Ravnica: Is This The New D&D Setting? [UPDATED & CONFIRMED!]

WotC senior executive meeting:

MM: "So, what are we hearing about our big announcement?"

JC: "Well, the regulars at Enworld are gnashing their teeth, accusing us of betraying our fans (again), denigrating our business sense, and swearing that they'll never buy this."

MM: (rubbing palms together) "Excellent! It sounds like we've got another Amazon blockbuster in the works."

Rygar said:

Honestly, I *strongly* doubt we'll see Innistrad mixed with Ravenloft. I suspect Magic the Gathering is tipping off a cliff, if it hasn't already, and WOTC will no longer have any major money generator. If we're lucky, D&D will be sold to Paizo. Most likely, Hasbro will put it in a valut and try to use it as a vehicle for TV shows or movies.

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I think this paragraph is so wrong and short-sighted that it hurts.

Rygar said:

Honestly, I *strongly* doubt we'll see Innistrad mixed with Ravenloft. I suspect Magic the Gathering is tipping off a cliff, if it hasn't already, and WOTC will no longer have any major money generator. If we're lucky, D&D will be sold to Paizo. Most likely, Hasbro will put it in a valut and try to use it as a vehicle for TV shows or movies.

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To quote Luke Skywalker, "What kind of talk is that?"

Seriously though, you do realize that D&D is doing great financially?

Elfcrusher said:

WotC senior executive meeting:

MM: "So, what are we hearing about our big announcement?"

JC: "Well, the regulars at Enworld are gnashing their teeth, accusing us of betraying our fans (again), denigrating our business sense, and swearing that they'll never buy this."

MM: (rubbing palms together) "Excellent! It sounds like we've got another Amazon blockbuster in the works."

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I would change JC's quote to:

JC: Well, a small but vocal minority of regulars are gnashing their teeth because we didn't regurgitate the same old, same old and republish their favorite setting. These folks seem oblivious to the fact that we are, indeed, in the process of PDFing/PODing "classic settings."

MM: What are you going to do? Nerds are going to rage. Thankfully there's enough fans who are interested in new worlds and ideas, even if they are "tainted" by MtG.

Mercurius said:

I would change JC's quote to:

JC: Well, a small but vocal minority of regulars are gnashing their teeth because we didn't regurgitate the same old, same old and republish their favorite setting. These folks seem oblivious to the fact that we are, indeed, in the process of PDFing/PODing "classic settings."

MM: What are you going to do? Nerds are going to rage. Thankfully there's enough fans who are interested in new worlds and ideas, even if they are "tainted" by MtG.

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I can think of another franchise that just imploded with the same thinking ...

Warbringer said:

I can think of another franchise that just imploded with the same thinking ...

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Care to share what you're talking about?

Anyhow, I'm not sure why this isn't a best of both worlds kind of thing. We get a new setting for those that are interested in new ideas and worlds (like myself), but we also get coverage of a classic setting. I suppose it is a bummer if you're a Greyhawk or Mystara (etc) person hoping for your favorite setting to get 5e treatment, but it seems quite likely that Eberron isn't the end of classic treatments. Or maybe you wanted a hardcover of Eberron, but even then we'll get POD eventually.

So again, I'm not sure what there is to complain about that isn't based upon some variation of "But you didn't cater exactly to my particular desires!"

Mercurius said:

Care to share what you're talking about?

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Now partly in jest, but of course Star Wars - less the development but more the attitude - "we don't need these old gronards who've supported the franchise telling us how to run our franchise." ... maybe only partly in jest.

Now, I don't think there's a political agenda here, and I doubt there is even this type of thinking, and I for one look forward to adding this book to the over 200 D&D books on the bookshelf.

Warbringer said:

Now partly in jest, but of course Star Wars - less the development but more the attitude - "we don't need these old gronards who've supported the franchise telling us how to run our franchise." ... maybe only partly in jest.

Now, I don't think there's a political agenda here, and I doubt there is even this type of thinking, and I for one look forward to adding this book to the over 200 D&D books on the bookshelf.

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OK, I hear you about Star Wars. I haven't loved anything since Return of the Jedi.

But Star Wars and D&D are different in a way that makes all the difference. Star Wars has a canonical story with a limited number of options in the form of films. D&D has many worlds, different ways of playing the game and making it your own. Having a piss-poor actor(s) play Anakin Skywalker "taints" the legacy of Darth Vader; you can't ignore meticlurians (sp); and you can't un-see Leia flying through space. It happened in the official version of the story. You can, at best, only re-watch the original trilogy and, in your own mind, consider everything else as fan-fiction.

With D&D, you don't have to buy Ravnica. You don't have to buy the Eberron PDF but can, if you want, wait for the more finished product and get the POD. And most of all, you can make your own game with whatever combination of materials from 44 years of publication history.

And more so, they ARE listening to grognards and hardcore fans. Thus Eberron. Presumably we'll see other "classic" settings. What they aren't doing, thankfully, is taking too seriously the vocal minority of folks who will complain about anything that doesn't cater to their own specific needs. These voices are always going to be there, just like everything Thanksgiving gathering has a "drunk uncle" who you just kind of have to tolerate and accept as part of the family, but not take too seriously or get offended by his outdated perspective of the world.

CapnZapp said:

Only now?

I remain in my state of perplexity about the lack of MtG DnD content..

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It does lend some credibility to the 'Magic needs more revenue sources' argument. But most folks I've spoken with** at WotC who work on D&D have consistently said that, while the D&D folks have always been curious about doing Magic-related D&D stuff, the Magic team has always resisted, usually citing revenue as the sticking point.

** - These are conversations I've had mostly in passing at conventions, always off-the-record, and I wouldn't say I'm particularly 'in' with WotC folks; plus they might have their own reasons for putting the onus on 'no Magic in my D&D' on the Magic folks, so feel free to take that with as large a grain of salt as you need to.

--
Pauper

They crossed the streams...in actual, physical printed product.

*shrug*

I won't buy it, and it seems every molecule in my body hasn't exploded at the speed of light....good for those wanting this though, so awesome for them.