D&D 5E (2014) Well played WOTC (or Free RPG Day 2015)

Well I am certainly glad to see it spread, and apologise for my error. No free RPG Day in the UK when I lived there, and I should have guessed at Canada tho! But still, as cool as it is, that WotC chooses to release free stuff year round worldwide is a better thing for many than a single day where those closest to a participating RPG store get tons of goodies. I realise some is available later as PDFs too.

Tho there is a lot of jealousy my statement... Goodman Games Referee screen looks totally MINT!

Truth be told, Rick (of Flying Buffalo, and of GAMA) is the kind of guy who will gleefully ship the boxes anywhere the retailers opt to pay to have them shipped to. In prior years, one German retailer did so... I've seen people crowing about it. I didn't bother checking.
 

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WotC published it. And, yes, they got an outside company to write it... but then WotC have been using contractors to write their products for three editions now. Is there any real difference between getting Jason Bulmahn, James Jacobs, and Eric Mona to pen "Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk", versus getting Sasquatch Game Studio in to pen "Princes of the Apocalypse"?

Semantics. You do have a point, but that doesn't change the fact that WOTC as a company outsourced it, so they did not produce the product. The point being that the ONLY products WOTC has put out themselves in the past year are the three core books.
 

I don't think it is a question of timelines. I think it is a question of it being worth the effort for them. Really, that's all. If they were to gain enough from supporting it, I suspect they would. But I'm guessing that supporting it really won't have a measurable impact on them, overall.


I think it is more than that. I think when those in charge at WotC came up with the OGL, they didn't think of the RPG industry as a zero sum market. I believe that thinking changed when they moved away from the OGL and that decisions like this are in part based on what participation can do for them and in part based on what participation will do for others. I think they know that just having their brand in the RPG market creates a tide that raises all boats. I think they feel that participating in community led efforts like Free RPG Day or GM's Day might help them but also helps others. I further think they see no need to do that if they can do something to helps themselves and only helps others insofar as their brand in the market doing well increases that tide raises all boats.

I've mentioned before a growing isolationist mentality at WotC as they moved further and further from using the OGL. This is just another example of that policy. It has little to do with how much they think free products can help them as evidenced by any number of things they do that includes free material. The trouble is, when they have participated before in something and then do not, or actively work counter to something that is established, they risk creating some ill will where they might not have been any need.

Since folks in this thread have some opinion on what Free PRG Day might or might not do for WotC, and why WotC might now be choosing to sit out on that effort, I have another question (since it is regarding a marketing effort that has similar factors involved). Does any one think WotC has any awareness of GM's Day? Does anyone think GM's Day factored into their creation of DM's Awareness Month and choosing February to have that happen? Was it a good idea? A bad idea? A clever idea? Etc.
 

Semantics. You do have a point, but that doesn't change the fact that WOTC as a company outsourced it, so they did not produce the product.

Either way, I ended up with a 250-page hardback book in my hands, with D&D on the cover and an extensive adventure inside. So, really, what difference does it make?
 

Either way, I ended up with a 250-page hardback book in my hands, with D&D on the cover and an extensive adventure inside. So, really, what difference does it make?

The difference is it has no bearing on my point. You are taking ONE small piece of what I'm saying and debating it just to debate. It doesn't change what I am expressing as a whole. At all. Period.
 

Does any one think WotC has any awareness of GM's Day? Does anyone think GM's Day factored into their creation of DM's Awareness Month and choosing February to have that happen? Was it a good idea? A bad idea? A clever idea? Etc.

I expect that there are at least people there who know it exists. If so, maybe they were trying to be clever, and placed it so that it can sort of 'lead in" to the day.

But, whether or not WotC is aware, I think we have an over-inflated view of the importance of GMs Day and Free RPG Day. If you aren't the sort of gamer who hangs around reading RPG forums and websites, you probably have never heard of these things, or have heard of them only in passing, probably just as or after the fact. I'd expect that the bulk of gamers are simply not invested in participating in these activities.
 

The difference is it has no bearing on my point. You are taking ONE small piece of what I'm saying and debating it just to debate. It doesn't change what I am expressing as a whole. At all. Period.

I don't think that's what is happening, Justin. I suspect he finds your point to be a technicality that has no practical impact. In fact, he says so - "What difference does it make?"

You didn't answer that question. You dodged it. WotC paid someone to make a product. What difference does it make if the person writing it was a full-time WotC employee, a contractor, or a member of another company? In each scenario, money changed hands, and a product got written. In the end, the product got made, and put out there with WotCs brand on it. What matters beyond that? Answer that question please - why does it matter who wrote it?

In modern business, the question of who does the actual work is not a moral one, but a practical one. This is a major point behind "producing". Producers don't necessarily do much creative work themselves, but they make sure the creative work happens, and stuff is organized so that the full path to the customer is opened. Producers are important. WotC *produced* the product.

Someone with a different leaning would spin WotC outsourcing content production as a *good* thing - it is support and opportunity for game designers and writers outside WotC. Why is that bad?
 
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I don't think that's what is happening, Justin. I suspect he finds your point to be a technicality that has no practical impact. In fact, he says so - "What difference does it make?"

You didn't answer that question. You dodged it. WotC paid someone to make a product. What difference does it make if the person writing it was a full-time WotC employee, a contractor, or a member of another company? In each scenario, money changed hands, and a product got written. In the end, the product got made, and put out there with WotCs brand on it. What matters beyond that? Answer that question please - why does it matter who wrote it?

In modern business, the question of who does the actual work is not a moral one, but a practical one. This is a major point behind "producing". Producers don't necessarily do much creative work themselves, but they make sure the creative work happens, and stuff is organized so that the full path to the customer is opened. Producers are important. WotC *produced* the product.

Someone with a different leaning would spin WotC outsourcing content production as a *good* thing - it is support and opportunity for game designers and writers outside WotC. Why is that bad?

Ok. What matters here is there are CLEARLY fans who want to see that WOTC plan to actively support the new edition beyond an outsourced hardcover AP every few months. There are some fans, not ALL fans, but some fans who have reservations because of WOTC tight-lipped attitude about their plans and goals. Seeing something, ANYTHING, from WOTC directly would ease SOME players concerns. It would simply be a gesture of good will on behalf of WOTC to the fans. A show of good faith. Actions speaking louder than words.

With that said, it's not a big deal. As someone said before Gen Con is right around the corner. As I said before I don't even blame WOTC and think Hasbro is dictating how things are handled. I'm simply saying if people are disappointed they have a right to their feelings and they aren't ENTIRELY unfounded.
 

By the way, Free Comic Book Day is only free for the consumer. The stores actually have to buy all those comics they're giving away. It's good for them because it increases footfall but they still have to invest into it.
I don't know how Free RPG Day works but it's worth considering before deciding whether the comparison between the two is fair. Anyone know?
 

Ok. What matters here is there are CLEARLY fans who want to see that WOTC plan to actively support the new edition beyond an outsourced hardcover AP every few months.

Indeed. I'm one of them. But there's a difference between wanting more from WotC and criticising them for producing nothing.

There are some fans, not ALL fans, but some fans who have reservations because of WOTC tight-lipped attitude about their plans and goals. Seeing something, ANYTHING, from WOTC directly

You're probably not going to like this, but... Dragon+ is the thing we're getting from WotC directly. Well, that and the Unearthed Arcana, Sage Advice and whatever other columns they produce.

For whatever reason, they seem to have decided that their printed RPG products will be written by contracted companies - Kobold Press, Sasquatch, and now Green Ronin.

But I really don't see how that's a big deal - companies use outside contractors all the time, and it's always been very common within the RPG industry and indeed from WotC. Indeed, Ed Greenwood has apparently never actually been an employee of TSR or WotC, but has rather always been freelance - does that in any way reduce the validity of Forgotten Realms?
 

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