Mike announces the conclusion to Legends & Lore -- and the new columns starting up in 2015!

It’s hard to believe that, as I write this, it has been nearly three years since we first announced the development of the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons to the world. It’s been a long road.

Trying to write a tiny article to wrap up a process that took over 1,000 days strikes me as futile. You were playing the playtest packets, and now you’re playing the game. The three core rulebooks are an awesome representation of what we accomplished. Your fifth edition campaign is the best expression of it I can imagine. Fifth edition is the culmination of many months of reflecting on game design, previewing content, and sharing updates through this column. But the process is complete, and for the time being, this will be the last installment of Legends & Lore.

With the release of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, the process of launching fifth edition is over. Now comes the hard part. We have the task of keeping the game as energetic, interesting, and lively for the rest of its life as it has been for its gestation period, so to speak.

D&D is a living thing. It lives and breathes as long as you play the game, create campaigns and characters, and talk about it. Its health can be measured by the lives it has touched and the creativity it has fostered. As members of the D&D team charged with tending to the game, our job is to make sure it remains vibrant and healthy. In many ways, the work we just completed was the easy part. We’ve created D&D editions in the past, but we’ve never tried to manage them in the way we intended to.

Next year, we’ll also have surveys to get a sense of where the game has settled and what might need our scrutiny. Part of that desire is making sure that we understand how the game is serving your needs and what character options and rules variants we can introduce to make your life easier.

On top of that, we have a full slate of new articles coming up in 2015. We’re starting a series called Unearthed Arcana, a monthly look at the art of tabletop RPG game design featuring insights into our philosophy, and examples of new and variant material to use at your table.

We’ll also be publishing a regular series of “campaign notebooks.” These articles will provide insights into D&D and tips for your games taken directly from the campaigns of Dungeon Masters here at Wizards. Expect to see a steady dose of Chris Perkins there, once his campaign gets off the ground.

For rules questions, Jeremy Crawford will take up the hallowed mantle of the Sage as we launch Sage Advice. Expect a variety of rulings from on high, advice on how to cut the Gordian Knots your players manage to tie, and insight into how and why the rules work the way they do.

Finally, our popular series of livestreamed games will continue in 2015. We’ll play D&D and show off our latest storylines, ideas, and to help illustrate the ins and outs of running and playing the game. We’re also expanding our coverage to include D&D games beyond the tabletop roleplaying game.

The launch of fifth edition has exceeded our wildest hopes. Thank you so much for helping make the game a runaway success. Here’s to an even more exciting 2015.