WotC WotC needs an Elon Musk

[Zardnaar]

If the argument is that WoTC need some kind of 'kick up the paints', I could buy that. IMO they've been coasting for a long time. I think it's shameful just how weak some of their products are. eg Fizban's Treasury of Dragons was a huge disappointment for me - and more importantly for my son, a massive fan of dragons. We have a 3PP dragon book from DM's Guild that is a hundred times better and clearly had far more work go into it. So much WoTC product is just lazy. I guess because they can. If Kobold Press published stuff as weak as WoTC's typical output, they'd go bust.

Edit: Of course the 5e PHB MM & DMG* (and XGTE) are still good, and continue to sell well as evergreen products supported by a solid 3PP ecosystem. ONE D&D does pose some threat to that though; it's not impossible they could muck up the ONE D&D PHB/MM/DMG trinity.

*The 5e DMG is a bit arguable I guess, I'd say it has a lot of good material that is easy to overlook due to the weird presentation order, with very advanced stuff right at the beginning, and the meat & potatoes buried inside. Anyway it's the 5e PHB that drove the success of the edition.

Things started to fall apart around Tasha's imho.

 

[S'mon]

Asking out of curiosity, what's the name of this product?

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

I think I paid the full price for it - it's a bit rough in places but has a ton of great stuff including intermediate age category dragons (great for when young are too weak & adult too strong), great wyrm dragons (for those level 20 PCs), and I allowed my son to play a Draconic Druid in my 5e conversion of Red Hand of Doom, which he loved.

 

[S'mon]

Things started to fall apart around Tasha's imho.

Seems about right - the 2019 Essentials Kit is still pretty good; I've been using it recently and the adventure/sandbox plays better than it reads. Tasha's was 2020 and Fizban's 2021.

 

[Zardnaar]

Seems about right - the 2019 Essentials Kit is still pretty good; I've been using it recently and the adventure/sandbox plays better than it reads. Tasha's was 2020 and Fizban's 2021.

I'm mining the essentials set in Midgard lol.

I'm gonna diverge from it but it read well to me. It's essentially a small sandbox adventure.

Bought Dragon of Stormwrack Isle and it's lacking?

 

[Libertad]

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

I think I paid the full price for it - it's a bit rough in places but has a ton of great stuff including intermediate age category dragons (great for when young are too weak & adult too strong), great wyrm dragons (for those level 20 PCs), and I allowed my son to play a Draconic Druid in my 5e conversion of Red Hand of Doom, which he loved.

Looks like quite the neat product! Thanks!

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Regarding the "catering to casual fans/catering to hardcore fans" dichotomy: I think it is a bit of a red herring, in that is presupposes that all casual fans care about the same things, and those things are different from what all hardcore fans care about. When the difference between them is not what they care about but how much they care.

A cursory glance at the forums indicates that what hardcore fans want is all over the map, and I see no reason to assume that casual fans are any different in that respect.

This is so true

If the argument is that WoTC need some kind of 'kick up the paints', I could buy that. IMO they've been coasting for a long time. I think it's shameful just how weak some of their products are. eg Fizban's Treasury of Dragons was a huge disappointment for me - and more importantly for my son, a massive fan of dragons. We have a 3PP dragon book from DM's Guild that is a hundred times better and clearly had far more work go into it. So much WoTC product is just lazy. I guess because they can. If Kobold Press published stuff as weak as WoTC's typical output, they'd go bust.

Edit: Of course the 5e PHB MM & DMG* (and XGTE) are still good, and continue to sell well as evergreen products supported by a solid 3PP ecosystem. ONE D&D does pose some threat to that though; it's not impossible they could muck up the ONE D&D PHB/MM/DMG trinity.

*The 5e DMG is a bit arguable I guess, I'd say it has a lot of good material that is easy to overlook due to the weird presentation order, with very advanced stuff right at the beginning, and the meat & potatoes buried inside. Anyway it's the 5e PHB that drove the success of the edition.

This is proof, because I really liked Fizbans. None of us are representative of nothing more than ourselves and we have different needs from the game. Though I am going to have a look at that DMsGuild Dragon book you recommended.

 

[S'mon]

This is so true

This is proof, because I really liked Fizbans.

I may be bitter because I paid full price at Blackwell's Bookshop, some enormous amount of money. It's a lot cheaper on amazon. Also if I hadn't already had a much more detailed 3PP book I might not have minded the generic dragon stats.

 

[dave2008]

If it is another Radiant Citadel, no one is interested. They have been picking loser settings with some poor art. IMO

Wait, you say they need to make new settings, and then we you are told they are making new settings you say they shouldn't make new settings because they will just be terrible? What do you want?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Then he should have said "we need diverse new voices and thoughts" and not "we need a self-aggrandizing, anti-worker, thin-skinned narcissist".

I'm talking specifically about Musk's handling of Twitter and his vision for it, not the evil naughty word he's done elsewhere. Don't mistake my OP for me being a blind fan boy for Musk, I'm not uncritical of him, it's a much more narrow statement I was making using his leadership at Twitter as an example.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

THe irony is I think that 5e southland was Kobold press and half there employees are old WotC employees

Oh I know, not only that current WotC senior designer Amanda, worked on the Southlands, the issue isn't with rank and file designers, or at least not with most of them, it's with leadership and their vision, Kobold press has it, WotC doesn't.