Interview with Scott Rouse, Chris Perkins & Bill Slavicsek

[SnowRaven]

Please also keep in mind that we have no idea what the print initiative will have as content, how often it will be published, or what the price point will be. So before everyone gets all "warm & fuzzy" over the commitment to print additional material aside from the standard books, just remember that we know next to nothing.

How long we'll know nothing is still unknown.

I think an Unearthed Arcana style book twice a year would be good, as long as the material was good. But, yeah, we don't know. Lurking Lidda's Magic NDA Ball probably has "ask again in 3 months" come up a lot.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Oh did I say chocolates? Silly me I meant a vacation house in the Alps with a jacuzii and fully stocked gaming room. My Bad

Since you are still around Scott (and I've noticed that confiming the absence of a move to an MMORPG plan wasn't a NDA problem for Mr. Slaviscek) can you confirm/deny whether tabletop D&D is going "collectible" or not?

 

[ashockney]

First of all, were you surprised by the amount of emotion pouring out from fans in the last few days? What was the expected reaction from the online community?

Scott: No, we weren’t surprised by the reaction. We understand the emotions rippling through the community. In fact, there are a lot of people here at WotC that share those same emotions. Many of the people working on Bill’s team started their careers on the magazines, and it’s tough for some of them to accept the news.

This part of the interview struck a chord with me as a manager. It seems pretty clear that WOTC knew this was coming, and they knew it would suck (meaning the community reaction). So I'm picturing planning meeting after planning meeting where someone like Scott says, "You know, someone's got to take the lead on our communication plan for the DI program that will be replacing Dungeon and Dragon magazines...anyone...Buhler?" I've overseen these meetings, and there is NOTHING harder than asking people to drive significant change, when they BUILT the house the way it is because they liked it that way. Total speculation on my part, but I thought it might be a worthwhile note from an outsider looking in on all this to help explain, in part, the WOTC reaction.

Many, many thanks to Morrus (our hero!), Scott, Chris, Bill, Linnae, Ari, Owen, and any other insiders who've braved the lion's den to see what we have to say, and why we're saying it. That's a very special thing, and I hope the many people (at least on this forum), never forget what a privilege it is to have direct interactions with those that shepherd our passion and our hobby.

To the rest of my fellow ENWorld community: I offer you a challenge. We are all shocked. We are all taken back by these decisions. ENWorld is a safe place to share our feelings and opinions, work out our emotions, and fortunately for all of us, share our thoughts on how we hope to shape the future of our favorite passtime. So, here's the challenge: TRUST - those that were chosen to shepherd the Dungeons and Dragons game, because its all we have, RESPECT - that everyone is entitled to there own opinion, SUPPORT - be there for those with the greatest responsibility and those who need your help, ENCOURAGE - use the energy you feel, that may initially be negativity, and invest it into making this game great, however best you can do it. Many of you have, and continue to, live up to this challenge. Thank you for making this a special place.

What can an online platform offer to the customer that a magazine cannot?

Chris: We have a lot of ideas that we’re happy with, but let me turn the question around. What would you hope for? What would make this exciting and useful for you? Another question for the community: How much of the magazine content were you able to use in your campaign? How much work did you have to do to accomplish that? If this new incarnation of the magazines could encompass anything you could want, what would that be?

I would hope an online platform could offer portability (the ability to interact on my pda, my wireless laptop, while I'm in the can, while I'm on the bus, while I'm at work , and most importantly while I'm at the gaming table), customization (significantly greater and more complex detail - think database management), storage (the ability to plan and store campaign, location, adventure, and character information), manipulation (the ability to pull together the pieces I need for my game, and use them how I desire), a broader spectrum of support (video, music, maps, art, cross-genre support, cross-game support, experimental content, playtest information, design notes, game mastering tips, samples of in-game use), and most importantly INTERACTION (to create a SHARED gaming experience, to be a part of the playtests, to be a contributor to new feats, spells, magic items, prestige classes, and adventures). What? Too much?

What would make this exciting for me would be to see my name on a byline under something labelled "official content".

What would make this useful to me would be to SAVE ME TIME. I now have two children under the age of 6. The biggest challenge to my gaming is TIME investment required. Example: WOW vs. EQ. I would not choose to play EQ because of the time investment required. WOW figured that out and made a game that could be played in 20 minute bursts! Yeah Blizzard! My 60th level undead wizard is awesome. It took me TWO YEARS to get there, but at least I'm in the game.

I have used an immeasurable amount of material from Dungeon and Dragon magazine over the past 20 years. EVERY bit of it was tweaked to fit the campaign, my players, and the circumstances. Any help that could be provided in doing that (ie, Dungeon adventures that can easily be customized for four, five, six, or seven players) would be huge.

If this new incarnation could encompass anything I would hope that it would provide CONSISTENT EXCLUSIVE content: Forgotten Realms information written by the authors that shape it - Ed Greenwood, Steven Schend, RA Salvatore, Elaine Cunningham, Sean Reynolds, et al.

I would also love to see the "official" turned on it's interactive ear. Maintain live/interactive errata to help maintain game balance and push the creative envelope. My characters could put their characters into the "system" and it would highlight for them where errata has been addressed to help maintain balance (ie, no you can't multiclass into five different prestige classes). Further, as a DM, I could pull together my adventure, and the system could rate the fairness of the adventure, along with a complexity and challenge rating. In this way, characters could more easily be challenged. Shared content could be playtested, tweaked, and DM'ing tips and tactics could be provided, particularly right from the people who wrote, tested, and edited the game, in an effort to make this "shared" play experience better for everyone who is a subscriber.

Good luck on this new endeavor and good gaming!

 

[caudor]

So, here's the challenge: TRUST - those that were chosen to shepherd the Dungeons and Dragons game, because its all we have, RESPECT - that everyone is entitled to there own opinion, SUPPORT - be there for those with the greatest responsibility and those who need your help, ENCOURAGE - use the energy you feel, that may initially be negativity, and invest it into making this game great, however best you can do it. Many of you have, and continue to, live up to this challenge. Thank you for making this a special place.

Good suggestion I'm happy to say that I have not wavered in my trust of our friends at WotC. They are gamers; they share our affection for the game. They make our game rules and materials. They want the game to be successful...that's how they bring home the beacon. Have they made mistakes in the past? Well yeah, but who here hasn't made mistakes?

I'm all for giving WotC and our fellow ENWorlders the trust, respect, and encouragement they deserve.

Group hug?

 

[zoroaster100]

If WOTC wants me to even possibly consider their digital initiative at all, they will offer as much Greyhawk adventures as Dungeon did in the last couple of years, and they will stay away from Eberron stuff, which I have no use for. If WOTC killed off Dungeon, which was my last source of Greyhawk adventures, and does not suitably replace it with another reliable source of Greyhawk adventures, I'll continue to have very negative feelings towards WOTC, as I've had since the announcement of Dungeon's cancellation.

 

[sjmiller]

What can an online platform offer to the customer that a magazine cannot?

Chris: We have a lot of ideas that we’re happy with, but let me turn the question around. What would you hope for? What would make this exciting and useful for you? Another question for the community: How much of the magazine content were you able to use in your campaign? How much work did you have to do to accomplish that? If this new incarnation of the magazines could encompass anything you could want, what would that be?

Chris, let me be perfectly honest with you, something I hope you will appreciate. Here's what I hope for. I want something that doesn't require me to sit in front of a computer to use it. I want something I can hold in my hand and read while lounging in my backyard. I want something that, once I purchase it is mine until I decide to get rid of it. I want something that is easy to share with my other gamers. Basically I want a magazine or a book. I do not have a computer at my gaming table, they are not allowed. I don't spend huge amounts of time online. This evening, as I type this, is a rare after hours experience. Most of the time when I am working on my games or reading game material I am reading a book.

Yes, before you ask, I do have a subscription to an online gaming publication. That would be Pyramid magazine online. For $20 a year I get articles posted weekly, ones I can read online, or print out and read wherever I want. They also have a full and exhaustive search system for the entire online run of the magazine, and even some of the pre-digital magazines.

As for what did I use from the magazines, that's easy. I used monsters, equipment, spells, and magic items. I used the descriptions of the gods from the early issues of Dragon. I used various articles with ideas on how to run games and create things on your own. When I used something from the magazine I used most of it with little or no preparation. I would occasionally make special equipment cards to pass to my players, so they have a set of notes on the new piece of equipment. The cards took a few minutes each to write up and would see all sorts of use. I rarely used adventures, mostly because I prefer to write my own, but I would steal encounter ideas or sometimes whole encounters. Again, it was with little or no effort.

In the new incarnation of the magazines, more than anything, I want to be able to use the material away from the computer. If using this material for or in my game requires me to have a computer at the gaming table, then it is not usable to me. If I have to print it out, that's fine. If I can select a whole series of articles and have them printed, bound, and sent to me, that would be even better. The Core Beliefs series would be perfect candidates for that. Of course, that would require that all the previous ones from the print editions of Dragon be available.

You asked, so I thought you should know. Personally, if I had my choice, I would have a monthly print magazine containing all this stuff. The magazine could also be available online with the same content, or maybe with just a bit more. But, really, what I want is a magazine I can hold in my hands.

 

[WampusCat43]

...snip...

Without repeating any of the post just above, I wanted to say this is one of the best, most intelligently thought out posts I've ever seen on this board. Please pay attention, WotC.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

Since you are still around Scott (and I've noticed that confiming the absence of a move to an MMORPG plan wasn't a NDA problem for Mr. Slaviscek) can you confirm/deny whether tabletop D&D is going "collectible" or not?

Anything is collectible from minis to dryer lint .

Do you mean like a trading card game or radomized minis? If so no.

Yes minis are staying around and wil continue to be radomized (except for big dragons etc) but everytbing else is a non-blind version (books, tiles, etc). You can still collect I guess if you buy a book and never crack it, store it in a vault but that would be kind of silly.

Sorry can you please elaborate what you mean by collectible ?

 

[William Ronald]

Anything is collectible from minis to dryer lint .

Do you mean like a trading card game or radomized minis? If so no.

Yes minis are staying around and wil continue to be radomized (except for big dragons etc) but everytbing else is a non-blind version (books, tiles, etc). You can still collect I guess if you buy a book and never crack it, store it in a vault but that would be kind of silly.

Sorry can you please elaborate what you mean by collectible ?

Some of the books such as the Draconomicon, are nice to have around to look at, but are much better being used by gaming.

So, I think that this most recent comment is to indicate that the future of D&D is to be a tabletop role playing game. Mind you, I can see some collectible elements being added. For example, in the Living Greyhawk campaign in the RPGA, there were cards which could be used for various purposes -- such as temporarily simulating a feat or creating some sort of magical effect for a very limited duration. (I have no idea if that is something that would be incorporated into print products or online content, but I suppose it is one direction to go. )

Perhaps it might be wise to ask in what ways Dungeones and Dragons will continue to be a tabetop game. I imagine that while the miniatures will be popular, there will still be roleplaying supplements and products.

Here is a question: How can we help the role playing game hobby grow?

 

[Teflon Billy]

Anything is collectible from minis to dryer lint .

Do you mean like a trading card game or radomized minis? If so no.

Yes minis are staying around and wil continue to be radomized (except for big dragons etc) but everytbing else is a non-blind version (books, tiles, etc). You can still collect I guess if you buy a book and never crack it, store it in a vault but that would be kind of silly.

Sorry can you please elaborate what you mean by collectible ?

I could, but your suspicions about what I meant were correct.

Thanks for answering