WotC's Nathan Stewart: "Story, Story, Story"; and IS D&D a Tabletop Game?

Forbes spoke to WotC's Brand Director & Executive Producer for Dungeons & Dragons, who talked about the 5th Edition launch and his vision for D&D's future. The interview is fairly interesting - it confirms or repeats some information we already know, and also delves a little into the topic of D&D as a wider brand, rather than as a tabletop roleplaying game.

In the interview, he reiterates previous statements that this is the biggest D&D launch ever, in terms of both money and units sold.

[lq]We are story, story, story. The story drives everything.[/lq]

He repeats WoTC's emphasis on storylines, confirming the 1-2 stories per year philosphy. "We are story, story, story. The story drives everything. The need for new rules, the new races, new classes is just based on what’s going to really make this adventure, this story, this kind kind of theme happen." He goes on to say that "We’re not interested in putting out more books for books’ sake... there’s zero plans for a Player’s Handbook 2 any time on the horizon."

As for settings, he confirms that "we’re going to stay in the Forgotten Realms for the foreseeable future." That'll disappoint some folks, I'm sure, but it is their biggest setting, commercially.

Stewart is not "a hundred percent comfortable" with the status of digital tools because he felt like "we took a great step backwards."

[lq]Dungeons and Dragons stopped being a tabletop game years or decades ago. [/lq]

His thoughts on D&D's identity are interesting, too. He mentions that "Dungeons and Dragons stopped being a tabletop game years or decades ago". I'm not sure what that means. His view for the future of the brand includes video games, movies, action figures, and more: "This is no secret for anyone here, but the big thing I want to see is just a triple-A RPG video game. I want to see Baldur’s Gate 3, I want to see a huge open-world RPG. I would love movies about Dungeons and Dragons, or better yet, serialized entertainment where we’re doing seasons of D&D stories and things like Forgotten Realms action figures… of course I’d love that, I’m the biggest geek there is. But at the end of the day, the game’s what we’re missing in the portfolio."

You can read the full interview here.

 

[billd91]

Why should gamers use the corporate metric? What value does it bring to my table when deciding on games to run?

It doesn't, at least not directly. However, it does seem to have had an impact on 4e's product line - so if you had been anticipating an upcoming 4e release when they started clearing the product list, that corporate metric and 4e's relationship to it may have left you disappointed. Moreover, history informs the decisions of the present. 5e's trajectory and support may be based on lessons learned from the 4e experience. Again, that may not directly affect your decisions, but it may have an impact on how satisfied you are with certain games you may choose to buy and play.

 

[Umbran]

Imaro and Hussar,

You guys know better. Your continued protestations of non-partisanship and innocence, all while continuing a conflict, ring false. Please stop it, or it will be stopped for you.

The rest of you,

Several of you are wandering into either edition warring or company-bashing territory. If your goal here is really just to say bad things about a company or game, you probably want to stop now - that is not discussion in good faith, and leads to arguments, and that means we have to come down on you for it. Please save us the trouble.

Clear enough, folks? If not, please take it to e-mail or PM. Thanks.

 

[Mistwell]

Okay this line is a little confusing... why are a character builder and monster builder tool not well-suited to a 5e style of rules and gaming?

Because the focus of 5e isn't on adding and subtracting bonuses, at least not nearly as much as 4e. Instead you have a lot of advantage and disadvantage, and a lot of text adders like personality traits, and then even when you have numerical adders it's things like double proficiency rather than a straight +2. Combined with the lack of a powers system and the uniformity of the aeud system, the emphasis on rulings over rules, the lack of emphasis on a grid, and it's just not well suited to 5e rules and gaming. You'd just need to tweak too much to make it worth it.

Don't get me wrong, I think DDI was really great. I know a lot of people say WOTC has never done a digital tool well, and DDI had a rocky roll-out, but by the end of 4e I thought DDI was a truly terrific set of tools that had been programmed well and was quite usable. I felt I was getting my money's worth and then some out of it.

And I am not saying a digital tool couldn't be done for 5e (it could), I just think it would work better if done from scratch rather than as a patch on the DDI system. I don't see the existing DDI as a good fit, as a basic platform, for this kind of rules set.

 

[Iosue]

I agree with Mistwell. The DDI software is old, it was designed to be used on Windows machines for 4e. WotC tried to create a new version that was compatible across various platforms. The was Dungeonscape, and unfortunately it fell through. So they've had to start over. But I have no doubt they will eventually release a subscription service for electronic tools. Maybe they'll end up revising the old DDI set-up, or start from scratch with something completely new. But despite 5e being out, and the 4e books being out of print, DDI is still up and running, still available from their webpage, and they expressed a willingness to keep it up as long as people are willing to subscribe. That suggests to me that it's still bringing in a hefty chunk of change.

 

[aramis erak]

Why should gamers use the corporate metric? What value does it bring to my table when deciding on games to run?

Use them? No particular need.
Be aware of them? the need is very real.

Because, when a game is owned by a major corporation, their evaluation determines continued availability of core rules. Being a fan of a number of OOP games, it's a bit of a pain for new players. Finding used copies gets harder and harder. If your players want copies, it makes a huge difference.

Some small press games remain in print for decades; others remain available from the publisher until a hurricane destroys the stocks in the designer/publisher's garage. Big names, however, not so much.

 

[Halivar]

Because, when a game is owned by a major corporation, their evaluation determines continued availability of core rules. Being a fan of a number of OOP games, it's a bit of a pain for new players. Finding used copies gets harder and harder. If your players want copies, it makes a huge difference.

Some small press games remain in print for decades; others remain available from the publisher until a hurricane destroys the stocks in the designer/publisher's garage. Big names, however, not so much.

I'm not sure. Theoretically, yes, but not in practice, IMHXP. Aside from D&D Classics, I can run down to my local 2nd & Charles and get a hardcover of just about every book put out for either 4E or 3.x (though, not surprisingly, the Palladium section dwarfs them both).

 

[Shasarak]

Okay this line is a little confusing... why are a character builder and monster builder tool not well-suited to a 5e style of rules and gaming?

My guess is because "feel" is hard to program in to computer builder tool.

 

[Imaro]

My guess is because "feel" is hard to program in to computer builder tool.

I understood, if not necessarily agreed with the other answers I got for this question... but not really getting this one... how does feel factor into creating characters (by the book) or monsters (by the book)...

 

[Shasarak]

I understood, if not necessarily agreed with the other answers I got for this question... but not really getting this one... how does feel factor into creating characters (by the book) or monsters (by the book)...

Because, unlike say 4e, when you build monsters in 5e there is no set standard. You ask yourself do I feel that this monster should be tougher, faster, bigger and then you adjust the stats to give the feel that you want.

 

[billd91]

Because, unlike say 4e, when you build monsters in 5e there is no set standard. You ask yourself do I feel that this monster should be tougher, faster, bigger and then you adjust the stats to give the feel that you want.

I'm not sure that should be all that much harder to code. All you'd have to do is allow customization by DM input, that input is then used to calculate an estimated CR, and let the DM override that, if desired, with the CR he wants to apply for the final output.