Wizards of the Coast Head Explains Benefits to D&D Franchise Model

The move will allow for better cross-platform integration.
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The head of Wizards of the Coast believes that moving to a franchise model will allow for more alignment between D&D multimedia and the core D&D tabletop game. Recently, Wizards of the Coast president John Hight spoke with GameIndustry.biz in a wide-ranging interview about the gaming company. Much of the interview was spent on Wizards' digital gaming ambitions, but Hight did speak about the realignment of the company to a franchise model.

Under the franchise model, all D&D-related operations now run through Dan Ayoub as opposed to having different arms for entertainment, video games, and tabletop. In the interview, Hight stated that the franchise model would allow for better coordination - specifically between different aspects of the franchise. One example was the D&D movie, which had relatively limited crossover with the D&D tabletop game. "We'd love to have had a D&D book or campaign a part and parcel with the movie," he says.

He also noted that Stranger Things - which is receiving a new tie-in project next month - could be integrated more with the game. "It'd be nice to have that all lined up, so when this thing rolls out, we've got a campaign for you to enjoy that's something you saw on the show, or the characters in the show."

Additionally, Hight noted that another side to the franchise model is to fully align the digital and physical sides of play, which he hopes will lead to in-person play. "Unfortunately, because of COVID, there's a whole generation of gamers that has spent a good deal of their time playing only online," he said. "And they're re-discovering the joy of being able to play together. What I want us to be able to do is have players move fairly seamlessly between in person play and online play."

Elsewhere in the interview, Hight hinted at a new D&D MMORPG, stating that he has encouraged development of a new MMO but stopped shy of saying a project was officially in the works.

 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer

My memory is a little hazy on this on this because it was over a couple of decades ago, but didn't the original releases of Baldur's Gate 2 & Nevewinter Nights (2002) have relatively thick, spiral-bound manuals that included an extensive Players Handbook section?

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I miss big video game manuals. I still all the ones from the Ultima series saved on pdf.
 

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As far as I can tell it is a feature of management change. The movie studio buying and selling is under 2 different CEOs as far as I remember. A new person comes in and reverses or partially reverses what the previous guy did, is pretty common. Especially if the company is under pressure from investors.
As for Sigil, I think, too much is being made of Sigil here. It is a functional piece of software. I look at it occasionally. One can build maps. I have not tried to host a party since the original release where it was unstable. So, I do not know if those issues have been addressed. What I do notice, is that someone is fixing the odd bug and someone is adding assets to the thing. Also, the suggestion page is being updated.
It is not quite dead. What has never been clear to me is, who is this for? I have looked at Sigil and Tailspire and both of them are a ton more work to use than any 2D VTT. They are also more work on the player side compared to a 2D VTT or an actual videogame like BG3 or Solasta.
I am not sure I would use it even for free, even for a boss fight as compared to a 2d VTT. Especially since it is not integrated into Beyond.
I am also not sure I have any blame on WoTC management regarding the cancelling of Sigil. I am pretty sure I would have cancelled Sigil. I am somewhat amazed it got as far as it did anyway.
My problem with WotC management is starting Sigil as a product.
 



My problem with WotC management is starting Sigil as a product.
That is fair but it seems to be a problem in large organisations. Microsoft and other large software outfits suffered a lot from it back when I was a developer (probably still do). Of course, sometimes their best products came from such solo runs.
It may be that it was started before the decision to buy Beyond and allocated a budget and not looked at again until that budget was spent.
 

That is fair but it seems to be a problem in large organisations. Microsoft and other large software outfits suffered a lot from it back when I was a developer (probably still do). Of course, sometimes their best products came from such solo runs.
It may be that it was started before the decision to buy Beyond and allocated a budget and not looked at again until that budget was spent.
I remember some time before Wizards bought D&D Beyond when they had a survey about what kind of electronic tools and VTTs people were interested in. I don't recall the details, but I'm pretty sure 3D stuff was mentioned in it. So that might have been the start of Sigil.
 

I remember some time before Wizards bought D&D Beyond when they had a survey about what kind of electronic tools and VTTs people were interested in. I don't recall the details, but I'm pretty sure 3D stuff was mentioned in it. So that might have been the start of Sigil.
Certainly could have been part of the genesis for Sigil. I think a lot of people like the idea of a 3D VTT, but in practice I've found that they don't add much to the overall experience when taking into account all the background work you have to do for each session.
 

Certainly could have been part of the genesis for Sigil. I think a lot of people like the idea of a 3D VTT, but in practice I've found that they don't add much to the overall experience when taking into account all the background work you have to do for each session.
If somebody gave me a fully featured, ready-to-rock, 3D VTT that was easy to use as a DM and as a player . . . I'd give that a run!

But it's hard to make happen, seeing as nobody's really done it yet. The 3D VTTs that are out there currently all seem like more trouble than they are worth, or too expensive, or both.

I don't have a problem, as some do, that WotC dared to give a 3D VTT a try, I'm not surprised that they gave it a whirl, and I'm not surprised they failed to make it viable. Oh well.
 

If somebody gave me a fully featured, ready-to-rock, 3D VTT that was easy to use as a DM and as a player . . . I'd give that a run!

But it's hard to make happen, seeing as nobody's really done it yet. The 3D VTTs that are out there currently all seem like more trouble than they are worth, or too expensive, or both.

I don't have a problem, as some do, that WotC dared to give a 3D VTT a try, I'm not surprised that they gave it a whirl, and I'm not surprised they failed to make it viable. Oh well.
My thoughts too. It could be cool but even 2d maps can be a pain to use. You'd have to have a bunch of ready to use pieces you could just assemble or similar which is what they were indicating.

I'm not sure it's possible today, perhaps with an AI assistant it might be possible someday.
 

If somebody gave me a fully featured, ready-to-rock, 3D VTT that was easy to use as a DM and as a player . . . I'd give that a run!

But it's hard to make happen, seeing as nobody's really done it yet. The 3D VTTs that are out there currently all seem like more trouble than they are worth, or too expensive, or both.

I don't have a problem, as some do, that WotC dared to give a 3D VTT a try, I'm not surprised that they gave it a whirl, and I'm not surprised they failed to make it viable. Oh well.
I think that they are really only doable with some kind of AI. Draw a 2D map and the AI makes it 3d. Use some kind of natural language interface to tweak the map, perhaps add elevation. Provide the DM the ability to add custom decor (or the AI can do it).

Or something that would work at different scales. So the party is hex crawling on a map some 100 hexes square at about 4km per hex. Enter a hex and the AI determines from a table 1 to 3 things of interest but once selected it remembers any element that is fixed in the terrain (caves, streams, hill, ruins, etc), any significant creatures in the area and in the nearby hexes.
If there is a potential encounter, then at the referee's discretion the map zooms in to determine if the one or the other side evades contact and if there is an encounter give an appropriate 3d encounter map.
 

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