D&D 5E D&D Creator Summit--'D&D Beyond And Beyond'

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.

 

[Sacrosanct]

It's Teos Abadia.

Thanks. I suppose I get the impression I do because many of the actual content creators don't have a 100K followers who are sharing the twitter feeds, so I'm only seeing people like Nerd Immersion and Ginny D's comments, and not seeing the actual companies' feedback (except Morrus for obvious reasons).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If they want more interviews with creators, then why invite a lot of people to the "Creator Summit" who are personalities, and not game content creators? I'd think they'd want to speak to creators of actual game material. I don't have the whole list of invitees to this, but Morrus seems to be one of the only ones who actually creates and publishers stuff. A lot of others are just youtube personalities.

"Creator" is how influencers now refer to themselves.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sounds like you're having one of those "fun" online conference that I so "love" - can't hear, have to watch the boring parts twice, etc.

I wonder which YouTuber is eating while unmuted and which has their camera pointed up their nose!

 

[Sacrosanct]

"Creator" is how influencers now refer to themselves.

yeah, I know, but I don't agree with it. Not in this context (D&D game creation). They aren't creating anything actual game related. It would be like me making a bunch of art in MidJourney and calling myself an artist.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

yeah, I know, but I don't agree with it. Not in this context (D&D game creation). They aren't creating anything actual game related. It would be like me making a bunch of videos on my opinion of cars and calling myself an engineer.

I agree they should have branded the event differently. Don't say the word "creator" unless which meaning it's being used in is clear. (You'd think they've had learned their lesson after decades of having "level" refer to a bunch of different things.)

 

[Sacrosanct]

I agree they should have branded the event differently. Don't say the word "creator" unless which meaning it's being used in is clear. (You'd think they've had learned their lesson after decades of having "level" refer to a bunch of different things.)

I came up with a better and more relevant analogy.

I'm not bagging on someone for being popular on Youtube and having success there, but as an actual publisher, it doesn't feel right to have people who don't actually create any game material calling themselves game creators (or being treated that way by WotC).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm not bagging on someone for being popular on Youtube and having success there, but as an actual publisher, it doesn't feel right to have people who don't actually create any game material calling themselves game creators (or being treated that way by WotC).

I hear you. In my profession, there are a lot of people who've left the industry but still insist on claiming they're still doing the same job, which is demonstrably not true. It makes me nuts every time I see it.

 

[bedir than]

Are they a 3PP publisher of OGL materials? I don't recognize the name. What sort of 5e content do they publish? I can only find one 5e magic item guide they've created.

Teos has 26 items listed on the DMsGuild

Dungeon Masters Guild -

www.dmsguild.com

Mike Shea may have 100 things there, plus his Lazy DM series.

 

[dave2008]

If they want more interviews with creators, then why invite a lot of people to the "Creator Summit" who are personalities, and not game content creators? I'd think they'd want to speak to creators of actual game material. I don't have the whole list of invitees to this, but Morrus seems to be one of the only ones who actually creates and publishers stuff. A lot of others are just youtube personalities.

Perhaps you missed Morrus' other thread when there was discussion at the summit on this very topic. They did invite actually creators and publishers (like EnWorld) and there will be more of these summits where they reach out to different people. It is here, if you want to read Morrus' notes.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

yeah, I know, but I don't agree with it. Not in this context (D&D game creation). They aren't creating anything actual game related. It would be like me making a bunch of art in MidJourney and calling myself an artist.

It's Content Creators not game creators.