The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[RealAlHazred]

So that's the flavor of the week, eh?

I remember when folks were outraged over the d12 not being used more often. Digitally or otherwise.

I designed a game system for my Millenium RPG (Roman Catholic troubleshooters at the turn of the first millennium, battling millennial cults) that used 3d12 for most resolutions. The number of dice that rolled under your target number indicated the quality of the result. Zero was absolute failure, while 3 was a perfect success. I may need to dig that out and see if I can polish it to something I can post to itch.io.

 

[Mezuka]

What happened with user Haplo781?

 

[Cadence]

What happened with user Haplo781?

Red carded.

D&D (2024) - It feels so much like the D&D Next playtest did

Nope, but if 'everything good' was shouted down, and its already crazy successful, am I to accept that everything shouted down was actually good, or perhaps there are reasons it wasnt included? Or the game could have been even more popular if those changes weren't shouted down. We don't know...

www.enworld.org

 

[Ondath]

I went almost completely digital for 4e. Yeah, I don't have access to that stuff anymore, whereas I still have a Basic D&D box set and my original 1e books.

That's the general worry I have with live services in general. If you buy something (it doesn't even have to be physical, but just having the files that you can access without some online authentication), it's yours forever. With live services, even though you pay the full price for everything, the whole thing could disappear if the company shuts down the service. Even in most online game stores like Epic Games Store, I believe the courts ruled that you don't technically own the game separate from the services - which means if Epic Games goes down, my massive library with hundreds of dollars of games in it would go bye-bye (Steam might be an exception to this, though not of their own volition - I found a 2019 French court decision that declared that the users own the full rights to their Steam games including resale).

Since we already saw 4E's digital tools disappear into the void with the arrival of 5E, I'm worried a similar thing will inevitably happen for D&D Beyond and D&D Digital. But the entire world's going the way of live services so not much to do there...

 

[payn]

That's the general worry I have with live services in general. If you buy something (it doesn't even have to be physical, but just having the files that you can access without some online authentication), it's yours forever. With live services, even though you pay the full price for everything, the whole thing could disappear if the company shuts down the service. Even in most online game stores like Epic Games Store, I believe the courts ruled that you don't technically own the game separate from the services - which means if Epic Games goes down, my massive library with hundreds of dollars of games in it would go bye-bye (Steam might be an exception to this, though not of their own volition - I found a 2019 French court decision that declared that the users own the full rights to their Steam games including resale).

Folks have been fearing this for decades now. Turns out a service stream is not only pretty stable, but keep a wide selection of old and new material. Also, there is always a DRM-free option for these services for folks who are really worried about servers getting the plug pulled.

Also, I would be very shocked if D&D goes digital only in the next 25 years +. I mean, take a look around, so many posters here line up to chest thump over never digital. Will the design make using a physical copy become incredibly difficult? I don't think so, seeing how 5E actually rolled back the complexity quite a bit from 3E/4E. That ease of use is a big part of the success recipe for 5E.

Since we already saw 4E's digital tools disappear into the void with the arrival of 5E, I'm worried a similar thing will inevitably happen for D&D Beyond and D&D Digital. But the entire world's going the way of live services so not much to do there...

I think its an entirely different world now. If WotC had been premiering this at 5E launch, I'd laugh, but now I think they actually making a solid stab at it.

 

[Ondath]

Folks have been fearing this for decades now. Turns out a service stream is not only pretty stable, but keep a wide selection of old and new material. Also, there is always a DRM-free option for these services for folks who are really worried about servers getting the plug pulled.

I just think two decades is too short compared to the longevity some of these works would normally have if the same property rights as physical objects were attached to them - I have the luck of having books from 1920s in my library, and people make collections of films that are almost a century old as well. Can we be sure that D&D Beyond will be around for 10, 20 or 30 years? If it won't, doesn't that mean that your content library on D&D Beyond will mean nothing when that service closes?

 

[payn]

I just think two decades is too short compared to the longevity some of these works would normally have if the same property rights as physical objects were attached to them - I have the luck of having books from 1920s in my library, and people make collections of films that are almost a century old as well. Can we be sure that D&D Beyond will be around for 10, 20 or 30 years? If it won't, doesn't that mean that your content library on D&D Beyond will mean nothing when that service closes?

I guess it would. What evidence do we have, however, that this is a regular occurrence? Does it seem like Epic and Steam are floundering and ready to close shop? Will HBO/Netflix/Prime just go out of business and stop streaming? I used to worry about my physical Nintendo library, but, thanks to digital I can play any of those old games any time I want. Digital is just as evergreen, if not more so, than physical.

I mean, thats just assuming you will still be playing 5E in 10,20,30 years. You could still be playing 1E,2E,3E,4E, etc... Unless you fear they will just simply stop publishing physical rulebooks, which, I have seen nothing to suggest they will.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I guess it would. What evidence do we have, however, that this is a regular occurrence? Does it seem like Epic and Steam are floundering and ready to close shop? Will HBO/Netflix/Prime just go out of business and stop streaming? I used to worry about my physical Nintendo library, but, thanks to digital I can play any of those old games any time I want. Digital is just as evergreen, if not more so, than physical.

I mean, thats just assuming you will still be playing 5E in 10,20,30 years. You could still be playing 1E,2E,3E,4E, etc... Unless you fear they will just simply stop publishing physical rulebooks, which, I have seen nothing to suggest they will.

Kind of?

I love digital! Don't get me wrong. Right now ... you can access more STUFF than ever before.

But we also don't have a great track record with digital media. There are a lot of issues- with rights holders being able to control what we access. With different storefront or companies disappearing or going out of business (so all the "stuff" you purchased is no longer accessible ... unless you buy it again). With an unproven track record of durability ... I mean, say what you will about books and the inability for everyone to get hold of what they want, but we also know that they have lasted a while.

I understand the concerns.

 

[Ryujin]

I guess it would. What evidence do we have, however, that this is a regular occurrence? Does it seem like Epic and Steam are floundering and ready to close shop? Will HBO/Netflix/Prime just go out of business and stop streaming? I used to worry about my physical Nintendo library, but, thanks to digital I can play any of those old games any time I want. Digital is just as evergreen, if not more so, than physical.

I mean, thats just assuming you will still be playing 5E in 10,20,30 years. You could still be playing 1E,2E,3E,4E, etc... Unless you fear they will just simply stop publishing physical rulebooks, which, I have seen nothing to suggest they will.

I don't know that you need to have such evidence, when we're talking about a company that has already done it. I don't know about you, but I follow the Scotty Edict: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I don't know that you need to have such evidence, when we're talking about a company that has already done it. I don't know about you, but I follow the Scotty Edict: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."