So, to address the PR-nighmare commentary. What has WOTC done in the past year (or so) that's been a "good look"?
There's not a lot to my mind and the only thing I can name that speaks to good long-term strategy is (potentially) the VTT. That's a smart business move, completely necessary and I'll also hazard way behind the curve. That's a reactive move, certainly not something from a proactive market leader*.
I tend to fall into the camp of WOTC basher, they've squandered all my goodwill and after PR Incident #... I just gave up caring - I'll keep my Premium Membership until this Campaign's done. The issue is, it's not just another knock to my goodwill, it's cumulative. DDB's likely swingy on its bias, it IS a D&D forum after all, but anecdotally, I don't see much goodwill or excitement towards D&D products or WOTC in general. My general feelings - are on par with backing a bad-Kickstarter project. Things aren't on time, stupid stuff's been said and done publicly and the product's not of the quality it was hyped to be. On the plus side... Starting to bring in third party content is something I can "buy into" mentally as a good move. I'm a bit baffled as to why Grim Hollow Campaign and not Campaign Setting... but I suspect the long-term strategy here is to move away from READING as a core skill for PLAYING D&D.
* Foundry, Above, Owlbear - so many VTT's up and running, choose your preferred flavour, but it's absolutely shocking that there's nothing - even (and I'm not knocking Owlbear) at the "basic" level of Owlbear Rodeo available.
I'm pretty bullish on the VTT. Stephen Glicker and Mark Seifter from Roll for Combat did a stream about it, having gotten to try the newest version that was unveiled to select people at PAX Unplugged a couple of weeks ago. They were notoriously negative on WotC the first time they got to see it during D&D Direct, but Glicker is insisting that it's come quite a long way since then.
The video is long but I'll probably type up a summary later on at some point (I'm off work for the rest of the year so nothing better to do, lel.)
So, to address the PR-nighmare commentary. What has WOTC done in the past year (or so) that's been a "good look"?
There's not a lot to my mind and the only thing I can name that speaks to good long-term strategy is (potentially) the VTT. That's a smart business move, completely necessary and I'll also hazard way behind the curve. That's a reactive move, certainly not something from a proactive market leader*.
Yeah, well the movie overall wasn't bad, but I think the directors should have had some PR people vetting their public commentary. Everybody's got their woke-detectors running non-stop these days. My biggest annoyance was the film's opening that prominently displayed the title "Hasbro's" Dungeons & Dragons. I was like, "What? Shouldn't you be giving credit to Gygax and Arneson? Maybe even Ed Greenwood who created Forgotten Realms, the setting the movie takes place in." [REDACTED]
But there were definitely some worse WotC scandals that happened this year. I've been playing D&D (yes, I used "&") since the 1980's and I would like to see the game returned to its former glory, but my confidence is pretty low at this point.
He makes a good point of comparing Nintendo to Hasbro. The Nintendo CEO chose to take a pay cut (and presumably ordered some other execs to accept a pay cut as well) instead of laying off scores of employees. That speaks to how, in Japan, the patronage system of corporations is to look out for employees like family as opposed to the norm in US business where "family" is more a euphemism from HR. This norm is not without it's detractors, however, as some business analysts claim that this is one of the major reasons for Japan's decades-long recession.
I've got to say, I strongly disagree on the film. [REDACTED] My problem with the film was that it was boring, Grant was the high comedic point, Chris Pine and Rodrigues seemed to be going through the motions and the script was bad. The rest of the cast were just incidental non-characters that I really didn't care about at all. There was no verve to the script. Think of The Simpsons, that works on a few different levels, there's jokes in there for adults that kids won't get, you can still enjoy it as an adult. The film really didn't have that and the "most exciting" parts were all in the trailer - Gelatinous Cube "cool", but so what? Yeah, there were Easter Eggs for "us fans", but little more than "I recognise that" and they may well have also been the places for some actual comedic elements. Also, the CGI bizarrely seemed to get better as the film went on. It felt like that element started off weak and actually improved by the end of the film. That just destablised my suspension of disbelief and I'm a fan of the hobby that went into the film hopeful.
I felt it over-reached towards the tween market, there was no grit to it whatsoever and off the back of the "humour" there's little to be gained from repeat viewings. I really doubt there'll be a kid introduced to the hobby that will be citing the film as their favoutite hook into D&D in 10 years. Hell, at least I can be "not sober" and actually enjoy the first couple of films in their stupid, cheap and cheesy glory. At least I'm laughing with them, not them laughing at me.
3/10 - if you had a child capable of sitting through a film that length, they probably would have enjoyed it. Anyway, I digress and please, that's not aimed as a personal attack at all - gimme a whole bunch of consultancy money and I'll tell you my plan for a series ;)
Supplementary thought: WH40K's got a greenlight. I'd argue there is a market for a good D&D tv series.
So, to address the PR-nighmare commentary. What has WOTC done in the past year (or so) that's been a "good look"?
I think, overall, the playtest has been a good look for Wizards from a PR standpoint. It is getting tens of thousands of votes--the playtests are getting vastly more votes than the OGL poll ever did, so it appears it is being much more positively received than the OGL was negatively received by the actual non-internet public.
Wizards was the largest contributor to Extra Life this year, raising over a third of a million dollars across their two properties, and $100,000 more than the next highest contributor.
Wizards released their most popular Magic: the Gathering sets of all time. And, while there are some overpowered cards in the LotR set causing some balance issues, the set was still overwhelmingly received positively and the LotR IP brought a lot of positive attention to the game.
A fair number of the D&D releases this year were fairly well received--and were clearly designed to give players things they had asked for. More short-form adventures that can be used in homebrew (Keys from the Golden Vault), more monster-heavy books with lore components (Bigby Presents), introducing Planescape content to 5e, and content for fan favorite items and locations (Phandelver and Below; Book of Many Things). Now, different folks might have different opinions on the quality--but, overall, the "we are delivering products that players specifically have been asking for" is a pretty good look.
There is a lot of pretty solid things Wizards has done this year which are a pretty "good look" for them as a company. The big issue is that their PR team is kind of terrible--true to Wizards' form, they do a pretty bad job at promoting their positives while doing a bad/slow job responding to their negatives. This results in players getting a disproportionately "everything on the internet looks bleak, therefore I think it must be bleak!" impression... when, all things considered, most things are perfectly fine.
He makes a good point of comparing Nintendo to Hasbro. The Nintendo CEO chose to take a pay cut (and presumably ordered some other execs to accept a pay cut as well) instead of laying off scores of employees. That speaks to how, in Japan, the patronage system of corporations is to look out for employees like family as opposed to the norm in US business where "family" is more a euphemism from HR. This norm is not without it's detractors, however, as some business analysts claim that this is one of the major reasons for Japan's decades-long recession.
How many of those "business analysts" are CEOs, or former CEOs, or soon-to-be CEOs who have a personal financial incentive to justify CEOs making outrageous incomes? Japan's "recession" (which FYI is on average just half the economic growth seen in the other G7 countries) is due to the stagnant and aging population due to their highly restrictive immigration rules.
However, the danger in these types of decisions is in underestimating the value of being #1 at something. The profit margins on any product that is the best in class of that product can be much much higher than the profit margins on the product that is #2 in class, because the reason people would "settle" for #2 is because it is significantly cheaper than whatever is #1 thus you instantly get a price squeeze.
Corporations also tend to wildly undervalue institutional knowledge. "70 percent as competent for 50 percent of the salary" quickly drops to 25 percent as competent for 50 percent of the salary if there's nobody left in the department who understands why doing things a certain way actually was the best/most efficient way to do it, and the new folks have to learn all the old lessons the hard way
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I'm pretty bullish on the VTT. Stephen Glicker and Mark Seifter from Roll for Combat did a stream about it, having gotten to try the newest version that was unveiled to select people at PAX Unplugged a couple of weeks ago. They were notoriously negative on WotC the first time they got to see it during D&D Direct, but Glicker is insisting that it's come quite a long way since then.
The VTT seen in action on Twitch played with live players *Live* is impressive. Very Impressive. :)
This is coming from someone who has played enough video game adaptations of D&D, wanting to explore the D&D human tabletop experience out of sheer curiosity.
The size and scope of the highly rendered D&D miniature models and how these objects appear within a 3D landscape with the real-time lighting really helps the Dungeon Master as a utility to enhance and simulate the tabletop experience within an online environment.
Just from observation, the program works more and more as if it was an application than a video game; a video game usually contains an A.I. to compete against a human opponent.
The VTT version seen a week ago has no such A.I. to compete against any opponent; everything is controlled by the Dungeon Master; the human party members do interact with each other and the Dungeon Master extinguishing the notion that this technology is just another video game adaptation of D&D argument is no longer valid.
I'm pretty bullish on the VTT. Stephen Glicker and Mark Seifter from Roll for Combat did a stream about it, having gotten to try the newest version that was unveiled to select people at PAX Unplugged a couple of weeks ago. They were notoriously negative on WotC the first time they got to see it during D&D Direct, but Glicker is insisting that it's come quite a long way since then.
The video is long but I'll probably type up a summary later on at some point (I'm off work for the rest of the year so nothing better to do, lel.)
It does sound like an exciting prospect and something that I definitely look forward to engaging with. The idea of it being lower barrier of entry into the Dungeons & Dragons table top experience makes it more accessible to more people, and (personally) an easier recommendation to non-D&D playing friends than the current online experiences. I have friends in different time zones who have expressed interest in giving D&D a try, and I hope this is the tool that allows me to play with them virtually in a near-in person manner. The adventure building tools looks like it will provide the system longevity to DM's beyond just the pre-published adventures, and predictably continue to grow the game alongside its player base.
My only potential reservation regarding it, will ultimately be WotC's monetization model plans for it. This company has not filled me with the greatest confidence to say that they will not try and milk this for every cent they can get their hands on while completely disregarding the integrity of the game. I've played far too many games that have been driven into the dirt by micro-transactions and loot box mechanics, and seen enough from Hasbro to know where this is potentially headed if they continue down that path. I hope more than anyone that I am proven wrong, but as of right now, I can not get my hopes up enough to trust WotC to properly steward this game to the degree it deserves.
Thank you for sharing the link, and I look forward to reading your summary also.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re angling to work microtransactions into the VTT, but as long as it has the basic utility of grid paper you can move tokens across and draw on and a way to link a D&DB character sheet to it, then the MTs don’t matter any more than any other system’s premium cosmetic options. Really I see it going one of two ways: either they have a monthly subscription with a fair amount of field design tools and cosmetics baked in, or they have a fairly simple but freely accessible base VTT with a lot of options for purchase. I don’t particularly care which; if I don’t perceive a subscription based model to be worth it to me, I’ll leave it be, and if the basic system is free then it’s just another case of caveat emptor for not purchasing boondoggles you don’t need.
As for the VTT, I hope it is successful but it doesn't interest me. While it may not be a videogame it is too much like one for me. To me it takes away from the game, the graphics are from someone's imagination that is not actively playing the game with me, and I can see how it could detract from the non-combat aspect of the game.
To me a VTT is a DTT for players that can not sit at the same physical table and play but do not want to have a handful of apps, programs and devices to play online. If the graphics and animations are for you great, but there are quite a few players that will not use it.
Again I hope it succeeds and is profitable, because what is good for Wotc should translate into more content for those that are not interested in a more videogame like experience.
I will say it does look good at least the little bit I have seen.
I have been playing around with the maps tool here and am planning to give it a try in my upcoming campaign. Both the maps and encounter tools still need a fair amount of work as does DDB. Hopefully these layoffs do not let these tools stagnate and add to the backlog of missing/broken features on DDB.
Or realistically the more likely option, both a monthly subscription model alongside MTX out the wazoo. How long do you give it before MTX no longer stop at cosmetics? Or before we start seeing gambling crates?
He makes a good point of comparing Nintendo to Hasbro. The Nintendo CEO chose to take a pay cut (and presumably ordered some other execs to accept a pay cut as well) instead of laying off scores of employees. That speaks to how, in Japan, the patronage system of corporations is to look out for employees like family as opposed to the norm in US business where "family" is more a euphemism from HR. This norm is not without it's detractors, however, as some business analysts claim that this is one of the major reasons for Japan's decades-long recession.
Japanese corporate culture is very far from perfect itself. But I can respect that one aspect of it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re angling to work microtransactions into the VTT, but as long as it has the basic utility of grid paper you can move tokens across and draw on and a way to link a D&DB character sheet to it, then the MTs don’t matter any more than any other system’s premium cosmetic options. Really I see it going one of two ways: either they have a monthly subscription with a fair amount of field design tools and cosmetics baked in, or they have a fairly simple but freely accessible base VTT with a lot of options for purchase. I don’t particularly care which; if I don’t perceive a subscription based model to be worth it to me, I’ll leave it be, and if the basic system is free then it’s just another case of caveat emptor for not purchasing boondoggles you don’t need.
I expect they will have all the assets from Basic loaded in and everything else will be tied to your content library. But Basic is more than enough for players to try it out.
As for the VTT, I hope it is successful but it doesn't interest me. While it may not be a videogame it is too much like one for me. To me it takes away from the game, the graphics are from someone's imagination that is not actively playing the game with me, and I can see how it could detract from the non-combat aspect of the game.
To me a VTT is a DTT for players that can not sit at the same physical table and play but do not want to have a handful of apps, programs and devices to play online. If the graphics and animations are for you great, but there are quite a few players that will not use it.
Again I hope it succeeds and is profitable, because what is good for Wotc should translate into more content for those that are not interested in a more videogame like experience.
I will say it does look good at least the little bit I have seen.
I have been playing around with the maps tool here and am planning to give it a try in my upcoming campaign. Both the maps and encounter tools still need a fair amount of work as does DDB. Hopefully these layoffs do not let these tools stagnate and add to the backlog of missing/broken features on DDB.
I'm in a Maps game currently; I'd say the biggest miss right now is no drawing tool, so we've been having to use tokens and the like to represent the boundaries of an Entangle or Wall of Fire. But loading and sizing map grids is much easier than in Owlbear Rodeo, plus you don't have to worry about maintaining a big library of your own token art because Maps pulls directly from the various monster books; moreover, the fact that your campaign's dice roll log carries over to it seamlessly gives it a substantial edge.
I'm in a Maps game currently; I'd say the biggest miss right now is no drawing tool, so we've been having to use tokens and the like to represent the boundaries of an Entangle or Wall of Fire. But loading and sizing map grids is much easier than in Owlbear Rodeo, plus you don't have to worry about maintaining a big library of your own token art because Maps pulls directly from the various monster books; moreover, the fact that your campaign's dice roll log carries over to it seamlessly gives it a substantial edge.
Drawing would be a big help, so would pre populated monsters and baddies for the published content that is in maps along with a way to see the DM version and the player version without several tabs open. Being web based means I can use my old chromebook to put it on a TV and hand the players a mouse, lots of my players use their phone and don't really like to move their PC's on a screen that small.
Considering it is in Alpa I think it is workable now and has potential to be good, really good if the time and money is spent on it.
Or realistically the more likely option, both a monthly subscription model alongside MTX out the wazoo. How long do you give it before MTX no longer stop at cosmetics? Or before we start seeing gambling crates?
And what else exactly do you think microtransactions will incorporate? They can't sell things that actually affect character performance for a VTT, and there's no realistic way they can work timers into the system. I cannot think of anything they can offer besides cosmetics and design tools, both of which while nice are in no way essential to playing and enjoying a session. And frankly gambling crates are no different from other cosmetic offerings.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re angling to work microtransactions into the VTT, but as long as it has the basic utility of grid paper you can move tokens across and draw on and a way to link a D&DB character sheet to it, then the MTs don’t matter any more than any other system’s premium cosmetic options. Really I see it going one of two ways: either they have a monthly subscription with a fair amount of field design tools and cosmetics baked in, or they have a fairly simple but freely accessible base VTT with a lot of options for purchase. I don’t particularly care which; if I don’t perceive a subscription based model to be worth it to me, I’ll leave it be, and if the basic system is free then it’s just another case of caveat emptor for not purchasing boondoggles you don’t need.
I expect they will have all the assets from Basic loaded in and everything else will be tied to your content library. But Basic is more than enough for players to try it out.
I agree they're hardly going to make content from sourcebooks available without someone in the campaign having purchased the relevant book, I was more talking in terms of character model and map design stuff. Lots of room to sell various props, though I expect at least a modest toybox of options to be accessible for free, since they need to convince players that this is a better offering than all the other VTTs out there.
And what else exactly do you think microtransactions will incorporate? They can't sell things that actually affect character performance for a VTT, and there's no realistic way they can work timers into the system. I cannot think of anything they can offer besides cosmetics and design tools, both of which while nice are in no way essential to playing and enjoying a session.
Who says they can't? What's stopping them exactly from one day deciding to sell one time use extra spell slots for the low low price of just $4.99 as an extreme example? Or whatever else the creative minds at Hasbro's "recurrent spending environment" WotC come up with?
And what else exactly do you think microtransactions will incorporate? They can't sell things that actually affect character performance for a VTT, and there's no realistic way they can work timers into the system. I cannot think of anything they can offer besides cosmetics and design tools, both of which while nice are in no way essential to playing and enjoying a session.
Who says they can't? What's stopping them exactly from one day deciding to sell one time use extra spell slots for the low low price of just $4.99 as an extreme example? Or whatever else the creative minds at Hasbro's "recurrent spending environment" WotC come up with?
The DM, obviously, is what’s stopping them. This isn’t a computer game where some kind of algorithm is running the show and needs to accept whatever inputs it’s given. It’s an aid for tabletop.
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So, to address the PR-nighmare commentary. What has WOTC done in the past year (or so) that's been a "good look"?
There's not a lot to my mind and the only thing I can name that speaks to good long-term strategy is (potentially) the VTT. That's a smart business move, completely necessary and I'll also hazard way behind the curve. That's a reactive move, certainly not something from a proactive market leader*.
I tend to fall into the camp of WOTC basher, they've squandered all my goodwill and after PR Incident #... I just gave up caring - I'll keep my Premium Membership until this Campaign's done. The issue is, it's not just another knock to my goodwill, it's cumulative. DDB's likely swingy on its bias, it IS a D&D forum after all, but anecdotally, I don't see much goodwill or excitement towards D&D products or WOTC in general.
My general feelings - are on par with backing a bad-Kickstarter project. Things aren't on time, stupid stuff's been said and done publicly and the product's not of the quality it was hyped to be.
On the plus side... Starting to bring in third party content is something I can "buy into" mentally as a good move. I'm a bit baffled as to why Grim Hollow Campaign and not Campaign Setting... but I suspect the long-term strategy here is to move away from READING as a core skill for PLAYING D&D.
* Foundry, Above, Owlbear - so many VTT's up and running, choose your preferred flavour, but it's absolutely shocking that there's nothing - even (and I'm not knocking Owlbear) at the "basic" level of Owlbear Rodeo available.
https://wulfgold.substack.com
Blog - nerd stuff
https://deepdreamgenerator.com/u/wulfgold
A.I. art - also nerd stuff - a gallery of NPC portraits - help yourself.
I'm pretty bullish on the VTT. Stephen Glicker and Mark Seifter from Roll for Combat did a stream about it, having gotten to try the newest version that was unveiled to select people at PAX Unplugged a couple of weeks ago. They were notoriously negative on WotC the first time they got to see it during D&D Direct, but Glicker is insisting that it's come quite a long way since then.
The video is long but I'll probably type up a summary later on at some point (I'm off work for the rest of the year so nothing better to do, lel.)
Yeah, well the movie overall wasn't bad, but I think the directors should have had some PR people vetting their public commentary. Everybody's got their woke-detectors running non-stop these days. My biggest annoyance was the film's opening that prominently displayed the title "Hasbro's" Dungeons & Dragons. I was like, "What? Shouldn't you be giving credit to Gygax and Arneson? Maybe even Ed Greenwood who created Forgotten Realms, the setting the movie takes place in." [REDACTED]
But there were definitely some worse WotC scandals that happened this year. I've been playing D&D (yes, I used "&") since the 1980's and I would like to see the game returned to its former glory, but my confidence is pretty low at this point.
He makes a good point of comparing Nintendo to Hasbro. The Nintendo CEO chose to take a pay cut (and presumably ordered some other execs to accept a pay cut as well) instead of laying off scores of employees. That speaks to how, in Japan, the patronage system of corporations is to look out for employees like family as opposed to the norm in US business where "family" is more a euphemism from HR. This norm is not without it's detractors, however, as some business analysts claim that this is one of the major reasons for Japan's decades-long recession.
I've got to say, I strongly disagree on the film. [REDACTED]
My problem with the film was that it was boring, Grant was the high comedic point, Chris Pine and Rodrigues seemed to be going through the motions and the script was bad. The rest of the cast were just incidental non-characters that I really didn't care about at all.
There was no verve to the script. Think of The Simpsons, that works on a few different levels, there's jokes in there for adults that kids won't get, you can still enjoy it as an adult. The film really didn't have that and the "most exciting" parts were all in the trailer - Gelatinous Cube "cool", but so what? Yeah, there were Easter Eggs for "us fans", but little more than "I recognise that" and they may well have also been the places for some actual comedic elements. Also, the CGI bizarrely seemed to get better as the film went on. It felt like that element started off weak and actually improved by the end of the film. That just destablised my suspension of disbelief and I'm a fan of the hobby that went into the film hopeful.
I felt it over-reached towards the tween market, there was no grit to it whatsoever and off the back of the "humour" there's little to be gained from repeat viewings. I really doubt there'll be a kid introduced to the hobby that will be citing the film as their favoutite hook into D&D in 10 years. Hell, at least I can be "not sober" and actually enjoy the first couple of films in their stupid, cheap and cheesy glory. At least I'm laughing with them, not them laughing at me.
3/10 - if you had a child capable of sitting through a film that length, they probably would have enjoyed it.
Anyway, I digress and please, that's not aimed as a personal attack at all - gimme a whole bunch of consultancy money and I'll tell you my plan for a series ;)
Supplementary thought: WH40K's got a greenlight. I'd argue there is a market for a good D&D tv series.
https://wulfgold.substack.com
Blog - nerd stuff
https://deepdreamgenerator.com/u/wulfgold
A.I. art - also nerd stuff - a gallery of NPC portraits - help yourself.
I think, overall, the playtest has been a good look for Wizards from a PR standpoint. It is getting tens of thousands of votes--the playtests are getting vastly more votes than the OGL poll ever did, so it appears it is being much more positively received than the OGL was negatively received by the actual non-internet public.
Wizards was the largest contributor to Extra Life this year, raising over a third of a million dollars across their two properties, and $100,000 more than the next highest contributor.
Wizards released their most popular Magic: the Gathering sets of all time. And, while there are some overpowered cards in the LotR set causing some balance issues, the set was still overwhelmingly received positively and the LotR IP brought a lot of positive attention to the game.
A fair number of the D&D releases this year were fairly well received--and were clearly designed to give players things they had asked for. More short-form adventures that can be used in homebrew (Keys from the Golden Vault), more monster-heavy books with lore components (Bigby Presents), introducing Planescape content to 5e, and content for fan favorite items and locations (Phandelver and Below; Book of Many Things). Now, different folks might have different opinions on the quality--but, overall, the "we are delivering products that players specifically have been asking for" is a pretty good look.
There is a lot of pretty solid things Wizards has done this year which are a pretty "good look" for them as a company. The big issue is that their PR team is kind of terrible--true to Wizards' form, they do a pretty bad job at promoting their positives while doing a bad/slow job responding to their negatives. This results in players getting a disproportionately "everything on the internet looks bleak, therefore I think it must be bleak!" impression... when, all things considered, most things are perfectly fine.
How many of those "business analysts" are CEOs, or former CEOs, or soon-to-be CEOs who have a personal financial incentive to justify CEOs making outrageous incomes? Japan's "recession" (which FYI is on average just half the economic growth seen in the other G7 countries) is due to the stagnant and aging population due to their highly restrictive immigration rules.
Corporations also tend to wildly undervalue institutional knowledge. "70 percent as competent for 50 percent of the salary" quickly drops to 25 percent as competent for 50 percent of the salary if there's nobody left in the department who understands why doing things a certain way actually was the best/most efficient way to do it, and the new folks have to learn all the old lessons the hard way
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
The VTT seen in action on Twitch played with live players *Live* is impressive. Very Impressive. :)
This is coming from someone who has played enough video game adaptations of D&D, wanting to explore the D&D human tabletop experience out of sheer curiosity.
The size and scope of the highly rendered D&D miniature models and how these objects appear within a 3D landscape with the real-time lighting really helps the Dungeon Master as a utility to enhance and simulate the tabletop experience within an online environment.
Just from observation, the program works more and more as if it was an application than a video game; a video game usually contains an A.I. to compete against a human opponent.
The VTT version seen a week ago has no such A.I. to compete against any opponent; everything is controlled by the Dungeon Master; the human party members do interact with each other and the Dungeon Master extinguishing the notion that this technology is just another video game adaptation of D&D argument is no longer valid.
It does sound like an exciting prospect and something that I definitely look forward to engaging with. The idea of it being lower barrier of entry into the Dungeons & Dragons table top experience makes it more accessible to more people, and (personally) an easier recommendation to non-D&D playing friends than the current online experiences. I have friends in different time zones who have expressed interest in giving D&D a try, and I hope this is the tool that allows me to play with them virtually in a near-in person manner. The adventure building tools looks like it will provide the system longevity to DM's beyond just the pre-published adventures, and predictably continue to grow the game alongside its player base.
My only potential reservation regarding it, will ultimately be WotC's monetization model plans for it. This company has not filled me with the greatest confidence to say that they will not try and milk this for every cent they can get their hands on while completely disregarding the integrity of the game. I've played far too many games that have been driven into the dirt by micro-transactions and loot box mechanics, and seen enough from Hasbro to know where this is potentially headed if they continue down that path. I hope more than anyone that I am proven wrong, but as of right now, I can not get my hopes up enough to trust WotC to properly steward this game to the degree it deserves.
Thank you for sharing the link, and I look forward to reading your summary also.
Free Content: [Basic Rules],
[Phandelver],[Frozen Sick],[Acquisitions Inc.],[Vecna Dossier],[Radiant Citadel], [Spelljammer],[Dragonlance], [Prisoner 13],[Minecraft],[Star Forge], [Baldur’s Gate], [Lightning Keep], [Stormwreck Isle], [Pinebrook], [Caverns of Tsojcanth], [The Lost Horn], [Elemental Evil].Free Dice: [Frostmaiden],
[Flourishing], [Sanguine],[Themberchaud], [Baldur's Gate 3], [Lego].I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re angling to work microtransactions into the VTT, but as long as it has the basic utility of grid paper you can move tokens across and draw on and a way to link a D&DB character sheet to it, then the MTs don’t matter any more than any other system’s premium cosmetic options. Really I see it going one of two ways: either they have a monthly subscription with a fair amount of field design tools and cosmetics baked in, or they have a fairly simple but freely accessible base VTT with a lot of options for purchase. I don’t particularly care which; if I don’t perceive a subscription based model to be worth it to me, I’ll leave it be, and if the basic system is free then it’s just another case of caveat emptor for not purchasing boondoggles you don’t need.
As for the VTT, I hope it is successful but it doesn't interest me. While it may not be a videogame it is too much like one for me. To me it takes away from the game, the graphics are from someone's imagination that is not actively playing the game with me, and I can see how it could detract from the non-combat aspect of the game.
To me a VTT is a DTT for players that can not sit at the same physical table and play but do not want to have a handful of apps, programs and devices to play online. If the graphics and animations are for you great, but there are quite a few players that will not use it.
Again I hope it succeeds and is profitable, because what is good for Wotc should translate into more content for those that are not interested in a more videogame like experience.
I will say it does look good at least the little bit I have seen.
I have been playing around with the maps tool here and am planning to give it a try in my upcoming campaign. Both the maps and encounter tools still need a fair amount of work as does DDB. Hopefully these layoffs do not let these tools stagnate and add to the backlog of missing/broken features on DDB.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Or realistically the more likely option, both a monthly subscription model alongside MTX out the wazoo. How long do you give it before MTX no longer stop at cosmetics? Or before we start seeing gambling crates?
Free Content: [Basic Rules],
[Phandelver],[Frozen Sick],[Acquisitions Inc.],[Vecna Dossier],[Radiant Citadel], [Spelljammer],[Dragonlance], [Prisoner 13],[Minecraft],[Star Forge], [Baldur’s Gate], [Lightning Keep], [Stormwreck Isle], [Pinebrook], [Caverns of Tsojcanth], [The Lost Horn], [Elemental Evil].Free Dice: [Frostmaiden],
[Flourishing], [Sanguine],[Themberchaud], [Baldur's Gate 3], [Lego].Japanese corporate culture is very far from perfect itself. But I can respect that one aspect of it.
I expect they will have all the assets from Basic loaded in and everything else will be tied to your content library. But Basic is more than enough for players to try it out.
I'm in a Maps game currently; I'd say the biggest miss right now is no drawing tool, so we've been having to use tokens and the like to represent the boundaries of an Entangle or Wall of Fire. But loading and sizing map grids is much easier than in Owlbear Rodeo, plus you don't have to worry about maintaining a big library of your own token art because Maps pulls directly from the various monster books; moreover, the fact that your campaign's dice roll log carries over to it seamlessly gives it a substantial edge.
Drawing would be a big help, so would pre populated monsters and baddies for the published content that is in maps along with a way to see the DM version and the player version without several tabs open. Being web based means I can use my old chromebook to put it on a TV and hand the players a mouse, lots of my players use their phone and don't really like to move their PC's on a screen that small.
Considering it is in Alpa I think it is workable now and has potential to be good, really good if the time and money is spent on it.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
And what else exactly do you think microtransactions will incorporate? They can't sell things that actually affect character performance for a VTT, and there's no realistic way they can work timers into the system. I cannot think of anything they can offer besides cosmetics and design tools, both of which while nice are in no way essential to playing and enjoying a session. And frankly gambling crates are no different from other cosmetic offerings.
I agree they're hardly going to make content from sourcebooks available without someone in the campaign having purchased the relevant book, I was more talking in terms of character model and map design stuff. Lots of room to sell various props, though I expect at least a modest toybox of options to be accessible for free, since they need to convince players that this is a better offering than all the other VTTs out there.
Who says they can't? What's stopping them exactly from one day deciding to sell one time use extra spell slots for the low low price of just $4.99 as an extreme example? Or whatever else the creative minds at Hasbro's "recurrent spending environment" WotC come up with?
In the sense that you do not care for either, or that you think they are morally and ethically the same?
I've had games absolutely ruined in my eyes over this stuff. I hope it doesn't happen here.
Free Content: [Basic Rules],
[Phandelver],[Frozen Sick],[Acquisitions Inc.],[Vecna Dossier],[Radiant Citadel], [Spelljammer],[Dragonlance], [Prisoner 13],[Minecraft],[Star Forge], [Baldur’s Gate], [Lightning Keep], [Stormwreck Isle], [Pinebrook], [Caverns of Tsojcanth], [The Lost Horn], [Elemental Evil].Free Dice: [Frostmaiden],
[Flourishing], [Sanguine],[Themberchaud], [Baldur's Gate 3], [Lego].I'd say the DDB integration already gives them a leg up - but I'm hopeful for a bunch of assets too.
The DM, obviously, is what’s stopping them. This isn’t a computer game where some kind of algorithm is running the show and needs to accept whatever inputs it’s given. It’s an aid for tabletop.