Anyone watching this announcement of upcoming D&D products?

I've been skeptical of what they would do with Dragonlance, but the little bit they showed looks promising.

https://youtu.be/XGT6kn_DYJM

I posted this a half hour before this thread https://www.therpgsite.com/pen-paper-roleplaying-games-rpgs-discussion/so-it-s-dd-6e-in-2024-after-all!/

But I didn't use a hyperbolic click bait title so didn't get any responses.

Anyways. It isn't a 6th edition. 5th edition is just "D&D" now and the foreseeable future, no new edition wars. (we'll see). Only content changes from now on I guess.

Here is a link to the recent playtest if you want to see what they are doing with races:
https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/one-dnd/character-origins/CSWCVV0M4B6vX6E1/UA2022-CharacterOrigins.pdf?icid_source=house-ads&icid_medium=crosspromo&icid_campaign=playtest1

Quote from: thornad on August 18, 2022, 12:51:31 PM
I've been skeptical of what they would do with Dragonlance, but the little bit they showed looks promising.

Towers of High Sorcery are now optional.  Gee, that's nice.

Now anyone can be a 'Knight of Solamnia'? Even orcs and things that don't actually exist on Krynn.

But srlsy, I hope you're right. My expectations are now so low they're subterranean. 

Quote from: Continental on August 18, 2022, 05:08:15 PM

Quote from: thornad on August 18, 2022, 12:51:31 PM
I've been skeptical of what they would do with Dragonlance, but the little bit they showed looks promising.

Towers of High Sorcery are now optional.  Gee, that's nice.

Now anyone can be a 'Knight of Solamnia'? Even orcs and things that don't actually exist on Krynn.

But srlsy, I hope you're right. My expectations are now so low they're subterranean.

I saw some video on this and my expectations are as far negative as AOC's intellect.

From the playtest:

"An ardling has a head resembling that of an animal, typically one with virtuous associations. Depending on the animal, the ardling might also have soft fur, downy feathers, or supple bare skin."

Shout out to the species dysphoric community. You called next apparently.

Quote from: FingerRod on August 18, 2022, 07:02:30 PM
From the playtest:

"An ardling has a head resembling that of an animal, typically one with virtuous associations. Depending on the animal, the ardling might also have soft fur, downy feathers, or supple bare skin."

Shout out to the species dysphoric community. You called next apparently.

Furries.

If you didn't think that WotC had fucked up D&D before, you ain't seen nuthin' yet.

Let's be honest, D&D as a brand has been courting furries for a long time now. This isn't anything particularly new.

Quote from: FingerRod on August 18, 2022, 07:02:30 PM
From the playtest:

"An ardling has a head resembling that of an animal, typically one with virtuous associations. Depending on the animal, the ardling might also have soft fur, downy feathers, or supple bare skin."

Shout out to the species dysphoric community. You called next apparently.

Weren't they called Guardinals in 3.x?
Also, "virtuous associations" ... by their standards of virtue, I'm thinking snakes, rats, badgers, and skunks.

Quote from: jeff37923 on August 18, 2022, 07:11:56 PM

Quote from: FingerRod on August 18, 2022, 07:02:30 PM
From the playtest:

"An ardling has a head resembling that of an animal, typically one with virtuous associations. Depending on the animal, the ardling might also have soft fur, downy feathers, or supple bare skin."

Shout out to the species dysphoric community. You called next apparently.

Furries.

If you didn't think that WotC had fucked up D&D before, you ain't seen nuthin' yet.

Yikes!

Quote from: thornad on August 18, 2022, 09:32:40 PM

Quote from: jeff37923 on August 18, 2022, 07:11:56 PM

Quote from: FingerRod on August 18, 2022, 07:02:30 PM
From the playtest:

"An ardling has a head resembling that of an animal, typically one with virtuous associations. Depending on the animal, the ardling might also have soft fur, downy feathers, or supple bare skin."

Shout out to the species dysphoric community. You called next apparently.

Furries.

If you didn't think that WotC had fucked up D&D before, you ain't seen nuthin' yet.

Yikes!

Zoinks!

Quote from: Effete on August 18, 2022, 07:47:41 PM
Also, "virtuous associations" ... by their standards of virtue, I'm thinking snakes, rats, badgers, and skunks.

These poor animals fill an important ecological niche, and so did absolutely nothing to deserve being associated with the woke!

When it comes to this whole "One DnD" bollocks it makes me remember a nightmare scenario I had in my head when 4e came out.

4e tried desperately to be a video game. Even though with the benefit of hindsight we know that it didn't work out that way at the time I though there was a possibility of DnD going completely digital in such a way that WotC would have complete control of how we played the game.

You'd buy a digital copy of the rules, not a PDF you can at least access offline. No you'd only be allowed to interact with DnD through a digital interface that WotC control. No "unapproved" homebrew, no house rules, no lending of physical books or PDFs to your mates. You play DnD in a similar fashion to a video game in that the rules are enforced on a software level. No matter how stupid they are. Everything is account bound. The only way to play the latest edition is through this digital interface that will penalize you for not playing how WotC wants you to. Don't use X Cards? Banned and lose access to DnD. Say a word that can easily be twisted into whatever mentally ill people think is offensive. Just don't be racist my guy also you're banned. Get accused of cultural appropriation because you set your game in an Arabic or Far Eastern place. Banned and lose access to DnD. The end. You will not be able to play DnD without the express permission of WotC. And THOU MUST use ONLY the approved and latest patched version of both the software and the rules. That means no racial bonuses because "ugh, racism" ever. And enforced whatever bullshit rules WotC make in the future.

But of course, you can still buy and play physical versions of the new version of DnD, right? For now. The clue for the future is in the title of this Software. ONE DnD. ONE GAME. No other games allowed. One singular game that is under complete control of WotC. PDFs will be withdrawn from DTRPG and other sites. No more print on demand of older editions (fine for older grognards but what about newer players who want to at least know about how DnD used to be?), C&Ds for sites that host DnD homebrew content that isn't DnD Beyond, I see so much bullshit coming out of this.

At the end of the day, I think the OSR is going to see a big renaissance similar to what happened to 4E. A lot of GMs are going to resent this software forcing them to play DnD in a very particular way. Even if it doesn't quite do that now. It will. That's what always happens when a bit of your power is taken away. They always take more.

One thing about 5e is that it plays fine at the table using the 2014 books and no electronic tools. I think I'd rather do that than use a retroclone currently.

Quote from: S'mon on August 19, 2022, 11:51:22 AM
One thing about 5e is that it plays fine at the table using the 2014 books and no electronic tools. I think I'd rather do that than use a retroclone currently.

That's great and if you got a group that is okay with that that is also great. This new initiative isn't meant to capture you or me. It's meant for the zoomers. Young and new players who don't know the old rules and are less likely to question moving to an app. They want DnD to be either a video game or a improv theatre excersise. And they hate the idea that they have to go to a real place and talk with real people to do RPGs. They're going to be all over this software.

We're going to see the Critical Role crowd and other people migrate to this app and insist you use it as a GM. "Because it's way cooler and easier than just using paper and stuff."  If you don't, you don't have a group. I've had issues with groups before who insist I should only use the latest edition of DnD and nothing else because it's "old and unapproved". I can not play games in my LGS that aren't DnD because they have this weird rule of only playing 5E "in the interests of fairness and balance." Now imagine in the future if the DnD Adventurer's Guild (or whatever the sponsorship program LGSs use for DnD is called now) starts enforcing using the app over pen and paper character sheets. Everyone has a phone, right? You can certainly buy physical books from the shop but you better be using the app over those "old and unapproved" paper character sheets.

I've been very lucky to find 3 separate groups of smart people to play games with. But that won't last forever and groups that don't just want to play whatever is new without thinking about it are getting harder to find. DnD as a brand has a stranglehold on gamers who are coming in from only watching Stranger Things and Critical Role and just want to play that DnD thing that everyone talks about because the other stuff is for nerds and old people.

WotC is banking on those people. They're making this software easy to use and access at first. To get people into it. Those people will start insisting you have to only use this software. Or they won't play DnD with you. The marketing push will make this new software look cool and interesting to people who don't like DnD as a pen and paper game. As WotC tighten the screws on physical distribution and make it harder for younger people to even be aware of older editions. Let alone access them. Not everyone has a Dad with old books you can inherit.


Optimistically I hope this leads to other games that aren't as restrictive rising to prominence. But I can just as easily see them fall altogether because they don't have the "cool and modern" software that DnD has.

Quote from: King Tyranno on August 19, 2022, 11:44:40 AM
When it comes to this whole "One DnD" bollocks it makes me remember a nightmare scenario I had in my head when 4e came out.

4e tried desperately to be a video game. Even though with the benefit of hindsight we know that it didn't work out that way at the time I though there was a possibility of DnD going completely digital in such a way that WotC would have complete control of how we played the game.

You'd buy a digital copy of the rules, not a PDF you can at least access offline. No you'd only be allowed to interact with DnD through a digital interface that WotC control. No "unapproved" homebrew, no house rules, no lending of physical books or PDFs to your mates. You play DnD in a similar fashion to a video game in that the rules are enforced on a software level. No matter how stupid they are. Everything is account bound. The only way to play the latest edition is through this digital interface that will penalize you for not playing how WotC wants you to. Don't use X Cards? Banned and lose access to DnD. Say a word that can easily be twisted into whatever mentally ill people think is offensive. Just don't be racist my guy also you're banned. Get accused of cultural appropriation because you set your game in an Arabic or Far Eastern place. Banned and lose access to DnD. The end. You will not be able to play DnD without the express permission of WotC. And THOU MUST use ONLY the approved and latest patched version of both the software and the rules. That means no racial bonuses because "ugh, racism" ever. And enforced whatever bullshit rules WotC make in the future.

But of course, you can still buy and play physical versions of the new version of DnD, right? For now. The clue for the future is in the title of this Software. ONE DnD. ONE GAME. No other games allowed. One singular game that is under complete control of WotC. PDFs will be withdrawn from DTRPG and other sites. No more print on demand of older editions (fine for older grognards but what about newer players who want to at least know about how DnD used to be?), C&Ds for sites that host DnD homebrew content that isn't DnD Beyond, I see so much bullshit coming out of this.

At the end of the day, I think the OSR is going to see a big renaissance similar to what happened to 4E. A lot of GMs are going to resent this software forcing them to play DnD in a very particular way. Even if it doesn't quite do that now. It will. That's what always happens when a bit of your power is taken away. They always take more.

Assuming the worst/catastrophizing is a common thinking error. You are aware you've done it before, and you appear to be doing it again.