Hey everyone,
First, thank you. Thousands of you took the time to share honest feedback in our Winter Community Survey. We're reading it, acting on it, and we’re going to keep doing this to regularly check our course.
Three themes came through consistently: trust, game quality (honoring the legacy while strengthening what’s next), and value, especially for D&D Beyond subscribers.
We’re very excited about our 2026 Roadmap and new seasonal model for you, and we're focused on showing, through action, our commitment to your table. That means fewer surprises, clearer roadmaps, and better-supported tools for your games.
- Showing Up, Not Just Speaking
- The D&D Community Advisory Group
- Meet the 2026 D&D Community Advisory Group
Showing Up, Not Just Speaking
Since coming aboard last summer, I’ve been listening directly through our monthly AMAs, Discord, State of Game update, creator YouTube channels, Unearthed Arcana feedback, reading comments daily, and, of course, the recent survey. I've learned a lot.
I also went to Gary Con and spent time with Gary Gygax’s son, Luke. While there, we announced a new collaboration with Luke to bring more Greyhawk to D&D, with additional collaborations with D&D authors and designers to come.
The D&D Community Advisory Group
Last summer, I shared that we were forming an annually rotating D&D Community Advisory Group with a simple goal:
Bring trusted community leaders into the room early, so we can help stress-test decisions, surface risks, and make better calls before things are final.
We built this group by bringing together a variety of creators, WPN store owners, event organizers, community builders, and educators, each bringing a different lens on what D&D is and what it can be.
Since forming in December, the group has met with leads across our team to discuss early product concepts and D&D Beyond tools, and to challenge our approach. Alongside feedback we were hearing more broadly from players, creators, and the community, they pushed on the lack of a roadmap, which led us to revisit our plans before sharing the 2026 roadmap timeline in March. Some topics are still far out, and this gives us a chance to adjust earlier. That’s part of the point: this group engages early, while there’s still time to change course.
This doesn’t replace Unearthed Arcana, surveys, research, conventions, or the many other ways we listen. It’s one more channel built for consistent, candid input from people deeply involved in the game.
We compensate members for their time, as we would any professional consultant, but we expect candid, unfiltered feedback. And we'll rotate membership so the group evolves as the community evolves.
I’m proud of the people in this room.
Meet the 2026 D&D Community Advisory Group
Here’s who’s currently serving on the D&D Community Advisory Group:
- David Christ (he/him) - Rumored to be part Frost Giant and having a wicked pants allergy, ‘The Baldman’ organizes some of the biggest conventions, D&D events, and organized play programs in the world.
- Donna Ricci (she/her) - Owner of Geeky Teas & Games. Enjoys bad board games, good video games, Terry Pratchett novels, cats, advocating for mental health, and hitting people with boffer weapons. Future Londoner.
- Jennifer Kretchmer (she/they) - Jennifer is an award-winning game designer, author, actual play performer, television actor and producer, and disability consultant, as well as the creator of the Accessibility in Gaming Resource Guide.
- Kelly Lynne D'Angelo (she/her/they) - Kelly is a Tuscarora writer and veteran online Dungeon Master. Credits: The Legend of Vox Machina (Amazon), Miracle Workers (TBS), Final Space (Adult Swim), and Candlekeep Mysteries. Responsibly chaotic. @kellylynnedang
- Kelly McLaughlin (he/him) - Kelly is the co-host of Dungeon Dudes, a YouTube content creator, and co-creator and author of the award-winning Drakkenheim setting. @Kelly_Dungeon_Dudes
- Michael E. Shea (he/him) - Mike writes for SlyFlourish.com, hosts the Lazy RPG Talk Show, and wrote Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, Forge of Foes, City of Arches, and other fine RPG products.
- Monty Martin (he/him) - Monty Martin is the co-creator of the Dungeon Dudes YouTube channel. He was the Dungeon Master and co-author of the actual-play series and the ENNIE-award-winning adventure Dungeons of Drakkenheim.
- Nala J. Wu (they/them) - Nala, aka "Jae", is a proud multiple-marginalized freelance art director, layout designer, sensitivity/cultural consultant, and award-winning illustrator & actor working full-time in tabletop RPGs. Connect @naladraws!
- Scott DeBoard (he/him) - Scott owns Silver Dragon Games, “Arizona’s Best D&D Store” and 2026 GAMA Retailer of the Year, a community-driven game store intentionally designed to create a welcoming space for women and new players.
- Ted Sikora (he/him) - Creator of Nerd Immersion, a D&D and tabletop channel focused on news, interviews, product reviews, rules discussions, and homebrew content.
- Teos Abadía (he/him) - Teos is a Colombian-American advocate for a healthier tabletop industry. Find his work at Alphastream Game Design, the Mastering Dungeons podcast, and Success in RPGs on YouTube.
- Zac Clay (he/him) - Zac is a professional Dungeon Master from the San Francisco Bay Area. He coordinates youth D&D programs, mentoring the next generation of TTRPG storytellers.
The group asked to share a short statement about what this work means to them:
As the first D&D Advisory Group, we wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves. As a diverse group of professionals from across the RPG industry, long-time players of the game, and members of the community, we care deeply about the future of D&D and tabletop gaming.
We all joined this panel with both a sense of responsibility and a fair share of skepticism. We are here to offer honest, independent feedback to Wizards of the Coast, ask hard questions, and raise concerns directly. We share our perspective, but what they choose to act on is ultimately up to them.
Since we began, Wizards of the Coast has actively listened and engaged in good-faith discussions with us, which has created a productive exchange of ideas.
We're grateful to be part of this community and look forward to continuing this work and the conversations ahead!
- The D&D Community Advisory Group
Staying Connected
We’re going to keep showing up and doing the work, and we’ll keep building what comes next with you.
We’ll see you at the table.
- Dan Ayoub, Head of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise
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Posted Jun 2, 2026They could also update the marketplace, the payment system, and look into bugs (I haven't been able to buy anything from the website for two years; I'm from Spain, I get an error when I enter my card details, and no matter how many times I contact support, they don't offer any solution). I've given up on translating the books into other languages, and they could improve how the character sheets and the descriptions of spells and items appear on the maps.
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Posted Jun 2, 2026Read the article. You'll find the answer.
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Posted Jun 2, 2026They announced this as a 2026 advisory group. This suggests it will change on a yearly/annual basis.
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Posted Jun 2, 2026It would be lovely to have some official input from that Advisory Group on some of the old, recurring, and/or new questions in Rules & Game Mechanics or specific class subforum.
Or a way of requesting rules clarification from WotC or the Advisory Group so that the Sage Advice Compendium can be updated.
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Posted Jun 2, 2026I heard about this on the Nerd Immersion YouTube channel. This seems like a another step in the right direction. I'm glad to see a list of advisors from the community.
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Posted Jun 2, 2026@ gwachnitz: True.
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Posted Jun 2, 2026“They will be compensated as any professional consultant would” is a very vague answer. For all we know they could be getting compensated with free exposure, or free products. What I’d like to know is if they are getting paid money and how much. For all we know these people could be getting paid large sums of money to help “promote” the corporation’s agenda (I.e. repair their reputation to make more profits, i.e. pay off the loudest voices to keep them quiet). Now, do I actually believe that? Not really. I’m just curious about how much a sweet yearly gig like that pays…
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Posted Jun 2, 2026It's nice to want things.
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Posted Jun 2, 2026Please don't turn D&D itself into another subscription to keep up with. I know that "technically" I don't need anything WOTC sells to play, but it's feeling more and more like the core books are being positioned as "not enough". The seasonal content is an example of this. It's trying to make D&D a revenue stream that people will have to keep paying for to have everything vs being able to buy it outright. Subscriptions are killing media of all kinds. Please don't make this game another casualty.
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Posted Jun 3, 2026Glad to see the list of folks. Looks like there are some people who will actually pay attention to the interests of those of us who have no interest in using DnDBeyond.
St. Cuthbert knows Hasbro has no interest in us. :-\
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Posted Jun 3, 2026Rough week to be starting up an advisory committee.
I'm glad to see it, though. Looks like a good team!
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Posted Jun 3, 2026WE NEED ONE FOR JAPAN
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Posted Jun 3, 2026Is D&D popular in Japan?
I watched some YouTube videos that claimed native/local TTRPGs were more popular there than our game as an American export.
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Posted Jun 3, 2026Genuinely glad to see this. The advisory group model only works if the people in the room will say the hard thing — and looking at this list, I think they will. Here's to the unglamorous work actually shaping what comes next. Good luck! - Grand Mastress Renee
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Posted Jun 3, 2026Nobody who would actually be invested in the activity of such a group is going to take this seriously because you've proven time and time again you're beholden to a corporation that dehumanizes its employees while treating the people who play its games as little more than wallets.
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Posted Jun 3, 2026I am sure there will be folks who distrust this new group for whatever reason... But it is worth noting that this is not the first such community group Wizards established. Over on the Magic the Gathering side of things, Wizards has a number of similar groups for things like Pauper and Commander. These individuals have all been great advocates to Wizards on behalf of their respective communities and have managed to consistently show their independence and willingness to push back on decisions.
I cannot imagine this group would be all that different and see nothing but upside to their involvement. Looking forward to seeing what Wizards will produce with these fine folks involved.
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Posted Jun 3, 2026There are no reactions to comments, so I'm just saying Aye! I hope the mods don't axe my "comment".
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Posted Jun 3, 2026A shame WotC won't put out a "Golden Ticket" for a random subscriber to participate. Every name I see above depends upon the entire ecosystem of RPGs to subsist. What I don't see is the average participant in D&D specifically, and RPGs in general. Why is that? It's really hard to be open and honest when one's financial pipeline could be removed by a truly honest or poorly-worded statement. I also would like to see every demographic WotC tracks, and how they are covering each and all of them. I don't think there's a realistic coverage of the average player. Who knows? I could be very wrong!
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Posted Jun 3, 2026There is a reason Wizards does not do this - it provides worse data than the selection they picked above. A random member of the community really only knows what their group sees - they might get a little more insight if they are active on the forums, but they’re still seeing a small subset of the actual population.
Look at the group they put together. Game store owners. Convention organizers. Major personalities who manage large online platforms. These are all people whose success is based on their ability to interface with, learn from, and understand a large segment of the community. They also are financially dependent not on Wizards (as you indicate in your post) but on players being satisfied enough with the product to buy into D&D.
So, as compared to an average, random person, they are probably more informed and more incentivized to represent the community as a whole.