D&D 5E D&D Head Talks Future Plans (Sort Of)

WotC has launched a new design blog. The first edition is written by D&D head Ray Winninger, and he talks a little about future plans.

"Later in the year, Chris will return with our big summer adventure, James Wyatt will deliver a substantially improved version of a concept that I initiated myself, and Amanda Hamon will close us out with a project that was jointly conceived by herself and several other studio members. As usual, Jeremy Crawford is working with all of our leads, overseeing mechanical content and rules development.

In addition to these five major products, look for a couple of additional surprises we’ll unveil in the months ahead."

You can read the full blog here:

Who We Are & What We Do | D&D Studio Blog | Dungeons & Dragons

The first of many design blogs, direct from your friends at the Dungeons & Dragons Studio!

dnd.wizards.com

He also mentions that a D&D book takes 12-14 months to make, and half the projects developed don't make it to market. Winninger describes the structure of WotC's 'D&D Studio':

"The D&D Studio itself is organized into four departments: Game Design, Art, Production, and Product Management, each led by a department head. Game Design is responsible for the developing game mechanics and stories. Art establishes the “look and feel” of Dungeons & Dragons by creating visual concepts, directing our freelance illustrators, and creating innovative graphic designs. The Production department manages our project schedules, interfaces with manufacturing experts, and generally handles administrative matters for the studio. The Product Management department interfaces with sales, marketing, and market research. They also own our long-term product roadmap and look after the D&D business."

The studio has five Product Leads: Jeremy Crawford, Amanda Hamon, Chris Perkins, Wes Schneider, and James Wyatt.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Agreed and I think it was because it was Mike Meals baby, he was working on a bit of it on stream before. I don't think they wanted to release another book with his name on it.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh says otherwise.

 

[JRedmond]

Ghosts of Saltmarsh says otherwise.

Sort of, that was more Kate's baby while Dark Sun would have been Mike's. It also could have been too late to pull that one. We'll never know I'm just speculating. It will be interesting to see if his name ends up on anything else.

 

[pukunui]

To be fair, they apparently left a lot of material completely on the cutting room floor.

They sure did! Some of it has shown up in later products in one form or another, but most of it has been forgotten. I usually ask them to revisit it in various surveys but they don’t seem interested. There was some cool stuff there. It’s a shame.

On that note, aside from that initial aborted product, I can’t think of anything else I’ve seen in alpha form that hasn’t been published, so the products that don’t get developed must not make it even as far as closed playtesting.

 

[Parmandur]

They sure did! Some of it has shown up in later products in one form or another, but most of it has been forgotten. I usually ask them to revisit it in various surveys but they don’t seem interested. There was some cool stuff there. It’s a shame.

On that note, aside from that initial aborted product, I can’t think of anything else I’ve seen in alpha form that hasn’t been published, so the products that don’t get developed must not make it even as far as closed playtesting.

Yeah, there's sone ambiguity in the article whether this is how they have been operating in the past, or if this is Winninger's management approach going forward from 2020.

 

[Parmandur]

Sort of, that was more Kate's baby while Dark Sun would have been Mike's. It also could have been too late to pull that one. We'll never know I'm just speculating. It will be interesting to see if his name ends up on anything else.

He was listed in Theros, but in regards to IP development. He's still at wotC, but not in this studio.

 

[Erdric Dragin]

Lot of stuff cut huh? What a waste. Just makes me wish the days of TSR when they actually did print out anything and everything.

They could always go back to the 3rd Edition days when they used to have tons of free web content for the game. But, clearly, they don't care about the game, just money money money. And yet we expect them to produce what D&D should have when we know their main goal is money, not the betterment of the game.

 

[Hussar]

Interesting stuff. It's nice to see a bit more of a voice coming out of WotC after years of pretty much complete silence engaging with fans.

Anyone else remember the days when you could actually talk to someone who currently worked at WotC here on En World? I miss that.

 

[Parmandur]

Lot of stuff cut huh? What a waste. Just makes me wish the days of TSR when they actually did print out anything and everything.

They could always go back to the 3rd Edition days when they used to have tons of free web content for the game. But, clearly, they don't care about the game, just money money money. And yet we expect them to produce what D&D should have when we know their main goal is money, not the betterment of the game.

Same difference. It's called the profit motive.

 

[Erdric Dragin]

I really think they've boxed themselves in on psionics at this point. They seem unwilling or unable to break the current concepts of magic/casting. Not sure I typed that exactly clearly.....but I just think 5e's design principles are hindering a truly different system for psionics, which is what psionics' fans want (though others may not).

I could rant forever on their terrible failure of incorporating psionics into D&D side-by-side with magic. It's not a difficult thing to do, it's been in every single editon, if people can't accept it now, they never will so just force it to happen. Who's really going to quit the game because they chose to put a Psionic class as core? Sure some will ignore it out of spite and tell their players don't even bother, but eventually it's going to be accepted over time and soon everyone's using it. No player should accept a DM saying no to Psionics just because of misguided feelings of Psionics from previous editions.

 

[Mercurius]

Is this the first confirmation of five books? We all kind of assumed that, and they said that they were upping production, but this seems to be the first "official" confirmation.

Plus "a couple surprises." Hmm...the implication is that they aren't "major" and also somewhat different from previous products. Let the speculation begin...

I suppose, also, this makes it certain that we'll see a summer adventure, and then two fall releases. Nothing surprising, but certainly official confirmation. My guess remains an FR adventure, a Volo-type book with dragons and/or fey creatures, and a setting, whether classic or new (Magic).

For the two "surprises," I think the fact that they were even mentioned implies that they're more than the Laerel dice set, although still not "major." Maybe a box set tie-in to the Dragonlance books? (although that would probably be considered "major"). Some sort of historical or art product? A revised/deluxe version of an earlier adventure, ala Strahd? A pocket Monster Compendium with trimmed down versions of all previously released monsters? A new genre or game in a box? (again, too "major").