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.

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe Im dense or just never gave it a whole lot of thought, but I suppose less products would mean more sales. ~5 major products a year at $50 is an easier sell than for instance the 3E model of ~2/month at $40.

I remember looks ng at all the books coming out every month, how cool they looked...and never buying a single one due to analysis paralysis.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Maybe Im dense or just never gave it a whole lot of thought, but I suppose less products would mean more sales. ~5 major products a year at $50 is an easier sell than for instance the 3E model of ~2/month at $40.

This method guarantees each book will make a good profit and be a best seller, while the old method of tons more releases meant the money was spread around more thinly and individual sales figures per book were a lot worse. Even if the dollar sales are similar, a bunch of poorer-selling products instead of fewer, but much bigger sellers, does not look good to Hasbro's Board.

 

[R_J_K75]

Sorry I derailed that thread!

But I'll keep going......I find the entire magic system of 5e to be boring and generic at this point. I know I'm in the DEEP minority on this, but I wish magic schools (spell types) actually really mattered. But I know that will never be the case in 5e (and most likely 6e). I wish what deity your cleric/paladin served actually mattered (why does everyone turn undead, that's silly). But, all of that implies too much fiction and makes the game more complicated (would everyone really pick a wizard that can cast fireball, and not something else? I don't know).

I agree 100%. The magic system down right sucks imo. I was just having a conversation with a player of mine that was looking to choose his Arcane Tradition for his wizard; the ones in the PHB are all garbage. Specializing in a school of magic means absolutely nothing. The way chapter 11 of the PHB is laid out makes it difficult to create any specialist arcane or divine spell casters. The spell by class list doesn't say what school the spell is, and the spell description doesn't list what classes can cast it. I was tinkering with creating an alternative specialist wizard tradition last night but it'd be alot of work to cross reference those 2 lists to make a worth while tradition.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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'm assuming those are accessory products, similar to the dice-plus-cards sets or the wilderness screen.

Easier to develop, and there's certainly plenty of focused smaller products that a segment of the audience would want.

I would assume someone at WotC periodically just looks at all the D&D stuff on Etsy and makes notes on what would be worth them making themselves, like a prop Deck of Many Things.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Why can’t they just say what is coming out?

Because if stuff gets cancelled or delayed, they're suddenly "liars" or "incompetent." Distributors need to know what's coming in time to get it onto shelves, and that's probably the time frame we currently see for official announcements. Announcing further ahead of time doesn't buy companies anything.

I don't know that James Cameron has done himself any favors by announcing eleventy million Avatar sequels however many years ago it's been, for instance. When they finally arrive, it will be to a skeptical audience that's been snickering about them for years.

 

[R_J_K75]

I remember looks ng at all the boys ks coming out every month, how cool they looked...and never buying a single one due to analysis paralysis.

I played at a game shop for a few years from 2000-2005. Every week there would be a dozen new books, mostly 3PP, but yeah I got to the same point that I stopped even looking let alone buying anything unless it was something I specifically wanted. I do remember being extremely disappointed when the 3EFRCS was delayed from April to June of 2001.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My money is still on a "Dungeon Kit" and a "City Kit" to go with the "Wilderness Kit".

That's a really good guess. I know I'd be interested in the City Kit, myself.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The tell-all book I want to read would be all about the rise and fall of 4e.

Art & Arcana has a lot of that. I thought the book was mostly an art book when I ordered it, but I was shocked at how comprehensive -- and unsparing -- a history it was.

 

[teitan]

I strongly suspect a setting or two got the chop as well. When was DiTerlizzi working on those Planescape sketches? Feels like it was longer than 14 months ago.

He was doing those for fun. His announced project was doing new art for Magic.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Can we just get another straight-up Monster Manual?

(Probably not; it'll probably be dragon-themed; but...I really just want MM2)

My guess is we will see a second proper Monster Manual if they ever decide to start letting some of the older books go out of print and need a home for the monsters that appeared in them. So far, though, that's not happening. Even assembling all of the PDF-only WotC monsters wouldn't get you very far toward a new volume.