The black dragon’s out of the bag over at Screen Rant, and along with it, the name of D&D’s big new virtual tabletop: Sigil.
Screen Rant had a preview of the new look for the 5.5E Black Dragon today. Alongside that, they also seem to suggest that D&D’s upcoming new virtual tabletop shares a name with the city at the center of the multiverse: Sigil.
Though I swear this to you here and now, even if the creators say it’s pronounced with a hard g, like gift, they’re wrong. They’re as wrong as iti s humanly possible to be, which is a lot. Because bear in mind, humanity has been atrociously wrong about a lot of things: the Sun was the center of the universe and didn’t move, diseaseo nly travels in foul odors, wealth “trickles down” instead of being horded by the 1% – and calling Planescape’s signature city anything other than “Sijil”, because that’s how you pronounce the actual word “sigil” meaning sign or symbol considered to have magical power, is just dead wrong.
It’s like calling it a “jif” instead of a “gif”. Sometimes, the creators get it wrong. The author is dead, folks, just ask your English teacher. In the meantime, let’s look at those Black Dragons.
Black Dragon Preview hides VTT Treasure
First up, the new Black Dragon. As Screen Rant revealed, these new dragons have a lot more character than their predecessors. Which is interesting, because Black Dragons have always had a distinct, horned look; but now, they have an element of “macabre horror” as Josh Herman, art director for D&D, told Screen Rant:
The biggest thing when we talk about the Dragon designs, overall, the biggest goal was to give them more character and personality […] I remember [the 2014 Monster Manual] saying something like, as an Ancient Black Dragon ages, the skin starts to slough off of its face because the acid from inside its body starts to erode it, essentially. When you see the skull vibe on its face changing, that’s intentional.
And you can see it in the new look of the Black Dragons, which are, as Herman says, meant to be even more villainous. Elements of alligators and spiders have been pulled into the Black Dragon to amp up the danger:
[…] lots of visuals that people connect with things they think are scary or evil, alligators, spiders, skulls, that sort of vibe to it. The creature is also a little bit more lean and a little bit more gaunt than some of the other ones to reflect the dexterity to show that this would be something that would move quickly.
But we got more than just a glimpse of the new Black Dragon. As Screen Rant calls out in its article, the D&D virtual tabletop may be named Sigil, if the wording of pre-order bonuses is to be believed:
There are three bonus options that fans can bundle with their pre-order. This includes The Dragons of D&D Digital Art Book, which will be emailed when the Player’s Handbok is released, D&D Beyond Golden Dice Set, which will be added to one’s D&D Beyond library once the Player’s Handbook is released, and Sigil Gold Dragon Mini, which will be available when Sigil enters Closed Beta later this year.
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So there you have it—potentially a new VTT name and the news that the virtual tabletop is headed to Closed Beta soon. My guess would be they’re shooting for sometime in early 2025, maybe for the big spring reveal session that WotC loves to go for. But time alone will tell.
In the meantime, what do you think of the new dragon? Would you use WotC’s proprietary virtual tabletop?
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