ICv2 Interview: Greg Leeds on the Game Market and Wizard of the Coast

[Warbringer]

"What are you most excited about coming from Wizards of the Coast in the next six to twelve months?"

What is I the resting is what he didn't answer to this : namely, launch of a new edition of D&D

[MENTION=221]Wicht[/MENTION], the story piece of an adventure was never covered by OGL, it always fell under IP designation.

 

[Wicht]

"What are you most excited about coming from Wizards of the Coast in the next six to twelve months?"

[MENTION=221]Wicht[/MENTION], the story piece of an adventure was never covered by OGL, it always fell under IP designation.

Right, which is why I singled out the stats as being what I wanted to see released as OGL.

 

[Warbringer]

Right, which is why I singled out the stats as being what I wanted to see released as OGL.

Gotcha.

Wont they be by definition? Likely that they will follow the MiBG format and post on the site for download.

 

[Wicht]

Wont they be by definition?

No. Almost nothing that WotC released for 3e is open beyond the core books. I have a whole shelf of 3rd edition books that are essentially useless because of this. Sword and Sorcery's Creature Collection has more utility for me than WotC's Monster Manual II for 3e. WotC could get away with it because, as I said above, they are the owners of the OGL and Third edition and don't have to use it to release content for their own game.

 

[Dire Bare]

No. Almost nothing that WotC released for 3e is open beyond the core books. I have a whole shelf of 3rd edition books that are essentially useless because of this. Sword and Sorcery's Creature Collection has more utility for me than WotC's Monster Manual II for 3e. WotC could get away with it because, as I said above, they are the owners of the OGL and Third edition and don't have to use it to release content for their own game.

How is your shelf of non-OGL D&D books useless? Can you not use them in your game?

This attitude has always perplexed me, I do not grok. Anyways, I suspect the folks who care if WotC OGL-ifies their 3E titles (or 4E or 5E) are a small slice of the D&D players pie. Sure, it would be nice if they did, but . . . . the effort would be greater than the return, methinks.

 

[Li Shenron]

I'm not sure that selling Dungeons and Dragons as "entertainment" instead of "hobby" ...is going to work out quite the same as with Magic.

I am by no means qualified to make predictions on sales... I think the idea is not to turn D&D from hobby to entertainment, but to make it also possible as entertainment. The difference is that "hobby" requires a certain continuity, while "entertainment" is casual, requires little planning ahead, and smaller times. I believe that going to the theatre, watching a movie on DVD, play a videogame, do karaoke or a night with games of cards are good examples of what they're trying to make D&D compete against.

And I have to say that from my personal point of view, that would totally rock! I have been myself a hobbyist of D&D during the 3e era, buying a small set of sourcebooks, DMing some games and playing in others, writing/preparing adventures and homebrew settings... But nowadays it's too much work to do it too often, and my former co-gamers basically all moved on, had kids, got into other hobbies etc. They say they would still like to play but none is willing to DM unless it's much less effort than before, and even can't guarantee to play two times in a row.

I believe WotC knows there are lots of previous gamers in this situation, missing the fun of a good D&D night at least now and then, plus other people who simply don't like doing stuff that requires more than one evening. The point is, making D&D work for these people, in absolutely no way would undermine how it works for those who want the whole D&D experience of long campaigns, designing homebrew settings, tinker with house rules and monster design etc.

How is your shelf of non-OGL D&D books useless? Can you not use them in your game?

I think he's a designer, so he meant he can't use any non-core material as a start for further design ideas.

 

[CM]

As an avid 4e player who doesn't see himself migrating to 5e anytime soon, I would be pleased as punch if future WotC adventures and campaign setting material were either system-neutral or triple-statted like the Sundering adventures.

With all the old material they are re-releasing in PDF and even print format, I really wish WotC would sponsor/host a wiki of official adventure stat conversions. This would be a great feature for the future DDI, imo.

 

[DaveMage]

The Sundering stuff at $34.95 for only 96 pages seemed a bit pricey to me - especially given WotC's track record with adventures.

That aside, I think it's a fabulous idea (from a player point of view) for WotC to support multiple editions, but I wonder how sustainable that will be.

 

[Wicht]

How is your shelf of non-OGL D&D books useless? Can you not use them in your game?

I cannot utilize their material in anything I might write. Nor can any of the publishers (Paizo included) use them, which mean those monsters will never see use in another 3e publication I might either write or read.

the effort would be greater than the return, methinks

That's certainly one point of view; I disagree. Goodwill is hard to quantify economically but it does have some value.

Moreover, rendering something OGL is merely a matter of placing the license correctly in the book (not that WotC showed a real proficiency with their own license in MMII) and putting the right legalese in the front of the book. Speaking from experience, the effort involved is minimal.

 

[Wicht]

And I have to say that from my personal point of view, that would totally rock! I have been myself a hobbyist of D&D during the 3e era, buying a small set of sourcebooks, DMing some games and playing in others, writing/preparing adventures and homebrew settings... But nowadays it's too much work to do it too often, and my former co-gamers basically all moved on, had kids, got into other hobbies etc. They say they would still like to play but none is willing to DM unless it's much less effort than before, and even can't guarantee to play two times in a row.

I believe WotC knows there are lots of previous gamers in this situation, missing the fun of a good D&D night at least now and then, plus other people who simply don't like doing stuff that requires more than one evening. The point is, making D&D work for these people, in absolutely no way would undermine how it works for those who want the whole D&D experience of long campaigns, designing homebrew settings, tinker with house rules and monster design etc.

I'm just skeptical it can be done short of making D&D into something akin to Descent 2.0.

DMing is always going to require a greater amount of effort unless all the work is done for you and the adventure is self-contained with rules given with each encounter. And, like I said, a 2 hour game experience has never been satisfying for me with any real RPG.