New Digital Games Studio announced by the president of Wizards of the Coast

Interesting. I look forward to seeing what comes of this - some thrilling ideas, no doubt, but I'm keeping myself reserved so as not to be let down should those thrilling ideas be brought into less-than-thrilling existence.

 

[Caliburn101]

I would very much like to see Hasbro jump into bed with Blizzard to produce a next-generation D&D MMO to replace WoW over a 5 year development timeframe.

A 5 year period has already been flagged as a likely period over which the limitations of WoW's graphics and UI will start to really grate with players as it becomes significantly outdated. No game can last forever at the revenue stream level WoW has produced in the past, and as fantasy is overwhelmingly the most popular and successful genre for MMOs, that timescale would almost make sense for Blizzard, especially if the next planned D&D movie is popular.

With a suitably marketed off-ramp for WoW players to get cut-price introductions to a new AAA D&D MMO, I am sure it would be a success, as EQ and WoW stole a bunch of tropes from D&D and the familiar feel this would make between the two would help WoW loyalists make the move.

Do you really think Blizzard wouldn't take a long hard look at the D&D brand if it was offered?

I think they would...

 

[wedgeski]

It took three years, a $3,900,000 on Kickstarter, and an established team of experiences game designers to make that happen.
I doubt WotC is going to throw that much money at a completely untested group of people to make a D&D game in the hopes it turns a profit...

If they *don't* throw that kind of money at it (and more), they might as well just pack up and go home right now. But, we just don't know. As always, I'm happy to wait and see.

 

[Azurewraith]

How awesome would it be to be walking ddown the street towards that AR treasure chest, that turns out to be a mimic and now your swining your phone around like a greatsword great right? Then you end up punching that 7ft guy in the bomber jacket with the shaved head and the neck ratio....

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

How awesome would it be to be walking ddown the street towards that AR treasure chest, that turns out to be a mimic and now your swining your phone around like a greatsword great right? Then you end up punching that 7ft guy in the bomber jacket with the shaved head and the neck ratio....

...and it turns out he was playing the game too, so you make a new friend

 

[Myrdin Potter]

I want a companion app to the books, not a replacement to the books. Why on earth would I want to pay the same price again in order to get the same content, but electronic? I want something that will improve the book, not make it redundant. How hard is that to understand?

If the companion app contains most or the key material (a full character creator, for example, then what do you expect WoTC to charge? If you do not need the PHB, then you will pay for the PHB.

what do you want in a "companion app"?

 

[Charles Rampant]

If the companion app contains most or the key material (a full character creator, for example, then what do you expect WoTC to charge? If you do not need the PHB, then you will pay for the PHB.

what do you want in a "companion app"?

I already said, back on page one:

I think that one thing I'd love for D&D would be an app that is expressly designed to be a companion to the APs. So you could buy a thing on it to activate, say, Storm King's Thunder, and it will not only have all the combats pre-built as combat encounters with initiative tracking and whatnot, but will also add all of the monsters and magic items to an internal database, and even have story notes and images ready to go for the campaign, so you could use it as a crib sheet and easily show the NPC images to the players. That, I think, would genuinely be a valuable addition to the D&D experience.

Crib sheet, not full text of the book.

It is worth noting that Feng Shui 2, a game that I'm playing at the moment during a break from the D&D campaign, has exactly this: each adventure that they put out comes with QR codes for each combat, and you can scan the code with the app to load up that combat ready to be tracked. The app costs three quid; one imagines that D&D would charge more, market leader and all that, but if a tiny publisher can put that kind of genuinely added utility into their products, I don't see why everyone here is acting like it is some kind of madness to suggest that Wizards do.

 

[Myrdin Potter]

I already said, back on page one:



Crib sheet, not full text of the book.

It is worth noting that Feng Shui 2, a game that I'm playing at the moment during a break from the D&D campaign, has exactly this: each adventure that they put out comes with QR codes for each combat, and you can scan the code with the app to load up that combat ready to be tracked. The app costs three quid; one imagines that D&D would charge more, market leader and all that, but if a tiny publisher can put that kind of genuinely added utility into their products, I don't see why everyone here is acting like it is some kind of madness to suggest that Wizards do.

You already get all you ask for via the current Fantasy Grounds and Roll20 implementations. You get the full text, but that just means you do not need to buy the paper version.

The gap now is the need to buy the same material twice, and the lack of a fully licenced character builder for 5e. Hero Labs and Pathfinder shows what that would cost.

You can also very quickly create what you want in FG. The ruleset is drag and drop to build encounters so if you wanted to enter it yourself you could.

I see what you want, you want integration with paper and the app. That does not exist and is difficult as long as FAntaay Grounds and Roll20 exist as their own companies needing to make a profit. But you can get what you want today, and only pay once if you do not buy the paper version.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

As long as they can avoid funding another Sword Coast Legends.....

 

[Myrdin Potter]

Mate what you just described is exactly what Realm Works is. They just released the ability to export and import content. What this means is right now I have a file that contains the entire Storm King's Thunder module. The story, maps (with pins on them for content connected to that location), all the NPCs and monsters with Hero Lab portfolios built in (you click a button in Realm Works and the monster loads into the Hero Lab combat manager). You can send any pictures in it (maps, npcs, items, monsters) to the player screen letting you players see what you are talking about all very easily.

The bets bit is you can change the module, use the content, connect it to other content. For example, here's a video showing the map of Faerun with pins for all the locations in Storm King's Thunder. Now i can click a location and find out about what's there! This is now super useful for any campaign i run in this area. I can export it and import it into a new Realm and use it over and over again.

Now while I have this file, i cant give it out obviously for licensing issues. So all that's basically required at this point in time is a license between Lone Wolf and WOTC and the tool you described becomes reality. I'm pretty damn positive those discussions have either occurred or will be occurring. It would be stupid for Lone Wolf not to seek a license.

Check out my YouTube Channel to see the application being used. Its a bloody useful piece of software.

Both Fantasy Grounds and Roll20 have this already. Fantasy Grounds even allows for sales on DMS Guild and there are extensions that greatly add location details and tracking. They have the maps, the encounters, the locations on the maps, the combat tracking. Neither are anywhere near as good at character creation as Hero Labs is. FG is ok if you are linear and create the character once, but not great for changing and fiddling around.

If you look at the DMS Guild, more and more content is being added for Fantasy Grounds. There is a huge encounter builder, for example, that uses all the official material plus 3PP monster books. The Blood Hunter 3PP class is fully available and automated. All the UA material is there for the classes.

Realm Works is certainly nice, but without the license it makes official content a person by person effort and with a license there will be a cost for content.

 

[ZeshinX]

I wish them luck, but I'll believe it when I see it. Given WotC's record when it comes to anything they've had a direct hand in technology-wise. When they've gone 3rd party, they've had some success, but their in-house efforts have almost completely failed in spectacular fashion.