"Stream of Many Eyes" -- WotC To Announce New Storyline In June

On June 1st, WotC will be hosting a three-day streaming event called the Stream of Many Eyes. Similar to previous events, it will feature comedians, actors, and streamers, as the new Dungeons & Dragons storyline is unveiled.

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Here's the full press release:

On June 1 – 3 2018, D&D will bring tons of Twitch streamers, actors, comedians and D&D luminaries to the Stream of Many Eyes, a three-day livestreamed extravaganza full of cosplay, crazy sets and amazing stories. During the Stream of Many Eyes – #SOMEDND - the D&D team will unveil the new adventure story coming this year and showcase extraordinary D&D live play entertainment, and it will all stream live on twitch.tv/dnd.

The Stream of Many Eyes starts at 4pm PT on Friday, June 1st, with a visual tour of the studio led by host Anna Prosser Robinson and a roundtable conversation with the D&D team on the new storyline and what makes it so exciting. Dungeons & Dragons will then present live D&D play sessions with Force Grey & Dice, Camera, Action.

On Saturday, June 2nd, the livestream kicks off at 10 AM PT with Sirens of the Realms. Saturday’s games will feature well-known D&D gaming group Girls, Guts, Glory as well newer groups Rivals of Waterdeep and Dark & Dicey, all previewing content from the new story. The entertainment will run all day, wrapping up at 7 PM PT.

Four groups will perform on Sunday, June 3rd, beginning at 11 AM PT and streaming until 8 PM PT. Games will include members of Critical Role, High Rollers, Force Grey and the entire cast of Dice, Camera, Action performing together in costume for the first time.

D&D fans around the world can watch all the excitement unfold on twitch.tv/dnd, and on Sunday only, fans in the Los Angeles area can buy tickets to watch one of the live games in person. The live ticketed experience includes a curated set tour, live performances from musicians, dancers and stunt-people, food trucks, a D&D pop-up store full of merch, and of course some of your favorite gaming groups.

Check out the full schedule and buy tickets at dnd.wizards.com/some. Tickets are limited – so if you’ll be in the L.A. area on June 3rd make sure to grab them quick! Check out the D&D website, follow D&D on Twitter or subscribe to the Dragon Talk podcast feed for all the latest updates and for interviews with our special #SOMEDND guests.

You can read more here.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't really get the objection to fantasy RPG material being too "generic," getting pre-built material to fit a genre is what one would want n such a product. The Sword & Sorcerery "Big City" is a major trope that can fuel years of play, and being generic, yet detailed by decades of play, is precisely Waterdeep's appeal.

It's like objecting to a bakery selling chocolate cake because it is such a sterotype. People buy chocolate, so businesses will put out chocolate more often than Wasabi experiment cakes.

Generic is fine when the product is new, but when a product has been around for 40 years it's time to put a different spin on things.

There are details of dozens of fantasy cities, including Waterdeap and Undermountain, already in the public domain. Why pay again for something you can get for free?

 

[LordEntrails]

I don't really get the objection to fantasy RPG material being too "generic," getting pre-built material to fit a genre is what one would want n such a product. The Sword & Sorcerery "Big City" is a major trope that can fuel years of play, and being generic, yet detailed by decades of play, is precisely Waterdeep's appeal.

It's like objecting to a bakery selling chocolate cake because it is such a sterotype. People buy chocolate, so businesses will put out chocolate more often than Wasabi experiment cakes.

I've got to agree with this. I will also add that it is easy to take a generic product and make it special/unique. Just like it's easy to take a chocolate cake and add sprinkles or a thousand other things to make it special and unique. but it's nigh impossible to take a wasabi cake and make it anything but a wasabi cake.

To me, it feels like this is entirely an issue of presentation.

If something is presented as a kick-in-the-door dungeon overall, that's how it's going to be viewed, even if the DM advice suggests otherwise.

Actually, I think it's less about presentation and more about expectation. If you pre-judge something before you experience something, then your opinion is already biased. If you think a new version of UM is a kick-in-the-door dungeon, then no matter what it is, you will think the new product is a k-i-t-d dungeon.

The only way to make a massive dungeon like this truly work, IMO, is to present it as a campaign setting. Just as you wouldn't try to detail every building on a city map, don't try to detail every chamber in a dungeon map. Establish general areas, detailing only the most important ones. Establish factions, guilds, communities, all with their own goals, their own government. Make it a place to design/build stories, not a series of encounters.

I disagree with this. For example, you feel UM is a k-i-t-d dungeon, yet no version of UM has ever fully detailed every room. And though it's definitely varies by perception, I've never seen UM as a k-i-t-d dungeon. I've just seen prior products as incomplete and often not well done. They have been exactly what you describe, some general areas have been detailed and plots and ideas have been laid out. Waterdeep has never been fully detailed, it has always been done almost exactly like you suggest.

And yes, previous versions have tried to do this to an extent, but they never fully committed to it.

(Although I should say I have a bias here, as I get bored with "kick-in-the-door" dungeons before a dozen rooms, let alone hundreds.)

I don't know how one can "fully commit" to such an idea. Or how previous versions haven't met your criteria? Maybe you'll clarify?

Generic is fine when the product is new, but when a product has been around for 40 years it's time to put a different spin on things.

There are details of dozens of fantasy cities, including Waterdeap and Undermountain, already in the public domain. Why pay again for something you can get for free?

I too would love new stuff. But then again how often do we get people asking for and complaining that their is not a 5E version of the Forgotten Realms campaign guide? For those of us who have been around for 40 years, it's disappointing. But, given the business success of 5E, we apparently are a very small minority.

 

[Parmandur]

"DaVinci Code meets Gangs of New York".

It does sound more focused on Waterdeep than Undermountain, likely being a big urban adventure dealing with thieves' guilds while also apparently hunting for a missing artifact.
That's cool and very different than their past adventures. Which is key. Each adventure should be completely different and not occupy the same design space as prior adventures. You shouldn't be wondering *which* exploration of the jungle followed by a mega dungeon adventure is best for you.

I'm still doubtful the second product this fall will be an adventure. Getting two adventures written back-to-back like that would have been a lot of work.

Well, word on the street is that Catacombs is an Undermountain focused book, we'll see soon enough. The rumor isn't that it is another AP, however, but a plot-light pure Megadungeon, which would be very different and something that could be used in conjunction with other books, or ripping small sections out. The rumors are that they have been working on Undermountain material for a couple of years, and with plot not being a concern it wouldn't be all on Perkins the way the AP tends to be.

There has been a little rumbling about a third product this Fall, and I reckon based on this article that the board game from Avalon Hill is what that was about. Another year with multiple D&D board games.

 

[Parmandur]

Generic is fine when the product is new, but when a product has been around for 40 years it's time to put a different spin on things.

There are details of dozens of fantasy cities, including Waterdeap and Undermountain, already in the public domain. Why pay again for something you can get for free?

WotC is not aiming products at people who have bought 40 years of product, they are selling to young people who like Peter Jackson movies and Critical Role.

 

[Yaarel]

"DaVinci Code meets Gangs of New York".

It does sound more focused on Waterdeep than Undermountain.

Hmmm. Gangs of New York sounds like Waterdeep factions. But Davinci Code probably alludes to piecing clues together to lead to a world-changing discovery (magic item?) in a grave site in the catacombs in Undermountain.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

WotC is not aiming products at people who have bought 40 years of product, they are selling to young people who like Peter Jackson movies and Critical Role.

Exact. And even more, when people argue against FR being generic and say they want something else, the ''something else'' is often nearly as old a FR itself. ''Give us something different and new WotC, give us Eberron!'' as if a setting with the same generic races but with a layer of magi-tech wasnt an overused old trope. Same with Darksun and its ''dying/dead world''. Not that they are not interesting (just as FR is interesting when you know where to look, aka outside the Sword Coast), they are, but you can go on Kickstarter and get about a hundred publisher promising ''magical apocalypse settings or ''high magic steam/magic/street/cyber/diesel punk settings''.

Many people on this forum played D&D for longer that I've personally been alive, and I guess that many players are in the same situation. Tell them about a setting inspired by Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser or John Carter of Mars and all you'll get is: ''who?''.

 

[Jester David]

Well, word on the street is that Catacombs is an Undermountain focused book, we'll see soon enough.

Well... "street" being here and based on the name-dropping of Xanathar, the Yawning Portal Tavern, and the codename "Catacomb".
It's pretty loose as far as "evidence" goes, and could still be almost anything.

After all "Midway" was Xanathar's Guide to Everything and not the Sigil product everyone was expecting. And "Marathon" was Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes and not the Modron March book everyone was expecting.

The rumor isn't that it is another AP, however, but a plot-light pure Megadungeon, which would be very different and something that could be used in conjunction with other books, or ripping small sections out.

A megadungeon is still an adventure, and those tend to be Perkins. (Except Yawning Portal.) Him getting two books out that close together would be hard. And getting Mearls and Crawford to write new dungeon content is really moving them out of their comfort zone of fluff, mechanical design & editing.

The rumors are that they have been working on Undermountain material for a couple of years, and with plot not being a concern it wouldn't be all on Perkins the way the AP tends to be.

Again, "rumours" being fan speculation.

There has been a little rumbling about a third product this Fall, and I reckon based on this article that the board game from Avalon Hill is what that was about. Another year with multiple D&D board games.

My thoughts as well. They've had a new D&D board game tied to the summer storyline every year. Makes sense there'd be one this year as well.

 

[gyor]

(just as FR is interesting when you know where to look, aka outside the Sword Coast).

True, yet once again it appears they are scurrying back to the Sword Coast again.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

WotC is not aiming products at people who have bought 40 years of product, they are selling to young people who like Peter Jackson movies and Critical Role.

That might have been a valid point - 40 years ago. But these days we have this thing called the internet, and Peter Jackson/Critical Role fans know how to use it look up anything they want.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

True, yet once again it appears they are scurrying back to the Sword Coast again.

Yeah, that will displease many. Personally I dont really mind the Sword Coast, I'm confident enough in my creativity that I could run many different campaign in it without boring to much my tables, but I can understant why people are less interested in it than, lets say, Thay + Rashemen or The Shining South. Chult also seems to be awesome.