My daughter asked me to DM for some of her friends this past weekend. I used "Basic Fantasy" as the basis for the rules. I had them role up four characters each, then started the game. TPK in the first encounter with 4 goblins. I was rolling 18+ consistently. They switched to back up characters and continued the game. The player that was experienced in 5E was ecstatic with the rules. "It didn't take all night to create a character, 10 minutes and we had 4 each." When it was over a one shot session turned into a continuing campaign. They are looking to recruit more players and asking about being a DM themselves. I gave each a softcover copy of the rules and a set of dice at the end of the game it cost less than $10 each. I could have just given them printed copies of the PDF and it would have been even less. For the price of the 3 main 5E rule books, 15 people can have all they need be a player and become a DM. That is what Hasbro is up against and why it will not succeed with one dnd like they think they will.
Congratulations on 100K, sir! My interest in OneD&D is purely for what it means to the TTRPG industry at large and, I confess, morbid curiosity. The microtransactions aren't new. Just different. If you want a miniature for your character, you bought it, bought paints, etc. Key difference I see is that with a real miniature you keep it forever and can use it for other games, or as some knickknack on your shelf. Digital miniatures create the Sunk Cost issue of, "I have to keep playing this game because if I change to something else, I lose everything." It's an effective way to enforce brand loyalty. So FOMO will get them in, and those Sunk Costs will keep them. Devious as hell. In relation to Slaying The Dragon, I also can't help a bit of deja vu when the president named Williams is saying how the brand is where the loyalty comes from. That as well as, "We're getting into movies and TV because D&D is a lifestyle," sound ominously familiar. To even drive the point how the focus is brand, the coming D&D movie is simply D&D. Not Temple of Elemental Evil, Ravenloft, or any of the famous adventures or massive best-selling novels. At least with Marvel, they focused on the popular characters and many of the popular storylines from the comics (Hulk, Infinity Stones, Civil War, etc.). This looks more like if Marvel Movies only featured totally new characters and stories with a few obligatory nods to the world-lore from the comics. Maybe it'll work for them, but I find it strange how they have Dragonlance and Drizzt right there and decided not to use them.
@@johnmickey5017 While that’s true, it’s equally true that using established fiction only adds more fans to the mix. Making the movie based on Dragonlance wouldn’t alienate people drawn to the D&D brand in general, and it would bring in some hardcore DL fans who’d otherwise skip the film. In other words, grab the entire Venn diagram rather than only one side of it.
The micro transactions worry me... particularly with kids. How the Hell are DM's meant to run a fair and balanced game if one of his players spends hundreds of dollars on the skins for their ONED&D VTT avatar? How is that player going to feel if the DM kills that character? How is the DM going to feel if they kill that character?? How long do we think it will be before the first player screams "You owe me XX dollars for that character!" I kind of understand the choice to go with an unknown set of characters but set in Faerun (The city setting for the movie is Neverwinter I think...) These films ALWAYS do better with the sort of lead Chris Pine is playing in this, and there aren't that many characters in the FR Lore who fit the bill. D&D particularly 5E has so few human leads that mainstream audiences wouldn't get as invested. The best character from the FR lore is probably Drizzt, and he isn't getting a lead role anytime soon as WotC are still working on the PR Rehabilitation of the Drow.
@@maxducoudray Dragonlance is a bit of an outlier in real D&D terms. Lots of core stuff isn't present, or it's been adapted to the Weiss/Hickman vision of a pseudo-LotR milieu. Eberron or Planescape would have made awesome movie backdrops without looking so generically drab as the 'Realms.' Pulp fantasy gumshoes with spell empowered tattoo-birthmarks in a gravity-defying city, working out the murder of a House Canith usurper; or just freak-out-weird conversations with modrons whilst the Lady Of Pain passes by freezing parts of your soul. You'd still be able to have all the classes, dragons, gelatinous cubes and owlbears. Hasbro have so much stuff they don't even seem to realise that could revitalise the whole fantasy genre for cinema audiences - but they go with generic. It's a bit of a shame, but that's probably got more to do with the way Hollywood works (and the amount of distance between D&D authorship and actual decision-makers) than anything else.
I had the pleasure of meeting Prof. Dungeon Master at Pax Unplugged and our conversation was the highlight of the event for me. He couldn’t have been nicer. He is a voice of reason in this chaotic hobby.
For over 30 years I've been practically an "official" D&D gamer. But the direction that Wizards Of The Coast is going is making me quickly into a "folk" D&D gamer.
@@ronwisegamgee Yes. As pointed out in this video, players tend to just follow along and are not nearly as vested in the material, rules, etc., as serious DMs are. That said, I can still come very close to being an "official" gamer without succumbing to the whole scheme. I have virtually every 5E resource published so this would allow me to "fake it" for a long while before official One D&D (or whatever it is finally named) begins to obfuscate these materials.
The whole reason I play ttrpgs is that i can play them as many times as i like, collect a library of game books, lend the games to friends, modify rules, stats and rolls and there is no one monitoring me as i play WOTC is the new EA
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I have my doubts that this will wind up being successful. What it sounds like to me is that D&D is going to be something of a collaborative video game as opposed to a TTRPG. That will drain D&D of the magic and the charm that makes it D&D. Even though there are going to be all kinds of ways to customize things, DMs and players are still limited by what the programmers design. If it's not programed in---it's not possible. Give me pencils, a legal pad, graph paper, and ultimate dungeon terrain and I'm good to go. If there is a game, the players will come.
@@andrewlustfield6079 agreed. Collab video games already exist. If that's what players want, they have that option. Flexibility is part of what makes TTRPGs fun. A good DM will often reward creativity if players come up with something brilliant, regardless of if it's in the rules. Granted, digital can be useful. I'm a Gen-Xer who grew up on D&D, and I use Dnd Beyond for my character sheets, but physical dice, miniatures, and maps for everything else. If WOTC is smart, they won't discourage this hybrid play-style. After all, we'll still be buying their books, modules, etc. If they take it too far...well, I have heard of this little game called Pathfinder. 😁
@@andrewlustfield6079 Make no mistake, this will be successful. Is it for me? No. I think that us Gen-X'rs will continue to do what we do, and our tables will not suffer for it, but I think that younger players are a different story. I'm not against technology, and I enjoy playing video games. Hell, I have a full on VR sim-pit in my basement. Everyone at my table (my four brothers in law) lives in 2022, meaning we ALL play video games, and of course technology is a huge part of our lives. One of the gang even runs very a large IT department. D&D is our escape from that. But we grew up in a different time, when technology was more of a nice thing to have, than an all day part of our everyday reality. I know I sound like an old man, and I'm certainly on my way, but it seems to me that my generation craves a break from technology because we grew up in a world being much less reliant upon it-especially for entertainment. Younger generations grew up more reliant upon it, and with it being the MAIN source of entertainment. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just different. That's the way things worked out. With that said, I think that my generation will likely and largely disregard D&D One, while younger generations largely embrace it. Just my thoughts🤷🏻♂️
They can go digital all they want, there is no replacement for five friends sitting around a table drinking Mountain Dew and getting Cheeto fingers telling stories and cracking jokes for a 6 to 8 hour period , playing about 45 minutes of actual Dungeons and Dragons
To quote the professor, I enjoy drinking Coke, watching Netflix, and buying dice produced by corporations. They are not my friend, but I will still give them money.
I'm not seeking friendship. If game publishers create products I like, they get my money. This new direction for WOTC could actually be a great thing for the hobby if it leads to new movies, video games, merch, etc that we are excited to buy. It could also bring new players into D&D that help fund the game design side of the business. A lot will depend on how the products are implemented.
Matt Coville made a video where he was talking about 4e. He mentioned how people thought it was made to be a MMO rip-off, but when they asked Bill Slavicsek, he said that it was made that way because they planned on having a virtual tabletop and that the game was designed around that and being able to play online. They have wanted a virtual tabletop and to do what they are doing now since at least 2008. This isn't something new, it has been in the works for longer than most players have been in the game.
I supported Old School Essentials in their recent Kickstarter campaign. I haven't fully gone through the material (my plan was a side-by-side analysis with 2E, the version my friends and I leaned back in the day & subsequently "locked into"), but I am super impressed with the streamlined aspect of the material. I love the creativity that Gygax incorporated from the beginning, and OSE seems to respect that.
I wondered why I needed another OSR game being content with C&C, Rules Cyclopedia (and other TSR versions), and BFRPG, but I am pleased with OSE. I have run several games using their modules, and I am thrilled with their stuff.
I'm more for AD&D/OSRIC, myself. Though really, the're all basically the same system. A BECMI cnaracter can be run alongside 2e characters, in a 1e campaign... or any combination thereof. The rules are all long-established, and all it takes is a quick DM review before beginning.
Two things First players who don’t bring snacks for their DM are the real monsters. Second, I discovered D&D in 1989. It sure felt like only me and 6 other people in my entire high school played. The game was run by the DM not the rule books. Hell we used the players handbooks from three different editions. AD&D, basic D&D, and AD&D 2e. It was awesome.
@@theophrastusbombastus1359 You just gave me flashbacks of the 40k community.... I love 40k and it's fanbase, but it also has some fans that would look like a parody if put on tv.
My dad developed a 1 page rules set where the DM and the players work to fill out the rest of the rules picture. This was when 3.0 went to 3.5 and we got tired of trying to learn the new addition and buy the new books. I am now using this same system with minor tweaks to run a cyberpunk campaign. It's so much more streamlined and since the players were involved in helping me set up the parameters they are much more invested. Now with 1 sheet of rules, creativity, and callaboration We can run an RPG in nearly any setting.
Part of what got me into D&D as a kid was the fact that I was able to buy a set of dice and a few books and have a hobby I could play forever at no further expense. Sharing of books was also great thing in this hobby, because it allowed everyone to share around the cost of getting new materials. I guess Hasbro isn't having any more of this whole "sharing" thing, and will almost certainly move to licensing you digital access rather than selling you books that you can use forever after only paying once. Reminds me of the early days of MMO's, where just because you bought the game didn't mean you got to use it without paying a monthly subscription.
One of my best memories was sharing books between friends, and now that I have more resources, I enjoy giving books and dice to new players and sharing books with players that want to try their hand at running a game.
I finally ran my first game of Old School Essentials last night! I'm running my group through B1 for their dungeon, since I feel it's a good starting point to learning the rules. I also had to make my first homebrew, since the module has a flail and there's no rules for flails in the book. I'm using the optional rules that gives unique weapon abilities and damage dice. I decided that since in real life flails largely ignore shields that's exactly what they do in the game. Nobody complained, because it "made sense" as far as a game can. The highlight was one player went and got his real flail out and showed it to everyone. Talk about a memorable moment!
Calling it now. If Wizards actually makes all books outside the core 3 exclusively digital and doesn't also make print versions, somebody will 100% make their own 5.5e and "Pathfinder" them a second time. It would be hilarious if it was Paizo who did it agai, but I think they are too focused on PF 2e. Maybe it will be Mercer....but even if its not him, it will be somebody, I am sure.
@@sumdude4281 hes already doing it tbh, his monster and war rules are just objectively better. i want him and chris perkins to work on sth together, bc perkins is the only talent at wotc atm
I'm a fairly new DM but thanks to Professor DM and others I would consider myself a folk DM as described in the video. As the DM, I won't cave to FOMO. If I'm running it old school (books, not an app you have to keep buying things through), the group will play old school. I like that TTRPGs get me away from a screen and get me around the table with friends in person. If I wanted to use a screen I'd play a computer game.
At THE RIPE OLD age of 51 here I still have my copy of basic and expert rules. I remember what it was like trying to figure out AD&D rules with weapon speed. I got away from the game for decades and now with 4 kids I’ve become a DM who took his family, including my father, through Curse of Strahd over the course of 3 years. I just started a new campaign with them. One I don’t even know where it is going yet. It is a low fantasy combination of Deathbringer, Hardcore, ICRPG, 5e and my family LOVES it. They love the simplicity and excitement. They almost got killed by a few Giant Harvester Ants in the first session, find them in a book lol. The fun we had didn’t come from a micro transaction. Love your channel and I agree with your analysis. I’m analog all the way.
This makes me so sad. D&D was one of the last remaining cultural vestiges of a bygone era of in person, old fashion, and tangible fun. But like everything else, corporate profits have diluted it into another exploitative product. The movie looks like it's going to flop, too. Hasbro is ruining D&D the way Disney has ruined Lucasfilm. There seems to be no heart and soul left with these brands.
I have copies of Basic and AD&D rulebooks from older players and from what I see, it was commonplace to cross out, highlight, and write houserules and notes in the margins. These books were personalized by the owners and not treated like they're some holy relic to be perfectly preserved. Everyone had their own way to play. Also CONGRATS on 100k subscribers! You made it!
I fall into the old camp, but I have had some time to think on this and in a way I think I will be very happy when WotC releases the One D&D ecosystem. I think this will give the "I only play rules as written" group a great place to go and follow their sacred rules texts. I will be a paper and pen heretic, enjoying the hobby I grew up with and focusing on people who like to hang out unplug and tell stories and roll dice. In the end I just want everyone to play the game they enjoy. Happiness comes from different sources and while many will start in One D&D, this will, in time bring people to the analog side of the hobby.
"One D&D will make all the bad players exit the hobby into a new, separate ecosystem." Couldn't be a better thing then. Sounds like a great move to filter out all the lowest common denominators so they stop trying to ruin actual tabletop. Unironically Make D&D Great Again. Build the PayWall!
I think, it is time to accept, that D&D is never going to be what it was, ever again. While it has blown up and changed a great deal in the last 10-20 years, as an effect of that, thousands of new people have discovered the hobby of all backgrounds. The culture around dungeons and dragons and table top gaming in general has become infinitely more normalized and available. Many who didn't have a place at the table in the past, do now. The idea that the bubble is going to pop and things are going to go back to a "healthy scale" forgets all that positive growth in the hobby. I think the Professor really hit the nail on the head with his statement about the two future camps of roleplaying, and in a way that has already started. We already have one group that all they play is D&D and that's it, while there is a second group that plays a wide gambit of ttrps. If you want that more small scale and indie vibe I think you'll find it in the ttrpg realm. Which is blowing up with tons of new and great content. Wizards at the end of the day is a company and their goal is to make a profit, I feel like this new direction has just been in the writing on the walls for some time. This is just the way of things. Star Wars started as an indie project with a bunch of film students and today it is one of the largest multi media empires around and part of the Disney Machine. Hazbro is already one of the largest toy companies out there. Paramount has the film rights now and they are looking for a new franchise to put everything behind. A D&D theme park is probably already in talks somewhere.
Maybe I missed something, but when was it that a game played around a table became an online platform? Sure you can have an online virtual game but it still boils down to what the players and the DM want that game to look like. What WotC seems to want is for everyone to play the game the way they want it to be played so they can make money off of it. I think it is time to remind everyone that the game is yours to create, you as the player and you as the DM. I think it is time to fight back against corporate greed.
@@HI-kb2cg Oh, I did that some 12-15 years or so ago. In spite of plenty of gripes with the system, no group I've played with has moved farther afield than 3.5e, and in many ways, I've regressed to almost total homebrew since then. It's nice to be able to see this from a purely academic sense; I don't really care much what WotC is doing with D&D these days. If I don't like what they're doing, well... OK then. For their sake, I hope SOMEONE does, but if not, that's cool too. I'm not seeing a lot of positivity from the fans about One D&D, though, I have to admit. Maybe I just hang out in the wrong circles, but I suspect it's going to fall kind of flat.
@@spacerx It will succeed, no doubt. The gamer of today is not the gamer of 40 years ago, or even 20. Online is fuelled by the "instant fix" mentality, and rightly or wrongly, it works for companies. What it does to players and a game however......... Welcome to End game content in a "creative" game, where people will end up doing the same crap over and over again to chance the next new item level and pay real money for that "cool looking" new skin. Soon enough you will have guilds, and then you will start to get the inevitable "No RP" guilds.
When? The same time that email overtook the phone call. Or Twitter overtook the political public square. Not you?? Ok. But there are millions of others that DO. I personally prefer the real world too, but Hasbro is following the money. I don’t think they have thought this all through BUT It Is Their Money To Lose.
I'll consider panicking when Gavin Norman announces Old School Essentials is under monetized. WOTC got the last monetization from me a few books ago. Now my RPG dollars go to companies I feel are more inline with the game I want to play.
Same. I am not paying WOTC any more. I did it until my campaign ended last month. The day after it ended, I unsubscribed from D&D Beyond and warned the next GM he'd better have a master sub ready to share content (he does, sigh). I also told him, since he is already in love with One D&D (again, sigh) that I am not giving WOTC any more money so he needs to keep that in mind. We'll have to see what their "content sharing" rules are.
Regarding digital access, WOTC and D&D are not the only ones looking to gain a financial push from online games. Some new platforms are looking to sell you the pdf AGAIN, or at least their digital version. Sorry, it's a big no go for me. I own the books and PDFs already; I'll stick with Zoom and use the tools I have to run a digital game. Otherwise, it's all played on my favorite console, a table with plenty of chairs.
I'm horrified by your rules edits, not because I'm a stickler for the "official version", but because I know how bad my luck is with the dice. I'd probably go through about a half-dozen characters per session at your table! 😵
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I kinda lean towards the old AD&D 1st ed rules for dropping to zero or less HP. If you get stabilized and don't die, all you can do is walk unencumbered till you get a full week of rest. No fighting, spell casting, special abilities/powers, nothing. The only way to avoid bed rest and get back to adventuring right away was a full 6th level Heal spell.
I used to get into playing the newest version of D&D mostly so when I went to cons, I would be able to play "the current version" of D&D. Lately I have focused more on other games like DCC, OSE, Eyes Beyond the Torchlight, Through Sunken Lands... These games have many fans and I can almost always find great (and actually more creative) games at any con. So now, I feel less inclined to learn the newest evolution of Dungeons and Dragons. I hope you all have fun playing One D&D.
@@opaqued2039 Through Sunken Lands is like an OSR game. Mechanics very simple. The magic is in the character creation. They use "play books" that force players at the table to create interconnected backgrounds. The characters feel and play like those from Michael Moorcock (Corum or Elric), R E Howard, or other dark sword and sorcery book. They also have "scenario packs" that guide a DM to come of with an adventure on a moments notice. Very cool, worth the effort to check out.
As one of “those guys” I’ll just push the big red button. Why play all those game systems when you can do it all with GURPS? 🤣 Only partially serious… I do love the GURPS rule set and Steve Jackson Games is still a gamers company (compared to WoTC), but I also know how much work and effort it is to create and tweak the settings and rules and all that. To be “all in” on GURPS you really have to be some sort of masochist. Which is why my shelves are full to bursting with many different games.
I'm so glad you mentioned homebrew which is getting more and more popular among newer players and DMs. that's one thing that digital and one d&d will never be able to fully control, as long as there's pen, paper and imagination there will always be a table to play.
I love this component of tabletop games. They are Free & Open to the point that Capitalists cant control them (destroy them). WotC will try using their IP, but when capitalism destroys D&D's trademark the result will be great! As the monopoly of the D&D IP weakens, tabletop gamers will wake up to the hundreds of superior designed tabletop systems (ranging from totally different systems to homebrew/hardcore D&D). D&D wont ever be destroyed. Just the trademark can be, bc as you point out D&D itself is Free & Open now. I hope WotC does do OneDnD and tries to exploit that exosystem hard like they seem to want. Unironically ruining DnD is the best thing they could do for D&D.
My group loves playing in person and we love having access to D&D Beyond. Having the option to play online with Roll20 is great if there's some reason we can't meet in person. The glamour shots of the One D&D digital play space look pretty cool. Will my group adopt it when it comes out? I guess it'll depend on whether or not it's compatible with whatever we are doing. It's not like we're going to completely revamp our characters in the middle of a campaign. Also, the DM never has to pay for food at our table.
My group is still using 3.5, and thanks mostly to stuff like this we're looking into other systems entirely rather than trying to advance to a newer D&D. At this point we're so homebrewed anyway, we may as well be on our own system.
@@HollmanOrtizBuitrago 3.5 is an incredibly flexible system thanks to its many, many facets, but I've found as my party plays more and more campaigns certain metas have started to evolve. I give away a lot of bonus for good RP, but that means that nobody is statting into Diplomacy, Intimidate, Gather Info, etc. because they'd rather save stats for combat, and then flex their own social skills for RP situations. That's fine, but that, and things like it, have created large holes in our character sheets. I see the appeal of 5e (or another system entirely) mostly being that it's stripped down, meaning we might engage with a higher percentage of the system.
As a publisher, I think there is a way to go both routes. Obviously supporting 1DnD will be important and focus can be on that. But I can also do "labor of love" products that are more system agnostic and published in more traditional formats.
I wish them good luck. As a GM I have shelves full of older editions as well as the core books for 5th and frankly, I'm already at my allowance limit for game related material. Greed works, until it breaks the system. My shelves are also full of defunct game systems from long gone game designers and companies who either sold up, or went broke. It's not that I don't understand WotC need for revenue, but it's that never ending hand out that drove me from the video game market. It's not sustainable for many people like myself who then get squeezed out.
I got to play BX last night for the first time in over 30 years. I had so much fun and I think I'm going to be playing in mostly OSR games going forward. I'll still DM 5e because I can control all of the issues that I hate about it like level creep and OP characters, but playing BX made me remember why I fell in love with the game in the first place. Definitely living in the folk camp and making occasional clandestine outings into the official camp. Thanks for the video, Prof! Awesome as always!
It would be realy terrifying fighting a dragon that can kill you in 5% of his attacks. This is why I enjoy the Savage Worlds Ace mechanics. Maybe It wont kill you but it'll cause havoc
I think this would encourage people getting together and playing in person. When wizards says you must pay online for a sword upgrade or mythical item just laugh and say I went on a quest for that in person and rock it for free on a regular basis.
If this is really the way they're going to go with it, then I think we can expect to see D&D start to lose market share to companies like Paizo and we can expect companies like Kobold Press to either partner with Paizo or develop their own system. My Hope Is that it's more about other products within the brand. Better and bigger MMOs, stuff like that. I would also love to see more film and TV from them. A new cartoon series would be amazing, something along the lines of a far more tame Legend Of Vox Machina.
The very serious problem with OneDnD is that Hasbro has zero loyalty to it. It is only a money making venture. There is no love in it for anything but profit potential. So when it fails, and it will fail, Hasbro won't keep investing in it. It will vanish like a puff of smoke. Therefore, you would be better off just sticking with analog play because that's where you'll end up after all.
Excellent point. My son found this out painfully with Plants vs Zombies Heroes. We LOVED that game but EA withdrew support and didn’t fix a certain bug, so we lost 15 months of intense regular free to play game play and we will never invest ourselves in a game like that ever again. Hasbro is not Blizzard. D&D is not Warcraft.
A solid video as always Prof. I find myself in the “folk digital” portion of the Venn diagram. In person does have a certain magic to it, but there are tools out there to help you run your game live and online but that are lightweight in a good way - they don’t try to include rules or character management or any of those features that impede the ability of the GM (or the players) to deviate from proscribed/official mechanics. I suspect this change on WOTCs part is going to significantly impact those digital platforms and VTT’s that leaned on providing literally mechanical support, but other platforms may not see any negative impact.
I don't see how this is much different than any other era of D&D. So, to some of you older gamers out there, how many editions of Dragon Magazine did you buy just for the new class printed there? How about using a new spell or monster gleaned from a module because it's not in the Monster Manual? Ever hunt through a store full of lead for that one perfect representation of your favorite character? How about all the t-shirts, poster, novels, comic books we've bought over the years? Anyone out there have the old Strongheart the Paladin or Warduke Action Figure? Point is, D&D has been a "lifestyle brand" for 40 years and more. And ever since Lorraine Williams took over TSR back in 1985, the company that owned D&D has always been a business that sought to squeeze as many coins out of their audience as possible without giving one wet fart about anyone's campaigns, characters, or vision. That's just the way Corporate Capitalism works. Hasbro is going to try to sell all of us as much D&D as they can. It's why they have a Marketing Department. As Professor Dungeon Master states pretty clearly, you as an individual still own the books you bought (glances back at the enormous library of D&D I've collected over too many years). My only real disagreement with our esteemed Professor is that if any player in your group chooses to adopt a new rule or a new edition, the group doesn't have to allow those new rules, they can always push back and say "no". I've *never in 40 years* played in a group or in a community where players who wanted to play a new feature of the game that another player owned wasn't able to obtain a copy of it. I've also never seen a player who is using a new feature deny the GM a copy of the rules surrounding that feature. And honestly, I can't imagine anyone playing with someone being that big of an ass. I'm gonna end this wall of text by pointing at 4th edition D&D and Pathfinder. If Hasbro and WotC clamps chains on D&D again by insisting that only "official" D&D would be supported, D&D clones will spread like daisies in a field. We'll still have a hobby to play and an identity to present to the world.
I feel like there is almost an analog to the alignment chart, with the two axis being folk-official and analog-digital. The monetization schemes will most affect those in the official digital camp. The more folk and the more analog, the less we rely on ongoing matter from WotC. Once someone who falls under official analog buys a set of books, they don't need to purchase anything else from WotC. And those folk analog hooligans* will third-party and homebrew everything anyways. WotC has to make sure in their quest to monetize digital players they don't alienate analog players by some scheme such as forcing purchases online only (something I don't see them doing) or making too much content digital exclusive (want that nifty new hexblade for 1DD and some awesome feats? Get the Wrath of the raven Queen expansion pack, only available on DDB!). I could see them attempt the latter. My take - if I don't own it, we don't play it. I may well make my own version or adopt another brewer's material if I like something, but I'm not compelled to use anything. * I fall deeply analog and a fair amount folk on the grid - probably neutral analog - so take this as a jest.
I posted a screenshot of the revised death rules to my 5e group chat. My players were not amused. I might run a few sessions of OSE for them in the future, we'll see. I think it sounds awesome. I would love to be a player in a higher-stakes game like that.
I can remember way back when I was 11 or 12 a buddy that rode the bus to school with me told me about this cool game he had seen/played. He explained it to me, and we immediately started playing a game of make-believe set in a dungeon where we were fighting monsters right then and there on the bus. Neither of us had a single dice or a character sheet. Sure, getting dice and a rule book kindled whole worlds of imagination for us, but we had as much or more fun in those weeks between starting and getting the books as we did after.
Good points. And there is nothing stopping people from playing older versions of the games they love. I have a friend that still runs AD&D 2ed and he has no problem with that. I run mostly Pathfinder 2e now, but it all comes down to the players and their GM. What they decide as a group IS the right system, analog, digital, or some other method we haven't dreamed up yet.
Our group uses a mix. We started with what you call analog - I mean some of us started in first edition. But due to distance and how long we play, we now do one month in person for like 10+ hours, then the next month a shorter roll20 session, then repeat. I embrace the future, and we'll hack up the rules how we see fit. I've never seen one of your vids before, but this one along got you a new sub!
The crazy thing is, we are a year to a year and a half away from the new living D&D. These types of videos are becoming more common which is not good. D&D will be 4e all over again, but todays way and the way business is now it could crush D&D for good.
@@sutekh233 yep, McDonald’s is Absolutely Fantastic. Super cheap, fills you up and makes your kids happy. A deserving leader. Now! Is it ideal or the best? Doesn’t matter. Preference is everything, and honestly, just like McDonald’s, the history and heritage of the brand is important too!
@@Xplora213 Note the use of the word preference in what you said. Preference implies choice and D&D has essentially destroyed (and sadly, with the market and market leaders, such as SOME YT creators, help) the competition. So, for a great many people the choice is pretty well non-existent. It's Demolition man, "welcome to Taco bell". I don't see how history and heritage comes into play when determining quality though, if your only VISIBLE option is crap, and you have only ever tasted crap, crap starts to taste good, cause all you know is, crap.
I hope "One DnD" flops like a fish. Corporate greed exploiting and milking a hobby crowd thats "supposed to be for everyone" is pure garbage. Guess it's only for those who can afford it. Sure, you can play our game, but it's pay to win now, so...
This goes back to the original Arneson/Gygax conflict where Arneson questioned how do you monetize a game that exists in your imagination and Gygax's response was that's what makes it so easy to do it
It's interesting that you used Warhammer as your miniatures game example. Not only has no miniatures company done a better job of extracting money from players, but they are the younger branch of miniatures, and the simpler, cheaper side of the hobby is still going strong with new historical, fantasy, and product coming out all the time.
Is it really though? When you are talking to people who cannot escape the event horizon of the big companies, the only way to get thier attention is to talk about the huge thing that just...........sucks.
Also interesting that he compared this to Games Workshop, because once they made the move towards milking the meta chasing machine, I stopped buying literally ANY of their products. Which I intend to do with this company as well. Fanboys and fools will be exploited and milked, and still blindly follow along as if they love being milked. I'll be content with what I own, and what I create from there. They've got their last dollar from me.
6:02 au contraire, Professor. I'm a Folk DM through and through, but I certainly wouldn't want to run a game like that or play in such an environment. A single roll of the die to determine a character's permanent fate honestly doesn't sit well with me at all. Just divergence in preferences, Folk Gamers come in all kinds.
I think it’s going to be an increasing challenge for DMs who kill a character also. A player puts real money into a character build and now they have to do it again because the nasty DM followed the rules of play? It will definitely be interesting to watch from the sidelines!😊
The thought of this made me laugh uncontrollably for just long enough to produce a stitch in my side. I can just imagine what the DigiD&Ders will be posting on THE TWITTA when their precious has been lost to a die roll. 🤡🤡 🗺🗺
@@angrab.goblin850 I can imagine the shouting, so do you know how much time and money I spent on my virtual mini?! I bought the xyz expansion! Can my new character have my old stuff and look just like the old one except with the blue cape also included with the mod kit I bought?! I’ll change their hair to electric yellow electrum even!! It was $15 and I’m not losing that kit on top of the subscription for the lmnop feats I paid for!! It’s not fair! Etc. Etc. Etc.
They will extract a subscription because you have to refresh your avatar constantly… I don’t think they are that mercenary because no o other developer takes away your program like that.
A few comments, because you touched on a couple of good topics. 1. Role playing game companies have never been able to find a sustainable model for business. At best, you dominate the genre for a limited time, taking up a great majority of market share as new players run to your game and buy books. But then...everyone has the core books. Splat books only work for those interested in that faction/type of character. Adventure books appeal to GMs, and you will be lucky to get 50% of a group to buy a supplement. You eventually burn out and someone else takes market share. Happened to TSR. Happened to White Wolf. Happened to WOTC (3.5) ,So what do you do? put out a new edition. Well that can easily backfire (cough..4E..cough) . Most editions are not completely better than the previous, which means you leave some of the market behind. So new books get diminishing returns and new eidtions are risks that also might get diminishing returns unless wildly successful. However, create an rpg "eco system"??? Not only do you present new material that can entice numerous players...you lock them against competitors. "Oh i would totally try out Pathfinder 3.0, but i already have a sub with a giant amount of digital tools unlocked in One Dnd!" . I know you might hate this, but this maybe a way a game company creates a stable market. Ask Apple. 2. Analog v. Digital. The Analog market is not going to go away. it will create friction at a game table. Some players will always prefer dead trees. Some players will want everything at an instant finger tip. I have a game where me and my gamemaster fight over my character sheet. He hands me a paper copy and says "this is not updated in three games". I respond back "i gave you google drive access to my character in a google doc. its constalty updated with notes, I dont have to worry about losing it. " . We never resolve this issue. However, eventually groups of gamers will go one direction or the other. If you are analog nothing says you cant go on doing what you have been doing. 3. Official vs Non. I totally get the homebrew crowd. I am an example of not being one of them. For me and the people i play with, Dnd is a game. A game has to have understood rules for the players to use to their advantage in order to honestly have the ability to succeed or fail. They can succeed with building a good character that exploits the advantages there. They can succeed tactically, using the range and modifiers and situation to over come challenges. They can succeed creatively, using abilities outside of combat for their advantage. All this requires rules they are aware of ahead of time. That said, what i said is TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE. Its how I HAVE FUN. Do you prefer homebrew rules and making it up as you go? Great, what i said doesnt stop you, nor should it. Dnd beyond has changed the way I GM by making it easy and convenient for me. However, nothing in my game forces you to do anything in yours.
Edit note. When i said most editions are not completely better, i mean many are better overall..but leave some things some groups may prefer behind. Some people still think THACO is the best there is.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I can see the rift between DM and player getting worse for things like this. "You killed my character! I spent $XX on it! How dare you!" As the forever (folk) DM, I'm fortunate I won't ever have to deal with that kind of drama.
@@jasonmountain4643 To be fair, it's pretty hard to die in 5e. WOTC is terrified a new player will sour on the game if their character dies. The answer, just make character death nearly impossible!
Yeah, the only real draw of the "official" rules & content is that they provide common ground for larger groups of irregular players who can't always manage a smaller, more traditional gaming group. 5e is a pretty solid mechanical framework that's getting really burdened with extra bits as the books go splat. Plenty to homebrew your own stuff from, it's just extra work to find players for it.
I am with you. When I buy a rules system I make changes to it to suit the needs of me and my group. The one D&D folks will enjoy what they do and the analog folks will enjoy what they do. Win win in my opinion.
We had a divergent opinion last video. I thought there would be a schism. I was unsure which of us would be Martin Luthor banging his thesis on the door (I was pretty sure it was you). I am back to being back in your branch of the heterodoxy. Perfect video.
I hold no ill will towards WOTC or anyone excited to jump into this. If it fits what entertains you- I am excited for you. I will be enjoying my folk d&d!
Since the AD&D 1e days we've always had some homebrew rules. We will continue traveling the "Analog Road." I personally have a ton of material gathered over the decades that I am set for years to come. No need for One D&D.
First off, classic DM move at 5:34. It's clever, creative, and puts the Rules Lawyers back in their place. Second, 5e's focus on roleplaying, character options (i.e. powers), and DM-driven story is now sufficiently different from D&D's original roots that a player (vice DM) focused marketing approach is inevitable. AD&D and One D&D are really mirror images of each other. What one doesn't do, the other does. And Third, at 8:32, anyone who has seen more than a couple of your videos will know the answer to this question. I can't wait to hear your decision and see what you plan to do.
I Just miss the care and attention to detail that older released had (full sized setting books, the latest Handbook compared to the whole old Dragonlance line or Cthulhu by Chaosium or MERP. Such attention, care and detail in planning out every Little thing, compared to the rapid Fire of new releases right now.
Subscribing to their master tier on DND Beyond allows me to share content that I own. Its pretty much the only reason I buy stuff on that website. My players get access to everything which gets codified into all the menus and whatnot making character creation super easy and streamlined. I'm a forever DM and my players are wonderful but good GOD do they get on my nerves when trying to build characters with pencil and paper. So many misreading of things, wrong interpretations and strait up ignoring things like prerequisites. Don't get me started on spell lists and encumbrance... So yes, for some the app and DND Beyond is useful. I can also create homebrew content like monster stat blocks, items, pretty much anything which I need because I buy a ton of 3rd party books. I should also mention that my PC is apart of my DM setup, so I can send them stuff and edit on the fly. I mean, Id rather just buy the books, but this makes creation, leveling and rewards so much less of a headache.
My one small critique is saying this pays the designers more. One D&D's 'monetization' is an attempt to cut out third party creators, retain more revenue stream to Hasbro, and convince players to buy items that don't improve the play experience. I'm all for paying creators. Paizo Unionized. Pathfinder2e has all the rules available for free. They have decided not to squeeze the hobby for more, but to try to provide better quality. That isn't Hasbro's intent. I think they are looking to squeeze players. I don't think they could kill the hobby, but they are making a choice to put up a pay wall instead of sharing the success of 5e.
From what I’ve heard with the future direction of monetisation Subscription based extended services, like digital map editors and Hero makers But if I’m already forking out for all the updated tools as a DM, why must I also force all my Players to do the same? 🤔
Been cobbling my own TTRPG together for a hot minute now, takes what I like from D&D, GURPS, and a few others, while streamlining a few things, ramping up combat, shining a light on roleplay, and encouraging exploration. Good video, actually. One of the few without all the doomsaying.
I used to charge my 5-6 players $2 per game night and used it to buy whatever I needed for the game from books to adventures to all new PHB for all the players when the new edition of 3.5 came out (some time ago) I ran that game for 22 years every week... the funds added up and we were never short material.
Long time viewer, first time commenter- Hands down the best Dungeon Craft sign-off yet, a well earned hardy chuckle. Thank you for your shared insights and frequent uploads! Your channel has brought me a lot of joy while I’m home on paternity leave with my first daughter- keep up the good work, and thanks for all that you do!
I think it is worth comparing to Pathfinder's business model - basically all of the game mechanics and PC options are totally free online (legally), and the money comes from the roleplay side of things like adventures (Pathfinder publishes WAY more adventure books than WotC) and sourcebooks. Most of Paizo's cash comes from high-spending "whales" who are either DMs or really like the setting, but they get that spending through quality and quantity of releases, rather than manipulative tactics. WotC is probably hitting the limit on their model (bringing in new players and groups who buy a Player's Handbook, DM's Guide, Monster Manual and maybe one adventure but then little else), so they are looking to squeeze more out of those basic players. And I guess producing and selling lots and lots of quality books is too much work. What I'm really saying is "go support Pathfinder."
Ideally groups will explore other ttrpg rulesets. I think the breadth and width of the ttrpg hobby is worth exploring. No need to be tied to a system of microtransactions and monthly sub fees.
8:10 Another angle - I’ve only played TTRPGs via Zoom since Covid. One of my kids plays Final Fantasy with a crew 3x per week. Neither of us is physically with other players. It’s not really a question, then, of “live vs digital.” It’s “human moderated (GM/DM) vs computer moderated (game server).”
Thank you! I got my hackles up early into your video but you brought it around to a balanced pov. Subscribed and liked. Also I liked your table rules, especially regarding dragon attacks.
I DM a group in “real life”, no real technology except me googling when I forget something but the players are all paper dice. Why? We are all programmers or IT folk, it’s a chance to unplug and pretend we are back in the 80s playing AD&D But now our kids play with us and that’s a whole new level of cool.
Do you have or have you made a video on streamlining 5e with your old school dnd flavor? I’m curious as I am going to run my first thanks in part to your videos.
When we were playing Pathfinder, I used a program called HeroLab Classic. It would keep track of any bonus and penalties that my character would experience. What do you thin about this?
Prof. makes a great point. Another example is the relative explosion of analog board games. While there may have been a bit of a lull in the industry when video games were exploding, its never been a better time to find great, innovative table top board games - and they have never been more popular. I'll probably always look for ways digital offerings can deliver (or augment) my gaming, I'm firmly in the analog camp and plan to stay there.
In the digital vs. analog discussion, I am reminded of the late '80s and early '90s, before the "digital" thing was what it eventually became, and other students I knew at the time asking things like, "But without a planner, how do you know what assignments you have due?" and so forth, and I said, "I remember them; and I also write them down on pieces of paper." "But how do you keep track of all those pieces of paper?" "I make sure not to lose them!" The people who freaked out about this still got Bs (and sometimes lower), whereas I ended up valedictorian of my graduating class. Correlation? No...but I am just saying this because I think there's something similar going on a lot of the time. The whole thing of "How do you keep track of stuff in D&D without an app?" Notes! Notebooks! Yes, I have WorldAnvil, but I don't really use it much, and mainly wanted it to make family trees and such. I think a lot of this stuff boils down to people not being especially skilled in a few basic things that those of our generation are more used to: 1) memory capacity and abilities for particular figures, rules, and formulae; as well as lore; 2) basic math skills (how long it takes some people on live-play streams to add up a few dice astonishes me, and in-person instances I've seen are not much better, including in people around my age); 3) improv skills--the same ones that players use with their characters in mind are the ones DMs use, just on a more limited scale; and, perhaps the one that is hardest to articulate, but nonetheless one that I see increasingly among younger people, 4) the inability or lack of confidence in simply doing something and not having to be told that it is "right." People my own age (and older) didn't have that or necessarily need it, certainly in all facets of life, and far less in particular areas than younger people seem to have these days, and without that constant feedback, they don't seem to understand how to function in far too many cases. It's something the way that school these days has done nothing to help with (and much to exacerbate), and I wish that were not the case. The techniques that are supposed to "build confidence" that are used have done the exact opposite. Anyway... So, One D&D is simply the apotheosis, in this particular gaming hobby, of that larger cultural and generational trend, I think, and the same mindset we find amongst textbook publishers, learning management platform providers/programmers, and others to make everything uniform to "save time and be more efficient" (so they say!) while sacrificing individuality, customization, and the self-confidence of creating things for oneself. Or, that's what I am seeing, anyway. You can thus guess where I'll be on the digital/analog spectrum debate! As a friend of mine says in some of her e-mail signatures and elsewhere when it comes to books: "not going digital...possibly ever." ;) Thanks, as ever, for your excellent discussion!
1 of 2 awesome dnd channels. I understand they need to make money, it’s a business. But, I refuse to be sucked into all these businesses subscription based lifestyle. Home brew all the way!!!
Homebrewer here. Totally agree with your points. The gaming world is starting to stale of pay to win and it is a short term commercial strategy at best. The gamers I know all boycott the micro-transaction games now. Its a model that is dying, along with the corporate shills that think this is a good business model. Whether homebrew or purist, pay per 'thing' is the total opposite of the entire ethos of D&D that is imagination driven and (even within the strict rules) players have FUN developing as they want. Players don't look forward to forking out $ for the +3 armor, they want to beat the boss fight and earn it. The market of the pay to winners will be there, but not going to save OneD&D's financial bacon.
The death save rules had me laughing for a while. And I agree with the comment that D&D (and most tabletop games for that matter) don't need the big corporations to play and keep the hobby alive. Also it's worth mentioning that even for the 'folk' players new apps and technology that compete with WotC new VTT system will be created eventually, allowing those who want to go digital but keep their homebrew rules to enjoy whole thing without WotC interfering. All in all, I'm not worried. At this point only a meteor wiping out Earth can kill TTRPG.
Dan, I appreciate your take on things going on with the game. They are well thought out and really strike a chord in my old Grognard heart. You consistently put out good information for Dungeon Masters that are doing our best to run long, long campaigns. The edits in your book look similar to mine, but I don't have the hart to do them in ink, I'm a pencil notes dude all the way. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and I look forward to all your good work in the future.
Pathfinder is a thing because of a previous split of the player base in the 3.5->4 transition days. And it's thriving as far as I can tell. So I'm pretty sure DnD one won't go as smoothly as WotC thinks it will.
See, professor, that's what's going to happen. D&D 6th edition, that somebody calls One D&D, it's a 500 pages book that you can't really buy. You'll buy buy "packs" instead, where every pack contains 12 pages, and some of them are rare, some common, some "mythic rare". So, by gambling enough, you'll eventually get the correct 500 pages which contain the actual game. Easy enough, isn't it?
Player: "I just got all the latest updated spells for my magic user. Look at these things!" DM: "We're not using those, since I don't have, don't want, and won't pay for that."
When I started playing online, in the dark ages of the 90's internet, We just had yahoo chat rooms and forums (no voice comms or video streaming) They had dice rollers and were free We relied on theater of the mind and careful descriptions The idea of a virtual tabletop to me just sounds like playing a glorified fan mod of Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale games Fun games, but not the same as D&D at a table or even in a chatroom
My daughter asked me to DM for some of her friends this past weekend. I used "Basic Fantasy" as the basis for the rules. I had them role up four characters each, then started the game. TPK in the first encounter with 4 goblins. I was rolling 18+ consistently. They switched to back up characters and continued the game. The player that was experienced in 5E was ecstatic with the rules. "It didn't take all night to create a character, 10 minutes and we had 4 each." When it was over a one shot session turned into a continuing campaign. They are looking to recruit more players and asking about being a DM themselves.
I gave each a softcover copy of the rules and a set of dice at the end of the game it cost less than $10 each. I could have just given them printed copies of the PDF and it would have been even less. For the price of the 3 main 5E rule books, 15 people can have all they need be a player and become a DM. That is what Hasbro is up against and why it will not succeed with one dnd like they think they will.
You level up for running games for children and giving them free games!
Basic Fantasy RPG is a fantastic game, and it's also awesome to teach the hobby to kids!
Did you let the new characters pillage from the dead ones or did you completely start over?
I get this but it doesn't really take long to make a d&d character with experience.
Basic Fantasy is a great system. Great choice for starting a group of young players.
Congratulations on 100K, sir!
My interest in OneD&D is purely for what it means to the TTRPG industry at large and, I confess, morbid curiosity. The microtransactions aren't new. Just different.
If you want a miniature for your character, you bought it, bought paints, etc. Key difference I see is that with a real miniature you keep it forever and can use it for other games, or as some knickknack on your shelf. Digital miniatures create the Sunk Cost issue of, "I have to keep playing this game because if I change to something else, I lose everything." It's an effective way to enforce brand loyalty. So FOMO will get them in, and those Sunk Costs will keep them. Devious as hell.
In relation to Slaying The Dragon, I also can't help a bit of deja vu when the president named Williams is saying how the brand is where the loyalty comes from. That as well as, "We're getting into movies and TV because D&D is a lifestyle," sound ominously familiar. To even drive the point how the focus is brand, the coming D&D movie is simply D&D. Not Temple of Elemental Evil, Ravenloft, or any of the famous adventures or massive best-selling novels. At least with Marvel, they focused on the popular characters and many of the popular storylines from the comics (Hulk, Infinity Stones, Civil War, etc.). This looks more like if Marvel Movies only featured totally new characters and stories with a few obligatory nods to the world-lore from the comics. Maybe it'll work for them, but I find it strange how they have Dragonlance and Drizzt right there and decided not to use them.
I don’t think Drizzt or Dragonlance are really that popular though. D&D has a way larger cache as an entity than the old novels.
@@johnmickey5017 While that’s true, it’s equally true that using established fiction only adds more fans to the mix. Making the movie based on Dragonlance wouldn’t alienate people drawn to the D&D brand in general, and it would bring in some hardcore DL fans who’d otherwise skip the film. In other words, grab the entire Venn diagram rather than only one side of it.
The micro transactions worry me... particularly with kids.
How the Hell are DM's meant to run a fair and balanced game if one of his players spends hundreds of dollars on the skins for their ONED&D VTT avatar?
How is that player going to feel if the DM kills that character?
How is the DM going to feel if they kill that character??
How long do we think it will be before the first player screams "You owe me XX dollars for that character!"
I kind of understand the choice to go with an unknown set of characters but set in Faerun (The city setting for the movie is Neverwinter I think...) These films ALWAYS do better with the sort of lead Chris Pine is playing in this, and there aren't that many characters in the FR Lore who fit the bill. D&D particularly 5E has so few human leads that mainstream audiences wouldn't get as invested. The best character from the FR lore is probably Drizzt, and he isn't getting a lead role anytime soon as WotC are still working on the PR Rehabilitation of the Drow.
That's really the thing - D&D isn't a story, it's a framework to tell stories in.
@@maxducoudray Dragonlance is a bit of an outlier in real D&D terms. Lots of core stuff isn't present, or it's been adapted to the Weiss/Hickman vision of a pseudo-LotR milieu.
Eberron or Planescape would have made awesome movie backdrops without looking so generically drab as the 'Realms.'
Pulp fantasy gumshoes with spell empowered tattoo-birthmarks in a gravity-defying city, working out the murder of a House Canith usurper; or just freak-out-weird conversations with modrons whilst the Lady Of Pain passes by freezing parts of your soul. You'd still be able to have all the classes, dragons, gelatinous cubes and owlbears.
Hasbro have so much stuff they don't even seem to realise that could revitalise the whole fantasy genre for cinema audiences - but they go with generic.
It's a bit of a shame, but that's probably got more to do with the way Hollywood works (and the amount of distance between D&D authorship and actual decision-makers) than anything else.
I had the pleasure of meeting Prof. Dungeon Master at Pax Unplugged and our conversation was the highlight of the event for me. He couldn’t have been nicer. He is a voice of reason in this chaotic hobby.
Thank you. It was a pleasure meeting you as well!
For over 30 years I've been practically an "official" D&D gamer. But the direction that Wizards Of The Coast is going is making me quickly into a "folk" D&D gamer.
Come towards the light…
One of us! One of us!
The question is: will your players join you in going off the ranch?
@@ronwisegamgee Yes. As pointed out in this video, players tend to just follow along and are not nearly as vested in the material, rules, etc., as serious DMs are. That said, I can still come very close to being an "official" gamer without succumbing to the whole scheme. I have virtually every 5E resource published so this would allow me to "fake it" for a long while before official One D&D (or whatever it is finally named) begins to obfuscate these materials.
Most "official" gamers simply want to know what the rules are. They are just fine with house rules that are not suddenly sprung on them.
The whole reason I play ttrpgs is that i can play them as many times as i like, collect a library of game books,
lend the games to friends, modify rules, stats and rolls and there is no one monitoring me as i play
WOTC is the new EA
That's their model.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I have my doubts that this will wind up being successful. What it sounds like to me is that D&D is going to be something of a collaborative video game as opposed to a TTRPG. That will drain D&D of the magic and the charm that makes it D&D. Even though there are going to be all kinds of ways to customize things, DMs and players are still limited by what the programmers design. If it's not programed in---it's not possible. Give me pencils, a legal pad, graph paper, and ultimate dungeon terrain and I'm good to go. If there is a game, the players will come.
@@andrewlustfield6079 agreed. Collab video games already exist. If that's what players want, they have that option. Flexibility is part of what makes TTRPGs fun. A good DM will often reward creativity if players come up with something brilliant, regardless of if it's in the rules. Granted, digital can be useful. I'm a Gen-Xer who grew up on D&D, and I use Dnd Beyond for my character sheets, but physical dice, miniatures, and maps for everything else. If WOTC is smart, they won't discourage this hybrid play-style. After all, we'll still be buying their books, modules, etc. If they take it too far...well, I have heard of this little game called Pathfinder. 😁
@@andrewlustfield6079 Make no mistake, this will be successful.
Is it for me? No. I think that us Gen-X'rs will continue to do what we do, and our tables will not suffer for it, but I think that younger players are a different story.
I'm not against technology, and I enjoy playing video games. Hell, I have a full on VR sim-pit in my basement. Everyone at my table (my four brothers in law) lives in 2022, meaning we ALL play video games, and of course technology is a huge part of our lives. One of the gang even runs very a large IT department. D&D is our escape from that. But we grew up in a different time, when technology was more of a nice thing to have, than an all day part of our everyday reality.
I know I sound like an old man, and I'm certainly on my way, but it seems to me that my generation craves a break from technology because we grew up in a world being much less reliant upon it-especially for entertainment. Younger generations grew up more reliant upon it, and with it being the MAIN source of entertainment. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just different. That's the way things worked out.
With that said, I think that my generation will likely and largely disregard D&D One, while younger generations largely embrace it. Just my thoughts🤷🏻♂️
I would rather play with a group of people then on line...not going to waste money on this
They can go digital all they want, there is no replacement for five friends sitting around a table drinking Mountain Dew and getting Cheeto fingers telling stories and cracking jokes for a 6 to 8 hour period , playing about 45 minutes of actual Dungeons and Dragons
Kids still play that way. I've seen it.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Kids still have their imaginations intact.
Change the snack type and beverages, and that was my last gaming session…
@@opaqued2039 Pizza and beer? 😁
@@sutekh233Good choice. Pizza is nature’s perfect food. Burgers and fries and rivers of pop.
Corporations are not your friends.
To quote the professor, I enjoy drinking Coke, watching Netflix, and buying dice produced by corporations. They are not my friend, but I will still give them money.
And corporations aren't people, despite what has been ruled by US courts.
Corporations produced the device you're using to complain about corporations on another corporations product.
@@thealaskanpiperSo we have to be friends with the corporation? I think you’re missing their point
I'm not seeking friendship. If game publishers create products I like, they get my money. This new direction for WOTC could actually be a great thing for the hobby if it leads to new movies, video games, merch, etc that we are excited to buy. It could also bring new players into D&D that help fund the game design side of the business. A lot will depend on how the products are implemented.
Matt Coville made a video where he was talking about 4e. He mentioned how people thought it was made to be a MMO rip-off, but when they asked Bill Slavicsek, he said that it was made that way because they planned on having a virtual tabletop and that the game was designed around that and being able to play online. They have wanted a virtual tabletop and to do what they are doing now since at least 2008. This isn't something new, it has been in the works for longer than most players have been in the game.
FOMO will not lead me to One D&D, but FOMO did lead me to Old School Essentials and I REGRET NOTHING!
I supported Old School Essentials in their recent Kickstarter campaign. I haven't fully gone through the material (my plan was a side-by-side analysis with 2E, the version my friends and I leaned back in the day & subsequently "locked into"), but I am super impressed with the streamlined aspect of the material. I love the creativity that Gygax incorporated from the beginning, and OSE seems to respect that.
@@Barquevious_Jackson The Kickstarter earlier this year, specifically.
I wondered why I needed another OSR game being content with C&C, Rules Cyclopedia (and other TSR versions), and BFRPG, but I am pleased with OSE. I have run several games using their modules, and I am thrilled with their stuff.
Great game.
I'm more for AD&D/OSRIC, myself. Though really, the're all basically the same system. A BECMI cnaracter can be run alongside 2e characters, in a 1e campaign... or any combination thereof. The rules are all long-established, and all it takes is a quick DM review before beginning.
Two things
First players who don’t bring snacks for their DM are the real monsters.
Second, I discovered D&D in 1989. It sure felt like only me and 6 other people in my entire high school played. The game was run by the DM not the rule books. Hell we used the players handbooks from three different editions. AD&D, basic D&D, and AD&D 2e. It was awesome.
I combined all the same editions too, and it was only 5 people at my school…
The monsters tend to get more hit points and legendary actions whenever players show to my table without snacks, or beer
if you don't bring snacks for you DM that is a clear sign that you really do not like your current character.
On behalf of all the “folks”, I’d just like to thank The Professor in advance for taking all the flak he’s gonna get for daring to talk some sense!
Ditto
Tripled
Oh yeh, 'Folks'. My people. Been home-brewing for more than 20 years now.
This is a dnd community, not a 40k community.
Talking sense is kinda a given lol
@@theophrastusbombastus1359 You just gave me flashbacks of the 40k community....
I love 40k and it's fanbase, but it also has some fans that would look like a parody if put on tv.
“It’s not real; it’s made up.” 😂 I just about fell out of my seat. Thank you for stating the obvious point many need to hear! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
You’re welcome 😊 Funny about that line--its was ad-libbed. It's just how I felt.
My dad developed a 1 page rules set where the DM and the players work to fill out the rest of the rules picture. This was when 3.0 went to 3.5 and we got tired of trying to learn the new addition and buy the new books. I am now using this same system with minor tweaks to run a cyberpunk campaign. It's so much more streamlined and since the players were involved in helping me set up the parameters they are much more invested. Now with 1 sheet of rules, creativity, and callaboration We can run an RPG in nearly any setting.
So the major takeaway here is if you are playing in Prof. DM's group, bring Mallomars.
My player Veronica brings them every September when they return to shelves.
and coke
Or a sub
@@jimyoung9262 split six ways.
Part of what got me into D&D as a kid was the fact that I was able to buy a set of dice and a few books and have a hobby I could play forever at no further expense. Sharing of books was also great thing in this hobby, because it allowed everyone to share around the cost of getting new materials. I guess Hasbro isn't having any more of this whole "sharing" thing, and will almost certainly move to licensing you digital access rather than selling you books that you can use forever after only paying once. Reminds me of the early days of MMO's, where just because you bought the game didn't mean you got to use it without paying a monthly subscription.
One of my best memories was sharing books between friends, and now that I have more resources, I enjoy giving books and dice to new players and sharing books with players that want to try their hand at running a game.
Its sad. Genuinely. I'll not spend another dime. Corporate greed be damned.
@@djhollowman9567 Sharing is the ancient enemy of capitalism
Homebrew for life, just get the official rules to use as a guideline
Amen.
My home brew doesn't have character levels, only stats and skills. REAL simplified, more time immersed in the game world.
Exploiting FOMO is manipulative, and they know it. It's on the same ruler as exploiting gambling addiction.
You’re convincing me to join the ‘folk crew.’
Cool!
me too
Reject monetization. Embrace tradition.
@@TheodoreMinick That's why I have heavily invested in Castles & Crusades...
Me too. Been that way since 1982.
I finally ran my first game of Old School Essentials last night! I'm running my group through B1 for their dungeon, since I feel it's a good starting point to learning the rules. I also had to make my first homebrew, since the module has a flail and there's no rules for flails in the book. I'm using the optional rules that gives unique weapon abilities and damage dice. I decided that since in real life flails largely ignore shields that's exactly what they do in the game. Nobody complained, because it "made sense" as far as a game can. The highlight was one player went and got his real flail out and showed it to everyone. Talk about a memorable moment!
That is so cool. None of my players have an actual flail. We’ve had swords but no flails. So cool.
I’d like to extend the middle finger towards HASBRO.
Is that a digital middle finger?
@@opaqued2039 It could be a digital middle finger if Hasbro pays
2 physical middle fingers
Calling it now. If Wizards actually makes all books outside the core 3 exclusively digital and doesn't also make print versions, somebody will 100% make their own 5.5e and "Pathfinder" them a second time. It would be hilarious if it was Paizo who did it agai, but I think they are too focused on PF 2e. Maybe it will be Mercer....but even if its not him, it will be somebody, I am sure.
Matt Coleville maybe...
@@sumdude4281 hes already doing it tbh, his monster and war rules are just objectively better. i want him and chris perkins to work on sth together, bc perkins is the only talent at wotc atm
I kind of already have....but it's just homebrew for our group.
I'm a fairly new DM but thanks to Professor DM and others I would consider myself a folk DM as described in the video.
As the DM, I won't cave to FOMO. If I'm running it old school (books, not an app you have to keep buying things through), the group will play old school.
I like that TTRPGs get me away from a screen and get me around the table with friends in person. If I wanted to use a screen I'd play a computer game.
Based.
Funny thing is I do use a computer cuz my friends are all scattered acrosd the US now, but I still won't pay for it lol
At THE RIPE OLD age of 51 here I still have my copy of basic and expert rules. I remember what it was like trying to figure out AD&D rules with weapon speed. I got away from the game for decades and now with 4 kids I’ve become a DM who took his family, including my father, through Curse of Strahd over the course of 3 years. I just started a new campaign with them. One I don’t even know where it is going yet. It is a low fantasy combination of Deathbringer, Hardcore, ICRPG, 5e and my family LOVES it. They love the simplicity and excitement. They almost got killed by a few Giant Harvester Ants in the first session, find them in a book lol. The fun we had didn’t come from a micro transaction. Love your channel and I agree with your analysis. I’m analog all the way.
This makes me so sad. D&D was one of the last remaining cultural vestiges of a bygone era of in person, old fashion, and tangible fun. But like everything else, corporate profits have diluted it into another exploitative product. The movie looks like it's going to flop, too. Hasbro is ruining D&D the way Disney has ruined Lucasfilm. There seems to be no heart and soul left with these brands.
It's still here. Disney did screw up Star Wars, though.
Bah. I suppose its good the older editions exist and the OSR exists. Who says we have to consume inferior product?
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 But mouse wars isn't Star Wars.
Just wait'll you find out the new Dragonlance is really a story about the Mandalorian.
Join "folk" D&D and ignore WotC. 3D prints are cheaper than Wizkids minis and OSR is on a whole more creative too.
I have copies of Basic and AD&D rulebooks from older players and from what I see, it was commonplace to cross out, highlight, and write houserules and notes in the margins. These books were personalized by the owners and not treated like they're some holy relic to be perfectly preserved. Everyone had their own way to play. Also CONGRATS on 100k subscribers! You made it!
I fall into the old camp, but I have had some time to think on this and in a way I think I will be very happy when WotC releases the One D&D ecosystem. I think this will give the "I only play rules as written" group a great place to go and follow their sacred rules texts. I will be a paper and pen heretic, enjoying the hobby I grew up with and focusing on people who like to hang out unplug and tell stories and roll dice. In the end I just want everyone to play the game they enjoy. Happiness comes from different sources and while many will start in One D&D, this will, in time bring people to the analog side of the hobby.
"One D&D will make all the bad players exit the hobby into a new, separate ecosystem."
Couldn't be a better thing then. Sounds like a great move to filter out all the lowest common denominators so they stop trying to ruin actual tabletop.
Unironically Make D&D Great Again. Build the PayWall!
I hope the D&D bubble pops sooner rather than later so things can go back to a more healthy scale.
Amen!
I think, it is time to accept, that D&D is never going to be what it was, ever again. While it has blown up and changed a great deal in the last 10-20 years, as an effect of that, thousands of new people have discovered the hobby of all backgrounds. The culture around dungeons and dragons and table top gaming in general has become infinitely more normalized and available. Many who didn't have a place at the table in the past, do now. The idea that the bubble is going to pop and things are going to go back to a "healthy scale" forgets all that positive growth in the hobby.
I think the Professor really hit the nail on the head with his statement about the two future camps of roleplaying, and in a way that has already started. We already have one group that all they play is D&D and that's it, while there is a second group that plays a wide gambit of ttrps. If you want that more small scale and indie vibe I think you'll find it in the ttrpg realm. Which is blowing up with tons of new and great content.
Wizards at the end of the day is a company and their goal is to make a profit, I feel like this new direction has just been in the writing on the walls for some time. This is just the way of things. Star Wars started as an indie project with a bunch of film students and today it is one of the largest multi media empires around and part of the Disney Machine. Hazbro is already one of the largest toy companies out there. Paramount has the film rights now and they are looking for a new franchise to put everything behind. A D&D theme park is probably already in talks somewhere.
What is a healthy scale? Seems more people playing is better than less.
"...the official imaginary numbers..." & "...sell plots of real imaginary land..." I love every bit of this energy.
Maybe I missed something, but when was it that a game played around a table became an online platform? Sure you can have an online virtual game but it still boils down to what the players and the DM want that game to look like. What WotC seems to want is for everyone to play the game the way they want it to be played so they can make money off of it. I think it is time to remind everyone that the game is yours to create, you as the player and you as the DM. I think it is time to fight back against corporate greed.
Thanks for responding. No need to fight back. Just buy other cool stuff.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 That is fighting back closing your wallet is the only way to fight.
@@HI-kb2cg Oh, I did that some 12-15 years or so ago. In spite of plenty of gripes with the system, no group I've played with has moved farther afield than 3.5e, and in many ways, I've regressed to almost total homebrew since then. It's nice to be able to see this from a purely academic sense; I don't really care much what WotC is doing with D&D these days. If I don't like what they're doing, well... OK then. For their sake, I hope SOMEONE does, but if not, that's cool too. I'm not seeing a lot of positivity from the fans about One D&D, though, I have to admit. Maybe I just hang out in the wrong circles, but I suspect it's going to fall kind of flat.
@@spacerx It will succeed, no doubt. The gamer of today is not the gamer of 40 years ago, or even 20. Online is fuelled by the "instant fix" mentality, and rightly or wrongly, it works for companies. What it does to players and a game however.........
Welcome to End game content in a "creative" game, where people will end up doing the same crap over and over again to chance the next new item level and pay real money for that "cool looking" new skin.
Soon enough you will have guilds, and then you will start to get the inevitable "No RP" guilds.
When? The same time that email overtook the phone call. Or Twitter overtook the political public square. Not you?? Ok. But there are millions of others that DO. I personally prefer the real world too, but Hasbro is following the money. I don’t think they have thought this all through BUT It Is Their Money To Lose.
I'll consider panicking when Gavin Norman announces Old School Essentials is under monetized. WOTC got the last monetization from me a few books ago. Now my RPG dollars go to companies I feel are more inline with the game I want to play.
Same. I am not paying WOTC any more. I did it until my campaign ended last month. The day after it ended, I unsubscribed from D&D Beyond and warned the next GM he'd better have a master sub ready to share content (he does, sigh). I also told him, since he is already in love with One D&D (again, sigh) that I am not giving WOTC any more money so he needs to keep that in mind. We'll have to see what their "content sharing" rules are.
Love this. Analog/Folk D&D forever!
As a folk player with a folk table, I'm personally thrilled by all the new people coming to see how my table works
Regarding digital access, WOTC and D&D are not the only ones looking to gain a financial push from online games. Some new platforms are looking to sell you the pdf AGAIN, or at least their digital version. Sorry, it's a big no go for me. I own the books and PDFs already; I'll stick with Zoom and use the tools I have to run a digital game. Otherwise, it's all played on my favorite console, a table with plenty of chairs.
I'm horrified by your rules edits, not because I'm a stickler for the "official version", but because I know how bad my luck is with the dice. I'd probably go through about a half-dozen characters per session at your table! 😵
You're not the only guy to say that. Dave at Nerdarchy insists he is dice-cursed.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I kinda lean towards the old AD&D 1st ed rules for dropping to zero or less HP. If you get stabilized and don't die, all you can do is walk unencumbered till you get a full week of rest. No fighting, spell casting, special abilities/powers, nothing. The only way to avoid bed rest and get back to adventuring right away was a full 6th level Heal spell.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 It's a running joke with my game group. Even dice-rolling apps seem to hate me.
Congratulations on the 100 000 subscribers, PDM!
Thank you.
I used to get into playing the newest version of D&D mostly so when I went to cons, I would be able to play "the current version" of D&D. Lately I have focused more on other games like DCC, OSE, Eyes Beyond the Torchlight, Through Sunken Lands... These games have many fans and I can almost always find great (and actually more creative) games at any con. So now, I feel less inclined to learn the newest evolution of Dungeons and Dragons. I hope you all have fun playing One D&D.
Great choices. I’m not familiar with Sunken Lands though. What’s that game play like?
@@opaqued2039 Through Sunken Lands is like an OSR game. Mechanics very simple. The magic is in the character creation.
They use "play books" that force players at the table to create interconnected backgrounds. The characters feel and play like those from Michael Moorcock (Corum or Elric), R E Howard, or other dark sword and sorcery book.
They also have "scenario packs" that guide a DM to come of with an adventure on a moments notice.
Very cool, worth the effort to check out.
@@troytucker339 It does sound interesting. I’ll have to check it out.
same. Folk D&D!
As one of “those guys” I’ll just push the big red button.
Why play all those game systems when you can do it all with GURPS? 🤣
Only partially serious… I do love the GURPS rule set and Steve Jackson Games is still a gamers company (compared to WoTC), but I also know how much work and effort it is to create and tweak the settings and rules and all that. To be “all in” on GURPS you really have to be some sort of masochist. Which is why my shelves are full to bursting with many different games.
I'm so glad you mentioned homebrew which is getting more and more popular among newer players and DMs.
that's one thing that digital and one d&d will never be able to fully control, as long as there's pen, paper and imagination there will always be a table to play.
I love this component of tabletop games. They are Free & Open to the point that Capitalists cant control them (destroy them).
WotC will try using their IP, but when capitalism destroys D&D's trademark the result will be great! As the monopoly of the D&D IP weakens, tabletop gamers will wake up to the hundreds of superior designed tabletop systems (ranging from totally different systems to homebrew/hardcore D&D).
D&D wont ever be destroyed. Just the trademark can be, bc as you point out D&D itself is Free & Open now.
I hope WotC does do OneDnD and tries to exploit that exosystem hard like they seem to want.
Unironically ruining DnD is the best thing they could do for D&D.
My group loves playing in person and we love having access to D&D Beyond. Having the option to play online with Roll20 is great if there's some reason we can't meet in person.
The glamour shots of the One D&D digital play space look pretty cool. Will my group adopt it when it comes out? I guess it'll depend on whether or not it's compatible with whatever we are doing. It's not like we're going to completely revamp our characters in the middle of a campaign.
Also, the DM never has to pay for food at our table.
Professor, I love it when you get real about the hobby. I'm also pretty sure I could guess which direction your channel is going and I'm all for it 🤔
My group is still using 3.5, and thanks mostly to stuff like this we're looking into other systems entirely rather than trying to advance to a newer D&D. At this point we're so homebrewed anyway, we may as well be on our own system.
3.5 is still amazing!
@@HollmanOrtizBuitrago 3.5 is an incredibly flexible system thanks to its many, many facets, but I've found as my party plays more and more campaigns certain metas have started to evolve.
I give away a lot of bonus for good RP, but that means that nobody is statting into Diplomacy, Intimidate, Gather Info, etc. because they'd rather save stats for combat, and then flex their own social skills for RP situations. That's fine, but that, and things like it, have created large holes in our character sheets. I see the appeal of 5e (or another system entirely) mostly being that it's stripped down, meaning we might engage with a higher percentage of the system.
As a publisher, I think there is a way to go both routes. Obviously supporting 1DnD will be important and focus can be on that. But I can also do "labor of love" products that are more system agnostic and published in more traditional formats.
I wish them good luck. As a GM I have shelves full of older editions as well as the core books for 5th and frankly, I'm already at my allowance limit for game related material. Greed works, until it breaks the system. My shelves are also full of defunct game systems from long gone game designers and companies who either sold up, or went broke. It's not that I don't understand WotC need for revenue, but it's that never ending hand out that drove me from the video game market. It's not sustainable for many people like myself who then get squeezed out.
Under monetized with only 4 books a year at 50 bucks a book.
I got to play BX last night for the first time in over 30 years. I had so much fun and I think I'm going to be playing in mostly OSR games going forward. I'll still DM 5e because I can control all of the issues that I hate about it like level creep and OP characters, but playing BX made me remember why I fell in love with the game in the first place. Definitely living in the folk camp and making occasional clandestine outings into the official camp. Thanks for the video, Prof! Awesome as always!
It would be realy terrifying fighting a dragon that can kill you in 5% of his attacks.
This is why I enjoy the Savage Worlds Ace mechanics. Maybe It wont kill you but it'll cause havoc
Take up Dragon Dice. Damn dragon is about 75% likely to wipe out your entire army within two turns 💡
I think this would encourage people getting together and playing in person. When wizards says you must pay online for a sword upgrade or mythical item just laugh and say I went on a quest for that in person and rock it for free on a regular basis.
If this is really the way they're going to go with it, then I think we can expect to see D&D start to lose market share to companies like Paizo and we can expect companies like Kobold Press to either partner with Paizo or develop their own system. My Hope Is that it's more about other products within the brand. Better and bigger MMOs, stuff like that. I would also love to see more film and TV from them. A new cartoon series would be amazing, something along the lines of a far more tame Legend Of Vox Machina.
Well, PF2 does what 5E tries to do but successfully.
The very serious problem with OneDnD is that Hasbro has zero loyalty to it. It is only a money making venture. There is no love in it for anything but profit potential. So when it fails, and it will fail, Hasbro won't keep investing in it. It will vanish like a puff of smoke. Therefore, you would be better off just sticking with analog play because that's where you'll end up after all.
Excellent point. My son found this out painfully with Plants vs Zombies Heroes. We LOVED that game but EA withdrew support and didn’t fix a certain bug, so we lost 15 months of intense regular free to play game play and we will never invest ourselves in a game like that ever again. Hasbro is not Blizzard. D&D is not Warcraft.
A solid video as always Prof. I find myself in the “folk digital” portion of the Venn diagram. In person does have a certain magic to it, but there are tools out there to help you run your game live and online but that are lightweight in a good way - they don’t try to include rules or character management or any of those features that impede the ability of the GM (or the players) to deviate from proscribed/official mechanics. I suspect this change on WOTCs part is going to significantly impact those digital platforms and VTT’s that leaned on providing literally mechanical support, but other platforms may not see any negative impact.
As a dungeon master, it feels very liberating to have adopted a perspective similar to PDM's. Feels good, man.
I know exactly what you mean!!!! Liberating is the perfect word to describe it!! Freedom from bloat!!
I don't see how this is much different than any other era of D&D. So, to some of you older gamers out there, how many editions of Dragon Magazine did you buy just for the new class printed there? How about using a new spell or monster gleaned from a module because it's not in the Monster Manual? Ever hunt through a store full of lead for that one perfect representation of your favorite character? How about all the t-shirts, poster, novels, comic books we've bought over the years? Anyone out there have the old Strongheart the Paladin or Warduke Action Figure? Point is, D&D has been a "lifestyle brand" for 40 years and more. And ever since Lorraine Williams took over TSR back in 1985, the company that owned D&D has always been a business that sought to squeeze as many coins out of their audience as possible without giving one wet fart about anyone's campaigns, characters, or vision.
That's just the way Corporate Capitalism works. Hasbro is going to try to sell all of us as much D&D as they can. It's why they have a Marketing Department.
As Professor Dungeon Master states pretty clearly, you as an individual still own the books you bought (glances back at the enormous library of D&D I've collected over too many years). My only real disagreement with our esteemed Professor is that if any player in your group chooses to adopt a new rule or a new edition, the group doesn't have to allow those new rules, they can always push back and say "no". I've *never in 40 years* played in a group or in a community where players who wanted to play a new feature of the game that another player owned wasn't able to obtain a copy of it. I've also never seen a player who is using a new feature deny the GM a copy of the rules surrounding that feature. And honestly, I can't imagine anyone playing with someone being that big of an ass.
I'm gonna end this wall of text by pointing at 4th edition D&D and Pathfinder. If Hasbro and WotC clamps chains on D&D again by insisting that only "official" D&D would be supported, D&D clones will spread like daisies in a field. We'll still have a hobby to play and an identity to present to the world.
I feel like there is almost an analog to the alignment chart, with the two axis being folk-official and analog-digital. The monetization schemes will most affect those in the official digital camp. The more folk and the more analog, the less we rely on ongoing matter from WotC. Once someone who falls under official analog buys a set of books, they don't need to purchase anything else from WotC. And those folk analog hooligans* will third-party and homebrew everything anyways.
WotC has to make sure in their quest to monetize digital players they don't alienate analog players by some scheme such as forcing purchases online only (something I don't see them doing) or making too much content digital exclusive (want that nifty new hexblade for 1DD and some awesome feats? Get the Wrath of the raven Queen expansion pack, only available on DDB!). I could see them attempt the latter. My take - if I don't own it, we don't play it. I may well make my own version or adopt another brewer's material if I like something, but I'm not compelled to use anything.
* I fall deeply analog and a fair amount folk on the grid - probably neutral analog - so take this as a jest.
I understand joking because I was born in the 70s.
Excellent analysis as always. Merry DungeonMas to all and remember to check your stockings for Mimics and green slime.
I posted a screenshot of the revised death rules to my 5e group chat. My players were not amused. I might run a few sessions of OSE for them in the future, we'll see. I think it sounds awesome. I would love to be a player in a higher-stakes game like that.
I almost laughed myself out of my chair at those rules. I'd be a player in that game with bells on.
I can remember way back when I was 11 or 12 a buddy that rode the bus to school with me told me about this cool game he had seen/played. He explained it to me, and we immediately started playing a game of make-believe set in a dungeon where we were fighting monsters right then and there on the bus. Neither of us had a single dice or a character sheet. Sure, getting dice and a rule book kindled whole worlds of imagination for us, but we had as much or more fun in those weeks between starting and getting the books as we did after.
Good points. And there is nothing stopping people from playing older versions of the games they love. I have a friend that still runs AD&D 2ed and he has no problem with that. I run mostly Pathfinder 2e now, but it all comes down to the players and their GM. What they decide as a group IS the right system, analog, digital, or some other method we haven't dreamed up yet.
I run PF2e also and love it.
Our group uses a mix. We started with what you call analog - I mean some of us started in first edition. But due to distance and how long we play, we now do one month in person for like 10+ hours, then the next month a shorter roll20 session, then repeat. I embrace the future, and we'll hack up the rules how we see fit. I've never seen one of your vids before, but this one along got you a new sub!
The crazy thing is, we are a year to a year and a half away from the new living D&D. These types of videos are becoming more common which is not good. D&D will be 4e all over again, but todays way and the way business is now it could crush D&D for good.
Thanks for joining the conversation. D&D will always be the market leader because it's good. 6e might suffer the fate of 4e though.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Is it really? Is D&D REALLY that good? It will be a market leader, sure, but so is McDonalds, is Mcdonalds good?
@@sutekh233 yep, McDonald’s is Absolutely Fantastic. Super cheap, fills you up and makes your kids happy. A deserving leader.
Now! Is it ideal or the best? Doesn’t matter. Preference is everything, and honestly, just like McDonald’s, the history and heritage of the brand is important too!
@@Xplora213 Note the use of the word preference in what you said. Preference implies choice and D&D has essentially destroyed (and sadly, with the market and market leaders, such as SOME YT creators, help) the competition. So, for a great many people the choice is pretty well non-existent.
It's Demolition man, "welcome to Taco bell".
I don't see how history and heritage comes into play when determining quality though, if your only VISIBLE option is crap, and you have only ever tasted crap, crap starts to taste good, cause all you know is, crap.
I hope "One DnD" flops like a fish. Corporate greed exploiting and milking a hobby crowd thats "supposed to be for everyone" is pure garbage. Guess it's only for those who can afford it. Sure, you can play our game, but it's pay to win now, so...
This goes back to the original Arneson/Gygax conflict where Arneson questioned how do you monetize a game that exists in your imagination and Gygax's response was that's what makes it so easy to do it
It's interesting that you used Warhammer as your miniatures game example. Not only has no miniatures company done a better job of extracting money from players, but they are the younger branch of miniatures, and the simpler, cheaper side of the hobby is still going strong with new historical, fantasy, and product coming out all the time.
Is it really though? When you are talking to people who cannot escape the event horizon of the big companies, the only way to get thier attention is to talk about the huge thing that just...........sucks.
Also interesting that he compared this to Games Workshop, because once they made the move towards milking the meta chasing machine, I stopped buying literally ANY of their products. Which I intend to do with this company as well. Fanboys and fools will be exploited and milked, and still blindly follow along as if they love being milked. I'll be content with what I own, and what I create from there. They've got their last dollar from me.
6:02 au contraire, Professor. I'm a Folk DM through and through, but I certainly wouldn't want to run a game like that or play in such an environment.
A single roll of the die to determine a character's permanent fate honestly doesn't sit well with me at all.
Just divergence in preferences, Folk Gamers come in all kinds.
I think it’s going to be an increasing challenge for DMs who kill a character also. A player puts real money into a character build and now they have to do it again because the nasty DM followed the rules of play? It will definitely be interesting to watch from the sidelines!😊
The thought of this made me laugh uncontrollably for just long enough to produce a stitch in my side. I can just imagine what the DigiD&Ders will be posting on THE TWITTA when their precious has been lost to a die roll. 🤡🤡 🗺🗺
@@angrab.goblin850 I can imagine the shouting, so do you know how much time and money I spent on my virtual mini?! I bought the xyz expansion! Can my new character have my old stuff and look just like the old one except with the blue cape also included with the mod kit I bought?! I’ll change their hair to electric yellow electrum even!! It was $15 and I’m not losing that kit on top of the subscription for the lmnop feats I paid for!! It’s not fair! Etc. Etc. Etc.
@@angrab.goblin850 boomer fan fiction
They will extract a subscription because you have to refresh your avatar constantly… I don’t think they are that mercenary because no o other developer takes away your program like that.
@@bigbingus64 😆 Gen X thank you very much!! 😆
Congratulations for your 100k !
With baited breath shallI watch this video from Professor Dungeon Master.
It's episode 300. But the next two are also good.
A few comments, because you touched on a couple of good topics.
1. Role playing game companies have never been able to find a sustainable model for business. At best, you dominate the genre for a limited time, taking up a great majority of market share as new players run to your game and buy books. But then...everyone has the core books. Splat books only work for those interested in that faction/type of character. Adventure books appeal to GMs, and you will be lucky to get 50% of a group to buy a supplement. You eventually burn out and someone else takes market share. Happened to TSR. Happened to White Wolf. Happened to WOTC (3.5) ,So what do you do? put out a new edition. Well that can easily backfire (cough..4E..cough) . Most editions are not completely better than the previous, which means you leave some of the market behind. So new books get diminishing returns and new eidtions are risks that also might get diminishing returns unless wildly successful.
However, create an rpg "eco system"??? Not only do you present new material that can entice numerous players...you lock them against competitors. "Oh i would totally try out Pathfinder 3.0, but i already have a sub with a giant amount of digital tools unlocked in One Dnd!" . I know you might hate this, but this maybe a way a game company creates a stable market. Ask Apple.
2. Analog v. Digital. The Analog market is not going to go away. it will create friction at a game table. Some players will always prefer dead trees. Some players will want everything at an instant finger tip. I have a game where me and my gamemaster fight over my character sheet. He hands me a paper copy and says "this is not updated in three games". I respond back "i gave you google drive access to my character in a google doc. its constalty updated with notes, I dont have to worry about losing it. " . We never resolve this issue. However, eventually groups of gamers will go one direction or the other. If you are analog nothing says you cant go on doing what you have been doing.
3. Official vs Non. I totally get the homebrew crowd. I am an example of not being one of them. For me and the people i play with, Dnd is a game. A game has to have understood rules for the players to use to their advantage in order to honestly have the ability to succeed or fail. They can succeed with building a good character that exploits the advantages there. They can succeed tactically, using the range and modifiers and situation to over come challenges. They can succeed creatively, using abilities outside of combat for their advantage. All this requires rules they are aware of ahead of time. That said, what i said is TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE. Its how I HAVE FUN. Do you prefer homebrew rules and making it up as you go? Great, what i said doesnt stop you, nor should it.
Dnd beyond has changed the way I GM by making it easy and convenient for me. However, nothing in my game forces you to do anything in yours.
Edit note. When i said most editions are not completely better, i mean many are better overall..but leave some things some groups may prefer behind. Some people still think THACO is the best there is.
Professor DM! Huge Fan! Love Your work!
I love your viewership!
Great perspective as always. It's nice to hear a calm and reassuring voice with all the panic I am sensing out there.
A player pays $100 in total to make their virtual character look exactly how they want.
DM: Your character died at level 1.
LMAO!
That's why death saves exist.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I can see the rift between DM and player getting worse for things like this. "You killed my character! I spent $XX on it! How dare you!" As the forever (folk) DM, I'm fortunate I won't ever have to deal with that kind of drama.
@@jasonmountain4643 To be fair, it's pretty hard to die in 5e. WOTC is terrified a new player will sour on the game if their character dies. The answer, just make character death nearly impossible!
@@briankito1655a few of my characters would disagree. 🤣
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 No, I saw your "death saves". It said whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you are dead. Roll a new character.
Yeah, the only real draw of the "official" rules & content is that they provide common ground for larger groups of irregular players who can't always manage a smaller, more traditional gaming group.
5e is a pretty solid mechanical framework that's getting really burdened with extra bits as the books go splat. Plenty to homebrew your own stuff from, it's just extra work to find players for it.
I am with you. When I buy a rules system I make changes to it to suit the needs of me and my group. The one D&D folks will enjoy what they do and the analog folks will enjoy what they do. Win win in my opinion.
We had a divergent opinion last video. I thought there would be a schism. I was unsure which of us would be Martin Luthor banging his thesis on the door (I was pretty sure it was you). I am back to being back in your branch of the heterodoxy. Perfect video.
I hold no ill will towards WOTC or anyone excited to jump into this. If it fits what entertains you- I am excited for you. I will be enjoying my folk d&d!
Since the AD&D 1e days we've always had some homebrew rules. We will continue traveling the "Analog Road." I personally have a ton of material gathered over the decades that I am set for years to come. No need for One D&D.
First off, classic DM move at 5:34. It's clever, creative, and puts the Rules Lawyers back in their place.
Second, 5e's focus on roleplaying, character options (i.e. powers), and DM-driven story is now sufficiently different from D&D's original roots that a player (vice DM) focused marketing approach is inevitable. AD&D and One D&D are really mirror images of each other. What one doesn't do, the other does.
And Third, at 8:32, anyone who has seen more than a couple of your videos will know the answer to this question. I can't wait to hear your decision and see what you plan to do.
Nice review and congratulations on 100k !!! Always bring snacks for your DM
I Just miss the care and attention to detail that older released had (full sized setting books, the latest Handbook compared to the whole old Dragonlance line or Cthulhu by Chaosium or MERP. Such attention, care and detail in planning out every Little thing, compared to the rapid Fire of new releases right now.
Subscribing to their master tier on DND Beyond allows me to share content that I own. Its pretty much the only reason I buy stuff on that website. My players get access to everything which gets codified into all the menus and whatnot making character creation super easy and streamlined. I'm a forever DM and my players are wonderful but good GOD do they get on my nerves when trying to build characters with pencil and paper. So many misreading of things, wrong interpretations and strait up ignoring things like prerequisites. Don't get me started on spell lists and encumbrance... So yes, for some the app and DND Beyond is useful. I can also create homebrew content like monster stat blocks, items, pretty much anything which I need because I buy a ton of 3rd party books. I should also mention that my PC is apart of my DM setup, so I can send them stuff and edit on the fly. I mean, Id rather just buy the books, but this makes creation, leveling and rewards so much less of a headache.
My one small critique is saying this pays the designers more.
One D&D's 'monetization' is an attempt to cut out third party creators, retain more revenue stream to Hasbro, and convince players to buy items that don't improve the play experience.
I'm all for paying creators. Paizo Unionized. Pathfinder2e has all the rules available for free. They have decided not to squeeze the hobby for more, but to try to provide better quality.
That isn't Hasbro's intent. I think they are looking to squeeze players. I don't think they could kill the hobby, but they are making a choice to put up a pay wall instead of sharing the success of 5e.
From what I’ve heard with the future direction of monetisation
Subscription based extended services, like digital map editors and Hero makers
But if I’m already forking out for all the updated tools as a DM, why must I also force all my Players to do the same? 🤔
Been cobbling my own TTRPG together for a hot minute now, takes what I like from D&D, GURPS, and a few others, while streamlining a few things, ramping up combat, shining a light on roleplay, and encouraging exploration.
Good video, actually. One of the few without all the doomsaying.
I used to charge my 5-6 players $2 per game night and used it to buy whatever I needed for the game from books to adventures to all new PHB for all the players when the new edition of 3.5 came out (some time ago) I ran that game for 22 years every week... the funds added up and we were never short material.
Long time viewer, first time commenter- Hands down the best Dungeon Craft sign-off yet, a well earned hardy chuckle. Thank you for your shared insights and frequent uploads! Your channel has brought me a lot of joy while I’m home on paternity leave with my first daughter- keep up the good work, and thanks for all that you do!
Where is that assassin mini from? It looks awesome!
I think it is worth comparing to Pathfinder's business model - basically all of the game mechanics and PC options are totally free online (legally), and the money comes from the roleplay side of things like adventures (Pathfinder publishes WAY more adventure books than WotC) and sourcebooks. Most of Paizo's cash comes from high-spending "whales" who are either DMs or really like the setting, but they get that spending through quality and quantity of releases, rather than manipulative tactics.
WotC is probably hitting the limit on their model (bringing in new players and groups who buy a Player's Handbook, DM's Guide, Monster Manual and maybe one adventure but then little else), so they are looking to squeeze more out of those basic players. And I guess producing and selling lots and lots of quality books is too much work.
What I'm really saying is "go support Pathfinder."
Ideally groups will explore other ttrpg rulesets. I think the breadth and width of the ttrpg hobby is worth exploring. No need to be tied to a system of microtransactions and monthly sub fees.
8:10 Another angle - I’ve only played TTRPGs via Zoom since Covid. One of my kids plays Final Fantasy with a crew 3x per week. Neither of us is physically with other players. It’s not really a question, then, of “live vs digital.” It’s “human moderated (GM/DM) vs computer moderated (game server).”
Thank you! I got my hackles up early into your video but you brought it around to a balanced pov. Subscribed and liked.
Also I liked your table rules, especially regarding dragon attacks.
I DM a group in “real life”, no real technology except me googling when I forget something but the players are all paper dice.
Why? We are all programmers or IT folk, it’s a chance to unplug and pretend we are back in the 80s playing AD&D
But now our kids play with us and that’s a whole new level of cool.
Do you have or have you made a video on streamlining 5e with your old school dnd flavor? I’m curious as I am going to run my first thanks in part to your videos.
When we were playing Pathfinder, I used a program called HeroLab Classic. It would keep track of any bonus and penalties that my character would experience. What do you thin about this?
Prof. makes a great point. Another example is the relative explosion of analog board games. While there may have been a bit of a lull in the industry when video games were exploding, its never been a better time to find great, innovative table top board games - and they have never been more popular. I'll probably always look for ways digital offerings can deliver (or augment) my gaming, I'm firmly in the analog camp and plan to stay there.
In the digital vs. analog discussion, I am reminded of the late '80s and early '90s, before the "digital" thing was what it eventually became, and other students I knew at the time asking things like, "But without a planner, how do you know what assignments you have due?" and so forth, and I said, "I remember them; and I also write them down on pieces of paper." "But how do you keep track of all those pieces of paper?" "I make sure not to lose them!" The people who freaked out about this still got Bs (and sometimes lower), whereas I ended up valedictorian of my graduating class. Correlation? No...but I am just saying this because I think there's something similar going on a lot of the time. The whole thing of "How do you keep track of stuff in D&D without an app?" Notes! Notebooks! Yes, I have WorldAnvil, but I don't really use it much, and mainly wanted it to make family trees and such.
I think a lot of this stuff boils down to people not being especially skilled in a few basic things that those of our generation are more used to: 1) memory capacity and abilities for particular figures, rules, and formulae; as well as lore; 2) basic math skills (how long it takes some people on live-play streams to add up a few dice astonishes me, and in-person instances I've seen are not much better, including in people around my age); 3) improv skills--the same ones that players use with their characters in mind are the ones DMs use, just on a more limited scale; and, perhaps the one that is hardest to articulate, but nonetheless one that I see increasingly among younger people, 4) the inability or lack of confidence in simply doing something and not having to be told that it is "right."
People my own age (and older) didn't have that or necessarily need it, certainly in all facets of life, and far less in particular areas than younger people seem to have these days, and without that constant feedback, they don't seem to understand how to function in far too many cases. It's something the way that school these days has done nothing to help with (and much to exacerbate), and I wish that were not the case. The techniques that are supposed to "build confidence" that are used have done the exact opposite. Anyway...
So, One D&D is simply the apotheosis, in this particular gaming hobby, of that larger cultural and generational trend, I think, and the same mindset we find amongst textbook publishers, learning management platform providers/programmers, and others to make everything uniform to "save time and be more efficient" (so they say!) while sacrificing individuality, customization, and the self-confidence of creating things for oneself. Or, that's what I am seeing, anyway.
You can thus guess where I'll be on the digital/analog spectrum debate! As a friend of mine says in some of her e-mail signatures and elsewhere when it comes to books: "not going digital...possibly ever." ;)
Thanks, as ever, for your excellent discussion!
1 of 2 awesome dnd channels. I understand they need to make money, it’s a business. But, I refuse to be sucked into all these businesses subscription based lifestyle. Home brew all the way!!!
Home-brew forever!
Homebrewer here. Totally agree with your points. The gaming world is starting to stale of pay to win and it is a short term commercial strategy at best. The gamers I know all boycott the micro-transaction games now. Its a model that is dying, along with the corporate shills that think this is a good business model.
Whether homebrew or purist, pay per 'thing' is the total opposite of the entire ethos of D&D that is imagination driven and (even within the strict rules) players have FUN developing as they want.
Players don't look forward to forking out $ for the +3 armor, they want to beat the boss fight and earn it.
The market of the pay to winners will be there, but not going to save OneD&D's financial bacon.
We'll see. Thanks for sharing. Home-brew forever!
The death save rules had me laughing for a while.
And I agree with the comment that D&D (and most tabletop games for that matter) don't need the big corporations to play and keep the hobby alive.
Also it's worth mentioning that even for the 'folk' players new apps and technology that compete with WotC new VTT system will be created eventually, allowing those who want to go digital but keep their homebrew rules to enjoy whole thing without WotC interfering.
All in all, I'm not worried. At this point only a meteor wiping out Earth can kill TTRPG.
Dan, I appreciate your take on things going on with the game. They are well thought out and really strike a chord in my old Grognard heart. You consistently put out good information for Dungeon Masters that are doing our best to run long, long campaigns. The edits in your book look similar to mine, but I don't have the hart to do them in ink, I'm a pencil notes dude all the way.
I hope you have a Merry Christmas and I look forward to all your good work in the future.
Pathfinder is a thing because of a previous split of the player base in the 3.5->4 transition days. And it's thriving as far as I can tell. So I'm pretty sure DnD one won't go as smoothly as WotC thinks it will.
See, professor, that's what's going to happen.
D&D 6th edition, that somebody calls One D&D, it's a 500 pages book that you can't really buy.
You'll buy buy "packs" instead, where every pack contains 12 pages, and some of them are rare, some common, some "mythic rare".
So, by gambling enough, you'll eventually get the correct 500 pages which contain the actual game.
Easy enough, isn't it?
That could be.
Player: "I just got all the latest updated spells for my magic user. Look at these things!"
DM: "We're not using those, since I don't have, don't want, and won't pay for that."
When I started playing online, in the dark ages of the 90's internet,
We just had yahoo chat rooms and forums (no voice comms or video streaming)
They had dice rollers and were free
We relied on theater of the mind and careful descriptions
The idea of a virtual tabletop to me just sounds like playing a glorified fan mod of Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale games
Fun games, but not the same as D&D at a table or even in a chatroom