Dungeons & Dragons and LEGO seem like such a natural mashup. So it is amazing that these brands haven’t teamed up before now. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of D&D coming up in 2024, the teams at LEGO Ideas and Wizards of the Coast kicked off a contest to find the best fan-built crossover. Hundreds of entries were narrowed down to only five, and, of course, one prevailed in the end. Here is the winner of the Dungeons & Dragons LEGO set competition. You can look forward to buying this build in stores next year.
The winning set is titled Dragon’s Keep: Journey’s End. Its official description reads: “The all-round 360 experience of this model, the level of detail and dynamic composition really brings all the iconic aspects of Dungeons & Dragons to life.”
This fan-build will be made as part of LEGO’s 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons celebrations, but there is no specific release date available yet. The final set may look a bit different to the fan-entry.
Although LEGO will only create one Dungeons & Dragons set from this contest, we love looking at all its entries. Rounding out the final five contenders were plenty of monsters, including the dreaded Gelatinous Cube. You could even use the separate builds within the Monster Manual set in your D&D games. Or build a treasure chest with a series of ingenious hinges that transform it into a toothy Mimic. Most of the sets were more than just display pieces. For example, you could use the five-headed dragon Tiamat’s tower to roll your dice. The bookshelf in the Xanathar set is also a dice tower.
For even more, you can go ahead and check out all 381 entries on the LEGO Ideas site and lament what could have been. Or roll dexterity and try to build your favorite ones using just the pictures. A three-dimensional version of the iconic Dungeons & Dragons red box and a d20 that folds out into a playable battle map (both pictured above) are among the amazing options that didn’t make the final five.
Other fun D&D mashups to check out include a version of Monopoly and some gorgeous character jewelry. Roll a critical success, and check out our holiday gift guide for the tabletop gamer in your life for even more ideas. It may not be Christmas anymore, but gifts are good at any time.
Originally published on November 30, 2022.
Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.