D&D General Why Enworld should liberate D&D from Hasbro

[Zardnaar]

Right. So the long needed adoption of many of these changes ended up being associated with poor balance decisions like the Twilight Cleric. If someone didn't want to use Tasha's, was it because they were a jerk or because that's a lot of temp HP?

Lots of messy optional rules, peace cleric, souped up sorcerers, spells like tashas mind whip and half feats pushing the power level as well.

Twilight clerics the poster child but Tashas Cauldron of Power Creep & Errata is real lol. Alt art looks great.

All the stuff from Tashas we used ended up in 5.6 phb anyway for the most part.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Maybe D&D has been a popular hobby in USA but in the international market the TTRPGs were relatively unknown until the 90s with the boom of internet and videogames like the first Baldurs Gate.

You don't have to be a food critic to know when a dish is bad, but being a cook is not the same as being a food critic. I mean to say something is bad is easier to try to do it better. Can you suggest your own ideas?

We are in the age of internet, and there aren't only profesional 3PPs but also fan-made contet easy to be found. We have too much crunch, and not only the lore about settings from previous editions but also we can use for our homemade worldbuilding fandom-wikis about speculative-fiction franchises.

You may like or not but WotC would rather to use Magic to create new subfranchises and Hasbro would rather to use its videogame studios like IPs farms.

Forgotten Realms is the star of D&D but you shouldn't put all the eggs in only one basket. We should avoid the possible saturation. Some times DMs want a setting with some details but not too much, to avoid players knew too much about the characters or previous events, and they these can feel they are exploring an unknown zone.

The update of old settings wasn't only for nostalgy but to recover the brand power of those subfranchises. It is easier a reboot than starting from zero.

Would you dare for a bet about a future videogame of LEGO: Dragonlance? And even an animated show.

Indie publishers could show fresh, new and interesting ideas but they may be a "litle fish" when they worked with the IP by a "big fish" from entertainement industry there are some risks. Let's remember the lawsuit Evil Genius/Netflix lawsuit about the RPG of Rebel Moon.

 

[bedir than]

The newer 5.5 art style is.... a choice.

There's no longer a singular style in the core books.
While that's a choice, it also means that the insistence that modern D&D is pastels and such has no actual truth to it.

 

[Desdichado]

The biggest age group was 18-25 iirc. They're 5-10 years older now.

But they're not nearly old enough to be in the market for remakes and reboots of stuff that came out in the 70s or first half of the 80s, which is most of what WotC's content has been. There could be various explanations for that, but none of them are immediately obvious. Or rather, they may be obvious, but they will be subject to contentious interpretation, and there will be little agreement on how much those factors actually impact what WotC is or isn't doing with their content choices.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If it were focused on kids, you'd see nothing but actual anime and manga art throughout. The races, classes, subclasses, mechanics, etc would all be focused on enabling players to replicate their favorite anime and manga. Isekai would play a major role. But that's not what we see in the books.

Shout out to Obojima's second Kickstarter campaign, going on now. Probably won't break $1 million this time, but already above $600k with 5,000+ backers.

The first campaign had 23,000 backers and raised $2.6 million. There's definitely a market for this approach (Obojima isn't the only million-dollar crowdfunding campaign to pursue the anime/manga vibes) and so far, WotC seems disinterested in pursuing it.

We'll see what they announce for 2026 in the next few weeks, but I'd bet on a revamped Dark Sun and other stuff appealing to Gen X and Millennials, not what the kids are into.

 

[Zardnaar]

But they're not nearly old enough to be in the market for remakes and reboots of stuff that came out in the 70s or first half of the 80s, which is most of what WotC's content has been. There could be various explanations for that, but none of them are immediately obvious. Or rather, they may be obvious, but they will be subject to contentious interpretation, and there will be little agreement on how much those factors actually impact what WotC is or isn't doing with their content choices.

I'm not sure either tbh.

I suspect its whales. Might be a small % overall but wouldn't ve surprised if the GenX whale spends x10 over a newbie or more.

Looks at my 40 odd 5E hardcovers.

Younger players are aware of some older stuff via YouTube. Darksun comes to mind (D&Ds forbidden setting YouTube thumbnail). WotC not reprinting it kinda raised its profile lol.

They dont give a crap about keeps on borderlands or islands that may be dreadful.

 

[Desdichado]

I suspect its whales. Might be a small % overall but wouldn't ve surprised if the GenX whale spends x10 over a newbie or more.

Which has the corollary begged question; do the stats that we're presented with really give us a good indication of who the hobby is actually? We're constantly told that it's mostly younger Millennials (the kind that didn't used to be called Gen Y) and Gen Zers, or even younger, and showed a pie chart that suggests that. But the actual content seems to suggest that Gen Xers have an outsized impact on what's made in spite of that data. So, is the data misleading in some way? Is it presenting a narrative that isn't really indicative of sales that matter? How many people play might be totally different than who's spending money, for instance—like whales, as you say.

Maybe WotC is just creatively bankrupt and don't have any ideas without dipping into the well of the past. But I doubt it. (Well, actually I do believe that, but I don't think that's what's driving their specific strategic decisions.)

Younger players are aware of some older stuff via YouTube. Darksun comes to mind (D&Ds forbidden setting YouTube thumbnail). WotC not reprinting it kinda raised its profile lol.

They dont give a crap about keeps on borderlands or islands that may be dreadful.

I huge part of D&D's earlier success and lasting success, honestly, was its embrace of some edginess. I personally think that deliberately catering to the fainting couch crowd is an act of long-term suicide.

 

[Zardnaar]

Which has the corollary begged question; do the stats that we're presented with really give us a good indication of who the hobby is actually? We're constantly told that it's mostly younger Millennials (the kind that didn't used to be called Gen Y) and Gen Zers, or even younger, and showed a pie chart that suggests that. But the actual content seems to suggest that Gen Xers have an outsized impact on what's made in spite of that data. So, is the data misleading in some way? Is it presenting a narrative that isn't really indicative of sales that matter? How many people play might be totally different than who's spending money, for instance.

Maybe WotC is just creatively bankrupt and don't have any ideas without dipping into the well of the past. But I doubt it. (Well, actually I do believe that, but I don't think that's what's driving their specific strategic decisions.)

No idea. Speculation.

1. Gen X whales
2. Gen X designers
3. General corporate creative bankruptcy selling nostalgia bait.
4. Lingering 4E backlash corporate level
5. Some combination of all of the above.

 

[Desdichado]

Sorry, I kept tinkering with that post and adding stuff to it. Lol.

 

[Umbran]

The biggest age group was 18-25 iirc. They're 5-10 years older now.

As of May, 2021: