Free D&D to release July 3rd, fireworks not included

According to both the Wizards of the Coast Dungeons & Dragons twitter account (@Wizards_DnD) and Mike Mearls, senior manager for the D&D research and design team, the D&D Basic Rules (translated: FREE rules) will be available this Thursday, July 3rd.

Boom, baby!

Just in time or July 4th (also known as Independence Day), frantic gamers everywhere can celebrate the freedom of D&D 5th Edition Basic Rules by hacking, slashing and casting to their hearts content without paying a dime and totally legally to boot.

Casually mentioned among Mearls’s June 3oth “A Bit More on the Basic Rules for D&D” Legends & Lore post on Wizards.com is this nugget of goodness:

“The Starter Set will be available at Wizards Play Network stores this week, starting on July 3. That day will also see the release of the basic rules for D&D on the Dungeons & Dragons web site.”

[Emphasis added by me.]

If you’re like me, this came as a bit of a surprise as many of us were expecting a mid-July release of the free rules. As a reminder, the D&D Basic Rules are PDF only but contain everything you need to play an actual, ongoing game of D&D Fifth Edition.

As Mearls puts it:

“As for the contents of the basic rules, let’s take a peek under the hood to see what you can expect. It’s important to remember that all of this material is drawn from the Player’s Handbook. The basic rules for D&D are not a separate game, but rather are a subset of Dungeons & Dragons.”

I’m really excited by this, and plan to cast a Color Spray spell to celebrate our very own geeky independence celebration thanks to a cool move from Wizards of the Coast and the Dungeons & Dragons team.