ExploderWizard
Hero
Wait a second. You believe that RPGs are "primarily driven by the imagination of the players". That including something to generate random effects goes against the "substance and character of the brand", which is that you should just "Make it up!"
And, just to confirm, I assume this also applies to every random chart and table in, well, pretty much every edition of the game? You know, the ones for generating everything from items to towns to monster encounters to PC's height and weight?
All of that, clearly, not part of the substance of D&D. They clearly all work against the underlying principle of driving the game based on imagination alone.
Or were you perfectly ok with that, and only find this new way to generate random effects bad because WotC did it, and anything they do is clearly evil, missing the point of the game, and all about making money and turning the game into a CCG?
You misunderstand. The "random" element has nothing to do with it. Random stuff has been a part of the game since day one so I don't know where you are getting the idea that I think everything needs to be created from whole cloth.
The action in a TTRPG takes place in an imagined space shared by the participants. If you disagree on this point there is little need to discuss the matter any farther.
Every element that gets driven primariily by a game component rather than coming from the players drives the game a bit closer to something other than a TTRPG. Dice, minis, counters, cards, etc. can all contribute to this departure in one way or another.
Just look at the history of debates revolving around excessive dice rolling for everything. That's just DICE!! The discussions about too much roll playing still take place every day.
Traditional TTRPG products just don't produce the kind of revenue stream Hasbro needs from D&D so D&D needs to become whatever it needs to be to produce that revenue. It is a quite logical and sane approach from a corporate viewpoint and Hasbro (or WOTC) isn't doing anything wrong in merely offering these products.
Telling us the game remains the same isn't evil either, it just makes them look stupid.