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.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I won't dispute that, not familiar enough with 4E art really, though what I do remember is Wayne Reynolds stuff, so not that different from 3E IMO. Maybe what I am saying is that I am not a big fan of the way Wayne Reynolds depicts PoC?

Maybe, though of course Wayne Reynolds also dominates the art less and less as the edition wears on, so that is likely another factor in your perception.

But I definitely recall not seeing nearly as much anglo-looking human or human adjacent art in 4e as I was used to seeing in fantasy art, and I recall a thread early on in 5e where the 5e PHB was compared to the 4e PHB1, and 4e was more diverse in general, but 5e had specifically more Black folks.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Unpopular opinion: I really dislike Wayne Reynolds's (is s's correct?) art style. It hurts me his art is so proeminent in my favourite setting's inception.

I'm not sure that is even an unpopular opinion.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

You're not reading what I write. I said that it's good that the "close to human" races are diverse (as are the actual humans), and that some anthro races have some coded elements.

WoW doesn't fit what I said at all, with it's mostly white humans, elves that are either white or unnaturally color-coded by culture and white-coded in features, and dwarves that look like somewhat darker skinned Slavic folks at the darkest, and it's other races been very very monolithic in culture, with cultures that are blatant and direct full-on analogues to specific real world cultures.

The two are completely different types of worldbuilding, and not even remotely analogous to eachother. WoW is exactly the sort of world that I'd hold up as the antithetical example to showcase how diverse 4e and 5e both are.

Glad you clarified, your text was not completely clear.

Anyway, I have no doubt 4E does have some examples of diversity throughout, as that edition has a ton of material. I am just saying I'm impressed at how diversity-forward 5E has been in its core books, as the examples @Parmandur has given show.

 

[Parmandur]

Unpopular opinion: I really dislike Wayne Reynolds's (is s's correct?) art style. It hurts me his art is so proeminent in my favourite setting's inception.

Yeah, same here. It is very...early 90's Marvel. In a not-great way.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Unpopular opinion: I really dislike Wayne Reynolds's (is s's correct?) art style. It hurts me his art is so proeminent in my favourite setting's inception.

I do like Reynolds in small doses, but it is really overused in 4E that I do second this. It's also interesting how popular it is in Pathfinder.

 

[Parmandur]

I do like Reynolds in small doses, but it is really overused in 4E that I do second this. It's also interesting how popular it is in Pathfinder.

I mean, is Wayne Reynolds art in Pathfinder "so popular," or is his dominance of Pathfinder art not great for PF? The buckles....all the buckles...

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Glad you clarified, your text was not completely clear.

Anyway, I have no doubt 4E does have some examples of diversity throughout, as that edition has a ton of material. I am just saying I'm impressed at how diversity-forward 5E has been in its core books, as the examples @Parmandur has given show.

Sure, 5e is doing great, especially now that they've reversed course on the "try to appeal to grognards by making non-humans monolithic stereotypes with genetic alignment" thing.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I mean, is Wayne Reynolds art in Pathfinder "so popular," or is his dominance of Pathfinder art not great for PF? The buckles....all the buckles...

By popular I really meant how commonly used it is... I don't know how many people like his art. I honestly don't ever see Pathfinder books anywhere, it's all PDFs. But the game itself is a suppose quite popular, as second-fiddle to D&D.

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe, though of course Wayne Reynolds also dominates the art less and less as the edition wears on, so that is likely another factor in your perception.

But I definitely recall not seeing nearly as much anglo-looking human or human adjacent art in 4e as I was used to seeing in fantasy art, and I recall a thread early on in 5e where the 5e PHB was compared to the 4e PHB1, and 4e was more diverse in general, but 5e had specifically more Black folks.

I never really sat with any 4E book other than the PHB, so that is my main exposure to the whole edition's art in terms of longterm memory. From my memory, it didn't strike me as all that different from 3E in terms of diversity.

 

[Parmandur]

By popular I really meant how commonly used it is... I don't know how many people like his art. I honestly don't ever see Pathfinder books anywhere, it's all PDFs. But the game itself is a suppose quite popular, as second-fiddle to D&D.

I'm sure some people must like his art. Paizo is pretty dedicated to that 3E aesthetic, even with PF2E. Central to the brand. Not sure if that's healthy for them, long-term.