This presentation is by Dan Rawson and Marjory Laymon, moderated by Sara Chaffee.
I see a live view of what I assume is WotC's offices (the caption says 'Game Room'). Muffled voices talking as people wander around.
- Dan Rawson talks about his start in D&D. Introduces the team present: Dan Rawson (SVP of D&D), Marjorie Laymon (VP D&D Beyond), Pat Backmann (Sr. Product Manager), Jared Wasdin (Product Manager), Elliot Spilk (Associate Product Manager), Sarah Chaffee (Community Manager).
- What is D&D Beyond? The official gateway to D&D for content, news, offerings. The WotC D&D site is being deprecated and DDB is taking over.
- As the official home for D&D, DDB wants to be expansive. Content, tools, VTT. It's an amusement park. A whole ecosystem for the community.
- What have they been up to? Integrating with WotC since being acquired last year. Digital content drops, plus stability and performance work. 4.5 million users creates system challenges.
- What's next? Improving play/prep, mobile play, new player onboarding, open to partners, backend tech stuff.
- Partners and publishers--early stages of what that could look like, welcome feedback.
- (Q&A section begins--It's really hard to make out anything anybody is saying).
- Discussion about global communities, content for different people across the world.
- Homebrew and marketplace features. Make homebrew creation and sharing easy.
- Mobile site and app versions of DDB are different--can functionality be added to the app?
- Digital content in other languages and ASL? Is something they are actively trying to figure out.
- Future of D&D in print is very bright. Millions cherish the books and the tabletop and they want to support that. Digital is as well as not instead of.
- WIll DDB marketplace be monetized? That is absolutely the intention. Creators can offer their products for sale. Accessible, open, and available to creators.
- Will existing settings remain open to DMs Guild/DDB marketplace creators with the launch of OneDnD? "The goal is more not less." I think that was the entire answer to the question.
- Equitability of product pricing globally. Not something they've tackled yet, they appreciate the concern, and something they need to approach.
- Older editions in DDB? That's been discussed, but there are no plans right now. Possibility, not a 'no'.
- Does that include problematic elements of old products? They'd use the mechanical rules, not the 'content'.
- Preserving WotC's DnD website resources as it migrates to DDB? Not sure what the actual question or answer were! Can't make it out!
- How VTTs and content will interact? They want content and access to be as broad as possible. They will continue to partner with great VTTs.
- Will there be any mentorship on content creation for the third party marketplace? (There's a situation where somebody in person asks a really long question, the digital attendees can't hear it, then one of the presenters summarises the question [I think], but it's not always clear what the answer is.)
- Will the VTT be on consoles? Other technical requirements? Intent -- early in development -- is to play on PC, console, and mobile. Sequencing won't be everything on Day 1. Goal is to make it available on as many platforms as possible.
- Back to legacy content being on DDB--any content will go thorugh robust review to ensure it is appropriate and inviting to everybody. Means bringing legacy content over is a lot of work, and they won't bring them over without dong that work.
- Gaming store accounts and events--that's a strategy that is underway.
- Continue to lean into D&D in schools. Working on content for children.
- And that's the session over, and my coverage done! The next one will be the afternoon Virtual Tabletop session, covered by Beth Rimmels, in an hour or two.
