greyhawk or Adventurers League games, rerunning the D&D Encounters sessions for those who may have missed them, or empowering your Dungeon Master community to come up with other exciting adventures available nowhere else. Before you know it, a new season of play will be around the corner, with exciting new adventures and options available.

We look forward to this new era of seasonal D&D play and supporting your store to make it exciting and engaging every time!