The Dungeons & Dragons Controversy

Honor Among Thieves is coming soon but the Dragons & Dragons franchise is having some trouble. In this clip from the latest podcast (ep 462), two very knowledge experts of D&D discuss the drama. Thanks for listening!
Full ep: play.acast.com...
SUBSCRIBE HERE ►► goo.gl/pQ39jN
Visit bigsandwich.co for a bonus weekly show, exclusive movie commentaries, early stuff and ad-free podcast feeds for $9 per month.
James' Twitter ► / mrsundaymovies
Maso's Twitter ► / wikipediabrown
Channel managed by / fidelreyes_ & / rawcollings
Patreon ► / mrsundaymovies
TWP RUclips ► / weeklyplanetpodcast
TWP iTunes ► itunes.apple.c....
TWP Direct Download ► play.acast.com...
TWP RUclips Channel ► goo.gl/1ZQFGH
Amazon Affiliate Link ► amzn.to/2QbmwGj
T-Shirts/Merch ► www.teepublic.....

[@AverageDrafter]

Magic is like the OG NFT / Loot Box machine, and is now culturally embedded all over the world. Jesus, one of the first major bit coin exchanges was MTGOX - originally a Magic Online card trading site. They have a monopoly (HA!) on the only source for a highly valued commodity that retains its value because it has functionality in a game millions of people play. They literally print money.
How many Optimus Primes does the average Transformers fan need? How many Jaces has an average MTG played needed over the years? Out of random packs or the secondary market, which gets them from those packs. And which took more money to produce, including R&D? Money Money Money... glad I got out.

[@claytonandres1194]

Just got an ad for Hono[u]r Among Thieves before this video. I mean, I really want it to be good but also want Hasbro to give up all this nonsense

[@no_nameyouknow]

it was good

[@TheRavenShadowsWolf]

Unfortunately for like (more than) half of the versions of D&D source books - some of us enjoyed the older versions frankly, and everyone has a favorite for whatever reason; it was never a total loss to the fan base, despite needing tweaks to rules in some cases - are now ONLY available by PDF. The only physical copies I saw at the store I went to were 5e and Pathfinder 2.0. IF they really want to monetize it "better" they could reduce the price to $40 maximum, and start reprinting the old books. People still enjoy and value those versions. Hell pathfinder itself is BASED off 3.5e. Go into miniatures a little bit, come up with map spreads again for the table top and frankly stop borking classes with every new "version."
Re-tools are supposed to FIX the issues. Not make things more complicated. Half of us homebrew because we want to play; but we're not rules' lawyers, or mathemeticians. Doesn't mean I ever want to risk trying to spend half an hour building my stat spread for a decent wizard or bard, only to get one shot by a goblin because I start with like 4 HP. : / Give the fighter better feats = something that's more than Hey, you get an extra 3 HP per level, or stack +1/+2 into infinity and D&D Beyond, if you can even figure out what feats will do that. Maybe don't make the Monk so damned niche that most players won't know how to build one that isn't so niche it's painful. Hi: My Name is Monk - I like to PUNCHCAT, and I AM the undisputed BEST at it. You're done. [Not saying unarmed fighter shouldn't be just as possible, but Monk would be unarmed fighter + fist based/light healing Magic!] Diablo 3 shouldn't be able to lap you with their monk builds WoTC. For Wizards, screw venician magic. Or at least give me comparable cantrips that GROW properly with my level. Because outside of 1/day nukes, the Wizard is absolutely boned when they run out. Cleric doesn't get to be a better fighter than the FIGHTER. He's the best HEALER around. Which yes... means he should effectively be almost Immortal (he's getting a cheat sheet from his gods) and should be the most useful healbot character that can be made. He should not be a battlemaster. [Unless the god themselves is geared to War; but that should come at cost of healing powers - since it's a player who frankly wants a mix of playstyle] Try for new classes that offer something unique, but DON'T happen to be overly complicated to build or hinge on just one real power. Warlock can be very cool, but it's a PITA to figure out how to make one GOOD. The Kineticist in Pathfinder or the Psionic Warrior in D&D pretty much the same deal. How hard is it to come up with the idea of "I want to be able to break my enemies physically - with my MIND." Heck the runs for it started with DarkSun. That's how long the concept has been around, and they STILL haven't gotten it right. You want better monetization... Then think about what started the game in the first place. Refine what didn't work doesn't mean strip everything down to bare bones and treat it like it's AD&D for the first five levels until we decide you can start to have decent ability to survive a campaign. It means figure out the mechanics and present them in a manner that doesn't require a biochemical engineer to DM the campaign. Or create a functioning character. Put those books out, go back to encouraging people that want to play, to do so as they'd like, and I guarantee in a more open space that INVITES, you would get more money in the longrun than you ever will with the thing you guys just pulled. Which will very likely help tank this new movie. (Kinda wondering why they'd choose a bard to backseat lead when the movie's called Honor Amongst Thieves. Shouldn't it be about, you know... Thieves? o. O Hell; you started Justin Whalin out AS a Thief AND cross-classed him into a mage. Which I'm still not sure anyone really got is a reference to humans' ability to dual class) * What I mean is most of the people that went to see the movie were probably not well versed in the mechanics, and with this new one, they still won't be. Otherwise why cast Chris Pine and Michelle Rodrigez. Or Hugh Grant (Who isn't Jeremy Irons... : (
Long-winded way of saying there's a WHOLE BUNCH of mechanics problems they need to sort out, ASAP if they really want to monetize more than they have already.
There's also the point that the hobby IS and always has been, niche. As much as I love it. So there IS a cap on what they can effectively expect to pull in.
I don't think the people running the company (either the parent, or Wizards) are the types to think of that. Ever. Any of what I've mentioned. Which is their problem.