"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.

 

[Parmandur]

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.

Yes, and they want something generic, like the Forgotten Realms or Tal'Dorei.

 

[Parmandur]

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.


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.


Again, "rumours" being fan speculation.


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.

Well, we'll see soon enough, but the rumors about the two book setup have been solidfying in "word on the street" channels (not fan speculation, not from WotC). TftYP is a good comparison, and making dungeon material is something Mearls and Crawford do in their doentine as their hobby.

 

[Schmoe]

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.

Some people can appreciate a masterfully made classic chocolate cake, some people can only appreciate an apple-flour angelfood with acai berry reduction.

 

[Jester David]

Well, we'll see soon enough, but the rumors about the two book setup have been solidfying in "word on the street" channels (not fan speculation, not from WotC).

I've yet to see anyone actually back any of that "word on the street" rumours with anything, making it just seem like different fan's speculation. At best. Or a misreading of a comment.

Like the insistence we're getting a third book this fall.

TftYP is a good comparison, and making dungeon material is something Mearls and Crawford do in their doentine as their hobby.

Well, in that instance they updated mechanics and did an editing pass. They didn't really do any writing.
If they're just updating an old Undermountain product then that works. If they're writing their own, then less so.

 

[Jester David]

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.

Which means what?
Look up what?

Do you mean look up older products? The black-and-white PDFs using incomprehensible rules? Why would they do that?

If you want something non-generic, you could look it up too. Most Dark Sun and Planescape and SpellJammer products are available online. Older players are the ones with affection for those. New players give zero effs about classic settings.

To new players, everything in the game is new. They're not jaded about "generic fantasy worlds" or feel the need to play against type. And thus WotC feels less need to do something incredibly niche and different, as most of the audience is very, very happy with something classical and iconic.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

If you want something non-generic, you could look it up too. Most Dark Sun and Planescape and SpellJammer products are available online. Older players are the ones with affection for those. New players give zero effs about classic settings.

To new players, everything in the game is new. They're not jaded about "generic fantasy worlds" or feel the need to play against type. And thus WotC feels less need to do something incredibly niche and different, as most of the audience is very, very happy with something classical and iconic.

Pretty much. I am by no means a new player, having been gaming since the early 80's, but when I wanted something different, less standard, weird fantasy style, I went for non-D&D products. Nothing outside of Greyhawk or the Realms really appealed to me. And people may hate hearing this, but when Maztica, Kara-Tur, and Al-Qadim were relocated to the Realms, I was very happy.

 

[SkidAce]

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?''.

OY!

/shambles off towards walker....

 

[Staffan]

Pretty much. I am by no means a new player, having been gaming since the early 80's, but when I wanted something different, less standard, weird fantasy style, I went for non-D&D products. Nothing outside of Greyhawk or the Realms really appealed to me. And people may hate hearing this, but when Maztica, Kara-Tur, and Al-Qadim were relocated to the Realms, I was very happy.

Point of order: Maztica and Al-Qadim were never located anywhere other than on Al-Toril. They were designed as different continents/regions on the same planet from the start.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Point of order: Maztica and Al-Qadim were never located anywhere other than on Al-Toril. They were designed as different continents/regions on the same planet from the start.

I may have remembered wrong on Maztica because of the way my DM used it back in the day, but the Al-Qadim books and Zakhara were designed to be dropped into any existing world, though technically part of the Realms. The original books for Al-Qadim did not even say Forgotten Realms on the covers. So, to me, it was not really fully integrated into the Realms til later on.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Which means what?
Look up what?

Do you mean look up older products? The black-and-white PDFs using incomprehensible rules?

What rules?

I have a Forgotten Realms guide here. It includes maps, descriptions, population statistics, names of rulers, names for days and seasons and absolutely no gameplay rules whatsoever. It was written for 2nd edition, but there is nothing that would be any different in 5e. That's because the sort of info in this kind of guide is rules-independent. They could simply reissue the old stuff.