mamba
Legend
if buying it on DDB makes it available in Roll20, FG and Foundry, but buying it on one of those doesn’t do the same, that sounds like a strong incentive to buy on DDB, not sure I would call that helping their competition…
D&D General Interview with D&D VP Jess Lanzillo on Comicbook.com
- Thread starter SlyFlourish
- Start date
mamba
Legend
because it benefits WotC
no, that does not get you anywhere near most of the subclasses, feats and other stuff, let alone any supplements or adventures
EthanSental
Legend
I had a 2 paragraph response and deleted it…I’ll go post in the 84 page thread about “post here instead”. 
mamba
Legend
even then there is no benefit, but then they can simply execute and give some excuse
mamba
Legend
you can save to pdf or html, I would not count on it being available indefinitely
mamba
Legend
I take it you do not think highly of the VTT they are about to release…
Quickleaf
Legend
@SlyFlourish
I was able to thread together my first clear connection that WotC/Hasbro's push toward digitalization IS indeed influencing the design of the 2024 TTRPG. At least this is the clearest connection I've heard about.
First, a strong caveat: This could turn out to be false, if the Unearthed Arcana version of Produce Flame did not make it into the 2024 PHB. So I'll need to rely on someone else to check that (I don't have early access nor will I be getting the book). Ok...
This is thanks to 2 sources:
First, July 26, 2024 in the thread WotC Removes Digital Content Team Credits From D&D Beyond, ENWorld reported on Faith Elisabeth Lilley, Senior Producer on WotC's digital content team, who said: "The lead designers would send over the rules for each new rulebook and we'd go through it, give feedback, highlight potential balance issues, look at new rules/design that was difficult to implement digitally and suggest tweaks to improve it etc etc. We even had ideas for new content that was then included in the book."
At the time, most of us took that in stride and assumed she was talking mainly about adapting the game system within a video game, sort of like how Larian made certain adaptations. However...
Second, Aug 9, 2024 in a video entitled D&D 5.5e (2024) disregards DMs, martial/caster divide; WOTC job posting for making AI DMs at the 55:29 mark, Ronald The Rules Lawyer refers to a clip of Jeremy Crawford discussing 2024 changes to the Produce Flame cantrip that were inspired by BG3... Jeremy Crawford says: "We've also made it so that some spells that were really painful to cast in terms of their action economy are far less painful. I think one of the prime examples of that is Produce Flame... That cantrip was really painful to set up. Once you got it going, it was fun to hurl the fire. Now it's way easier to cast it. And that is funnily enough another one where it was not only painful to cast in the tabletop game, but when I was playing BG3 it was actually excruciating to cast..."
Ronald points out that 2014 Produce Flame can be hurled offensively as part of the action used to cast the spell – so there's no action economy issue, it's a dual use thing. Jeremy Crawford is actually referring to something unique to BG3 where the user interface pop-ups every time you cast Produce Flame – do you want to cast it as a light? or do you want to hurl it?
I think this is exclusively a digitalization issue. There's no issue with 2014 Produce Flame for the TTRPG.
The solution – at least in the "Bastions and Cantrips" Unearthed Arcana (Oct 5, 2023) – was to make casting Produce Flame (as a light source) a Bonus Action, and then you need to use the Magic Action to hurl it offensively. So now in the 2024 TTRPG, a player needs to use both their Action and their Bonus Action to hurl Produce Flame on the first round. And it creates some weirdness in corner cases where a player might want to hurl flame offensively and extinguish their light source in the process.
It's relatively minor, but it does make Produce Flame worse as an attack cantrip in the TTRPG in order to make its user interface easier to implement in video games / digital game environments. So, the new version being proposed is actually the opposite of what Jeremy Crawford is saying – it's more painful on the action economy in the TTRPG, not less.
I was able to thread together my first clear connection that WotC/Hasbro's push toward digitalization IS indeed influencing the design of the 2024 TTRPG. At least this is the clearest connection I've heard about.
First, a strong caveat: This could turn out to be false, if the Unearthed Arcana version of Produce Flame did not make it into the 2024 PHB. So I'll need to rely on someone else to check that (I don't have early access nor will I be getting the book). Ok...
This is thanks to 2 sources:
First, July 26, 2024 in the thread WotC Removes Digital Content Team Credits From D&D Beyond, ENWorld reported on Faith Elisabeth Lilley, Senior Producer on WotC's digital content team, who said: "The lead designers would send over the rules for each new rulebook and we'd go through it, give feedback, highlight potential balance issues, look at new rules/design that was difficult to implement digitally and suggest tweaks to improve it etc etc. We even had ideas for new content that was then included in the book."
At the time, most of us took that in stride and assumed she was talking mainly about adapting the game system within a video game, sort of like how Larian made certain adaptations. However...
Second, Aug 9, 2024 in a video entitled D&D 5.5e (2024) disregards DMs, martial/caster divide; WOTC job posting for making AI DMs at the 55:29 mark, Ronald The Rules Lawyer refers to a clip of Jeremy Crawford discussing 2024 changes to the Produce Flame cantrip that were inspired by BG3... Jeremy Crawford says: "We've also made it so that some spells that were really painful to cast in terms of their action economy are far less painful. I think one of the prime examples of that is Produce Flame... That cantrip was really painful to set up. Once you got it going, it was fun to hurl the fire. Now it's way easier to cast it. And that is funnily enough another one where it was not only painful to cast in the tabletop game, but when I was playing BG3 it was actually excruciating to cast..."
Ronald points out that 2014 Produce Flame can be hurled offensively as part of the action used to cast the spell – so there's no action economy issue, it's a dual use thing. Jeremy Crawford is actually referring to something unique to BG3 where the user interface pop-ups every time you cast Produce Flame – do you want to cast it as a light? or do you want to hurl it?
I think this is exclusively a digitalization issue. There's no issue with 2014 Produce Flame for the TTRPG.
The solution – at least in the "Bastions and Cantrips" Unearthed Arcana (Oct 5, 2023) – was to make casting Produce Flame (as a light source) a Bonus Action, and then you need to use the Magic Action to hurl it offensively. So now in the 2024 TTRPG, a player needs to use both their Action and their Bonus Action to hurl Produce Flame on the first round. And it creates some weirdness in corner cases where a player might want to hurl flame offensively and extinguish their light source in the process.
It's relatively minor, but it does make Produce Flame worse as an attack cantrip in the TTRPG in order to make its user interface easier to implement in video games / digital game environments. So, the new version being proposed is actually the opposite of what Jeremy Crawford is saying – it's more painful on the action economy in the TTRPG, not less.
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Clint_L
Legend
I don't.
As someone who both uses DDB and loves playing using terrain and miniatures on a tabletop at home, but often uses a digital map when I'm playing elsewhere, I very much appreciate having options. But there are lots of folks, including on this forum, who insist that any move towards digital options is a step towards the complete digitization of the game.
And the idea that it's a choice between digital and physical is, indeed, a false dichotomy. WotC is still very much in the business of printing books. They are not just printing all the 2024 books is huge quantities, they are doing collector's editions and everything else. That they are also embracing a digital platform gives us more options, not less.
If physical books ever go away (unlikely any time in the near future, unfortunately for the environment), it'll be because consumers have made that choice, not companies. WotC is going to keep printing books for as long as there is good money to be made off it, and the suggestion that they will try to force players to go strictly digital is not supported by any evidence. It's basically a conspiracy theory built on a false dichotomy.
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Disagree.
The dichotomy is between the game being an in-person social experience and a remote much-less-social experience. You can't do both at once, if for no other reason than that "in-person" and "remote" can't happen at the same time.
And any attempt to turn the former into the latter should IMO be met with the sternest possible resistance. We're becoming less and less well-socialized as a society as it is, which is bad in every way. No need to encourage the trend.
Sure! As long as that ecosystem is D&D Beyond.
I think part of the problem is that executives deeply inside WOTC don't see any world outside of WOTC. They think its whole and inclusive as long as everyone is inside. I saw this when Dan Rawson, at the community summit, truly thought it was a huge benefit to the whole community to let other publishers on D&D Beyond. Many in the hobby think so as well without recognizing that adding more material from other publishers to D&D Beyond strengthens D&D Beyond as well. It further silos content on one website.
I think Lanzillo is thinking the same thing. It isn't about supporting online play overall – it's about supporting online play specifically on D&D Beyond.
Now the good news is that it looks like they are releasing D&D 2024 on multiple platforms – at least two downloadable platforms – so it doesn't matter too much if they're focused on their own. You can still get it elsewhere.
Same with the 5.1 and 5.2 SRD. Anyone that wants to can make D&D 2024 compatible tools without needing a license or permission. It won't have all the stuff but it can have enough stuff to work.
Regardless of the interview, or the Chris Cocks one from Bloomberg the day before, there are lots of safety nets here:
1. We have the physical books.
2. We have the 5.1 SRD in multiple languages in the CC.
3. We have lots of digital tools to choose from.
4. We have lots of older versions of D&D and lots of other RPGs we can enjoy.
That's a big advantage other forms of this type of entertainment don't have.
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