It is time to forgive WOTC and get back onboard.

[Matt Thomason]

I think they problem with this idea is that the "one single king" is why the RPG world united. It is the game specifically that caused the sense of cooperation as you called it.

I don't think that community cooperativeness will exist in the future in a fractured community.

I think you have a point there, but only in as much as everyone co-operated because the 900lb gorilla needed to be taken down and nobody was big enough to do it by themselves. If you don't have a 900lb gorilla to create that level of threat, you don't need the entire community to deal with it when it acts up.

The idea of the RPG hobby needing a 900lb gorilla so we can all be scared of it and pull together against it feels a bit strange.

 

[rgard]

I realize you are trying to be humerous . Yup there were several before that stunk. That is why this needs to do well. The D&D movie doing well will bring more people and creators to the hobby. There is a lot of great fantasy on tv right now and some awful but none of that will grow this hobby like a blockbuster D&D movie.

I suspect how well the movie does will have nothing to do with bringing more people and creators to the hobby. The best they can hope for is a few D&D players bringing non-D&D people to see the movie and maybe getting the non-players to agree to buy a players handbook and play the game. As you said, there's some great fantasy on TV so this movie isn't necessary for growing the hobby. There's also decades of great literature that will continue to bring people to the hobby.

If the movie is great and succeeds, that will lead to more movies, that's about it.

 

[BrokenTwin]

Yeah you can... by choosing not to do it.

That is an interesting definition of failure. Personally, failure is only possible after an attempt has been made. If I think about buying a shirt then decide not to, I haven't "failed" to buy the shirt. Failure is just a potential endstate of an attempted action. If you disagree with that definition, then our viewpoints are fundamentally incompatible, and further discussion will be entirely unproductive for both of us.

I want it to succed. I want more D&S movies if they are good.
So I will go there on the first weekend and bring some friends with me. If the movie is actually good I might go in twice with more friends.

I will buy WotC stuff if it is good.
As always.

Do I do that for WotC? No.
I do it for me.

Do I think anyone is harmed? No. 3pp can get so much out of that whole thing, if they are clever, that in the end, they can indeed thank WotC.
And I wish them well.

Every person watching a great D&D movie will potentially be a D&D player and then eventually a 3pp buyer or even better someone buying an original game.

The idea that the companies using the OGL might someday sincerely thank Hasbro for attempting and failing to negatively impact their livelihoods feels uncomfortably similar to telling a victim they should thank their attacker because they ultimately grew stronger after the incident.
I can't even call it completely harm-free, because there are a number of publishers who are no longer providing their 5e-compatible products because they no longer feel safe in offering those products.

I do agree that I hope this movie brings more people into the larger hobby, though I feel it unlikely that more than a low single digit percentage of viewers will enter the hobby through this movie, and most of those will likely never leave the D&D ecosystem.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I'm still processing all of this. Not only are there some unknown facts still, FAR more importantly, there remain some unknown emotions, too. Namely, mine.

I haven't made up my mind about any of this - and likely won't for quite a while. I will say this: I am still prepping a new campaign to replace my RotFM campaign when it ends this late Spring/Early summer. I'm doing all the ground work and conversion of a Classic DragonLance campaign (DL 1-14) in Foundry VTT.

I'm converting it and prepping it for PF2. For one, Frightful Presence works much better in PF2 than it does in 5e, allowing low level characters to challenge Dragons far beyond their capabilities. This is something which posed a real problem for the designers at WotC in SotDQ. I wasn't happy with their kludged solution.

And more importantly, for another, I'm not okay with what has just happened over these past three+ weeks. At all. How this all ends up a month or three in my head is something I'll only know then. I certainly don't know it now.

Two weeks ago, I kicked WotC to the curb in my heart, telling her it was over and I'd pack her bags. She could come back and get em when I'm damned good and ready slam.

I am not past that yet. I might be in a while; I'm wise enough to know these things can change over time. Still, I'm not there yet and I may NEVER be there. There are consequences to this sort of corporate behaviour; I'm fresh out of mulligans right now, thanks.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The idea that the companies using the OGL might someday sincerely thank Hasbro for attempting and failing to negatively impact their livelihoods feels uncomfortably similar to telling a victim they should thank their attacker because they ultimately grew stronger after the incident.
I can't even call it completely harm-free, because there are a number of publishers who are no longer providing their 5e-compatible products because they no longer feel safe in offering those products.

I think you should not make those kinds of analogies. Distinctly different.

Although I do agree and have agreed, that WotC should not have done everything in the first place, they opened up 5e more than ever after having shot themself in the foot.

 

[ThorinTeague]

Uhmm, you're answering your own hypothetical here...They get everything they want?? But they didn't...

That would be a misread.

 

[ThorinTeague]

I agree. And I’m not convinced it’s possible for one game to be all things. But… I’m willing to be open minded about One D&D at the same time as I’m 99% not at attached to WotC’s games anymore.

Generally speaking in life Monocultures are bad, susceptible to disease, corruption, decay, and destruction. Polycultures that have diversified are much harder to affect en masse. You might get one or two groups, but there's still 2000 more...

 

[RareBreed]

I think they problem with this idea is that the "one single king" is why the RPG world united. It is the game specifically that caused the sense of cooperation as you called it.

I don't think that community cooperativeness will exist in the future in a fractured community.

If there's no One Ring to rule them all, then you don't need to gather up all your forces to stop Mordor.

Wait...I think I'm mixing up my analogies

 

[ThorinTeague]

I think they problem with this idea is that the "one single king" is why the RPG world united. It is the game specifically that caused the sense of cooperation as you called it.

I don't think that community cooperativeness will exist in the future in a fractured community.

Yeah, could 100% be a double edged sword.

But on the other hand, community cooperativeness may not be necessary in a healthfully diversified polyculture. There would be just too many facets to kill the whole thing in one go. Someone might get one or two groups, but there's still 1500 more after that. So, if everything was x% of the market, with x being a low/low-ish number, if that community got torched--it would be unfortunate and sad, don't get me wrong--but it would come anywhere near disrupting the whole industry.

 

[ThorinTeague]

If there's no One Ring to rule them all, then you don't need to gather up all your forces to stop Mordor.

Wait...I think I'm mixing up my analogies

No way, man, no way. That's some salient wordcraft. D&D is EXACTLY like the one ring, and it's bearer inevitably gets corrupted. At least that's the way it seems.