What We Want from WOTC and D&D Beyond - Lazy RPG Talk Show

[@KlaasEindbaas]

“Secrets and clues” are by far the best thing that came from your experience. I’ve never seen a better prep lifeline than these 🔥

[@robingomez2628]

Very true! They’re the lifeblood of my campaign!

[@jameshartley6315]

I am always happy when you have a video. You treat us way better than many other creators. Thank you so much Mike.

[@bol.1615]

Hey Mike! Just here to say my friends and I are in our early 30s and we're playing pencil and paper dnd with physical books. And it's great. Love your content, keep up the great work!

[@SlyFlourish]

That is awesome!

[@alexanderstangl1179]

Similar situation for me! One player only uses dnd beyond and its kind of disruptive because he is always on his phone when we are all at the table.

[@samuelbroad11]

get them to use a tablet and go over some house/table rules and etiquette. Phones are addictive dopamine producers...@@alexanderstangl1179

[@paulunderhill550]

Other 5e publishers are also going to Demiplane. Tal'Dorei reborn is already on Demiplane and Dungeon Dudes responded to my comment on their video when I asked them to also come to Demiplane saying they are.

[@SlyFlourish]

Yes! One thing I didn't mention is that this is clearly a non-exclusive contract and that's fantastic.

[@duhg599]

53:15. Yes! Prep situations, not stories. The story is what happens at the table. This has never failed me, unless I did a bad job prepping a situation.

[@LupintheThird]

I've been keeping an eye on that 3.5 SRD situation since the January CC announcement. I can confirm it definitely "slipped." Just go back through their Community Updates. In previous updates "Review old SRDs for CC" was in "In Progress" and this last update it got pushed back to "Upcoming." And they're committing fewer words to discussing it each time, or at least between the last two. I can give them a little leeway now that I know the new core books are intended to be a simultaneous May release, but I don't love the extra wiggle room they've been giving themselves, while WotC cheer squads continue to make excuses for them. Especially since, if you go back and watch those Kyle Brink interviews, his tone and phrasing when he said the 3.5 SRD would be out in CC, with possible minor revisions, would make it pretty easily by the end of the year. I don't have a verbatim quote at the moment, but it's quite clear the project either got bumped or is getting downplayed into obscurity. Another downside of 5e being the dominant force; for most modern D&D fans, vintage D&D SRDs have little to no value. But without them going CC, we lose valuable stuff like OSE and OSRIC in the long haul.

[@keithgaspard9950]

Always grateful for the updates! Thanks!

[@carloscostacox]

Love it how you mentioned Phandelver being a 1st level TPK experience. That module gets sooo many recomendations as an introductory campaing but half the times I played it and DMd it, PCs died really easily, and when they didn't it was because the DM had to fudge the whole thing to prevent it.

[@torinmccabe]

Mike, thanks for all you do for our hobby and for championing how it is a very important tool for mental health (combatting loneliness by providing a catalyst for people to spend productive social time together)

[@paulbigbee]

Vertical consolidation is a repeated method across (vastly larger) markets than our little TTRPG market. It is an inevitable step towards eventual enshittification. Here's a thought experiment: how would WotC behave if they didn't have DDB? Look at what Cubicle7 or Free League does in releasing products on Foundry, for example.

[@nnickplays9713]

What i think, is that i see the crashing comics industry and decline of the Star Wars brand, and see the future of WOTC's DnD.

[@Frothmeister]

The decline of the star wars brand is probably because the story is outdated and overdone, D&D doesn't really have that issue.

[@wewerepirates1116]

On the topic of wasting effort on building encounters, when running Curse of Strahd I came up with a really awesome encounter for one of the brides. I'd given her legendary action and abilities with a really clear aesthetic and a clear action economy. She had an escape mechanism so I could use her again, it made sense, wasn't cheap and was counter-able once the players seen it. And she had a mechanic to sync up with another antagonist, which made her simpler to run in a complex encounter but still do something cool. Problem is she was in one of the sealed tombs in the crypt. Players get there, get to to the tomb and go "well opening that seems like a terrible idea." I'm sat there thinking "damn it they are obviously right".

[@bobbycrosby9765]

I work in the startup/small company space. There's so many products that are worse off due to the pursuit of infinite growth and "eat the world" revenue numbers. Google cancels products because it "only" makes them $100 million/year. These days I prefer working for "lifestyle" businesses. Small-medium sized businesses that don't feel the need to become the next big thing.

[@jpri26]

I’d love to be a fly on the wall at WotC headquarters as they sit in the conference room listening to this podcast every week

[@SlyFlourish]

Ha! I doubt that.

[@benfletcher5696]

Really look forward to your advice and recommendations every week. Thank you for your fantastic work and contribution to the community.

[@deanolerks8787]

Great stuff today, Mike! Good topics, needed this map tool too!

[@deanolerks8787]

p.s. buying Koboldson's and Raging Swan for my Eberron game

[@silentverdict]

We're talking future of the hobby again? Time to bust out my favorite drinking game: "Take a drink every time Mike says 'candle'"

[@torinmccabe]

Although it could sound like you're just going over the eight steps again. What you were also doing is going over the why of each step. A lot of times when we just keep doing something we forget why we're doing it. So it's a good idea to every once in a while do some meta cognition on what you're doing.

[@TonyRobetson]

i'd be pretty surprised if they put the 2024 updates into the creative commons. Kyle Brink was very careful in his answers regarding that about only putting something in there to make it compatible like a conversion document. now putting the 3.5 and previous version in seems pretty straight forward. the stamps were a great move, reached my dad's notice. i agree with the sentiment that things like dnd saves lives

[@howirunit2033]

I was taken aback by Mike's comment regarding playing the barbarian in the gambling scene that he ""did not have the stats for gambling." Do you need to be good at something to try it? If so Vegas would go out of business!" 😉 My point being sometimes the fun comes from just trying things whether your character is "good" at it or not. And there are plenty of ancillary things such a character can do in that situation from attempting to intimidate other gamblers into folding or not cheating, starting a brawl, acting as a "bad gambler" to help a companion pull a scam, etc. . . sure that can be the DM's fault for not opening up those options on the fly, but also the player needs some degree of creativity to take part. Furthermore, there is a difference btwn a one-shot /convention game where this is the only meeting and everyone should get a chance to contribute equally and an ongoing home game where some sessions the spotlight might be on one or two players with others in a support role and another session where those roles are swapped around based on circumstances. The comment makes me wonder if a rule lite game might make it more likely for a PC to try shit if there is not a number on the sheet that is interpreted as "you can't do that." though obviously it doesn't have to be rules lite to play that way. I can't help but think that that comment is the equivalent of saying, "There was a bunch of stealth stuff in this session but my character is bad at stealth so I didn't even try" even if the circumstances were that you have to AT least try and failure might actually lead to fun circumstances.

[@OleIngvarStene]

As for your problems with publishing on DnDB, I am not sure if I agree with point 1. Yes, the publisher is competing with WotC products there, but I think a very, very big portion of the DnDB sales are sales that the publisher wouldn't otherwise have seen. How many people will think, "I am interested in Dungeons of Drakkenheim, I'll look for it at DnDbeyond" then go there and say, "oh, Rime of the Frostmaiden looks better, I'll buy that instead"? I don't think that will happen often. Might happen, sure, but for every time that happens, the opposite will happen, or people will find it there randomly. Your other points are quite valid, though.

[@TheArvinM]

I keep coming back to secrets and clues for seeding future adventures. One of the 8 or so secrets I always put down is for a small side quest or lead up to the next arc.

[@lonic123]

Thanks

[@keithvanboskirk7327]

DnDBeyond and Ghostfire is probably a marketing strategy to bring in DnDB subscribers

[@fraqtl]

Uh. Yes. Obviously

[@petejones284]

Just a point of correction not all RPGs are available in PDF. Star Wars by Fantasy Flight games is not available in any digital format (granted it's because their licence from Disney does not allow it)

[@GordonDS]

it cant be understated the value of the data that WOTC will get from third party supplements being added to DND Beyond. If the profit margin on the WOTC books and the 3PP books on DND Beyond are the same how does that change the calculus?

[@danebert18]

Excellent insight on monster tactics. Tucker's Kobolds is a great story, but your players won't be impressed you beat them with just kobolds and tactical genius. They'll feel terrible. Instead, monster tactics should match the fantasy of the monster. I only wish more monsters were designed so the ideal sequence of actions is obvious, and following that sequence clearly fulfills that fantasy. Put all the DM tactics in the encounter design rather than the execution.

[@spaghettimonster7010]

Mike. Please do a deep dive on Chains of Asmodeus. I've seen like 0% coverage on such a good product.

[@androlgenhald476]

How much larger exposure are these 3rd party companies going to get by being on DDB that they wouldn't have by not being there?

[@creative.cauldron]

I have a quick question that I can also post in the Discord chat if that's a better place for it. What program do you use to record your videos? I really like the setup you have as a visual display. Do you have any videos on this I can look for in the archives? Love the show. Cheers.

[@SlyFlourish]

I use Descript

[@jasondincauze3629]

I tried to point this out over on the stream, but Palladium is putting out their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles re-release without any PDFs. There was also discussion about the lack of transparency about how the system is being updated turned myself and others off from backing it on KS.

[@thegreatkamikaze]

The current Sony/Discovery digital marketplace issues is a good warning about 3rd party content on D&D Beyond.

[@sterlingmason3971]

Can you sum up that situation for those of us out of the loop? (please and thank you 🙏)

[@thegreatkamikaze]

@@sterlingmason3971 Basically Sony's contract with distributing Discovery (now also WB material) through the shop on Playstation is ending at the end of the year. It only affects the movie/TV side of it, not games, but that content is being removed. If you bought one of those things there, you lose it. Mike has talked about protecting yourself by getting PDFs and this is exactly why. If WotC ends their contract with Darrington, Ghostfire, or any other 3rd party, the DDB content is gone. Maybe even worse than the Sony thing because at least with that, if you downloaded it, you can preserve that on a drive like a PDF. All of DDB is on the WotC side.

[@sterlingmason3971]

@@thegreatkamikaze thank you for the summary. I hadn't heard about this Sony/Discovery situation, but you're right, the parallels are uncomfortably close. And in this immediate context, we've already seen WOTC's agreement with Riot fall through (or something, I don't fully remember) and cause the removal of the League of Legends material that was on Beyond for a short time period. Not hard to see that potentially happening again - or the removal of a product due to a "sociopolitical disagreement" with a creator down the road, even. Doesn't instill the highest of confidence...

[@thegreatkamikaze]

@@sterlingmason3971 I've also heard a few times James Haek talk about how the old guard of DDB setting up things with CR that can't be removed has upset the current overseers. I'm sure they want every cent they can get from content.

[@ericzauche4309]

Have u read or heard about dnd for schools. It's free. It's simple e.g. no abilities scores or bonuses. Love your books own most of them. Listen to u every week.

[@TheAmputeeGamer]

Marvel Multiverse RPG doesn't have pdfs for sale. So, D&D is not the only one.

[@SlyFlourish]

I stand corrected!

[@TheAmputeeGamer]

@@SlyFlourish not that i’m happy about not having access to a pdf. 😀 i’ve purchased the core rules in hard cover, on demiplane and Roll20, you would think i should be able to get a pdf.

[@reneesteeves3698]

"d&d saves lives." those words are so poignant Mike. Just knowing you have some like minded pals to hang out and create with is a much bigger deal than a lot of folks realize.

[@Hacker-at-Large]

I would be interested to know whether the 3rd party agreements are exclusive to the D&D Beyond VTT. Ah, 18:58, sweet deal if true.

[@Ironfranko]

Do we know who is doing the material ingestion and data preparation for the dndbeyond porting of 3rd parties? I don't think that dndbeyond shared any template or data model for 3rd parties to publish in there. I assume that WOTC is doing all the work for the moment, which is not trivial, and I would assume that the revenue split will have to recup that translation. Also it's very hard to ask WOTC to share their material on the platform they aren't doing now: we don't know what contractual agreements WOTC have as prerequisites and what the other platforms offer :(

[@duncandomey8199]

Two problems with 3PP content on DDB: 1) You are still just renting content. When DDB or 3PP pulls content, or they close down the server, gone is your content. 2) You are still stuck in the official content system. Want to do anything outside of the purchased content and you venture into shark infested waters. I have shelves (virtual and real) full of books... I am not buying all of them again or converting them to DDB.

[@Zr0din]

The Raging Swan link doesn't seem to work. Please check?

[@SlyFlourish]

It's back up!

[@henriksebring7633]

I am no publisher but would it be reasonable to assume that wotc's reason to avoid PDFs is piracy? How bad is the piracy in the rpg sphere and surly with their "faltering" rep they would be very exposed to piracy.

[@jpri26]

What do you do when you’re a barbarian in a gambling den? Go roll some dice, my guy

[@geoffdewitt6845]

"An age of shattered keyboards and cringe-inducing thumbnails, when Mike is wrong. BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY!"

[@kumithebear]

Mike be standing on the street corner, ringing a bell, wearing a poster board that reads "the End is nigh!" and we love him for it. Our capitalist corporate overlords should be watched closely, and held accountable. I've been a big fan of Ghostfire, but since bending the knee to WotC its been really sad to see their coverage of the hobby slant heavily in favor their new boss (this is what happens when a competitor swallows you). I'm sure Dungeon dudes will do the same, as did Critical role: with their lukewarm response to the OGL crisis. Keep fighting the good fight Mike, you offer fair and measured opinions, even when I can not, which is important, and I appreciate.

[@SlyFlourish]

I don’t hold any negative feelings for the companies working with WOTC to put their products up on D&D Beyond. It’s a good deal for them.

[@kumithebear]

100% Agreed

[@velvetimpulse]

Man... again with the 5E business shenanigans and how can we strengthen the already strongest game on the space?!

[@macoppy6571]

"Structured format" = standardization of data structure.

[@ToddPutnam]

Literally, nothing. In my opinion (and it's just an opinion) D&D 5E, with every new book of sub-classes, Feats, spells, races, etc has become a very bad game of Jenga...where the players goals so often seem to be how to build a broken character that is OP in every situation while the DM is desperately just trying to keep the whole tottering tower from falling over even as WotC keeps adding more and more badly balanced blocks in the form of poor quality content on top. Does it make WotC a lot of money? Absolutely. Does it make for a better RPG experience? Nope. There's no fixing that mess. OSR / NSR. Sometimes less is more.

[@kumithebear]

💯

[@fraqtl]

Come on. This again. Hobby: We want DnDBeyond to be more friendly to third party content Also Hobby: NOT LIKE THAT!!! I really wish you'd let the events of almost 12 months ago go a bit and stop mixing together these continual rants about "the hobby" to videos that are separate from the DM tips thing. Your content before OGL was awesome and engaging. Since OGL it's been......samey. So much going on and on and on about "the hobby" and far less on actual RPG games.

[@hollowtpm]

This is how I felt listening to this. I was like, I thought we wanted 3rd party on DDB but now, "this is not a good thing." Saying that and then claiming not to mean it's a bad thing when there are little positive points in this video. Feels like "the sky is falling" levels of concern Vs actual points or criticisms.

[@fraqtl]

@@hollowtpm I'm fine with the "state of the industry" videos. I wish he'd just break them out from the DM advice stuff because frankly there hasn't been anything new said on these videos about that topic for a while. It seems new because the thing that he starts to discuss is new but then he just gets back to saying the same thing, the same way. The comment further down about the "candles" drinking game is pretty spot on. He does separate videos on Shadowdark etc. so it's not like he couldn't. I'd really like for the State of the Industry content to have their own videos, so I can avoid them unless something actually important happens

[@madprophetus]

All I want from WoTC is a bankruptcy announcement. There are so many objectively better systems out already, and so many more on their way. It's time for D&D to sunset, having given birth to a whole industry of successors.

[@f.a.santiago1053]

Fight Club is MUUUUUCH better than D&D Beyond as a character builder. D&D Beyond is usually slower, AND it doesn't give you ANY control over your character unless it's through homebrew content, which BTW you don't access to as a free member. The only thing that D&D Beyond is better at is syncing the characters on the cloud. That's it.

[@SlyFlourish]

I wish more character data were easily available (and legally) for Fight Club 5e.

[@arnovanboxem2519]

Homebrexing isn't free anymore on ddb?

[@f.a.santiago1053]

@@SlyFlourish I just don't use what I don't own. It WOULD be awesome if D&DB released th json files, though...

[@f.a.santiago1053]

@@arnovanboxem2519 I started using it about 1 ½ years ago and I could never do Homebrew. Maybe I JUST missed the window.

[@TheSteezyCheese]

D&D Beyond is so useful for quick rolls and creating characters.