A video game division of Wizards of the Coast has announced plans to release a new tabletop RPG focused on the new IP Exodus instead of Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast is best known as a tabletop game developer and a leader in the trading card game and tabletop RPG industries. While it actively publishes and develops Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards also has a number of video game studios under its umbrella as a result of its parent company Hasbro's desire to make headway into the industry, including a sci-fi video game called Exodus.

Now, Exodus developer Archetype Entertainment has announced that it will also publish a tabletop RPG called Exodus Traveler’s Handbook, as detailed on the official Exodus website. Details about the new tabletop RPG are currently scarce, but it was designed by BioWare veteran James Ohlen, the creative force behind the Exodus video game. The tabletop RPG will be released to early ers of the game first starting on December 10th.

Why The Exodus TTRPG Is Such A Big Deal

Wizards Currently Focuses On Dungeons & Dragons, Not Other TTRPGs In Its Portfolio

Wizards of the Coast has published other non-Dungeons & Dragons TTRPGs in the past, but it has focused almost exclusively on Dungeons & Dragons in recent years. Wizards has spent the year promoting D&D's 50th anniversary, with the release of a new rules revision for Fifth Edition. Additionally, Wizards has published several crossovers between D&D and Magic: The Gathering in recent years, with several campaign-setting books focused on various Magic: The Gathering worlds. Given the focus on D&D, though, it's still surprising to see a division of Wizards publish a non-D&D tabletop RPG game.

However, Ohlen does have a history of publishing TTRPG material separate from the D&D design team. After leaving BioWare, Ohlen founded Arcanum Worlds, a tabletop RPG studio that created a new campaign setting for D&D. Arcanum World also published material on the DM's Guild, a website on which third parties could publish D&D material using official D&D IP in exchange for Wizards taking a portion of each sale. After Ohlen ed Archetype Entertainment, he continued to publish material on the DMs Guild, with Chains of Asmodeus published as an official Wizards of the Coast publication.

Our Take: Does Dungeons & Dragons Have Competition From Inside Its Own House?

Wizards Is Hedging Big On Exodus

Wizards of the Coast clearly has big hopes for the sci-fi RPG Exodus. Not only is this the first IP developed by one of its video game studios, but it's also a focus of the Secret Level show by Amazon Studios. Letting Ohlen develop his own TTRPG is another sign of the company's confidence in the game, even if the Exodus TTRPG isn't currently being publicized.

If Exodus becomes a major hit, we could see more Exodus TTRPG content on the way to help flesh out that world in between video game releases. Ohlen's other TTRPG releases were popular when they were released, and it's very curious to see him bring some kind of in-house competition to Dungeons & Dragons.

Source: Exodus, DMs Guild