Wizards of the Coast launches official Dungeons & Dragons Actual Play show

Maxperson · Saturday at 3:50 PM

mearls said:
Realistically, digital is the only practical way to deliver content tied to something like this. It really comes down to how well a marketing vehicle (streamed content) fits a product (digital).

Two big reasons:

Production timelines make coordinating physical release and digital release really tough, especially for something episodic. With digital, you can work on content at the same pace as the show production, then release both sides (streaming, game content) at the same time. For physical, you'd need the content locked in 6 months before the show recorded. That's not really viable.

An online streamed show is much better at marketing digital content that you can buy while watching or immediately after. The loop is something like: watch the show, hit the buy button. Asking someone to watch a show then go to a store, or to buy something and wait at least a few days for it to show up, makes everything much more inefficient. You lose enough customers that the investment might start to look like a bad idea.

The issue isn't that it's digital, but rather that the digital is exclusive to DDB and not available for purchase as a PDF for those of us who don't play online. We get that such small releases can't be physical.

SlyFlourish · Saturday at 4:28 PM

AlViking said:
That has little to do with walled gardens. In addition if it's really a concern use the phone app ... all the data is downloaded.

But yes, I realize there is a miniscule risk but are you really going to be using a short adventure years and years from now?

It's not miniscule. WOTC has killed lots of previous digital content: all of dnd.wizards.com, Dragon+ magazine, lore from Volo's and Mordenkainen's, and all the tools and materials of 4e and D&D Insider. They kill digital stuff all the time.

AlViking said:
In addition it's not like we'd have these kind of short adventures at all if they weren't being provided on DDB. The days of dead tree distribution like Dragon Magazine are long gone.

Tell that to the folks making Knock!. It's awesome and beautiful.

Remathilis said:
Please do. I can't wait to get them free off Scribd an hour after they're released.

Bad news, they're already there and in many other places. Not releasing them in PDF isn't stopping piracy. I argue they're leaving money on the table. I bet the amount of money they make from all of their other PDF products on DM's Guild isn't zero!

dudelsack said:
Yeah and WOTC will never do PDFs so beating a dead horse on that one. But, you can get D&D stuff on other VTT storefronts like Roll 20, Demiplane, Foundry etc.

Most D&D products are available in PDF on the DM's Guild. It's only 5e stuff that isn't.

Ok, on to the show...

I have a few questions I can't find answers to:

How long are the episodes?
How long is the total series?
Is it PG-13ish?

I'm not big into liveplay shows but when it comes to whether this is a good thing for the hobby overall, I think those questions matter. If episodes are shorter than bigger livestream shows like CR, that hits a niche not being served very well in my understanding. Shorter focused episodes as part of a shorter series with relatively clean language means I can send videos like this to people who don't know anything about D&D and they can see what it looks like without investing 900 hours and exposing their kids to hard-R rated situations. I'm no prude but I don't think every liveplay has to be for 18+.

Anyway, if anyone knows, maybe @LaTia J? Those would be some questions I have.

mamba · Saturday at 4:29 PM

AlViking said:
And somehow remove the core rules from Creative Commons.

that one might be beyond their control…

Piperken · Saturday at 4:49 PM

Christian Hoffer said:
View attachment 434786

Photographer: Right. You're all back in high/secondary school. Yes. And this is your school's team photo....

Clint_L · Saturday at 5:20 PM

Mort said:
Yeah, it's a WoTC actual play, they're going to play the newest iteration of the newest edition!

I just really hope it has a fun "game night" feel. And not an actors doing improv dinner theater feel.

Strongly agree. I think that was the secret sauce of Critical Role - you felt like you were with friends playing a game. It’s lost that vibe. I think WotC should let the players keep this one fun and less polished, like an actual game. For me, that’s where the most memorable moments originate.

AlViking · Saturday at 5:26 PM

SlyFlourish said:
It's not miniscule. WOTC has killed lots of previous digital content: all of dnd.wizards.com, Dragon+ magazine, lore from Volo's and Mordenkainen's, and all the tools and materials of 4e and D&D Insider. They kill digital stuff all the time.

I don't see why they have to support old web sites in perpetuity, as far as I know nobody paid to purchase the content found on dnd.wizards.com or the online version of Dragon+ magazine. Meanwhile it took me a whole 15 seconds to find copies on the internet archive - it's just not hosted by WOTC. I still have access to the Volo and Mordenkainen books that I purchased, I may even have a copy of Volo's gathering dust on a shelf somewhere. For the rules of the game 99% of it is still sold in a physical format from a variety of sources. They allow and encourage third parties to add to the game.

It doesn't meet the definition of walled garden "A walled garden in technology refers to a closed platform where a single company controls access to hardware, applications, content, and user data, restricting users to a curated environment."

SlyFlourish said:
Tell that to the folks making Knock!. It's awesome and beautiful.

And an exception to the general rule. When was the last time you had a newspaper delivered?

SlyFlourish said:
Bad news, they're already there and in many other places. Not releasing them in PDF isn't stopping piracy. I argue they're leaving money on the table. I bet the amount of money they make from all of their other PDF products on DM's Guild isn't zero!

I don't know why they don't release PDFs either but it's also not a big deal - if you want an offline copy it isn't hard.

Paul Farquhar · Saturday at 5:30 PM

Mort said:
5e hit with 4e and new players, brought back 3e players and even hit with 2e players (from personal experience, and reading online). Something

If you count me 5e was a hit with 1st edition players.

bedir than · Saturday at 5:32 PM

SlyFlourish said:
How long are the episodes?

How long is the total series?

Is it PG-13ish?

Length seems to be hinting at when they discuss it as an example of encounters, about an hour per episode. (That's similar to NADDPod, my favorite AP)

Each campaign mirrors the season, so if weekly it would be 10 weeks (I think).

I'd expect PG if they were trying to get the MPAA to rate it. The've hosted at least three other actual plays they produced two were PG and one was nearly R (which was Ravenloft, but also wasn't designed to also be Arcana and Champions)

Paul Farquhar · Saturday at 5:32 PM

If this goes well, will Neil Newbon get a less dopey hair cut?

Mort · Saturday at 5:54 PM

Clint_L said:
Strongly agree. I think that was the secret sauce of Critical Role - you felt like you were with friends playing a game. It’s lost that vibe. I think WotC should let the players keep this one fun and less polished, like an actual game. For me, that’s where the most memorable moments originate.

Yeah, Dice, Camera, Action, the original WoTC 5e podcast also really had that feel - and it worked great!

If the new one even approaches the fun of the first one, it'll probably hook me in.