D&D General WotC Asks What Makes YOU Play Dungeons and Dragons?

WotC has a new survey asking about what you want from D&D -- "Extra extra! The D&D team wants to know what makes YOU play Dungeons & Dragons! The open world? Character customization? Shared storytelling with friends? Iconic art? Take our survey and help shape the future of what we're working on at Wzards. Please share to help us spread the word and hear from more fans."

https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5231853/pas?sglocale=en

 

[Doctor Futurity]

So true! I have gamed with at least one person who spoke to me earnestly about how he liked the design quality of Warhammer Fantasy because it was so inspired by World of Warcraft. Thankfully it turns out the muscles in your eyes don't let you eye roll so hard you can injure yourself.....

 

[Tony Vargas]

Oh, wow, it actually dares to ask about the Warlord! I mean, only if it's in your top 3 favorite classes, which, considering the Big 4, is sure to result in very low numbers for everything but the Fighter, Rogue, Wizard and Cleric, in that order.
Not "what class would you like to see next?" Which might, even after 5 years of stonewalling run a tiny risk of a positive response.

Even so, this is the first time the Warlord has appeared in an official Poll since the Next Playtest was announced!

D&D Survey

D&D Survey.

www.surveygizmo.com

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I totally get what you're saying here, and the problem is that it's a bad premise. Not having a "unifying theme" does not make a fantasy setting in any way "bad". Some of the best fantasy settings do not have a "unifying theme". The Forgotten Realms does not have, and never has had, a "unifying theme". Nor does Greyhawk. It was developed piecemeal and remains such. Dragonlance is arguable at best, and is an inferior setting in virtually every regard to those two that don't have themes. There's no world in which Warhammer has no unifying theme and the FR does. There are plenty where neither does.

To me, if you don't have a unifying theme, your setting risks being unfocused and uninspired. And I do believe Greyhawk and FR have those same flaws (although the former is at least more consistent in tone), but those settings are built for TTRPG while WHFB is built for wargaming.

I just flat disagree with the Dragonlance comment; if you want a High Fantasy setting where you're PCs are the "chosen ones" meant to defeat the forces of darkness, you are playing it exactly correct.

AoS' setting has one advantage in that it lets them add a lot of new stuff. But that's just shoving more stuff into the "hodgepodge" you were complaining about, and each new element makes things less "coherent". But it's cool. It's just like, don't complain about hodgepodges and then big-up AoS! It's like saying boxing is too violent and then proclaiming your love for MMA.

Again, you're missing the point; AoS does have it's unique theme of being a cosmic conflict between gods of different alignments and portfolio, where mortals need to struggle to survive in the wake of this unending war.

Having a unique and distinct theme is very different than having a bunch of "stuff" in it. AoS has a lot of stuff (right now probably equivalent or perhaps more than its predecessor); it still has a much better defined theme than WHFB.

I think you're confusing theme with material. A setting can have a lot of material but still be thematically consistent (AoS, Planescape, Spelljammer), have a lot of material and not have a consistent theme (Forgotten Realms, WHFB), or have less material and no consistent theme (Nentir Vale), or less material and a consistent theme (Dragonlance).

 

[Ashrym]

There were some weird questions in there which did worry me a little bit like "Do you create your own PCs?". I mean what the foo-foo excuse me? Do you think my valet creates my PCs for me or something? That's awful - obviously he gets his own character!

A list of pregen characters in the back of a module was a thing for some time, and some DM's will offer pre-rolled characters to players, especially new players.

I wouldn't confuse something offered to make things run quickly as the same thing as actively denying the option of creating your own character.

Oh, wow, it actually dares to ask about the Warlord! I mean, only if it's in your top 3 favorite classes, which, considering the Big 4, is sure to result in very low numbers for everything but the Fighter, Rogue, Wizard and Cleric, in that order.

Having included fighter and rogue in my 3 I cannot deny that expectation.

 

[Barantor]

I often struggle with WHFB to find a unifying theme that is very unique. That doesn't make it a bad setting, and again I think it worked for the miniatures battle game it was (not as well as AoS which has no surpassed its predecessor in sales). But when playing a fantasy TTRPG I'd probably pick Greyhawk or FR or Dragonlance instead, which have better defined themes.

The unifying theme of the (old non AoS) world is Order vs Chaos with Chaos having a very real chance of winning if allowed to and still managing to get everywhere.

There are some shared commonalities with D&D and Warhammer, but Warhammer is a very unique universe and very well fleshed out when the likes of Carl Sargent got writing adventures for WFRPG 1E. We owe WFRPG the first successful multi-book narrative adventure campaign via "The Enemy Within".

Warhammer does things differently and that's ok and it has had it's own influence on fantasy as a whole (orcs are green!). To say that Fantasy RPGs borrow from each other is like saying each song ever written was done so in a bubble.

I find it odd when folks say that Forgotten Realms has a theme, it's pretty well muddied nowadays, just like Warhammer has gotten.

 

[Sacrosanct]

The best thing about UA were the pics of the polearms in the back. In the days before the internet and your library didn’t have a medieval reference book, that was gold.

 

[Doug McCrae]

None of it is "truly original" (even all the Chaos stuff is inspired by Michael Moorcock's books, albeit really heavily developed - Moorcock is also why D&D has Lawful and Chaotic alignments, note, and the planar structure it does)

The concept of Chaos in Warhammer comes mostly from RuneQuest and Moorcock imo with a side order of D&D. RuneQuest gets it from the creation myths of many different cultures, such as ancient Greece and Mesopotamia. The idea of Chaos as a vast realm, older than the mundane world we know that sometimes breaks into it is from RuneQuest. In Moorcock Chaos, Law, and the Balance are omnipresent forces that are in a state of constant conflict across the multiverse. WFRP's five alignment system - Law, Good, Neutral, Evil, Chaos - derives from D&D.

Chaos and Law in 1974 OD&D probably derive from Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. Chaos at this point is the same as evil, and Law is good. 1e AD&D then adds Moorcockian Law and Chaos (and the old Law and Chaos are renamed Good and Evil) to get the nine alignment system.

 

[aco175]

Me too! Now, I am curious about the questions people got after giving their age.

It was a secret question, something about Fight Club;

Nah, it was about weather I liked gnomes and paladins;

Nah, I'm old and it kicked me out as well.

 

[S'mon]

I found the "What properties have you played/play" section pretty interesting. Looking at that list (Dark Souls, Shadow of Mordor, Warhammer) made me think it D&D is thinking of pursuing more partnerships with different IPs products like the one they did with Rick and Morty.

I mean, I'd be pretty happy if D&D did an accompanying product for the Elden Ring, or even the world of League of Legends... or hell, hit me with some Breath of the Wild!

Looking forward to my Elder Scrolls 5e D&D Campaign Setting hardback!

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I didn't get the age question until the form said 99% complete, and that was the last one for me.