D&D General Interview with D&D VP Jess Lanzillo on Comicbook.com

[bedir than]

"I was probably one of the last migrators to the D&D Beyond character sheet, because I am an artist, so I just draw all of my stuff, and I want to do it in this very bespoke fashion."

This is an outright and known lie, and therefore cannot be anything but intentional. They have numbers how many people play, and they have numbers about how many people make characters on DnDBeyond - they absolutely know that he's not "one of the last migrators" to the DnDBeyond character sheet.

Why would they intentionally lie about that? Doesn't make sense, with how transparent it is to call them out.

She is almost certainly talking about people inside the doors of WotC.

 

[Blue]

I'm ok with a shift to digital play,

I just want to address this:

I'm okay with a shift to digital pay IF AND ONLY IF:

• Like physical books, I pay once only.
• They CAN NOT ever take it away from me.

Wizards has gone scorched earth on every previous edition when a new one has come out. I don't use that term lightly, they did things like delete years of forums, so much content that players had discussed. I paid for the 4e subscription, and they don't offer it anymore, so I have no access to my characters or any of the books.

So if digital is something like PDFs, sure, I'm fine with it. Do it with a lot of other RPG publishers.

But DnDBeyond currently does not meet my criteria for digital play.

 

[Malmuria]

They have been signaling quite clearly that they see digital offerings of various kinds as the path toward further growth (in $ not in players). And it makes perfect sense as a strategy; I'm sure they would love if the default play experience was via dndbeyond, with material and fees that they control. What's not clear to me is a) whether this will be successful (I think probably no) and b) whether the move to digital will affect creative/design decisions (and to what extent that would actually affect people who play without their digital tools).

 

[SlyFlourish]

I firmly believe that WotC only has us gamers best interests at heart.

(edit: Ahh! Sarcasm! My internet bane!)

Wooo, I was right there with you until this part.

WOTC, as a subsidiary of Hasbro, has a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. They have no such responsibility to us.

I know there are people in WOTC who have the game and its players' best interests in their heart. Absolutely.

But the company is publicly traded corporation, not a non-profit or a government organization. If they can find a way to rent our imaginations back to us, they totally would and I think they're going to try. It's their legal responsibility.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Comicbook.com has an interview with the new D&D Vice President Jess Lanzillo.

Here are some interesting quotes with my own commentary.



This feels like misdirection. The question had nothing to do with a false dichotomy between players who play online and those who play in person. She steered the real question about a fear of a future digital D&D and mandates from on-high to shift to digital to a culture war between players who like playing in person and those who play online. That was never the concern. I don't know anyone who would say that playing online shouldn't exist. This is about a fear of WOTC trying to take further control of the game by pushing it into their own walled garden.



If by "freedom" you mean paying us rent to our own imaginations. I'd like the freedom to create by using PDFs of the rulesbooks so I know I'll have them forever. How about that freedom?

Going into this reading this interview, I was prepared for it to aim at the audience she had rather than opening up to any real truth to what decisions are going on with Hasbro and D&D. For me, the only thing that matters are when Hasbro and WOTC commit to things they can't take back like the 5.1 SRD in the CC, the SRD in four languages, actually producing physical books we can buy and keep, support for downloadable VTT platforms like Foundry and Fantasy Grounds – true Ulysses pacts.

I'd have loved to hear:

• Further confirmation of a 5.2 SRD in the CC in March 2024.
• Further commitment to release D&D on other digital platforms like Foundry and Fantasy Grounds.
• Further commitment that all major D&D releases will be in physical books.

Instead, I'm hearing I'm gatekeeping the hobby by being concerned that WOTC is shoring up the walls of their walled garden...



Ok, that sounds pretty cool.

If we have the rules in hand, they cannot move us anywhere.

I might play some online D&D…in the most primitive way possible. I have face times when I could not be in person!

Of course corporate times will move to some things being name brand only. Of course some people will pay for digital whatever. Of course some groups will be all in.

But I will still have my books minis and dice. I don’t think there is anything they can do to thwart me.

The only enemy is ones inability to resist the cult of the new. It’s an individual issue.

I may play with a mix of 5e and 5.25…right now there is no garden with a high enough wall to keep my game contained. I am about to play again soon and have no interest in what a corporation has to say about it.

The biggest “worry” is that a name brand pay to play system is that it bifurcates the player base. As it turns out, that is ok. Those who “must” do the VTT with pay for options/tokens does not describe my cohort and will be a non issue…

Worry not. Like minded people will congregate and play no matter what.

 

[OB1]

Awesome interview, and I gotta say @SlyFlourish it feels like you're reading a lot of your own biases into what was said. I think it's totally fair to push back on anti-digital sentiment as a type of gatekeeping. Without online software like Roll20 and DDB/maps, I wouldn't be playing RPGs at all these days both due to the pandemic and most of my gaming group moving in the last 5 years. And if the day ever comes that WotC stops printing physical books, (which again, from the interview, doesn't sound like it will be anytime soon) that just opens an opportunity for competitors to take over the segment of the market that is willing to pay for that.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

My key takeaways:

• Mentions a desire to revisiting previous locations and giving them "a new coat of paint"
• They're apparently considering more smaller and niche releases in-between the larger books
• Dig at Gary Gygax: "We're not Gary Gygax. We're not going to tell you the right way to play."
• Says that complex mechanics related to roleplay would be best served in a hypothetical optional "romantasy" supplement and that the core of D&D is more about combat.

The shot at Gygax was disrespectful and unneeded.

I think an example of the niche stuff would be the Monster Comdemiums they did for Eldraine, Minecraft, Spelljammer.

Wtf is Romantasy?

What happens if you cast True Resurrection or Reincarnation on the God Skull of a Blob of Annihilation?

 

[SlyFlourish]

Thankfully they can give more incentives to use DDB over those other sites. Things like virtual figures and dice and free books/adventures. In the DDB will be the best way to play D&D. Perhaps even better than Physical. And frankly, who doesn't want the best possible experience when playing the most current version of such a beloved franchise?

(edit: ah, sarcasm... I get jokes!)

It's totally cool, but you and I have very different opinions on what's best for the RPG hobby I think. I don't know why it would be better for DDB to have better incentives than other platforms. Do we not want healthy competition to drive innovation?

 

[Stormonu]

My key takeaways:

• Says that complex mechanics related to roleplay would be best served in a hypothetical optional "romantasy" supplement and that the core of D&D is more about combat.

This last one is of concern to me, as that does seem to be a large part of the recent updates. I do like combat in the game, but I don't like it to be the main thrust of the game, nor for it to hog table time.

This last Sunday, just with 5E 2014 rules, we had a four-hour combat. While in the end it was a lot of fun, it isn't the norm and not something I'd want to face every time I sit at the table.

 

[bedir than]

Wtf is Romantasy?

Think the book Legends & Lattes or Fourth Wing.