7 Years of D&D Stories? And a "Big Reveal" Coming?

When asked what he was working on, WotC's Chris Perkins revealed a couple of juicy tidbits. They're not much, but they're certainly tantalizing. Initially, he said that "Our marketing team has a big reveal in the works", and followed that up separately with "Right now I'm working on the next seven years of D&D stories". What all that might mean is anybody's guess, but it sounds like there are plans for D&D stretching into the foreseeable future! Thanks to Barantor for the scoop!

 

[Jester David]

7 years of stories is ridiculous. That's 14 APs. Attempting that when only the first is out is an act of pure ego and not particularly a good sign.

Here's the thing: WotC doesn't know how we'll react to the APs. We might dig the first couple and then sales could drop. Or people could really call out for a different genre or type of story. The more the stories are planned out, the harder it will be to shift things. In much the same way it'd be foolish for a DM to plan out their next five campaigns.
WotC is just getting into the AP/storyline business, and are still very much learning the ropes.

Very few people are going to play every AP. It's generally a good idea to have a few different types of stories and a range of genres to capture the interest if different groups rather than figuring on epic good versus naughty. But it's hard to gauge how far you can deviate from that core concept and how much latitude the fanbase will give. You just do not know if the majority of the fanbase will be tired of classic fantasy stories and ready for a break or still hungry for some timeless D&D dungeon crawling.

To say nothing of the larger culture. Three years from now (2017) there could be a huge fantasy movie that is a little too similar to a planned plot line and makes WotC seem like a copycat. Or a new pirate movie franchise might rock the world and everyone wants to run a pirates game, but WotC has to wait years to catch that market. Heck, or Paizo or Green Ronin or Necromancer Games could announce their plans for a very similar story (and since they tend to announce farther in advance than WotC), making D&D seem like it's miming another game.

Heck, I'll go to Paizo as an example. Seven years ago they launched their first Pathfinder AP: Rise of the Runelords. They likely had no idea that the fanbase would want a sandbox AP so badly (Kingmaker) let alone give them enough freedom to make one where the party hops through time and space and travels to Soviet Russia (Reign of Winter) or explores the Starmount (Iron Gods). Heck, three years ago they might not have predicted Iron Gods.
And three years and change ago, they were planning the AP known as "The Fifth Crusade" referring to the 5th Mendevian Crusade into the Worldwound, to tie into their Mythic Adventures product. But that name had to be dropped due to 5th Edition potentially releasing around the same time (or not, as it turned out).

Rough plans are good. Knowing where you're going in the long term is good. But I hope they're not setting things too much in stone. 7 years feels like Perkins is getting carried away with himself and is letting his creativity and ideas run wild.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

We don't know Perkins is talking about Adventure paths. Anyway we got a good adventure in the Lost Mines. An ok adventure in hoard of the dragon queen and a another good one in Rise of Tiamat.

Princes is the Apocolypes is being made by the Red Hand of Doom guys and other experienced designers so I would also give it a chance.

 

[Kramodlog]

Well, maybe, if the announcement is the next twelve months of releases, but otherwise probably not. They announced the release dates for the core books, ToD and PotA ~6 months in advance and we're already three months into 2015, so if they're coming out with any further products in 2015 they're going to have to announce them soon.

In other words if they're just going to announce the Alice / Feywild adventure path, or even something like a Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book coming out later this year, such announcements were always going to have come around this time of year and will have nothing to do with what the fanbase is clamoring for.

Oh, well see if they make any announcement. Without an official announcement they still can non-cancel what they are working on.

I was talking about Perkins actually talking about a future announcement about the release schedule and being less thight mouth about it. Maybe he talked about a potential future announcement because they actually read forums and critics. That is how low expectations are.

 

[Dire Bare]

It's yet to proven whether or not it's a good or bad decision. Personally, I think focusing on AP's, IF that's their plan, would be a mistake.

It will never be "proven" good or bad. There will be folks who like the directions WotC is going (like me) and folks who won't. If and when 6E comes around and its a radical reinvention of the game once again . . . still only WotC will know what exactly "failed" from the last go around, and they won't share it with us. But we will debate endlessly, endlessly, endlessly . . .

In a sense, it really doesn't matter what they do, the internet kvetching machine will never stop and they will always be "wrong". At least, on the internet anyways.

 

[Dire Bare]

7 years of stories is ridiculous. That's 14 APs. Attempting that when only the first is out is an act of pure ego and not particularly a good sign.

Heh. Armchair quarterbacking at its best. 7 years of stories doesn't necessarily mean 14 "APs", which is kind of a meaningless term for a product anyway. WotC has been story focused for quite some time now, this isn't new with 5E. Almost the entire 4E cycle had story arc after story arc that drove the organized play and was mirrored in the novels, video games, and to a lesser extent, the main RPG line. Each "story" could be delivered in all sorts of ways over the next 7 years, and WotC is hardly locking themselves in to a rigid product schedule extending almost a decade.

The first 5E story arc, Tyranny of Dragons got two RPG products and tons of tie-ins. The second, Elemental Evil, gets one RPG product and tons of tie-ins. Not much of a precedent has been set yet, and Mearls has already stated that they are experimenting with the best delivery. The third story arc could have a very different release strategy, as could the next after that. And how many "stories" we'll get each year just might vary also. And it doesn't mean we won't get books that aren't tied to the story arc du jour, like a Deities and Demigods or Manual of the Planes.

And, if need be, what's stopping them from swapping the 2016 fall story arc with the 2017 spring story if they need to change things up? Or dropping a story arc, or adding a new one in?

While we of course don't know what the future holds for D&D, I'm not worried in the slightest. I've had fun with every edition since 2nd, and I'm sure I'll continue to play, have fun, and buy new products for many years to come.

 

[Manchu]

Aaaaaand . . . so what? What relevance at all does your point have? WotC used freelancers for the first two 5E adventures. WotC, and TSR before them, has a long history of using freelancers, and will likely continue to do so. WotC will continue to put out 5E products, some written by freelancers, others written by in-house employees. As has always been the case. So what?

Hi there. One of the cool things about a discussion forum is you can see what people have posted previous to the post you are currently reading. I guarantee making use of this feature will really aid your comprehension of the conversation. But don't take my word for it, try it yourself!

 

[Jester David]

Heh. Armchair quarterbacking at its best. 7 years of stories doesn't necessarily mean 14 "APs", which is kind of a meaningless term for a product anyway. WotC has been story focused for quite some time now, this isn't new with 5E. Almost the entire 4E cycle had story arc after story arc that drove the organized play and was mirrored in the novels, video games, and to a lesser extent, the main RPG line. Each "story" could be delivered in all sorts of ways over the next 7 years, and WotC is hardly locking themselves in to a rigid product schedule extending almost a decade.

The first 5E story arc, Tyranny of Dragons got two RPG products and tons of tie-ins. The second, Elemental Evil, gets one RPG product and tons of tie-ins. Not much of a precedent has been set yet, and Mearls has already stated that they are experimenting with the best delivery. The third story arc could have a very different release strategy, as could the next after that. And how many "stories" we'll get each year just might vary also. And it doesn't mean we won't get books that aren't tied to the story arc du jour, like a Deities and Demigods or Manual of the Planes.

And, if need be, what's stopping them from swapping the 2016 fall story arc with the 2017 spring story if they need to change things up? Or dropping a story arc, or adding a new one in?

While we of course don't know what the future holds for D&D, I'm not worried in the slightest. I've had fun with every edition since 2nd, and I'm sure I'll continue to play, have fun, and buy new products for many years to come.

They've been doing the storylines since 2011 or 2012. But now they're planning twice that length of time in the future.
7 years ago 4th edition was just getting started. Had they planned storylines then like they're planning now we wouldn't have had the iconic war vs evil dragons to launch 5e.

While I expect that they can adjust and shift storylines somewhat, my main concern is that they're planning so far ahead without seeking feedback from the community or looking to the fans to see what type of APs are desired. It's slightly arrogant for two or three people to be planning the future of the game that far in advance. And annoying that it's pushing the fans out of the loop. Our opinion's don't matter because the decisions have all been made and no feedback was sought.

 

[Kramodlog]

7 years of stories is ridiculous. That's 14 APs. Attempting that when only the first is out is an act of pure ego and not particularly a good sign.

Here's the thing: WotC doesn't know how we'll react to the APs. We might dig the first couple and then sales could drop. Or people could really call out for a different genre or type of story. The more the stories are planned out, the harder it will be to shift things. In much the same way it'd be foolish for a DM to plan out their next five campaigns.
WotC is just getting into the AP/storyline business, and are still very much learning the ropes.

Very few people are going to play every AP. It's generally a good idea to have a few different types of stories and a range of genres to capture the interest if different groups rather than figuring on epic good versus naughty. But it's hard to gauge how far you can deviate from that core concept and how much latitude the fanbase will give. You just do not know if the majority of the fanbase will be tired of classic fantasy stories and ready for a break or still hungry for some timeless D&D dungeon crawling.

To say nothing of the larger culture. Three years from now (2017) there could be a huge fantasy movie that is a little too similar to a planned plot line and makes WotC seem like a copycat. Or a new pirate movie franchise might rock the world and everyone wants to run a pirates game, but WotC has to wait years to catch that market. Heck, or Paizo or Green Ronin or Necromancer Games could announce their plans for a very similar story (and since they tend to announce farther in advance than WotC), making D&D seem like it's miming another game.

Heck, I'll go to Paizo as an example. Seven years ago they launched their first Pathfinder AP: Rise of the Runelords. They likely had no idea that the fanbase would want a sandbox AP so badly (Kingmaker) let alone give them enough freedom to make one where the party hops through time and space and travels to Soviet Russia (Reign of Winter) or explores the Starmount (Iron Gods). Heck, three years ago they might not have predicted Iron Gods.
And three years and change ago, they were planning the AP known as "The Fifth Crusade" referring to the 5th Mendevian Crusade into the Worldwound, to tie into their Mythic Adventures product. But that name had to be dropped due to 5th Edition potentially releasing around the same time (or not, as it turned out).

Rough plans are good. Knowing where you're going in the long term is good. But I hope they're not setting things too much in stone. 7 years feels like Perkins is getting carried away with himself and is letting his creativity and ideas run wild.

I agree pretty much with everything you said, but I would bet that he is just working on the outlines of stories. Those can be changed easily.

If they are actually hiring third parties to write the APs now and store them until it is time to release them, they are mad.

 

[Kramodlog]

It will never be "proven" good or bad. There will be folks who like the directions WotC is going (like me) and folks who won't. If and when 6E comes around and its a radical reinvention of the game once again . . . still only WotC will know what exactly "failed" from the last go around, and they won't share it with us. But we will debate endlessly, endlessly, endlessly . . .

In a sense, it really doesn't matter what they do, the internet kvetching machine will never stop and they will always be "wrong". At least, on the internet anyways.

So we do not know if 4e was a financial success?

 

[bmfrosty]

7 years of stories is ridiculous. That's 14 APs. Attempting that when only the first is out is an act of pure ego and not particularly a good sign.

What if 7 years of stories in 14 5-10 page AP treatments that can be put into production at any time?

Maybe match that up with 7 campaign settings.

Maybe only flesh them out enough right now that they could be handed to a 3rd party to flesh into a full products over the course of 4-5 months.

------

Been listening to this for the last few minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGHZRSDczkM

Very interesting.