D&D General Is DnD being mothballed?

[see]

Steve Jackson Games is still around but have basically left the RPG business in favor of Munchkin and assorted board games.

Seven new GURPS PDF releases this year so far, totaling 202 pages, is not a lot of product by historical standards, but it's not the same thing as having left the RPG business, especially sicne they keep POD-izing older product so people can buy new print copies. And the Bestiary for The Fantasy Trip is reportedly somewhere between proofreading and publishing . . .

 

[CleverNickName]

What do I think?

It sounds like MCDM Productions will be announcing their own RPG soon. He's pointing out a lot of things that "need fixing," according to him, and suggesting that Wizards of the Coast isn't able or willing to fix them. Ergo, he will fix them for us in his new Kickstarter, coming soon! (Obviously this is pure conjecture; I don't have any special insight here. I don't practice Santeria, I ain't got no crystal ball. The whole tone just has a familiar-souning, year 2007 tone to it, is all.)

I think Matt Colville (of all people) should know better than most the difference between "evergreen" and "mothballed." This has always been WotC's plan for 5th Edition. Their graphs are all up-and-to-the-right, so they must be doing something right.

 

[Parmandur]

Makes no sense at all.
Having 50 different writers does not help to keep the game stable and balanced. A smaller number of writers can be overseen by one person who is responsible for the game state.

Colville seems to have idealized how things were done at WotC when he was there as The Way to Do Things. But...thst was a failed business strategy...?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Honestly, the new Phandelver expansion feels like their tie-in to BG3. It appears to hit a lot of similar themes.

Certainly it's their take on it. I suspect it's more of a response to them getting excited about the concepts in house and deciding to tackle them as well.

A tie-in would have that written somewhere on the cover in some fashion. The whole point of a tie-in is to explicitly drive customers to buy additional things, using the power of a product they've already expressed enthusiasm for.

 

[jasper]

127 + subclasses,
AARAKOCRA , AAISMAR v, ASTRAL ELF v e, AUTOGNOME, BUGBEAR v,
CENTAUR, CHANGELING, DEEP GNOME v, DHAMPIR RAVENLOFT v ,
DRAGONBORN, DROW v e, DUERGAR v, DWARF HILL v, DWARF MOUNTAIN v
ELADRIN FEY ELF v e, ELF HIGH v e, ELF WOOD v e, FAIRY,
FERAL TIEFLING SCAG v, FIRBOLG, GENSAI AIR v, GENSAI EARTH v,
GENSAI FIRE v, GENSAI WATER v, GHOSTWISE HALFLING SCAG,
GIFF, GITHYANKI , GITHZERAI, GNOME FOREST v
GNOME ROCK v, GOBLIN v, GOLIATH, GRUNG
HADOZEE , HALF-ELF v e, HALF-ORC v,HALFLING LIGHTFOOT
HALFLING LOTUSDEN Wildemount, HALFLING MARK OF HEALING EBBERON
HALFLING MARK OF HOSPITALITY EBBERRON, HALFLING STOUT
HARENGON, HEXBLOOD RAVENLOFT v, HOBGOBLIN v , HUMAN
KALASHTAR EBERRON, KENDER Dragonlance, KENKU

KOBOLD v, LEONIN THEROS v, LIZARDFOLK, LOCATHAH, LOXODON RAVNICA , MINOTAUR, ORC v, OWLIN STRIXHAVEN v, PLASMOID v, REBORN RAVENLOFT, SATYR, SEA ELF v e, SHADAR-KAI SHADOWFELL ELF v e, SHIFTER v, SIMIC HYBRID RAVNICA v, TABAXI v, TIEFLING v

THRI-KEEN v, TORTLE, TRITON v, VEDALKEN RAVINICA, VERDAN ACQUISITIONS , WARFORGE EBERRON, WINGED TIEFLING SCAG v, YUAN-TI v

73 RACES 57 AL LEGAL 8 Elfs

39 Darkvision 34 AL Legal
How many adventure paths?
How many approved module on DM's Guild?
Sure what dms want more subclasses, races, spells, and worlds to learn.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Their graphs are all up-and-to-the-right, so they must be doing something right.

Something isn't necessarily "everything," though. Little Caesars isn't delicious pizza, for instance, just because they're profitable.

WotC is successful. Are they as successful as they could be? Probably not. Are they successful enough for their corporate masters? So far, yes.

But I watched a third of my coworkers get laid off shortly before the pandemic because we weren't profitable enough. I think it's always dangerous in Corporate America to take one's eye off the wolf outside the door.

 

[jasper]

Certainly it's their take on it. I suspect it's more of a response to them getting excited about the concepts in house and deciding to tackle them as well.

A tie-in would have that written somewhere on the cover in some fashion. The whole point of a tie-in is to explicitly drive customers to buy additional things, using the power of a product they've already expressed enthusiasm for.

Looks at the ads for Baldur gate 3. Read ahead to chapter 5 on Shattered Oblisk. Hey it is a tie in.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It sounds like MCDM Productions will be announcing their own RPG soon. He's pointing out a lot of things that "need fixing," according to him, and suggesting that Wizards of the Coast isn't able or willing to fix them. Ergo, he will fix them for us in his new Kickstarter, coming soon! (Obviously this is pure conjecture; I don't have any special insight here. I don't practice Santeria, I ain't got no crystal ball. The whole tone just has a familiar-souning, year 2007 tone to it, is all.)

Announcing another RPG in addition to the one they've been openly working on all year?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

His rather flippant dismissal of the positive effects of a slower release schedule doesn't sit well with me. TSR made boxes, books, tie-ins with Diablo and StarCraft, and tons of other stuff, but that didn't guarantee a vibrant game. I also was of the impression that second edition AD&D collapsed under the weight of all the books and boxes for the game, overwhelming the customers and dividing their spending over too many products, making none of them profitable.

But then again, I might be biased since I enjoy a slow release schedule, so I might very well be wrong, and D&D would flourish if there were tons of more books.

I don't think he's saying there are NO benefits. Instead, he's saying that the pace was already a bit slower than perhaps was necessary, and seems to be slowing even further. To argue "slow is good and slower is better" is, as he says, equivalent to arguing that stopping is best.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Looks at the ads for Baldur gate 3. Read ahead to chapter 5 on Shattered Oblisk. Hey it is a tie in.

What? Are you saying there are ads with five chapters?