WotC Third party, DNDBeyond and potential bad side effects.

[FitzTheRuke]

Critical Role isn’t a 3PP. WotC is the publisher of the Wildemount book.

Right but Tal'dorei is Darrington Press. Lairs of Etharis is Ghostfire Gaming. Dungeons of Drakkenheim is Dungeon Dudes. How is that not THREE? That's how they're listed on DDBeyond, and how they've been announced here on ENWorld.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Ghostfire published the Dungeon Dudes stuff.

Did they? They're listed as two different publishers and two different products on DDB.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'd be surprised if anyone turned it down, unless the conditions were terrible. That does not mean you cannot be concerned about the potential downstream implications

You're absolutely right, I mean, part of the concern can be that it becomes "an offer you can't refuse".

 

[Libertad]

Did they? They're listed as two different publishers and two different products on DDB.

Ghostfire Gaming is listed as a collaborator for the 2 Drakkenheim KickStarters, and their official site sells PDF and physical copies of the books as well.

 

[Iosue]

I think the disconnect lies Between the concepts of unfettered capitalism and stewards of the hobby. They can’t be both.

That's certainly where my disconnect is, because I can't even imagine what "stewards of the hobby" is supposed to mean.

I mean, "stewards of the D&D game," I can get my head around. Honor its long history, try to make the current version the best version for today's market, keep it in print. I can even see, since the OGL is part of that history, honoring its intent, and keeping the game available for third-party expansion.

But "of the hobby?" How is that even supposed to work? Why would the commercial company who happens to own the D&D IP be the appropriate steward for all of role-playing gaming?

I thought Sly Flourish's previous observation that, with the release of the 5e SRD to the Creative Commons, WotC was now just one of many 5e publishers, to be a very astute one. But now, when they seek to differentiate themselves from their competitors through use of digital tools, it's bad for the hobby?

I'm reminded of the legal podcast that did episodes on the OGL debacle, and how there was a critical disconnect in that they could not grok a commercial company willingly giving its IP up in such a way, that a competitor could create the exact same game. They thought that that must be an unintended outcome resulting from a very poorly drafted license. Our hobby such as it is, is in a really weird space.

So, as near as I can tell, WotC, as "steward," is expected to:

• allow any number of variants of their game to be developed by competitors, allowing those competitors to at best feed off their customer base, and at worst to siphon customers off from it;
• not to compete through provision of their own digital tools, but rather allow other third-party entities to profit from providing digital tools using their IP;
• well, OK, they can have their own digital tools, but they can't be too good, or too exclusive, because that would be "bad for the hobby";
• within these strictures, make enough revenue to a) justify its existence, and b) get investment from Hasbro, because it would be bad for the hobby for D&D to be mothballed.

I'm not one for "unfettered capitalism," but is WotC not allowed (figuratively speaking) any exclusivity of its product? Any differentiation in service or customer experience from its competitors?

 

[SlyFlourish]

Out of curiosity, if you're somewhat against the idea of WotC "invitation-only, elitist group" D&DBeyond 3PP - Would you join them if you were invited?

@Morrus, how about you? If they wanted Level Up on DDB, do you think you'd go for it? If the numbers they showed looked like a decent enough deal?

I'm not trying to trap either of you in a "money where your mouth is"-type thing. I'm just curious. Do you think that it could be worth it?

I'd really have to see the circumstances. A non-exclusive contract is pretty low risk. I do expect that, by the time they'd ask me, I bet it's not a lot of money left on the table. I don't know if it'd be worth the conversion time at that point.

I also write products that work well regardless of what platform people use. I don't write character options. I don't write monsters or magic items or spells. I like to either write advice, which they can just read, or adventures, which run just fine off of the PDF.

So the answer is, I don't know. It would depend on the circumstances.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I'd be surprised if anyone turned it down, unless the conditions were terrible. That does not mean you cannot be concerned about the potential downstream implications

There may very well come a point where there's so many other products on there that the market is flooded. I recently took some of my work and paid to convert it to Roll 20. In months, it hasn't paid the cost back. All these people complaining that I don't have material for their VTT of choice and it made $12 last month.

 

[darjr]

@SlyFlourish imagine if they also implemented Forge of Foes in software? They could automate some of the workflow. Make it work inside the maps during combat.

Pipe dream I know.

 

[darjr]

So there are two publishers and three companies. Darrington press publisher for the Tal’dorei Reborn book. Ghostfire gaming as the Publisher for both new books, DnDBeyond wrongly attributed Dungeon Dudes as the publisher, they are not they are the creators.

 

[darjr]

I suppose maybe four I’d you include Critical Role as separate from Darrington Press.