D&D 5E D&D Head Talks Future Plans (Sort Of)

WotC has launched a new design blog. The first edition is written by D&D head Ray Winninger, and he talks a little about future plans.

"Later in the year, Chris will return with our big summer adventure, James Wyatt will deliver a substantially improved version of a concept that I initiated myself, and Amanda Hamon will close us out with a project that was jointly conceived by herself and several other studio members. As usual, Jeremy Crawford is working with all of our leads, overseeing mechanical content and rules development.

In addition to these five major products, look for a couple of additional surprises we’ll unveil in the months ahead."

You can read the full blog here:

Who We Are & What We Do | D&D Studio Blog | Dungeons & Dragons

The first of many design blogs, direct from your friends at the Dungeons & Dragons Studio!

dnd.wizards.com

He also mentions that a D&D book takes 12-14 months to make, and half the projects developed don't make it to market. Winninger describes the structure of WotC's 'D&D Studio':

"The D&D Studio itself is organized into four departments: Game Design, Art, Production, and Product Management, each led by a department head. Game Design is responsible for the developing game mechanics and stories. Art establishes the “look and feel” of Dungeons & Dragons by creating visual concepts, directing our freelance illustrators, and creating innovative graphic designs. The Production department manages our project schedules, interfaces with manufacturing experts, and generally handles administrative matters for the studio. The Product Management department interfaces with sales, marketing, and market research. They also own our long-term product roadmap and look after the D&D business."

The studio has five Product Leads: Jeremy Crawford, Amanda Hamon, Chris Perkins, Wes Schneider, and James Wyatt.

 

[Parmandur]

Sounds like a cage match. And can you image how much angst and anger there would be if everyone's favorite / pet product was known to have been canned in favor of another.... it would make our current political situation look tame and polite!

I mean, maybe that's why Welch left WotC, if she didn't like Winninger's gameplan. This is more a description of what the D&D team is doing now, as much as any historical account of 5E, perhaps.

 

[R_Chance]

I mean, maybe that's why Welch left WotC, if she didn't like Winninger's gameplan. This is more a description of what the D&D team is doing now, as much as any historical account of 5E, perhaps.

Yeah... if they canned something you were passionate about... not everybody could shrug that off and get back to work. Nothing like "creative differences" to create ill will and grudge matches.

 

[Morrus]

Yeah... if they canned something you were passionate about... not everybody could shrug that off and get back to work. Nothing like "creative differences" to create ill will and grudge matches.

Why I left TSR

A couple years back I talked about Stormfront , the TSR world that I never ended up creating. And in the initial entry I said: " Stormfro...

grubbstreet.blogspot.com

 

[R_Chance]

You make an excellent point. I'd say you'd need to be in the next edition and at least four-five years clear of any such cancellation before you could even vaguely safely discuss it. And even then there'd be grudges held for decades, just quieter ones. Like if I heard they'd mostly developed Planescape and dropped it... I'd be pretty frustrated... if they'd got DiTerlizzi back to do the art and the Factions were back and they'd dropped it... holy naughty word I will not lie, I'd hold a grudge for a very long time.

So I guess that sort of stuff is probably staggeringly important to NDA to hell and back.

How can we convince WotC to implement their version of an FOIA request lol?

And pretty much everyone who has played the game for any length of time has that kind of attachment to something. Kind of like a multi-sided civil war in the making. Everybody going to hang with "their side". Uh... maybe we can skip the FOIA bit?

 

[Scott Christian]

They shouldn't be using UA for stuff like that because the 70% approval threshold just won't be met by most classes (I'm not sure many of 5E's core class designs and archetypes would have met it, frankly, if presented in isolation - Rogues maybe, but a few posts on reddit and other sites about how it was "too easy" to get SA - even though that was the design intention - and they'd have had massive bad feedback).

Truer words I have not read this week.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

You make an excellent point. I'd say you'd need to be in the next edition and at least four-five years clear of any such cancellation before you could even vaguely safely discuss it. And even then there'd be grudges held for decades, just quieter ones. Like if I heard they'd mostly developed Planescape and dropped it... I'd be pretty frustrated... if they'd got DiTerlizzi back to do the art and the Factions were back and they'd dropped it... holy naughty word I will not lie, I'd hold a grudge for a very long time.

So I guess that sort of stuff is probably staggeringly important to NDA to hell and back.

How can we convince WotC to implement their version of an FOIA request lol?

Considering the wailing and gnashing of teeth that occurred when the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion was "cancelled" and given away for free. It's probably best that we not know.

 

[Parmandur]

Considering the wailing and gnashing of teeth that occurred when the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion was "cancelled" and given away for free. It's probably best that we not know.

To be fair, they apparently left a lot of material completely on the cutting room floor.

 

[TerraDave]

Design Blog?!

When these have been launched in the past, they generally meant that change, usually a very big one, is coming.

 

[Parmandur]

Design Blog?!

When these have been launched in the past, they generally meant that change, usually a very big one, is coming.

Seems a new product and communications regime, now that Winninger has settled into place as the boss.

 

[JRedmond]

I strongly suspect they aborted a Dark Sun release at some point, probably due to the poor reception of their various attempts to implement psionics. Hopefully they have another go down the track.

Agreed and I think it was because it was Mike Meals baby, he was working on a bit of it on stream before. I don't think they wanted to release another book with his name on it.