Starting with the Tinfoil hat stuff right away.
The beginning of 2023 saw the D&D Open Game License Debacle brought on by Wizards of the Coast’s money grab attempt. Had the OGL been changed successfully, several companies could no longer operate their TTRPG businesses as they do today, and the hobby would have more or less died on the spot. Luckily, the usually disparate TTRPG community banded together behind a handful of outraged YouTubers and yelled loud enough at WotC that they threw the 5.1 System Reference Document into Creative Commons. (CC-BY-SA)
In January 2023, whilst talking about WotC and the OGL Debacle of 2023, I said the 2024 Player’s Handbook is probably already in editing and no survey on this Earth would make a lick of difference. That article is here. I still firmly believe that the surveys are just a pitiful attempt to pacify the TTRPG public. A game cannot be effectively designed by a committee. This thing has been done and ready to go to the printer for about a year now.
Please follow me down the rabbit hole on this one.
We have every reason to believe the Monster Manual is already well into the print stages from what Jeremy Crawford has said about the new art and 60 new monsters. (Yay!) We have every reason to believe that the Dungeon Master’s Guide is also likely ready to rock because Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford have been talking about how new DM friendly it’s supposed to be and then the reveal of that Bastion System more recently. The only book slightly in question would be the Player’s Handbook.
The PHB might not be 100% done, but we’d never know unless we worked for D&D Studios in that office. Ya better believe all of those nice folx are probably under the tightest Non-Disclosure Agreements short of the Pentagon. We won’t know until WotC tells us there’s been some problem with the printing just like the #DeckofManyDelays. (*Yes, I’m skeptical.) They’ve already hinted that it’s coming in this EN World article here.
Print failure? #DeckofManyFailures
Wizards of the Coast already dealt with the print snafu this year. #DeckofManyExcuses is coming (again) in January of 2024. D&D Studios has also mentioned other releases in 2024 prior to the new core rulebooks.
The thought occurs, if they’re having so many problems with getting the core books printed, why not allocate the resources slotted for the other stuff into the core rulebooks? This Polygon article would seem to indicate a veritable bevy of new books, titles not yet withstanding. What really butters my biscuits is they’re not giving us the truth, or any concrete information as of yet. It’s not like it needs to be a huge trade secret. They’re still going to be the biggest manufacturer of a TTRPG regardless of how bad they screw up (or don’t.)
The other piece of the puzzle that just blows my mind is they could put out digital versions of all three core rulebooks tomorrow if they really wanted to. We all know how flexible digital publishing can be. Electronic publishing is the definition of flexible. There’s little overhead beyond paying the staff. D&D Studios/WotC/Hasbro makes a fortune on the core rulebooks, especially when published on D&D Beyond. They set the prices of many digital products about 65% of the MSRP for the physical books. (Very rough estimate.) At that price, I’m not sure it’s worth it, but it’s what is listed on D&D Beyond currently.
It’s far easier to fix a mistake on a PDF, eBook, or whatever by editing the original document and hitting the shiny Publish button. It’s far easier to fix a mistake on an electronic document than recall thousands of print books or wait until the next print run to send the corrections to the printer. We found this out with Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants with the AI art flub up and Deck of Many Things with all of its alleged printing errors. What is a costly print mistake is an easy fix in digital. That’s also where D&D Studios/WotC are sliding in all of their inclusive language changes.
Can we talk about shills for a second?
I recently called out a YouTuber for being a shill. (No, it’s not Ginny. I actually admire how she does things.) I commented on his channel that I thought it’s a lot easier to shill D&D products when they show up for free in the mail prior to every release. I’ve been saying it since the Content Creator’s Summit. D&D Studios/WotC is basically buying their own good press when it comes to YouTube reviews.
I won’t name anyone specific, but I’ve noticed three or four shills have been vocally in favor of everything D&D Studios/WotC puts out ever since the Content Creator’s Summit. I guess I need to spend more time on my YouTube channel when my wife and kids aren’t around and start making videos. If it gets me free review product, I guess it’s a good way to go.
Most of the products I review here on my blog have either been purchased or I have backed on Kickstarter. Reviews of free physical products from WotC made by their cherry picked YouTube Content Creators make me very skeptical of the product and the reviewer’s integrity. Most of their “negative” D&D product reviews seem to have been before about March of 2023. Hmm… Most of the serious shills were at the Content Creator’s Summit. Hmm…
I am going to punk a couple of guys out who shill for WotC and AFAIK didn’t go to the Summit. Grr. I still won’t name specifically, but if you follow D&D YouTube or X (Twitter,) you know exactly who they are. They nauseatingly heap praise on everything WotC does no matter what else happens. They come up with new and exciting reasons to shill for WotC. I’m sure there are more than two, but the individuals I’m referring to are going to be the reason we end up with AI Dungeon Masters and all digital D&D products.
Don’t be a blind shill for Wizards of the Coast! Use some discernment. Realize WotC is a big, slimy, greedy, uncaring corporate machine who just happens to be in charge of Dungeons & Dragons. I know it’s hard to believe, but there are a TON of other games out there besides D&D– many of them would welcome your enthusiasm and support.
I used to be a big D&D supporter myself, before everything changed.
Not gonna lie, I used to be a super fan. I used to buy practically every sourcebook I could get my hands on through 5E. I stopped partly because the quality dropped off. Then, WotC announced they were going to make new-non-new core books in 2024.
Now, y’all kids that are new as of 5E are going to be in for a surprise or two with this “New, Not Revised” 2024 5E D&D. See, the last time a company tried to convince us the new edition was going to be “compatible” with the prior one was this game called 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Let’s just say good old TSR fell a little short of the mark on that one. 3-3.5 wasn’t really an edition change in the strictest sense. It was okay. Remember, the newest edition of the rules always wins over the old one.
I love 5E D&D. I’d still be making magic items, monsters, encounters, spells, and what-not had it not been for some comments made by WotC CEO Cynthia Williams, the Open Gaming License Debacle of 2023, some Kyle Brink comments, and select Jeremy Crawford remarks. I really don’t care for the fact that WotC execs see the fanbase as obstacles between WotC and the public’s money.
Honest disclosure: I was fired from a big, ugly, greasy, unfeeling, Fortune 500 company back in 2021. I can’t say who, but it wasn’t a game or publishing company. I’m still pretty much honoring my NDAs and all that nonsense even today by not trash talking them directly. I went about two years being dead broke and not buying any new games from anyone. My spiritual awakening still included ICONS and ICRPG in my budget, as a contrast to 2021-2023.
Why smart buyers should wait until the new books drop, minimum.
I will still happily run D&D (Third Party Products) if that’s the only game I can get going on. I’m under no delusion that 2024 is going to be a better game. There’s absolutely no sense buying any new D&D content until the new core books drop even if I was still tempted. What we’ve seen so far is overpriced, lacking true content and vague attempts to hang onto old trademarks by keeping them relevant.
Want a prediction? 2024 will see the release of something involving the D&D Cartoon characters (Crawford has already hinted at it.) We’ll probably see the mention or possibly new product for old D&D favorites that aren’t Dark Sun, Al-Qadim, Oriental Adventures, Rokugan, or Greyhawk. Heck, we might even see Masque of the Red Death, Hollow World, Mystara, and Birthright get some mention. The Bastion System already kinda resembles Birthright a little bit.
No matter what drops between now and the D&D core rules, buyers should really think hard before spending any money on adventures, sourcebooks, etc. They won’t be (fully) compatible. Given the garbage we’ve been seeing, there’s no guarantee of quality. Lastly, everything will likely have a strong digital presence and little-no physical presence. (See Chains of Asmodeus as an example.)
I wouldn’t recommend writing anything for the DMsGuild, either. There’s a strong possibility that whole site could move to D&D Beyond tomorrow with no warning whatsoever. (My OPINION.) The guild has outlived its usefulness to WotC as a recruitment pool for creatives long ago. WotC wants the profits flowing directly to them, not some middlemen. (See the falling out with Penguin as an example.)
This is a good place to stop for now. Thank you for being here. Next time: Why I think Greyhawk is dead, what I think might happen with the OGL again, Why Baldur’s Gate 3 is bad, and why I absolutely DO NOT TRUST D&D Studios/Wizards of the Coast in the slightest. I appreciate you wherever you are. Keep fighting the good fight.
Jeff's Game Box 