D&D General Does D&D (and RPGs in general) Need Edition Resets?

[Lanefan]

I think there will be a profitable market for print media for the foreseeable future. But DDB will increasingly become the go-to tool for running games, often in conjunction with print media.

We'll know they've shifted focus to DDB/digital if-when significant official content starts becoming available there that you can't (legally) get in print.

 

[payn]

We'll know they've shifted focus to DDB/digital if-when significant official content starts becoming available there that you can't (legally) get in print.

Other than VTT stuff like tokens and such I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Clint_L]

Follow-up: here's what will happen when the 2024 books come out: I will have the option of buying them on DDB, or not. The game will continue to function with whatever choice I make. If/when I do buy them, I will have the option to run them in conjunction with the old versions, or not. There will likely be a few new toggles added to things like character creation to take into account some of the new options.

I know this because it has already happened, with books like Tasha's and Monsters of the Multiverse (which I currently run in conjunction with both Volo's and Mordenkainen's Tome).

 

[Minigiant]

How many people do you think are actually pen & paper D&D game designers on the WotC payroll as FTE’s? I think about 20-25. The deep kernel of D&D is a small company.

Harbor wants D&D to produce $500M -1B

You can't make that not publishing content.

 

[Clint_L]

Other than VTT stuff like tokens and such I wouldn't count on it.

So, there's already stuff that you can't get in print, some of which is free on DDB, and others which are exclusive to DDB but purchasable, like Deborah Ann Woll's recent mini-adventure, which I was happy to buy for $5. That's a great example of an advantage of the digital platform, because there's no way that adventure gets published in print, not without magazines, anyway. And the decline of magazine sales is way beyond anything happening with D&D.

They've already shifted their focus to digital; I don't think WotC has been shy about announcing it. When OneD&D was announced in 2022 the three pillars were updated rules, DDB, and the VTT. But even though the focus is increasingly on digital, print media will be supported for as long as it is profitable. Why wouldn't it be?

 

[Parmandur]

They've already shifted their focus to digital; I don't think WotC has been shy about announcing it. When OneD&D was announced in 2022 the three pillars were updated rules, DDB, and the VTT. But even though the focus is increasingly on digital, print media will be supported for as long as it is profitable. Why wouldn't it be?

Yeah, as long as there is an audience for it, and the content feeds both streams, don't see that changing any time soon.

 

[mamba]

Harbor wants D&D to produce $500M -1B

You can't make that not publishing content.

if by content you mean D&D books, then you cannot make that money doing so. They will need movies, games, digital subscriptions, merchandise, etc. on top of it.

Given that they get more $ for their digital books than physical ones, they would still want you to shift to digital too

 

[Parmandur]

if by content you mean D&D books, then you cannot make that money doing so. They will need movies, games, digital subscriptions, merchandise, etc. on top of it.

Given that they get more $ for their digital books than physical ones, they would still want you to shift to digital too

I'm sure they would be moat happy with both, hence producing the bundles. But as long as people will buy the books, I am autee WotC will make them.

Maybe as an absolute "worst case" or maybe rather "digital maximum" the print books become sort of Dungeon Annuals repackaging digital modules for print.

 

[Minigiant]

if by content you mean D&D books, then you cannot make that money doing so. They will need movies, games, digital subscriptions, merchandise, etc. on top of it.

Given that they get more $ for their digital books than physical ones, they would still want you to shift to digital too

I've been saying that incremental requires digital.

That one of the 3 reasons why I keep saying incremental D&D all the way from 1e, 2e, 3e, or B/X would have never worked.

You could maybe try from 5e but I think it would too fail.

To make a D&D that never resets, you'd have to reset D&D and design it to never needing a reset and design the digital tools/store to keep it going.

 

[Lanefan]

So, there's already stuff that you can't get in print, some of which is free on DDB, and others which are exclusive to DDB but purchasable, like Deborah Ann Woll's recent mini-adventure, which I was happy to buy for $5.

Which is too bad, in that it sounds like exactly the sort of thing I'd buy if I saw it in a game store and it looked to be any good. But the second I'm expected to print it out myself in order to get a paper copy, I'm out.