"DnDSports": Competitive Play With Prizes

It seems like the rumours of D&D as e-sports weren't so far off after all in today's bit of unexpected news, as D&D Beyond and Encounter Roleplaying have announced DnDSports. "DnDSports is the first online D&D Tournament in a cooperative Party vs Party setting from Encounter Roleplay & DnDBeyond with a grand prize of $5,000."

​

[FONT=&amp]Here's the full announcement:

Imagine if two parties fighting for opposite sides found themselves in the same dungeon. It’s kill or be killed. What will they do to survive?[/FONT]
DnDSports is the first online D&D Tournament in a cooperative Party vs Party setting from EncounterRoleplay & DnDBeyond with a grand prize of $5,000. Over the course of 4 weeks, 16 players will compete in teams of 4 in single elimination games. Each game is a best of 3 arena battle and played via Roll20.

How is it Played?
The full rules for DnDSports will be released shortly after our next round of Playtesting. We don’t claim to have created perfect balance, nor is that our aim, as every competitive game has an element of strategy. We’re also implementing MOBA-esque mechanics such as a Pick/Ban phase to help expand the strategy. We’ve been working closely with over a dozen talented DMs to create 15 pre-generated characters from which the players will choose, and adapt the pre-existing Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition rules.

We know that this will be an incredibly fun new way to play D&D, because as long as you’re having fun, you’re doing it right!

When is it?
Day 1: November 10th at 12pm PST
Heat 1: Team Beholder vs. Team Mindflayer

Day 2: November 17th at 12pm PST
Heat 2: Team Kobold vs. Team Tarrasque

Day 3: November 24th at 12pm PST
All Stars Charity game for 826LA foundation

Day 4: December 1st at 12pm PST
Grand Finals

Where can I watch it?
Watch live on Twitch here.
The VODs will be uploaded to Youtube here.

Who is involved?
The EncounterRoleplay & DnDBeyond crews have teamed up to bring this production to life!
As for who’s competing? Keep an eye on the DnDSports Twitter & here on the blog to learn more about the teams as they are revealed!

But D&D Shouldn’t be an eSport?!
It’s not an eSport. We created something that would make competitive gamers feel safe and comfortable trying out D&D5e for the first time. It’s a new way to display the versatility of combat in D&D5e in a unique setting. We encourage you to respect the way different people play D&D because we know that this will be a fun event and there is no wrong to play D&D, as long as you are having fun!

(Thanks to Jeremy for the scoop!)

Many feel competitive play isn't what D&D is about, historically that's not entirely true. Here's a history of D&D and competitive play, going back to the 1970s.

"D&D has always had a competitive streak. Many of co-creator Gary Gygax's published adventures were adapted from tournaments that were played competitively at conventions, like Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and Tomb of Horrors.

Thanks to its wargaming roots, tournament play was well-established by the time D&D came along. Tournaments were associated with wargaming conventions. The first large-scale D&D tournament took place at Origins in Baltimore, MD on July 25-27. An estimated 1,500 attended, with 120 participating in the D&D tournament."

 

[Parmandur]

Also, setting development is dead. You're welcome to agitate for what you wish, of course, but you're almost certainly going to lose.

Well, no: WotC is releasing a new setting book in three weeks time, and has devoted about a third of a year so far in their UA pipeline towards playtesting Eberron material. Also, listening to Mearls during the Happy Fun Hour, it is pretty clear that they are actively thinking about Dark Sun (he laid out how they would do it at the end of the show last week, and it was clearly a developed and we'll discussed plan, not an off-the-cuff brainstorm as he often does, and he made "works with Dark Sun" as his Prime Directive design goal for the Psion Class and rules).

 

[TwoSix]

Well, no: WotC is releasing a new setting book in three weeks time, and has devoted about a third of a year so far in their UA pipeline towards playtesting Eberron material. Also, listening to Mearls during the Happy Fun Hour, it is pretty clear that they are actively thinking about Dark Sun (he laid out how they would do it at the end of the show last week, and it was clearly a developed and we'll discussed plan, not an off-the-cuff brainstorm as he often does, and he made "works with Dark Sun" as his Prime Directive design goal for the Psion Class and rules).

Edit: Setting development of the kind the poster I quoted is looking for is dead. No big 320 page gazetteer of a brand new realm. I'm glad to see new Eberron stuff, but it's still a 15 year old setting. Ravnica is new for D&D, but not new. Dark Sun is about 25 years old, and any release would be its 3rd (or 4th, depending on how you view Revised) iteration.

The poster I quoted needed a little dose of reality injected into their anti-corporate railings.

 

[Parmandur]

Edit: Setting development of the kind the poster I quoted is looking for is dead. No big 320 page gazetteer of a brand new realm. I'm glad to see new Eberron stuff, but it's still a 15 year old setting. Ravnica is new for D&D, but not new. Dark Sun is about 25 years old, and any release would be its 3rd (or 4th, depending on how you view Revised) iteration.

The poster I quoted needed a little dose of reality injected into their anti-corporate railings.

While I think you raise good points, Ixalan is a new setting that received a giant art filled Gazeeter this year, with a D&D rule conversion by James Wyatt. While it is true that the idea that this third party show takes away from setting development time, it is also true that setting development is alive and well even at WotC.

 

[pemerton]

Not sure if you are being sarcastic or not, but D&D 5e is all about the stories and friends. Some would argue more so than 3e & 4e. It is at least the design intent / philosophy of 5e more than 3e or 4e.

That seems an odd thing to say. Page 6 of the 4e PHB (which is the first page of substantive text) opens with

The Dungeons & Dragons game is a roleplaying game. In fact, D&D invente the roleplaying game and started an industry.

A roleplaying game is a storytelling game . . .

You create a character, team up with other characters (your friends) . . .​

I haven't checked what the 3E PHB says, but I'd be surprised if it's wildly different. Gygax's PHB doesn't mention storytelling (the default orientation of the game was a bit different) but it also mentions playing with friends.

I don' think 5e is anything distinctive in this respect.

 

[Reynard]

That seems an odd thing to say. Page 6 of the 4e PHB (which is the first page of substantive text) opens with

The Dungeons & Dragons game is a roleplaying game. In fact, D&D invente the roleplaying game and started an industry.

A roleplaying game is a storytelling game . . .

You create a character, team up with other characters (your friends) . . .​

I haven't checked what the 3E PHB says, but I'd be surprised if it's wildly different. Gygax's PHB doesn't mention storytelling (the default orientation of the game was a bit different) but it also mentions playing with friends.

I don' think 5e is anything distinctive in this respect.

While this is true enough as far as it goes, it says nothing about the nature of those stories or the characters in them. A role-playing game is no less a "storytelling game" because it focuses on stories of combat and competition.

 

[pming]

Hiya.

You have no proof of this.

And WotC is not trying. This is a third party event.

Nope. I don't. What's your point? Pretty sure these forums are here for folks to talk and exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions on things related primarily to gaming. Or is this one of those ingenious little ploys where thinking if someone says "You have no proof", that somehow completely invalidates another persons opinion?

As for it being a third-party event; if WotC is officially giving it their stamp of approval or otherwise providing support...it's pretty much the same thing.

Besides all this, look at the latest WotC job board: https://company.wizards.com/content/jobs I find the majority of those openings being "digitally related" to be...suspicious...when combined with this eSport D&D release info.

And I REALLY shouldn't have to say this, but I will just this once: This is all conjecture and my opinion.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[dave2008]

That seems an odd thing to say. Page 6 of the 4e PHB (which is the first page of substantive text) opens with

The Dungeons & Dragons game is a roleplaying game. In fact, D&D invente the roleplaying game and started an industry.

A roleplaying game is a storytelling game . . .

You create a character, team up with other characters (your friends) . . .​

I haven't checked what the 3E PHB says, but I'd be surprised if it's wildly different. Gygax's PHB doesn't mention storytelling (the default orientation of the game was a bit different) but it also mentions playing with friends.

I don' think 5e is anything distinctive in this respect.

I am talking about the nature of the rules. 3e and 4e have a lot of rules, 5e is more (though not completely) about rulings. The emphasis has shifted from the rules to a story. I believe Mike even said as much recently in this thread about D&D design goals: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?653636-Mearls-On-D-amp-D-s-Design-Premises-Goals

 

[pemerton]

While this is true enough as far as it goes, it says nothing about the nature of those stories or the characters in them. A role-playing game is no less a "storytelling game" because it focuses on stories of combat and competition.

I'm not sure what point you're making that you think I missed.

I am talking about the nature of the rules. 3e and 4e have a lot of rules, 5e is more (though not completely) about rulings. The emphasis has shifted from the rules to a story. I believe Mike even said as much recently in this thread about D&D design goals: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?653636-Mearls-On-D-amp-D-s-Design-Premises-Goals

I play actual rules-light storytelling games (eg the last 5 sessions I've GMed have been Prince Valiant and Cthulhu Dark). 5e has about as many rules as 4e (it doesn't have a skill challenge mechanic, and it's martial combat mechanics are slimmer though it's magic mechanics are less slim). So I don't take Mearls seriously on this. Or, rather, I take him to mean the following: rather than focusing on produce mechanics that allow tables to produce their own stories, the publishing emphasis in 5e is producing APs so that tables can participate in WotC's stories.

 

[dave2008]

Hiya!



First...I'm going to err on the side of caution and just assume that roughly 20% to 25% of the CEO's and other 3-letter-acronym'ed suits running Hasbro are psychopaths/sociopaths. Maybe Hasbro is an anomaly with zero of these types...but the odd's are stacked against them.

I seriously doubt you know what your talking about here. I have serious mental illness in both my and my partner's families and this seems like both callus and baseless accusation. I don't think it is wise to make such claims. I also fail to see how having a mental illness relates to D&D esports. It just seems like a jerky thing to say for no reason (FYI, I am not saying you are a jerk).

 

[dave2008]

I play actual rules-light storytelling games (eg the last 5 sessions I've GMed have been Prince Valiant and Cthulhu Dark). 5e has about as many rules as 4e (it doesn't have a skill challenge mechanic, and it's martial combat mechanics are slimmer though it's magic mechanics are less slim). So I don't take Mearls seriously on this. Or, rather, I take him to mean the following: rather than focusing on produce mechanics that allow tables to produce their own stories, the publishing emphasis in 5e is producing APs so that tables can participate in WotC's stories.

Well I can one up you there - I play rules light D&D and i have since 1e!

I am not saying you can't play rules light, story telling with any edition of D&D, I am just saying that, IMO, 5e has emphasized rulings and story telling in a way 3e and 4e didn't. People complained in 4e that you had to have the digital character builder to make a PC, and how long it took (and the many pitfalls) of making a character in 3e. I don't necessary agree with those opinions - but they were widely held. 5e has tried to get away from written rules complexity and provided adjudication complexity instead. It seems the intent was to free people from worrying about the rules and instead focus on the story. Was it successful, well I think that will be a different answer depending on who you ask.