Yup, put on your tinfoil hats, Dungeons & Dragons fans, because here we go again. Please follow me down several rabbit holes as we explore what could be going on in the not quite villainous corporate minds at Wizards of the Coast. I’m not convinced that the various Public Relations nightmares aren’t a little more than they seem.

  • A bunch of (popular) YouTubers’ takes are wrong. Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t going to “save” D&D. In fact, I think it’s one of the last nails in the coffin for the tabletop game of Dungeons & Dragons.
  • Baldur’s Gate 3 + AI Art = AI writers and AI Dungeon Masters in D&D.
  • #StoptheSub was suddenly spurred forward by a certain Content Creator and allegedly corporate sat up and listened. Yet, D&D Beyond subs spiked upward dramatically in the weeks and months following the OGL debacle. Coincidence?
  • If there’s AI art in D&D books, what are they doing with AI art in Magic: the Gathering?
  • Where’s good old Kyle Brink these days?
  • Could they be using the UA surveys as a form of self-sabotage? As a way to push the VTT? “Oh no, the print PHB and DMG are hot garbage, but we fixed it over on D&D Beyond/the VTT.”
  • Or BG3 will be so easy to mod, DMs won’t be needed as much as programmers.
  • AI Writers and Artists threaten the jobs of the creative talent at WotC. The big bosses could decide to fire 90% of the D&D writing staff on any given day and farm what little they need for the VTT out to freelancers for far less than what the full time staff makes now.
  • Hasbro WotC might farm what little creative talent they need for the game of D&D out to a few select freelancers and let AI do the rest.
  • OR Hasbro could get burned out on all of the shenanigans and PR nonsense and just put D&D out as a simple boxed board game. From there, it’s all video games and lifestyle brand.
  • I find the amount of sex and debauchery in BG3 a little disturbing as a parent. Yes, it’s an adult rated video game, but it’s on every major platform. The subject is for another article entirely, but it definitely makes me raise a parental eyebrow.
  • Why are there suddenly so many Content Creators that have turned back to pimping WotC? Could the Creator’s Summit have had more of an impact than we were first told?
  • When you have a game company run by people who don’t play any of the games themselves, suddenly the games become almost irrelevant. Just like D&D right now.
  • What happened to getting closer to the fans? I hear WotC’s Gen Con presence was far less than expected.

I could be wrong.

Some of my WotC theories end up being wrong. Some end up being true eventually. Others, I get to be right about it and it’s verifiable when certain people in the industry end up saying the same thing. (That’s not a boast.)

On the other hand, how different would this all look if Chris Cocks hadn’t moved from WotC to CEO of Hasbro? What would happen if former Zynga developers and Microsoft bigwigs hadn’t moved over into WotC? Don’t get me going on Kyle Brink, but at least he finally seems to have put the proverbial microphone down. Maybe all of these McCorporate clowns mean well, or maybe they just want to stuff their pockets with money before blowing out of town.

My forlorn conclusions to all this.

Bear in mind that I see scenarios in my mind’s eye all the time. It comes with the Dungeon Master/Game Master/wargamer/boardgamer titles. It’s what I do. I may be right, I may not. Usually, it’s somewhere in between. I’m here to tell you, Wizards of the Coast are just like a villain from a cheesy D&D game.

We’re going to likely celebrate D&D’s 50th anniversary, followed by the launch of the VTT, then watch the whole franchise go to pieces. There’s going to be a massive irreparable divide in the D&D community and the TTRPG sphere as a whole. Sorry to be all gloom and doom, but I see it going down that way. I feel sad when I see how things are going for D&D in general.

I’m sure Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants will be a relatively big hit despite the AI art scandal and because it’s been hyped to the rafters by every shill and their dog on YouTube, etc. The general public at large could really give a rip less about AI art, artists, editors, or the writers. The D&D community just wants what’s newest/shiniest/best as described by the WotC ads, social media Content Creators, and YouTube. Unfortunately, those of us who can see a much larger picture and have seen WotC’s sh🦆te antics this year and I think most of it expect them to continue until there is a shift in corporate management within that company.

A reminder of why I went there.

I recently had a fan, friend, reader, and someone whose opinion I respect kinda call me out after I made an offhanded comment about Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants. I called it “Bigby’s Fisting Fist*” as a reference to the fact that it has been crammed down our throats lately. The negativity toward the “World’s Greatest TTRPG” might be a bit off-putting to new players. (*I legit can name an entire list of Bigby’s spells you wouldn’t want your mom to find stashed under your bed. My comedy routine starring all of the OG Greyhawk mages NSFW edition might actually get made at this point.)

Here’s the deal. I love D&D with all of its various editions and spinoffs. I’ve been into gaming for 40+ years. D&D is the foundation of our hobby, for better or worse. It’s never been perfect. No version is ever going to be without need for homebrew rules and fixes. I love it warts and all. It’s still one of my favorite RPGs ever.

The company that purchased the D&D legacy on the other hand. They’ve had a really sketchy year ever since Chris Cocks moved up to the big honcho spot and brought in cronies Cynthia Williams and Chris Cao. Kyle Brink also fell into place around the same time. The biggest problem I see is that the CEO of Wizards of the Coast, Cynthia Williams, came from Microsoft and has no connection to D&D whatsoever. How can you sell a product in any kind of retail environment and not know anything about it?

So, we’re here discussing this yet again because I love gaming. Specifically, I love TTRPGs. It seems like no matter what else I do, and there have been many, I always come back to some form of D&D. That love will always be there. Wizards of the Coast, for all of their many flaws, are like family. No matter how irritated I get with their antics, at some point I’ll probably end up making peace with them. Not today, but…

If this were Ufology, I’d be up to my eyeballs in an equal mix of shills, ridicule, and Men In Black by now. Thanks for being here. I appreciate all of you. Happy gaming regardless of what TTRPG you choose.