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.

 

[Beleriphon]

Perfect fodder for a monster-of-the-week episodic series.

I gotta say that's the strength of D&D, the monsters more than anything. There are a few decidely D&D monsters as well. The Behold, Mind Flayers, and the Gith races are the ones that stick out for me more than anything. How amazing would a really, really well done behold look in a movie? Turn the volume on the MM cover up to 11 and I think it would make a pretty amazing movie monster.

 

[Umbran]

Obviously, he's the only one that can sing.

Not true. Potter has a Broadway-quality voice. Dude can cut a rug, too...

[video]https://youtu.be/69WpCBLrdSQ[/video]

 

[Tony Vargas]

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.... we’re going to stay in the Forgotten Realms for the foreseeable future.

Dungeons and Dragons stopped being a tabletop game years or decades ago... 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.

We know that many of our readers are looking forward to 4th Edition. We still plan to release an entire line of 4th Edition products through our partnership with Necromancer Games, including a brand new Tome of Horrors hardcover monster anthology, adventures, and other exciting products. (Much of this support will depend, of course, upon the terms of the still-in-development Game System License from Wizards of the Coast, but we remain hopeful that Paizo will be a major player in the 4th Edition arena as well.) But we believe that the 3.5 rules provide the best core system for our Pathfinder products, best allowing us to tell the kinds of stories you've come to expect from us.

It's a testimony to how much better Paizo has done at managing their relationship with their fanbase, that, a quote of some WotC rep reciting some fairly meaningless marketing/PR talking points, spawns hundreds of comments that at least imply that WotC is being deceptive, if not outright scream that they're lying.

But a quote of some Paizo rep reciting some relatively meaningless marketing/PR talking points, isn't just received appreciatively at the time, but seven years later, can be brought up as 'proof' of their noble motives and sincerity, even though it transparently left their options open, and they ultimately only exercised one of those options.


It's a remarkable PR accomplishment. If it weren't in such an obscure industry, business majors would probably be reading case studies of it for the next 20 years.



Personally - and maybe I'm just cynical - I look at both cases and see empty marketing speak. Nothing to crow over. Nothing to get upset over. No evidence of 'real' motivations - beyond CYA & ROI - and no confirmations, affirmations, validations or denials of the many things we obsess over.

 

[Morrus]

It's a testimony to how much better Paizo has done at managing their relationship with their fanbase, that, a quote of some WotC rep reciting some fairly meaningless marketing/PR talking points, spawns hundreds of comments that at least imply that WotC is being deceptive, if not outright scream that they're lying.

But a quote of some Paizo rep reciting some relatively meaningless marketing/PR talking points, isn't just received appreciatively at the time, but seven years later, can be brought up as 'proof' of their noble motives and sincerity, even though it transparently left their options open, and they ultimately only exercised one of those options.


It's a remarkable PR accomplishment. If it weren't in such an obscure industry, business majors would probably be reading case studies of it for the next 20 years.



Personally - and maybe I'm just cynical - I look at both cases and see empty marketing speak. Nothing to crow over. Nothing to get upset over. No evidence of 'real' motivations - beyond CYA & ROI - and no confirmations, affirmations, validations or denials of the many things we obsess over.

I'd say the opposite. If your every utterance, no matter how trivial, sends people into long debates about what you mean, your PR is top notch. Companies would kill to have their every utterance seized upon in this way. It confirms that the fans are passionate and that they care.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I'd say the opposite. If your every utterance, no matter how trivial, sends people into long debates about what you mean, your PR is top notch. Companies would kill to have their every utterance seized upon in this way. It confirms that the fans are passionate and that they care.

"No such thing as bad publicity?" Interesting point. Maybe the whole 'failure' and 'revival' of D&D were just ploys to generate buzz, so the Brand could take another shot at expanding beyond the TTRPG space?

 

[Staffan]

"No such thing as bad publicity?" Interesting point. Maybe the whole 'failure' and 'revival' of D&D were just ploys to generate buzz, so the Brand could take another shot at expanding beyond the TTRPG space?

4e as New Coke?

 

[raphaelus]

Adding those "adapt your setting" chapters like in 'Princes of the Apocalypse' while staying in Forgotten Realms is an EXCELLENT idea.

 

[Tony Vargas]

4e as New Coke?

And 5e as coke-classic? It's not a perfect analogy.

Coke wanted to change from sugar to corn syrup, because the latter is cheaper (in the USA), so they launched 'New Coke' with lots of corn syrup, then after most people hadn't tasted old coke in a while (and raged against the New Coke), they brought back 'Coke Classic' - with corn syrup, just less of it. The taste difference between sugar-sweetened coke and corn-syrup coke classic is subtle, but with New Coke to hate on, coke classic was good enough. In the process, they also won extra shelf space, which may or may not have been part of the the plan, but led to a proliferation of soft drink products for a while.

Corn syrup and sugar are both pretty bad for you, there's a perception, maybe a little evidence, that corn syrup is worse. So Coke sneaking it into their premier product for the cost savings is maybe a tad unpleasant.

But, the 'corn syrup' in this analogy is game balance. 4e was much better-balanced than other eds of D&D, and 3.5 had arguably become the worst-balanced ever (it's hard to say, since earlier eds were hard to evaluate). 5e, riding in after a 2-year hiatus, with 4e for contrast, looks like it's back to being really imbalanced, maybe even to the level of AD&D (though, again, AD&D was so often and heavily modded, it's hard to say what it was 'really' like - and 5e is meant to be that way, too), but 5e doesn't suffer from 3.5's bloat and power inflation, and isn't likely to right away, with it's slower pace of publication.

The analogy falls short because imbalance is bad for you game, and balance good, while sugar is bad for your body, and corn syrup possibly even worse - and balance is more expensive, not less. And, more to the point, because WotC didn't set out to insert balance, but to sell DDI and make MMO-like piles of money.

 

[Kramodlog]

"No such thing as bad publicity?" Interesting point. Maybe the whole 'failure' and 'revival' of D&D were just ploys to generate buzz, so the Brand could take another shot at expanding beyond the TTRPG space?

No. That sort of conspiracy is way too risky for any business. Paizo becoming a major player illustrate the sort of risks taking a dive can conjure up.

And sure, publicity is good, good publicity is better. I'm sure a lot of business would want the level of exposure D&D gets, but I'm sure WotC would like to be less divisive. The print on demand booklet seems to be an improvised response to comments about disappointement in the release schedule.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The print on demand booklet seems to be an improvised response to comments about disappointement in the release schedule.

It's not the first time Mearls has scheduled a release, cancelled it, then released it digitally for free. The Class Compendium for Essentials was an even more dramatic example.