D&D 5E Dungeon Master's Guild: The Long Term

R

Reynard

Legend

• Jan 22, 2016

• #1

It seems from the Reddit AMA on the subject that the initial goal of the Dungeon Master's Guild (DMGuild) is to simultaneously provide a playground for fans to share their creations easily and without the restrictions of the OGL (while protecting WotC's IP), as well as support 5E and the Realms in particular. But I wonder what the long term goal for the DMGuild is. Does WotC see it as an alternative to Dragon and Dungeon magazines, where the editorial direction is crowdsourced? Are they looking to discover new designers and authors by watching who produces well received work? Is the DMGuild even intended to matter in 5 years? Unlike works produced via the OGL, if WotC shuts down the DMGuild most of the work produced for it will be frozen out.

What do you think? What does WotC want from the DMGuild in the long term? What do YOU want from it in the long term?

 

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I'm A Banana

Potassium-Rich

• Jan 22, 2016

• #2

The AMA answers a lot of these Q's.

The DM's Guild is definitely an experiment and I'm sure they're watching to see what happens there, but as long as it's fairly cost-effective, I don't think it's going anywhere. Probably not for a few years, anyway, though we'll see what happens in 6e.

 

A

Awesome Adam

First Post

• Jan 22, 2016

• #3

DMsGuild builds hype for 5E, and generates revunue with no labor involved.

It also feeds the insatiable need some people have for new content.

 

R

Reynard

Legend

• Jan 22, 2016

• #4

Awesome Adam said:

DMsGuild builds hype for 5E, and generates revunue with no labor involved.

It also feeds the insatiable need some people have for new content.

Click to expand...

That seems to be the initial intent, yes. But the discussion I am interested in having is what does the DMGuild look like 5 or 10 years from now? How does the DMGuild change as the edition matures. Assuming the intent is not to recreate the wheel in the short term, either not having a 6E or making a largely compatible 6E, does the kind of content change over time? It can't be the wild west forever, right? Also, does WotC go through "setting specific" cycles of a few years at a time and therefore push the DMGuild to focus on whatever WotC's current setting is? Is it a marketing tool? A test bed? A bush league?

 

Morrus

Well, that was fun

Staff member

• Jan 22, 2016

• #5

Yeah, its the App Store model. I think it's not unreasonable to look to the evolution of the Apple business to see where it could go. Eventually, with enough content, it could theoretically bring in vast amounts of revenue.

 

R

Reynard

Legend

• Jan 22, 2016

• #6

Morrus said:

Yeah, its the App Store model. I think it's not unreasonable to look to the evolution of the Apple business to see where it could go. Eventually, with enough content, it could theoretically bring in vast amounts of revenue.

Click to expand...

That's an interesting analogy I had not thought of. Does that mean you think most products on DMGuild will remain small and inexpensive, regardless of production quaility? Is there an equivalent to the free versus paid version of the same app? Moreover, what does an app for a tabletop rpg look like, precisely? I think we are likely on the verge of a similar sea change as we saw at the dawn of the d20 era, assuming the DMGuild goes off and is not simply a more exclusive DTRPG.

 

A

Awesome Adam

First Post

• Jan 22, 2016

• #7

There is really no way to predict what it will look like in 5-10 years, but the APP store model seems pretty likely, if it remains successful.

I imagine that cheap($1-2) and free content would dominate, since it's in the impulse buy range, and that content that really deserves $20+ will remain in the OGL territory.

 

C

Coredump

Explorer

• Jan 22, 2016

• #8

There are plenty of really expensive and professional apps in the App Store. It seems pretty likely that we will get some high grade and large content in the DG..

 

pukunui

Legend

• Jan 22, 2016

• #9

Reynard said:

Are they looking to discover new designers and authors by watching who produces well received work?

Click to expand...

This is certainly one of the things they've talked about with respect to the DMs Guild.

 

Mark CMG

Creative Mountain Games

• Jan 22, 2016

• #10

If you want to know which toys are the most popular, it helps to have oversight of the playground.