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]

I don't know how to explain this well in english, but his art has way to many angles and straight lines for me... It is supposed to represent action, but to me it's just robotic

Blocky, artificial.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I think it's a "cost/risk" when several artists do the art vs 1-2 - the art style is less unified, and you are probably going to get a few stinkers... but on the other hand, the odds of you getting a few great ones are much higher too.

When I was 13, this was... perfection View attachment 140406

it always bothered me why the elf woman had no trousers. What happened to her trousers? did she have to remove them because of the dragons acid spit?

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Blocky, artificial.

Reynolds' pieces are definitely best when there's less... i find the below pretty good.

Compared to say this, which is far more cluttered;

EDIT: I'll add, both pieces are very technically impressive, I am debating style. Reynolds is obviously very skilled.

 

[Shair-afiyun]

This will never stop being an absurd claim.

Oh boy, here we go again...

Also nearly everyone I know who liked or loved 4e is either indifferent to or actively dislikes actual war games. I can’t stand them, I find them completely dull experiences.

Nearly everyone I know likes stuff like Warhammer 40k or Age of Sigmar. Different strokes for different blokes.

Maybe if war games tended to be team-based, I could see it? 4e is much more team oriented than most editions of D&D, so comparing it to a highly competitive game with no roleplay dynamics is just laughable, to me.

Did you ever hear of this tabletop game called Dungeons & Dragons? Its gots its roots in wargaming from Chainmail as a hacked version of that system. Its also very team-based where your unit composition, I mean party composition, mattered. Should try it sometime. Like as a factoid, that is where magic missles comes from. It was a hold over from chainamil which had missle attacks.

 

[Bolares]

Did you ever hear of this tabletop game called Dungeons & Dragons? Its gots its roots in wargaming from Chainmail as a hacked version of that system. Its also very team-based where your unit composition, I mean party composition, mattered. Should try it sometime. Like as a factoid, that is where magic missles comes from. It was a hold over from chainamil which had missle attacks.

Having roots in wargaming is not the same as being a wargame. I love both RPGs and Wargames... 4e is not an wargame

 

[Shair-afiyun]

Having roots in wargaming is not the same as being a wargame. I love both RPGs and Wargames... 4e is not an wargame

In one ear out the other. Like clockwork.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Having roots in wargaming is not the same as being a wargame. I love both RPGs and Wargames... 4e is not an wargame

I mean, it's a combat simulator at the very least.

 

[Bolares]

I mean, it's a combat simulator at the very least.

I'd call it a tactical combat RPG...

 

[Parmandur]

I'd call it a tactical combat RPG...

I mean, not particularly more or less than other versions of AD&D.

 

[Azzy]

It could become faar worse than that to me, seeing the general mindset here. Very disappointed.

We're happy to disappoint you.