WotC: C'mon, open up D&D to Kindle Worlds fan-fic publishing (short-stories and novels)

Dungeonosophy · Mar 24, 2018

I assume that DM's Guild is profitable for WotC. It seems like an easy source of income for WotC. And a great format for fan-publishing. Which sustains long-term interest in the hobby. And the fan-products probably serve as a synergistic boost to WotC's core products. Rising waters raise the biggest ship. A win-win-win situation.

Why not expand this fan-publishing model into D&D novels and short-stories?

There already exists a platform for this...Kindle Worlds.

There's a Wikipedia article about Kindle Worlds here.

There's a list of all the Kindle Worlds IPs (so far) here.

Hasbro already has opened the G.I. Joe IP to Kindle Worlds. Why not the D&D IP next? Or at least Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft -- the two worlds which have been opened to DM's Guild so far. If Mearls' team pushed for it, it seems it'd be an easy green-light. GI Joe and DM's Guild are both precedents.

Of course I'd prefer all of the D&D Worlds be immediately opened up, but if Mearls' team is doing a planned roll-out (Forgotten Realms, the Ravenloft, then...), then open up each subsequent world to DM's Guild and Kindle Worlds at the same time.

Kindle Worlds fits with our D&D kit-bashing culture.

Jester David · Mar 24, 2018

I imagine the difference is that G.I.Joe is not a brand that is succeeding much at the moment. It's recent TV shows didn't do well, the movies bombed, and even the toys aren't as omnipresent. And they're only going to suffer more when Toys 'R' Us goes away.
It doesn't impact the line to open it up to Kindle and legitimize the fanfiction.
(You'll notice they opened up G.I.Joe but not Transformers.)

In contrast, D&D is a brand seemingly still on the rise.
And it has a novel line. (It's recently been announced that it's restarting.) Which is likely the big factor: they won't want to compete with the official fiction.

Satyrn · Mar 24, 2018

I'd assume they're already considering it, with GI Joe being their guinea pig (possibly for the very reasons [MENTION=37579]Jester David[/MENTION] mentioned)

ccs · Mar 24, 2018

Why don't you wrap your fan-fic in a weak module?
Use the 1st x pages to tell your story, then use the rest to detail a few of the encounters/fights etc game wise.

Dungeonosophy · Mar 25, 2018

ccs said:
Why don't you wrap your fan-fic in a weak module?
Use the 1st x pages to tell your story, then use the rest to detail a few of the encounters/fights etc game wise.

DM's Guild says:

Can I publish comic books, novels, spell cards, item cards, computer
games, apps, etc., on DMs Guild?

For now, we ask that you publish Dungeons & Dragons RPG supplements only, please.

But like you suggest, I recall a DMs Guild rep saying that a few pages of intro fiction at the beginning of an adventure is okay. So yeah, a good way to offer a (very) short story. But not a novel. Kindle Worlds would open it up to (longer) short stories, collections of short stories, and novels.

Dungeonosophy · Mar 25, 2018

Jester David said:
I imagine the difference is that G.I.Joe is not a brand that is succeeding much at the moment. It's recent TV shows didn't do well, the movies bombed, and even the toys aren't as omnipresent. And they're only going to suffer more when Toys 'R' Us goes away.
It doesn't impact the line to open it up to Kindle and legitimize the fanfiction.
(You'll notice they opened up G.I.Joe but not Transformers.)

In contrast, D&D is a brand seemingly still on the rise.
And it has a novel line. (It's recently been announced that it's restarting.) Which is likely the big factor: they won't want to compete with the official fiction.

You might be right Jester David. On the other hand, perhaps the D&D department has just never considered it in an actionable way.

Even if your analysis is correct (at least in regard to Forgotten Realms-branded novels), I suspect the Ravenloft novel brand is not a hot commodity right now. So just open up Ravenloft to Kindle Worlds. That'd be a good trial balloon.

Would you personally be for or against the opening of some or all of the D&D world-brands to Kindle Worlds?

Jester David · Mar 25, 2018

Polyhedral Columbia said:
You might be right Jester David. On the other hand, perhaps the D&D department has just never considered it in an actionable way.

Even if your analysis is correct (at least in regard to Forgotten Realms-branded novels), I suspect the Ravenloft novel brand is not a hot commodity right now. So just open up Ravenloft to Kindle Worlds. That'd be a good trial balloon.

Would you personally be for or against the opening of some or all of the D&D world-brands to Kindle Worlds?

I wouldn't personally be opposed. I like Ravenloft, and sanctioned fiction would be cool.
But I don't really read shared world fiction anyway. So that's a moot point.

Regardless, I doubt WotC could take the audience away from a licensed product.

ccs · Mar 25, 2018

Polyhedral Columbia said:
DM's Guild says:

Can I publish comic books, novels, spell cards, item cards, computer
games, apps, etc., on DMs Guild?

For now, we ask that you publish Dungeons & Dragons RPG supplements only, please.

But like you suggest, I recall a DMs Guild rep saying that a few pages of intro fiction at the beginning of an adventure is okay. So yeah, a good way to offer a (very) short story. But not a novel. Kindle Worlds would open it up to (longer) short stories, collections of short stories, and novels.

What's the actual guidelines for writing a DMS guild module?
What's the page count limit?
And do they have people who actually read them?
Couple of intro pages, a scenario section, a few more pages, another scenario section.....
Or reverse it. Scenario followed by the tale/example of how it played out in "your campaign".
For longer stories just serialize it in several shorter modules.

Play by thier rules. If thier rules turn out to be vague then it's on them to tighten them up. Wich benifits everyone anyways.

TwoSix · Mar 25, 2018

I don't know, people might abuse that kind of openness and do something crazy like put Lord Soth in Ravenloft. We should probably leave it to the experts.