WotC Wizard's Future Plans Has 3 Big Problems: Ft. The Professor of Tolarion Community College

[Maxperson]

@Scribe

Sure, I just disagree with the characterization.

IMO it’s a good thing that 5e setting books are light manuals on running games with certain themes and assumptions that differ from the standard. I’d rather have that than the splintered lines of 2e or even the hodgepodge of 3.5 or the constant flow of new lore from 4e.

Calling the Spelljammer setting material light is a gross overstatement. Once you get past the races, subclasses, backgrounds, etc. that aren't setting, and past all the ship pictures and info, which also isn't setting, you have less than 10 pages of setting material in the setting book and 6 of those are the Rock of Braal and 1 or 2 are the astral sea.

Light setting material would have been a huge step up from what we got.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Calling the Spelljammer setting material light is a gross overstatement. Once you get past the races, subclasses, backgrounds, etc. that aren't setting, and past all the ship pictures and info, which also isn't setting, you have less than 10 pages of setting material in the setting book and 6 of those are the Rock of Braal and 1 or 2 are the astral sea.

Light setting material would have been a huge step up from what we got.

Ah yes, all those things that have setting lore in their writeups and tell you who populates the setting and how they interrelate are…not setting. /s

 

[Minigiant]

I think the 5e setting book and supplement book style idea is perfect in theory.

You'd get

1. A nice size lore chunk
2. A new race or 2
3. A pair of new subclasses
4. A chunk of themed monster
5. A short adventure
6. A subsystem

This gives everyone a hook to buy the book even if it isn't the setting you love or match the world you are playing. A DM might grab the monsters for a dungeon or random encounter, incorporate the system for an element of the campaign, or tuck a new race or class in an "unexplored" area to freshen up the wonder. The player got a new race and class for when their PC dies.

The issue of the past is that books were tailored fully to either players or DMs or fully to single settings where you couldn't import them into an existing campaign. This is what made books complete. Late Stage 5e is returning to that by cutting out number out the books while producing more books. Or in the case of Strixhaven, straight up not futureproofing your game design.

 

[Maxperson]

Ah yes, all those things that have setting lore in their writeups and tell you who populates the setting and how they interrelate are…not setting. /s

The setting is sailing through space and visiting worlds. Race and class are not setting. Where you adventure in is setting.

Looking at the Spelljammer races.

Astral Elf is just an elf that lives on the astral plane. There's literally not one word in their lore that indicates that they sail between worlds.

Autognome also says nothing at all about spelljamming. Their lore is entirely about being built by a creator and getting separated from that creator at some point.

Giff have two paragraphs dealing kinda sorta with spelljamming, so I'll count it. We're still under 10 pages of material in the setting book.

Hadozee have part of one paragraph.

Plasmoids have nothing at all spelljammer related.

Thri-Kreen have nothing spelljammer related.

Then we get some rules dealing with sailing in space, but those rules are not setting. They're just rules. Magic items are likewise not setting. The ships are not setting, unless you plan confining your setting to the ship and going no further, but then that's not really different than being on a ship in the middle of some ocean.

When it comes to actual setting material in the setting book, where you'd go to adventure or interact with something spelljammery, there are 6 pages dealing with one city on one asteroid and 2 pages dealing with the astral sea. That's it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The setting is sailing through space and visiting worlds. Race and class are not setting. Where you adventure in is setting.

Looking at the Spelljammer races.

Astral Elf is just an elf that lives on the astral plane. There's literally not one word in their lore that indicates that they sail between worlds.

Autognome also says nothing at all about spelljamming. Their lore is entirely about being built by a creator and getting separated from that creator at some point.

Giff have two paragraphs dealing kinda sorta with spelljamming, so I'll count it. We're still under 10 pages of material in the setting book.

Hadozee have part of one paragraph.

Plasmoids have nothing at all spelljammer related.

Thri-Kreen have nothing spelljammer related.

Then we get some rules dealing with sailing in space, but those rules are not setting. They're just rules. Magic items are likewise not setting. The ships are not setting, unless you plan confining your setting to the ship and going no further, but then that's not really different than being on a ship in the middle of some ocean.

When it comes to actual setting material in the setting book, where you'd go to adventure or interact with something spelljammery, there are 6 pages dealing with one city on one asteroid and 2 pages dealing with the astral sea. That's it.

Then Phandolin isn’t setting because you are probably going to leave it lol.

It’s fantasy space, they give you fantasy spaceships (and yes, ships are setting) and the people that crew them, and the central hub settlement that is basically the New York of fantasy space.

That’s what is needed to play D&D in Spelljammer.

 

[Oofta]

Okay, let's look at the video's three claims:

1. WotC is starting to churn out more D&D product with thinner content. They did release more books this year than last (though I think it is misleading of Will to include the new Starter Set as a new "book" in the sense that he is talking about, because obviously a new starter adventure is not going to introduce playable races and subclasses. Also, that is a really weird metric by which to measure the value of new content: I am perfectly happy if a new adventure relies just on material from the MM and PHB; I just want it to be a good adventure).

In general, this section relies on deceptive tactics, such as when he edits footage of D&D from Stranger Things etc. with The Professor talking about disrespect for the game, and WotC pushing subpar product out, unlike in the good old days. This was confusing because I assume The Professor knows that no one was more guilty of product churn than TSR, but it became clear by the end of his comment that The Professor was, at that point, specifically talking about Magic the Gathering, not D&D. Will just edited The Professor's comments to make them look more supportive of his own thesis.

Is this a good thesis? I dunno, releasing 6 books as opposed to 4 is not a massive surge; it is hardly comparable to the Magic $999 anniversary sets. But Will seems to conclude that this is not a huge issue anyway, so let's move on.

2. Here he actually presents two theses. The first is that WotC doesn't treat online influencers right. Debatable and it came off as self-serving, so, I dunno. It frankly felt whiney so I don't think he should have gone there - this would be a point much better discussed from a more objective perspective. But his second issue is much stronger, which is that WotC is undermining FLGS by increasingly switching to direct sales to consumers.

This is a much more complex issue than Will represents. Basically, he argues that WotC is abandoning the FLGS to Paizo, which is a "disaster long term for Wizards." First, I don't think it is true that WotC is ceding this turf. But the bigger issue, which he doesn't address, is that a large corporation cannot rely brick and mortar stores the way they used to, and that problem will only increase. That sucks to write, because I love FLGS and I shop at them as much as possible.

He cites "leaks" that tell us how much WotC hates its fans which...let's just say DnDShorts should not be bringing this topic up, because he still hasn't apologized for spreading misinformation from his "leaks." This segues into his third point about community relations and...

Okay. Will got egg on his face with his shoddy reporting and he seems to be responding by doubling down. If his channel is going to become another source of constant negativity about the game, that's fine. It just won't be for me anymore.

I started watching and writing something very similar, but I just ... ran out of energy. While I'm not the target for most modules (I rarely use them) equating more subclasses and spells equals good product is a really poor equation. Who is the module for? If it's an adventure, why does it need to include new game rules? Can't it just be a good adventure? They may be waiting for the 2024 edition and slowing down on new rules for a reason. As far as the number of books being too high (or was it too low?) does no one remember the book-a-month club we had for previous editions? Throw in the nonsensical "companies can't grow forever and this will lead to DISASTER! DISASTER I TELL YOU!" Selling books is not where the big money is anyway. Yes, sales of D&D products will slow down, that's why they want to branch out.

Oh, and shocking news that we can get a 1-shot adventure for $1.00. Like ... is this anything new or different? How, in any way, is a 1-shot that could be presumably played in a few hours comparable to a set of rules which can turn into years of play? Throw in some self-aggrandizing claims of being personally responsible for the growth of the game and not liking the free swag they got. Showing a game store with 2 customers wandering otherwise empty that was supposed to indicate that stores are the gateway (and here I thought it was streaming) while not acknowledging the simple fact that times change.

In any case ... pretty much pure clickbait conflating MtG with D&D while making dubious claims. I have no idea what the future holds. This video did nothing to enlighten me.

 

[bedir than]

From DnD Shorts Featuring The Professor of Tolarion Community College.

Now big names in the D&D & MtG Communities are teaming up to give Hasbro & WotC crap.

Why are we still featuring DnD Shorts as if they haven't been a liar incapable of truth for the past eight weeks? Their leaks were unverifiable naughty word that did active harm to the game at tables. The rare "truth" featured was stuff that appeared in quarterly business meetings as on record conversations.

To continue to elevate a liar and grifter like this is unethical.

 

[jerryrice4949]

Why are we still featuring DnD Shorts as if they haven't been a liar incapable of truth for the past eight weeks? Their leaks were unverifiable naughty word that did active harm to the game at tables. The rare "truth" featured was stuff that appeared in quarterly business meetings as on record conversations.

To continue to elevate a liar and grifter like this is unethical.

It is obviously just clickbait but angry disinformation draws views for most things apparently TTRPGs included sadly.

 

[Reynard]

I think people of the generation generally represented on this board think of "settings" in big hardbound book form (or, potentially, boxed sets). For example, lots of folks disliked certain changes in Ravenloft, but no one said it wasn't a proper setting book. And while folks bemoaned the PDF only Eberron "book", Rising from the Last War is pretty much universally loved.

For this particular subset of the Fandom, the bare bones setting presentation of Spelljammer and Dragonlance just doesn't cut it. But, I would wager we aren't the majority of the customer base, and we're shrinking every day.

So it is perfectly reasonable to say that the Spelljammer style is "bad" but that doesn't mean it's "wrong" if you catch my meaning

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I think people of the generation generally represented on this board think of "settings" in big hardbound book form (or, potentially, boxed sets). For example, lots of folks disliked certain changes in Ravenloft, but no one said it wasn't a proper setting book. And while folks bemoaned the PDF only Eberron "book", Rising from the Last War is pretty much universally loved.

For this particular subset of the Fandom, the bare bones setting presentation of Spelljammer and Dragonlance just doesn't cut it. But, I would wager we aren't the majority of the customer base, and we're shrinking every day.

So it is perfectly reasonable to say that the Spelljammer style is "bad" but that doesn't mean it's "wrong" if you catch my meaning

We aren't that rare, and less experienced fans do listen when we say WotC did a half assed job on these products.