D&D General If you were made president of D&D, what would you do?

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I have no knowledge about what settings they own trademarks and copyrights for. I assume that they don't have all of them. If they're separated from WotC, they probably can't do anything with MTG settings. I suspect extensive legal research would have to be done on a lot of them.

Anything that TSR owned when WotC bought them (which is the vast majority), anything that WotC added (Eberron & Nentir Vale), and all MtG settings. Though if the premise these are different companies now, that last one could be in limbo.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Should I change OPEN to UNLOCK? I dont know what WotC and DMG calls it now when a new setting comes on DMG for use.

Just specific that you meant for creating and selling content, not for buying it. You can already buy content from all editions on the Guild.

 

[bmfrosty]

Anything that TSR owned when WotC bought them (which is the vast majority), anything that WotC added (Eberron & Nentir Vale), and all MtG settings. Though if the premise these are different companies now, that last one could be in limbo.

I'm under the impression that many of the settings are under exclusive license, but are still owned by their creators. Like I don't think Eberron can be used as an official setting for Pathfinder, but WotC has to pay Keith to use it on an ongoing basis.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I have never seen any compelling evidence to suggest that Dark Sun would be a benefit to 5E, especially compared to doing something players under the age of 40 might care about.

(not everyone who wants Dark Sun is over 40. I'm 31).

 

[Reynard]

I'm under the impression that many of the settings are under exclusive license, but are still owned by their creators. Like I don't think Eberron can be used as an official setting for Pathfinder, but WotC has to pay Keith to use it on an ongoing basis.

No. All of that work was done for hire. WotC owns it all, completely and in perpetuity. That's why Keith's Eberron stuff had to be published under DMsGuild.

 

[Reynard]

(not everyone who wants Dark Sun is over 40. I'm 31).

So you're an outlier. What makes you think Dark Sun is the next huge 5E hit?

 

[cranberry]

I would scrap the VTT and focus on WoTC earning a reputation for high quality adventures. By quality, I mean in depth cohesive and engaging adventures that don't force the DM to spend time filling in the gaps.

 

[Reynard]

I would scrap the VTT and focus on WoTC earning a reputation for high quality adventures. By quality, I mean in depth cohesive and engaging adventures that don't force the DM to spend time filling in the gaps.

The adventures already sell. What would scrapping the VTT do to improve sales?

 

[Frozen_Heart]

So you're an outlier. What makes you think Dark Sun is the next huge 5E hit?

Going by how popular different main subreddits are, Dark Sun sits at 8.8k subscribers. That's more than Ravinica, Theros, and Planescape (7.6k, 6.1k, and 4.8k respectively). It's not far behind both Spelljammer and Dragonlance, both of which sit at 11k subscribers. Ravenloft sits at 8.9k subs.

And all those subreddits which have received books will have seen an influx of subs upon their release, which Dark Sun hasn't benefitted from.

So there is evidence that it could be just as popular as multiple settings which have been covered this edition. Do you think that Ravnica, Theros, Ravenloft, and Planescape were mistakes too?

 

[Reynard]

So there is evidence that it could be just as popular as multiple settings which have been covered this edition. Do you think that Ravnica, Theros, Ravenloft, and Planescape were mistakes too?

I don't know, but there isn't really any evidence their existence increased 5E's popularity or drew in more players.

I don't think DarkSun would be bad for D&D, I just don't think it would be particularly good for it either. people would very likely shrug and say "oh look, another old setting; meh." It would sell, because all 5E books sell okay, but that isn't the presumption folks are making. They are talking about using Dark Sun to reinvigorate the edition, and I am pushing back against that and am explicitly saying that the resources necessary to do Dark Sun would be better used, and show more benefit to the brand, by creating something aimed at the bulk of the customers, not the dying niche.