D&D General 50th Anniversary- Are You Not Entertained?

[TwiceBorn2]

2. Descent Into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. The classic 1982 module updated, and will include a tournament-style scoring system!

4. Quests from the Infinite Staircase. A collection (eight?) of older adventures updated to 5e.

Two of the entries (Tosjcanth and Infinite Staircase) can basically be boiled down to, "Updating Nine Older Adventures." While I think that including tournament-style scoring in Tsojcanth is a great idea, I have a feeling that it will be a one-and-done; if they don't make further competition modules, what's the point?

This post on ICV2 indicates that the Descent Into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth OP tournament module will be an adaptation of the version of Lost Caverns that will be updated/reprinted in Quests for the Infinite Staircase. So discounting the Tsojcanth "tournament module," we're currently getting only 8 updated adventures (i.e., those in Infinite Staircase). It's a good bet more of the "updated adventures" in that anthology will see eventual release with tournament scoring systems for OP.

Feels like more smoke's been blown up our collective a***s...

 

[Parmandur]

This post on ICV2 indicates that the Descent Into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth OP tournament module will be an adaptation of the version of Lost Caverns that will be updated/reprinted in Quests for the Infinite Staircase. So discounting the Tsojcanth "tournament module," we're currently getting only 8 updated adventures (i.e., those in Infinite Staircase). It's a good bet more of the "updated adventures" in that anthology will see eventual release with tournament scoring systems for OP.

Feels like more smoke's been blown up our collective a***s...

6 Adventures in Infinite Staircases. It's a free sample being released early, that's all.

 

[Burnside]

It's a good bet more of the "updated adventures" in that anthology will see eventual release with tournament scoring systems for OP.

I actually didn't take that away from that at all. In fact, I think Tsojcanth will be the only one with tournament scoring.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I actually didn't take that away from that at all. In fact, I think Tsojcanth will be the only one with tournament scoring.

They are running the tournament (with scoring) at PAX East next week (on Friday) if anyone wanted to participate in it. The adventure is then being run all day Saturday and Sunday I believe, not as a tournament but just as an adventure for anyone else who wants to play it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Dicebreaker weighs in on the subject:

2024 is meant to be a big year for Dungeons & Dragons, as the 50th anniversary of the tabletop roleplaying game lines up with the release of the next series of core rulebooks.

However, it doesn’t feel especially momentous. Instead, it seems like the recent cultural steam for D&D we’ve seen spewing out across the mainstream has been dissipating in the last couple of years. To the point that it feels like the 2024 edition of the RPG could turn out to be a sad flop, rather than the triumphant evolution of Dungeons & Dragons 5E into a digitally-focused roleplaying game.

Though it makes a lot of sense to time the release of the new rulebooks to coincide with the 50th anniversary of D&D, the buzz surrounding the next iteration roleplaying game is a lot quieter than you’d expect it to be considering that, 1) it’s been ten years since the release of Fifth Edition and 2) this is the newest version of the biggest tabletop RPG in the Western world.

This feels partly the fault of Wizards of the Coast itself. Since One D&D - now called Dungeons & Dragons 2024 - was first announced in mid-2022, there have been regular updates to its work-in-progress playtest rules, which could only be found on the Unearthed Arcana website. Eventually, announcements for the release dates of the new Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual were made earlier this year. However, the company’s overall approach to marketing has been decidedly minimal so far. No official documentary, no word on the previously announced D&D TV show, no glamorous event celebrating the anniversary - which was this February and was acknowledged with a small video - and no tie-in with Wizards of the Coast’s other big game, Magic: The Gathering. Not even a ridiculously overhyped campaign featured some ludicrously overpriced piece of merchandise.

We can’t yet predict how well these books will sell and how many people will come onboard for the digital-first approach Wizards of the Coast is pushing for D&D 2024. However, it’s clear that Wizards has already rocked the D&D boat with its OGL shenanigans and hasn’t done enough to court the interests of people outside its usual fanbase, with much of the world remaining completely unaware that a new version of the roleplaying game is arriving in the same year as its 50th anniversary.

 

[GuardianLurker]

But overall, as I reflect on my level of interest ... I am, most decidedly, not entertained. What about the rest of you ... is the 50th Anniversary living up to your expectations?

I'm not too disappointed in their publishing schedule, honestly. we'll see if they are actually any good.

If the Powers-That-Be in WotC and Hasbro, really want to impress me with their attitude, here's what I'd like to see an expanded presence at GenCon with special WotC sponsored/hosted "Aniiversary Events/Tracks". Possibilities could include:
1. An Anniversary D&D Open, with competition modules from past and current editions, in their original forms.
1.a. Extra points if some of the Judges/GMs were designers from the previous editions. (I mean, how cool would it be to play a run through of Forge of Fury with Monte Cook, or Ghost Tower of Inverness with one of the 1e survivors?)
2. A "Museum"/"Retrospective Gallery" covering the the past editions. They've already done a lot of the work for the art book, and I'm sure there'd be plenty of fans who would be willing to help.
3. A "Retrospective Q&A" about play in each of the previous editions -again bonus points for inviting the previous designers/authors.
4. A presentation on how D&D has influenced popular culture - beyond just the Cartoon and Movies, or Critical Role.

Basically, if they really want to impress me (especially after all their mistakes in 2023 and early this year), they should show me that they have a clue that D&D has a life/meaning beyond just a product line. I expect they'll fail, which is a shame, because it would be so easy to succeed.

 

[Burnside]

Dicebreaker weighs in on the subject:

I agree with a lot of what's going on there, but there are some strained points:

- WotC never claimed they "had 50M players". They said ~50M people had played D&D at some point since the game was created.

- Critical Role has serious problems and is in decline, but I actually don't think that D&D itself as a game is the problem there. They're just burned out, overextended, and people have now seen their act three times and familiarity breeds contempt, fairly or not.

- I also don't think OGLGate has caused serious lingering issues, due to WotC's total capitulation with the 5E SRD in Creative Commons. However, there may be a resurgence of concern when the SRD isn't updated in a timely fashion and/or a new one isn't issued for the 2024 version of the game.

I do agree that the modern D&D renaissance probably peaked in 2021 or 2022, but the game still feels bigger/healthier to me now than it was in, say, 2017.

The point about failing to meaningfully capitalize on Baldur's Gate 3 is very true, and speaks to the slowness of WotC's production cycle, and a lack of flexibility/nimbleness on both the creative and marketing sides.

I do think the new edition hype feels kinda flat. And the reason is...a new edition isn't warranted. People honestly still want to play 5E. My reaction to the revision is, I think, the common one: there's stuff I like, there's stuff I don't, but there is NOTHING in it that makes me say, "Aha - THAT's why we need a new edition."

They're also in a bind on the have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too marketing message of "totally backwards compatible with 5E but also you need to buy it because it's totally new".

Finally, having zero major releases during the first 5 months of the anniversary year just isn't great planning.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think Critical Role's biggest issues are that 1) lockdown is long over, and as other streaming entertainment brands have learned, it's not possible to sustain the highs of 2020-21 indefinitely when people have other choices again and 2) not every character in a campaign should be The Funny One. (Unless your campaign is meant to be funny, as in Nerd Poker, Not Another D&D Podcast or Rotating Heroes.)

 

[TwiceBorn2]

6 Adventures in Infinite Staircases. It's a free sample being released early, that's all.

Thanks for the correction. It's still one fewer revised/updated scenario than @SnarfZagyg was originally expecting in his OP (or three, since Snarf thought there were going to be eight adventures in Infinite Staircase). Admittedly, I haven't read all of the previous 16 pages worth of posts, so he might already have been aware of the most up to date info.