My phone call with Creg Leeds

Brix · Apr 23, 2009

Well. I had my phone call with WotC president Greg Leeds. Greg was very polite one the phone given the fact that my initial email to Hasbro was kind of 'heated'.

To put it short, here are the main points as far as I can remember them. Note that these are my own words, as I could not record the phone call

* My (and your) voice was heard.
* Wizards is happy with the 4E sales. Wizards is even fine with the fact that a fraction of the gamers went to Paizo. As long as everybody plays D&D that's fine.
* The negative voices on the message boards don't reflect the sales numbers of 4E which is going strong
* Wizards can't make anybody happy.
* Wizards tries to evolve the game every ten years or so. Greg compared it to bands that change their style over the years, and thus loose old fans and get some new fans. But in the end Wizards hope to get everyone back.
* Wizards will not resume pdf sales in the same way they did before. Obviously Wizards believes that there are possibilities to sale electronic content that is mostly pirate-proof.
* Wizards will not support 3E parallel to 4E.
* But (and now for the big news) Wizards is looking for ways to publish old (i.e. pre 4E Realms) contents in form of electronic media.

Of course there are not many surprises. It was a nice gesture from Greg Leeds to respond to a single disappointed fan this. However he said, that they will look into the suggestions that were given to them by us.

As a Forgotten Realms fan I'm of course very happy, that they seriously consider to publish old Realms material. Count me in for that one. If you are a FR fan, too please make sure to remind them to do it.

My main suggestion was to put out regional books about a certain area (with light or no rules) much like Paizo does it.

Otherwise I stay with Paizo and use their upcoming PRPG stuff.

Maggan · Apr 23, 2009

Brix said:
Well. I had my phone call with WotC president Greg Leeds.

Thank you for taking your time reporting the outcome of the call. Deep inside I had hoped for more juicy details, but I'm not really surprised at what what said in your conversation.

One thing though. Now we know that Greg Leeds has heard at least one gamer explain his view on the situation.

Great job, Brix .

/M

Brix · Apr 23, 2009

I too hoped for more juice, but in the end I feel relieved that everybody is happy, as Wizards is happy the way things go for them, Paizo is happy with their new fanbase, I'm happy with Paizo, and I will be happy with Wizards, once they sell me their Forgotten Realms archives.
So no need to fight anymore? We'll see.
I hope we can talk a little more about gaming again, instead of talking about a company.
Maybe on different boards then :.-(

Dire Bare · Apr 23, 2009

Brix said:
* Wizards can't make anybody happy.

Giggle.

Dire Bare · Apr 23, 2009

Brix said:
* Wizards will not resume pdf sales in the same way they did before. Obviously Wizards believes that there are possibilities to sale electronic content that is mostly pirate-proof.
* Wizards will not support 3E parallel to 4E.
* But (and now for the big news) Wizards is looking for ways to publish old (i.e. pre 4E Realms) contents in form of electronic media.

<snip>

As a Forgotten Realms fan I'm of course very happy, that they seriously consider to publish old Realms material. Count me in for that one. If you are a FR fan, too please make sure to remind them to do it.

While not many seemed to get it earlier, Leeds' ENWorld interview made it clear (to me at least) that WotC does plan on rereleasing pre-4e material electronically again, just not in the current PDF format (and probably not in PDF format at all).

Your news that pre-4e Realms material will be released at some point seems unclear to me. Is that simply older pre-4e Realms products being rereleased again along with everything else? Or is that NEW pre-Spellplague Realms material being released electronically. It does seem pretty clear than any NEW material will be 4e, at least the crunchy parts.

Brix · Apr 23, 2009

Dire Bare said:
Giggle.

Yeah that's unintentionally funny B-)

If taken out of context it can also be used in a game as a wise saying.
If you intone it with a deep serious voice

ShadoWWW · Apr 23, 2009

I know there kind of managers and their speech. I woudn't be so optimistic if I were you. I'm gonna translate his words to common language:

Admin here. You know what? No. The guy is calling someone to talk about D&D. Insulting and ridiculing him isn't appropriate or wanted. Post removed. ~ Piratecat

Brix · Apr 23, 2009

Dire Bare said:
.. Or is that NEW pre-Spellplague Realms material being released electronically. It does seem pretty clear than any NEW material will be 4e, at least the crunchy parts.

Yes new pre-spellplague Realms material.
He did not get into detail, but I sounded very much that they embrace the idea. I suggested in the letter I initially wrote to release the information system-light. IMO they certainly won't provide 3E stats only. I'm not sure if they would provide stats for both editions. That would be a waste of space. 4E stats are likely. But I think a no rules or light rules (like Fighter 5 LE, flaming sword) would be the best option for fans of both editions.

Sammael · Apr 23, 2009

Publishing pre-Spellplague FR sourcebooks with little or no crunch (for any edition) is one way that WotC can win me back as their customer. However, those sourcebooks would absolutely have to be written by the people I consider to be authorities on FR; at the very least, Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd, SKR, Thomas M. Costa, and Stephen Schend would have to be the lead writers of those sourcebooks.

Brix · Apr 23, 2009

Of course it should be written by these people. In fact it is already written by these people. That is what I find so disturbing. Ed Greenwood wrote tons of FR stuff via typewriter that is filed away somewhere in the Wizards dungeon. I guess it only has to be edited.