Adam Bradford, Lauren Urban, Todd Kenrick Leave D&D Beyond

[Emongnome777]

See article here (https://www.enworld.org/threads/adam-bradford-lauren-urban-todd-kenrick-leave-d-d-beyond.678047/?fbclid=IwAR0de0Eb_EgwcRlpd7lZ16mTf69rtCFzsQb3JdFj T56AM2BW_vGj-VTbOEQ).

The announcements (via Twitter mostly, I believe) are pretty threadbare. 4 of the "faces" of DDB all leaving within a couple of weeks doesn't sound promising for sure. None of them seem to be forthcoming about where they are heading to, only what they're leaving.

Thoughts?

[JonBeowulf]

I suspect we'll be seeing a new shiny thing in the relatively near future. That's a lot of talent leaving at once... they've got to be going to the same place to do something that excites each of them.

I'm looking forward to whatever it is.

[PhantomSoul]

They were D&D Beyond.
Now they're beyond D&D.

Could make for a great takes-itself-too-seriously movie. Curious to hear reasons (or speculation), it's definitely intriguing.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Just to stoke the flames of blatant conspiracylogical conjecture, Critical Role also hasn't had regular (or perhaps any, if my memory is correct) DND Beyond sponsorships in the last months. Roughly lines up with around the time they announced their own game design efforts in Darrington Press.

As soon as I saw the video that Todd posted I began to worry that something was up. I'm hoping that's just me being paranoid.

To be perfectly clear though, my money is down on personal paranoia more than anything else. More than likely this is just a handful of creative talents moving on from one project into another one.

[PhantomSoul]

Just to stoke the flames of blatant conspiracylogical conjecture, Critical Role also hasn't had regular (or perhaps any, if my memory is correct) DND Beyond sponsorships in the last months. Roughly lines up with around the time they announced their own game design efforts in Darrington Press.

I hadn't heard of that, but googling suggests I've got some new procrastination material to get through! Colour me intrigued (and hopeful; I don't like D&D Beyond, but I've seen that its functionality is improving and can easily see that there's competence behind it.)

[Hael]

I didn’t even know who any of these people were until the pandemic began. Like most old people, DND was strictly a tabletop affair with friends.

After being exposed to a lot of the online content, I can safely say it’s a gigantic mess of bad business decisions by Wotc. Why didn’t they simply monopolize the space? Why did they let others do it for them? Why don’t they have their own VTT, online store, media, twitch and streaming service integration all packaged together.

At this point they should simply buy out a few of these providers, like DND beyond, foundry or roll20 and they’ll make a fortune and it will cut out a huge irritant for the community as well.

[P. G. Macer]

I didn’t even know who any of these people were until the pandemic began. Like most old people, DND was strictly a tabletop affair with friends.

After being exposed to a lot of the online content, I can safely say it’s a gigantic mess of bad business decisions by Wotc. Why didn’t they simply monopolize the space? Why did they let others do it for them? Why don’t they have their own VTT, online store, media, twitch and streaming service integration all packaged together.

At this point they should simply buy out a few of these providers, like DND beyond, foundry or roll20 and they’ll make a fortune and it will cut out a huge irritant for the community as well.

I’m new to D&D with 5e, but from what I’ve heard, WotC’s efforts to create an online first-party D&D experience for previous editions were utter disasters, to the point that the current situation is considered a resounding success.

I doubt that Foundry VTT, Roll20, or Fantasy Grounds would accept being purchased by WotC, no matter how much money Hasbro threw at them, because they also have deals with other gaming companies such as Paizo (Pathfinder, Starfinder) and Pelgrane Press (13th Age, Trail of Cthulhu) who would cry foul.

As for purchasing D&D Beyond itself, DDB is now owned by Fandom/Wikia, so IMO that’s unlikely too.

The fact of the matter is that most users of DDB have been happy with the status quo. Whether they will stay happy with so many familiar faces leaving remains to be seen, but from what I understand they were less involved in the site’s inner mechanical workings and mores with consumer interaction.

[DarknessEternal]

Who are three people that have never been in my kitchen?

[Zhorn]

Just to stoke the flames of blatant conspiracylogical conjecture, Critical Role also hasn't had regular (or perhaps any, if my memory is correct) DND Beyond sponsorships in the last months. Roughly lines up with around the time they announced their own game design efforts in Darrington Press.
I think Matt did give a shout out to DND Beyond after Sam did his promo bit for Runesmiths new tavern book on this week's episode, if I'm remembering correctly.

[jaappleton]

Also, James Haeck (lead writer) left a few weeks ago. So their 4 faces, all gone. And Adam Bradford didn't just leave DDB, he left Fandom entirely (who owns DDB. Used to be owned by Curse, and Fandom bought it). Todd Kenreck and his wife are going to YouTube, doing a live streamed game and some other D&D stuff.

What does this mean?

I can only speculate. I don't have any sort of inside track here.

Awhile back, they had a big survey they asked people to take.
"Do you read the articles?"
"Do you watch the videos where we discuss new content?"
"Do you watch our live streams?"
Etc.

Essentially, checking the pulse. Do people engage in this stuff or are they just here for the character creator?

.....And I think they're just there for the character creator.

Full disclosure, I'm very much on the record as saying I have some issues with DDB. I don't like how they never even tried to implement the Class Feature Variant UA, despite repeatedly telling fans they were working on it. They never did, and they had to scramble to get it done once Tasha's was released (FWIW, they get book content only a few weeks before release). That said... Its still, by far, the best character builder and a wonderful way to view all the books digitally.

WOTC has been making a lot of money since 5E launched. At first they trimmed staff by a lot, which is typical for a product launch. "Its released now, so... Don't need you." Ruthless, but expected.
Then streaming games happened. Big boom for the industry, that's absolutely undeniable. Lots of new people get into the hobby, the hobby grows, more books sell, etc. And over the last few years, they've increased their staff IMMENSELY. There's multiple design teams at this point, and I personally know a playtester with the next three rough drafts of books (all currently unannounced). They're working on a TON, with a pretty damn big staff.

There's been talk of Hasbro selling WOTC, maybe. Do I think they'll sell? I think they'll listen to legitimate offers.

If you're going to sell D&D, even just explore selling it, it makes sense to tie up any loose ends. WOTC doesn't own DDB.

The person in charge of WOTC is (please don't mod me, its legitimately just his name) a man named Chris *****. He worked at Microsoft for many years and had a big background in digital media.

I don't think its a stretch at all to think he is going to buy DDB. Why not? Why continue to not get all the profits? Why employ their talking heads when you have your own staff that literally wrote the material? Also, buying DDB means that everyone is under the same umbrella and the same non-disclosure agreements. They can program new content into DDB as soon as the design team says its the final draft, so they don't have to deal with any last minute crunch to get content into DDB.

Bottom line? Money. Just like Critical Role creating Darrington Press and starting to self-publish, they asked themselves "Why are we splitting the profits on all this when we could do it ourselves?"

[Dork_Forge]

I think it probably speaks to some kind of unhappiness at DDB, whilst it's certainly possible that they all just got good offers at the same time, let's be honest it's very unlikely 4 of the biggest names from the site would leave near simultaneously by chance.

I also don't think that WOTC will buy DDB, I'm new to 5e, never played MTG so I'm far from knowledgeable about them as a company but my understanding is this:

-They are not a software house

-They are not a vendor

-They are no longer a forum

Buying DDB would put them into different markets than they currently occupy, and add a lot of work for let's be realistic here, not much profit. If DDB was really that profitable of a business then I simply don't understand the glacial pace of it's development or them trying to hawk paid digital dice of all things. Where WOTC currently stand is pretty simple, make the product and let everyone else do the work, I just can't see a compelling enough reason, financially or otherwise, to disrupt that dynamic.

[MaxWilson]

I think it probably speaks to some kind of unhappiness at DDB, whilst it's certainly possible that they all just got good offers at the same time, let's be honest it's very unlikely 4 of the biggest names from the site would leave near simultaneously by chance.

I also don't think that WOTC will buy DDB, I'm new to 5e, never played MTG so I'm far from knowledgeable about them as a company but my understanding is this:

-They are not a software house

-They are not a vendor

-They are no longer a forum

Buying DDB would put them into different markets than they currently occupy, and add a lot of work for let's be realistic here, not much profit. If DDB was really that profitable of a business then I simply don't understand the glacial pace of it's development or them trying to hawk paid digital dice of all things. Where WOTC currently stand is pretty simple, make the product and let everyone else do the work, I just can't see a compelling enough reason, financially or otherwise, to disrupt that dynamic.

I agree that WotC probably won't, but I disagree that there's not much potential profit. The thing is, what WotC currently sells is only a partial product, not a whole product. The invention of AL was a brilliant idea from a marketing standpoint (it means that you can buy 5E books and immediately start playing D&D somewhere--you can receive the experience you expected to be buying when you bought the books) but there's more that could be done, particularly for high-level play. And 5E's ruleset doesn't scale all that well to large numbers of creatures without tool support.

What if WotC could also sell you:

(1) A D&D Coaching app for your smartphone which could not only read and update your character sheet, but also coach you through the rules for your class on each turn ("now roll d20+5 with advantage", "your damage on this attack is d8+15", "you still have a bonus action free to Second Wind, press this button to do so") and even run you through imaginary practice fights and/or DPR calculations.

(2) A 5E Encounter Builder with integrated difficulty estimator for DMs. The DMG difficulty estimator based on CRs and levels is necessarily simplistic because it has to be done manually. But if the tool knows what monsters are in the encounter, it can tell you how hard the encounter is for a specific party. Is 6 Quicklings using hit-and-run tactics too many for a 6th level Ranger, Wizard, Paladin, and Bard to handle? How much easier does it get if there are only 5 Quicklings? How much do things change if the Ranger knows Spike Growth?

(3) A Mass Combat mode for higher-level play which doesn't require you to stop playing by 5E rules. When 200 hobgoblins and 10 hill giants are besieging 30 dwarves in their fortification, what actually happens under 5E if a 13th level party attacks the hobgoblins from the rear? What if you could run that whole fight using actual 5E rules in only 15 minutes from start to finish? Would high-level adventures become more varied and fun?

I happen to believe that these are all good ideas, good enough for me to spend my free time on creating as open source software, but if WotC did it first and sold it to me with a good UX I'd be happy to give them my money.

I believe there's lots of upside for WotC in providing a more complete, better-supported 5E experience.

[Dork_Forge]

I agree that WotC probably won't, but I disagree that there's not much potential profit. The thing is, what WotC currently sells is only a partial product, not a whole product. The invention of AL was a brilliant idea from a marketing standpoint (it means that you can buy 5E books and immediately start playing D&D somewhere--you can receive the experience you expected to be buying when you bought the books) but there's more that could be done, particularly for high-level play. And 5E's ruleset doesn't scale all that well to large numbers of creatures without tool support.

What if WotC could also sell you:

(1) A D&D Coaching app for your smartphone which could not only read and update your character sheet, but also coach you through the rules for your class on each turn ("now roll d20+5 with advantage", "your damage on this attack is d8+15", "you still have a bonus action free to Second Wind, press this button to do so") and even run you through imaginary practice fights and/or DPR calculations.

(2) A 5E Encounter Builder with integrated difficulty estimator for DMs. The DMG difficulty estimator based on CRs and levels is necessarily simplistic because it has to be done manually. But if the tool knows what monsters are in the encounter, it can tell you how hard the encounter is for a specific party. Is 6 Quicklings using hit-and-run tactics too many for a 6th level Ranger, Wizard, Paladin, and Bard to handle? How much easier does it get if there are only 5 Quicklings? How much do things change if the Ranger knows Spike Growth?

(3) A Mass Combat mode for higher-level play which doesn't require you to stop playing by 5E rules. When 200 hobgoblins and 10 hill giants are besieging 30 dwarves in their fortification, what actually happens under 5E if a 13th level party attacks the hobgoblins from the rear? What if you could run that whole fight using actual 5E rules in only 15 minutes from start to finish? Would high-level adventures become more varied and fun?

I happen to believe that these are all good ideas, good enough for me to spend my free time on creating as open source software, but if WotC did it first and sold it to me with a good UX I'd be happy to give them my money.

I believe there's lots of upside for WotC in providing a more complete, better-supported 5E experience.

I agree that the better supported the experience the better, I just don't think that it behooves WOTC to do it themselves especially with 3rd party companies willing to fill in some of the void. Your explicit suggestions sound very cool, and I'll address them individually:

1) Is this meant to be a tabletop companion? If by read your character sheet you mean scanning it with the phone's camera, I'm not sure than any implementation of that would work to a useable degree consistently. If you mean a character sheet app, you're kind of talking about the DDB sheet with more a tutorial tips thing thrown in? It sounds like it could be useful, I just don't know how feasible it would be.

2)This would be great, but I have no high hopes for an encounter builder that would actually do justice to the nuance of all the factors that go into balancing an encounter. This get's even more true since it would need to have homebrew support to be worth it as a standalone tool. I'm not sure that the design team have a good enough idea of encounter balance to back such an undertaking tbh, I can't think of any module encounters I've seen and been impressed with but I can certainly think of multiple questionable ones.

3) So a simulator? Some kind of advanced macro combining tool?

The overall feel I get from these suggestions are, that sounds cool, but also like they belong in a video game. You can do a lot with VTTs and their macro implementation, but the actual tabletop support I think would be clunky and a detriment to the game unless it was very, very well done and even for VTTs I can't see it being that well done either.

The amount of time, development and playtesting a toolset like this would require would be huge. The DDB team certainly can't do it, they're still trying to get their platform to where it should have been years ago imo and by the time anything was ready the lifecycle of 5e would be in sunset it not outright over (and I think 5e has another 4-5 years left in it yet, easily).

[MaxWilson]

I agree that the better supported the experience the better, I just don't think that it behooves WOTC to do it themselves especially with 3rd party companies willing to fill in some of the void. Your explicit suggestions sound very cool, and I'll address them individually:

1) Is this meant to be a tabletop companion? If by read your character sheet you mean scanning it with the phone's camera, I'm not sure than any implementation of that would work to a useable degree consistently. If you mean a character sheet app, you're kind of talking about the DDB sheet with more a tutorial tips thing thrown in? It sounds like it could be useful, I just don't know how feasible it would be.

2)This would be great, but I have no high hopes for an encounter builder that would actually do justice to the nuance of all the factors that go into balancing an encounter. This get's even more true since it would need to have homebrew support to be worth it as a standalone tool. I'm not sure that the design team have a good enough idea of encounter balance to back such an undertaking tbh, I can't think of any module encounters I've seen and been impressed with but I can certainly think of multiple questionable ones.

3) So a simulator? Some kind of advanced macro combining tool?

The overall feel I get from these suggestions are, that sounds cool, but also like they belong in a video game. You can do a lot with VTTs and their macro implementation, but the actual tabletop support I think would be clunky and a detriment to the game unless it was very, very well done and even for VTTs I can't see it being that well done either.

The amount of time, development and playtesting a toolset like this would require would be huge. The DDB team certainly can't do it, they're still trying to get their platform to where it should have been years ago imo and by the time anything was ready the lifecycle of 5e would be in sunset it not outright over (and I think 5e has another 4-5 years left in it yet, easily).

(1) Yes, it's meant to be used at the game table to help new players avoid forgetting stuff like "oh! I still have a Rage left and a bonus action with which to use it." Also for use between sessions when leveling up and choosing build options.

(2) Homebrew support is a requirement, I agree. Homebrew is a core part of the D&D experience and a DM has a right to expect the tool to remember what changes he has made (" Pixies are CR 2 now") and what monsters he has created ("how will these players fare against my Nimean Lions?").

(3) Yeah, a simulator/VTT with integration with real-world dice rolling. If the wizard says "I rolled 40 on my Fireball right in the middle of the hobgoblins," the DM should immediately know how many hobgoblins are dead, and how many are shooting back at the Wizard. Ideally you'd want to support both (a) VTT mode, everyone interacts directly with the digital model as part of their communication to each other, and also (b) DM's assistant/simulator mode where it just does all the things that the DM would otherwise do in their head, and tells the DM what results to report back to the players ("about twelve hobgoblins are dead, and a bunch of arrows fly. You're hit three times for 19 damage--do you try to Shield?").

The benefit to WotC doing these things in house is that since they're not reliant on a third party, they can take an actual hard dependency and write certain adventures or even rules under the assumption that high-level mass combat is actually feasible. E.g. a magic item or spell which inflicts 1d6 (save for none) radiant damage in a 100 yard radius from 1 mile away is no longer a useless ribbon--it's now something players can actually USE in the Blood War! Today it's something they could theoretically use in the Blood War but in practice never would because DMs just handwave conflicts between hundreds of Baatezu and thousands of Tanar'ri, but with tool support a new endgame opens up, just like the original OD&D had Chainmail mass combat as its endgame, except now you wouldn't have to stop playing 5E in order to resolve those mass combats. Now 20th level Fighters and 20th level wizards are both useful in the Blood War, the Fighters for picking off enemy champions throughout the whole battle and the Wizards for that one Meteor Swarm on the densest enemy reserves at the perfect time to turn the tide of battle...

WotC will benefit from making high level play more feasible and interesting.

[Thunderous Mojo]

I think it probably speaks to some kind of unhappiness at DDB, whilst it's certainly possible that they all just got good offers at the same time, let's be honest it's very unlikely 4 of the biggest names from the site would leave near simultaneously by chance.
Perhaps. I perused the ENworld thread, and the person that was the DDB co-founder (I don't use the product, I have never heard of these people before), stated explicitly that they are leaving to join a tech start up, that is developing a "table top product",
and the start-up offers them the opportunity to make "do whatever I want money" for their family's future.

That is essentially the I.T. dream, get in on the ground floor,, have the control over the vision, and work product, and then sell it and have the funds to leave the industry and open up a Pub, and not really care if the Pub fails.

DDB is a mature product, there is not much room for growth. This is especially true if WoTC is looking towards either developing a VTT of their own.

Jeff Bezos stepping down as CEO from Amazon, honestly might have more impact on my non DBB using game, then this exodus of DBB employees.

[Dork_Forge]

(1) Yes, it's meant to be used at the game table to help new players avoid forgetting stuff like "oh! I still have a Rage left and a bonus action with which to use it." Also for use between sessions when leveling up and choosing build options.

This is a space with a lot of 3rd party options (I helped a new to 5e player with leveling up using an app like that around Christmas time), so I can see the value in them, but for WOTC to stand out (and warrant actually paying anything for) it would have to be really good especially since they can't really take the typical app monetisation route.


(2) Homebrew support is a requirement, I agree. Homebrew is a core part of the D&D experience and a DM has a right to expect the tool to remember what changes he has made (" Pixies are CR 2 now") and what monsters he has created ("how will these players fare against my Nimean Lions?").

Admittedly I'd love a well implemented thing like this if only to serve as a repository of my homebrew boons and items. The only thing I use DDB for is the spell search and Tasha's.


(3) Yeah, a simulator/VTT with integration with real-world dice rolling. If the wizard says "I rolled 40 on my Fireball right in the middle of the hobgoblins," the DM should immediately know how many hobgoblins are dead, and how many are shooting back at the Wizard. Ideally you'd want to support both (a) VTT mode, everyone interacts directly with the digital model as part of their communication to each other, and also (b) DM's assistant/simulator mode where it just does all the things that the DM would otherwise do in their head, and tells the DM what results to report back to the players ("about twelve hobgoblins are dead, and a bunch of arrows fly. You're hit three times for 19 damage--do you try to Shield?").

That is a product that I would most likely be interested in out of these, if it was well done but I would likely use it in companion to Roll20 as that is my VTT of choice. I don't know how well a product like this would sell, purely because mass combat is more of a niche use case and parting people from established VTTs is a very tall order.


The benefit to WotC doing these things in house is that since they're not reliant on a third party, they can take an actual hard dependency and write certain adventures or even rules under the assumption that high-level mass combat is actually feasible. E.g. a magic item or spell which inflicts 1d6 (save for none) radiant damage in a 100 yard radius from 1 mile away is no longer a useless ribbon--it's now something players can actually USE in the Blood War! Today it's something they could theoretically use in the Blood War but in practice never would because DMs just handwave conflicts between hundreds of Baatezu and thousands of Tanar'ri, but with tool support a new endgame opens up, just like the original OD&D had Chainmail mass combat as its endgame, except now you wouldn't have to stop playing 5E in order to resolve those mass combats. Now 20th level Fighters and 20th level wizards are both useful in the Blood War, the Fighters for picking off enemy champions throughout the whole battle and the Wizards for that one Meteor Swarm on the densest enemy reserves at the perfect time to turn the tide of battle...

I don't think pitting thousands of clones of a longstanding forum member against thousands of unholy monsters is particularly sporting, though I admit I don't know what they did for their extra curriculars in college.

I'm sure that having comprehensive digital tools in house to exploit would lead to a lot of great development opportunities. I'm just not sure that the time and monetary investment would be worth the pay off in the end. I can however see 6e (long in the future I hope) getting some sort of in house digital support from day one.


WotC will benefit from making high level play more feasible and interesting.

I'm running a tier 3 campaign now and completely agree, but I think there's a lot for them to do now (that they certainly can do) before they even consider digital tools for it.

[Hael]

Yea, I disagree that there isn’t large financial incentive for WOTC to take over the online space.

If they announced a proprietary VTT, digital books and tools, as well as streaming integration they would instantly expand the current online DND footprint by a significant margin. I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that with the right execution or partnership with a big game or design firm, that they could overnight get a majority of players from their competitors and grow the space by several fold.

Just looking at how much youtube and twitch make off their product, should convince them of the value of that untapped market.

It doesn’t have to be DDB or roll20, etc, but if their in-house teams aren’t up to the task, simply license it out to a big 3rd party player.

[MaxWilson]

This is a space with a lot of 3rd party options (I helped a new to 5e player with leveling up using an app like that around Christmas time), so I can see the value in them, but for WOTC to stand out (and warrant actually paying anything for) it would have to be really good especially since they can't really take the typical app monetisation route.

Admittedly I'd love a well implemented thing like this if only to serve as a repository of my homebrew boons and items. The only thing I use DDB for is the spell search and Tasha's.

That is a product that I would most likely be interested in out of these, if it was well done but I would likely use it in companion to Roll20 as that is my VTT of choice. I don't know how well a product like this would sell, purely because mass combat is more of a niche use case and parting people from established VTTs is a very tall order.

I don't think pitting thousands of clones of a longstanding forum member against thousands of unholy monsters is particularly sporting, though I admit I don't know what they did for their extra curriculars in college.

I'm sure that having comprehensive digital tools in house to exploit would lead to a lot of great development opportunities. I'm just not sure that the time and monetary investment would be worth the pay off in the end. I can however see 6e (long in the future I hope) getting some sort of in house digital support from day one.

I'm running a tier 3 campaign now and completely agree, but I think there's a lot for them to do now (that they certainly can do) before they even consider digital tools for it.

Note: Tanarii is a forum member. Tanar'ri fight in the Blood War. Different spellings, and IIRC Tanarii's spelling of his forum name is a bit of an in-joke.

Do you know of any coaching apps for players that are designed for use at the table during the game, not just for level-up? E.g. keep track of bonus actions, whether or not you've cast a bonus action spell this turn, if you have a reaction left, tell you what dice to roll for a Sharpshooter attack with a heavy crossbow? If so I want to check them out, could make my life easier when teaching 5E.

Note BTW that #2 and #3 are essentially the same product. #2 is just "run both sides (monsters and PCs) with AI a bunch of times and report the results."

[Luccan]

Just to stoke the flames of blatant conspiracylogical conjecture, Critical Role also hasn't had regular (or perhaps any, if my memory is correct) DND Beyond sponsorships in the last months. Roughly lines up with around the time they announced their own game design efforts in Darrington Press.

As soon as I saw the video that Todd posted I began to worry that something was up. I'm hoping that's just me being paranoid.

To be perfectly clear though, my money is down on personal paranoia more than anything else. More than likely this is just a handful of creative talents moving on from one project into another one.

I mean, CR hasn't even been back for a month, right? It's not that weird they haven't had a DDB sponsorship. Also wasn't Darrington Press announced just before they took their break? I dunno, the last few months have made that sort of thing hard to keep track of

[ProsecutorGodot]

I mean, CR hasn't even been back for a month, right? It's not that weird they haven't had a DDB sponsorship. Also wasn't Darrington Press announced just before they took their break? I dunno, the last few months have made that sort of thing hard to keep track of

If it wasn't clear, I'm not convinced any of it actually related, I just thought it was strange that they seem to have gone without their longest running sponsor. To my knowledge, before they took this break, they'd never gone over a week without mentioning it.

[Luccan]

If it wasn't clear, I'm not convinced any of it actually related, I just thought it was strange that they seem to have gone without their longest running sponsor. To my knowledge, before they took this break, they'd never gone over a week without mentioning it.

Oh, sure, I was just participating in the ravings of a madman educated guessing.

[Amdy_vill]

I see a lot of people saying they're the face and that we should see a new product but i don't think so. being the face of a company is not the same as having the inferstrutcher and skilled individuals to run one. i expect to see them as the faces of other groups(probably ones the do not directly compete with dnd beyond because most people in a position like that are under non-compet clauses for some period of time)

now if we say a bunch of programmers and brand coordinators leaving(the people who do the non-face work in a production like this. not going to say that what they do is not hard work but the people behind the sence how to make stuff like this run put in the same amount of hours but there are hundreds of them instead of just a few.) then I think we could see other products form.


I didn’t even know who any of these people were until the pandemic began. Like most old people, DND was strictly a tabletop affair with friends.

After being exposed to a lot of the online content, I can safely say it’s a gigantic mess of bad business decisions by Wotc. Why didn’t they simply monopolize the space? Why did they let others do it for them? Why don’t they have their own VTT, online store, media, twitch and streaming service integration all packaged together.

At this point they should simply buy out a few of these providers, like DND beyond, foundry or roll20 and they’ll make a fortune and it will cut out a huge irritant for the community as well.

they really can't do this they would have to buy up every company with that is operating under a license and then change their license policy it's just unfesable. with a move to a 6e it would be possible and right now they could lunch their own services but if they did it would defiantly result in some kind of legal battle. you got to think about where dnd was back in 2014, 4e had almost killed them, only novels and brand deals were making money and they were losing money on their restrictive digital product licensing so they opened everything up in one last-ditch effort to make make money on the tabletop and then move into dnd next. it was ok. not a hit and old players didn't jump on it for a while. then critical role started and it got a bit better, then critical role took off at the start of the second arc and 5e began to blow up but at that point, they have hundreds of companies using licenses and each of them began making massive amounts of money if WotC put out a product or supported a single one of the existing products they could have been suited to hell and back. now they're a whole industry around tabletop platforms and most companies are doing the same. while dnd could pull back with 6e I don't think they will it would be a pr nightmare. i think they will have their own product but not a monopoly