I work in gaming, and I can say with some confidence that, at least at the big publishers, it doesn’t actually work this way. The C-suite, in particular, isn’t talking to developers at all, and aren’t making decisions about products beyond which IPs that they have in their catalogue that they want to put a bunch of money into. Where the problem is is in the marketing and editorial departments. Most of the big publishers have a department whose job it is is to assess whether unannounced games in development have a viable market, and how to better appeal to that market. The problem is, the people in those deparments don’t use anything but what’s trending right now to determine this, and so you get studios being told that their current game a) should be shoehorned into franchise X or Y, and b) should adopt this mechanic, tone, or aesthetic that doesn’t really fit with the core idea, amd that will be dated by the time the game launches in 2 years. These are deeply conservative, risk-averse departments, and they gatekeep all of the major development and launch milestones.

Good riddance. It was a transparent attempt to bring mobile app style monitization into D&D.

Is this videogame-esque, 3d battle map tool that they unveiled back around the time of the OGL controversy? I remember being vaguely curious about it after having spent some time playing around with 3d battle mapping using Dungeon Alchemist, but I had already cancelled my DND beyond sub over the OGL stuff, and I wasn’t about to sign back up. I mean, to take them at their word (which is a dubious proposition with Hasbro/WOTC, I know), I can understand how such a project would be a large undertaking. Furthermore I can see how the ROI may not make sense, as the standard should be unique assets and close integration of every addition a given module makes. Like, if I buy the Tyranny of Dragons (or whichever) module via DnD Beyond, I would expect to be able to open the VTT, click “Load Module”, and have practically all of the prep work for a session done for me. Hell, I STILL think that would be valuable to me, a lazy DM, but I can acknowledge I’m a subset of a subset, and I’m still not willing to fork over more money to WOTC, so I guess I’ll keep doing the session prep myself, as is tradition.

sig·il /ˈsijəl/

When we introduced Sigil, we imagined a powerful 3D virtual tabletop where you could share maps, minis, and environments with your friends and fellow players. While that vision inspired thousands of players and creators, we couldn’t sustain the level of ongoing development support that Sigil—or our community—deserved. That’s on us. Maybe next time don’t rush a product out of the door and then fire two thirds of the dev team?

It’s official: the crowdfunding campaign for Sol Tyrannus is started! Sol Tyrannus is both a tabletop role-playing game of dark fantasy setting, with its own proprietary narrative system—the Crisis System—and also compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 5e. It draws inspiration from the classic cycles of Conan the Barbarian and Stormbringer but alsothe genre of “peplum” movies about the Classical Age, offering a blend of sword & sorcery and cosmic horror. The digital core book is divided into three separate documents (Lore, Ruleset: Crisis System, and Ruleset: D&D5e-compatible) and you can purchase only the narrative system bundle (Lore + Ruleset: Crisis System), only the D&D5e bundle (Lore + Ruleset: D&D5e-compatible) or the bundle with both systems (Lore + Ruleset: Crisis System + Ruleset: D&D5e-compatible). The printed book will contain all three texts, not separated. Players assume the roles of legendary heroes—called Actors—summoned by mystical fateweavers known as Singers, to hold back the slow descent of a world corrupted by the sinister influence of the Purple Sun, a cosmic horror whose very light twists both body and mind. In the world of Akhtun, nowhere is safe: city-states are ruled by mad sorcerer-gods, villages are plagued by monstrous Spawn and ruthless raiders, and wilderness harbors terrors yet to be named, ready to share their Corruption with unsuspecting prey. Cults fester in the shadows, whispering promises of power to the desperate, hastening the world’s doom. Find more in the campaign page! https://gamefound.com/en/projects/a-game-of-nerds/sol-tyrannus

thinking back to ad&d and not being able to cast fireball because SOMEONE didn’t buy bat shit from the bat shit monger at the market

Doubling HP is not an easy fix; it’s a lazy cheat. That’s my point. If you’re truly disappointed as a GM at how weak your strong guards were, say that to your players. “Wow, I messed that one up. Can you all please give me five minutes while I reevaluate the next encounter?”

Hm you’re right I do remember some of that. I remember a lot of people calling for the “gritty realism” variant, which I feel like is just making the problem worse. If I recall that one changes long rests into a week (in a safe place) and short rest into a day. I don’t think I ever saw anyone advocate for the heroic variant, that changes short rests to like a minute and long rests to an hour. That’s more like how players actually want to play, I think. Neither of those actually change the core problem. Personally I’d get rid of the whole per rest idea. Like, make wizard spells sequences- each round you channel more varied and powerful options open up. Sorcerer spells are risky, and if you flub the check you get a misfire. Warlocks spend stats to cast, and recover with a patron appropriate ritual. Just off the top of my head. There are so many more options than “check off the spell slot and the spell works”.

I don’t have any studies to back it up so I might be wrong. I wonder if anyone’s done any rigorous investigation into this. An old DND group never agreed with me when I’d bring up the topic, but they might have been more “it is what it is stop rocking the boat” than an active support for the concept. I’m pretty sure if you went into a DND space and suggested rebalancing the game so it’s not resting on (pun intended) powers per day, you’d get a lof of push back. Maybe I’ll go post a poll somewhere later. I’ve also met a few players who have somehow never considered any other way things could be. I had a friend in college I tried to get to play a world of darkness game. Powers in those games are either unlimited use, or bound by a renewable resource like blood. He was like “this sounds totally broken yo”.

The primary problem is that dnd 5e was made to be a dungeon crawler, and most people play it like a narrative driven rules light game.

Pathfinder 2e does all of this far better, sadly it lacks the pop culture awareness of D&D.

Almost everyone agreed that making the Psion a fullcaster made it a lot more boring than it should be, by playing almost exactly like any other fullcaster in the game. It’s a shame that they decided to stick with this decision.

Hey today we bring you the first monster from our series D&D Monster Manifest, the Bandits. The small zine includes 10 bandit stat blocks you can use in your game. All Monster are compatible with the D&D 2014 rule set and can just be put into your game. We are working on more monsters, if you want to keep up follow us on patreon! On the free patreon post you will also find a higher version of all the bandits present in the post. Additionally tokens and a json file including all their stats. If you don’t know the Monster Manifest you will probably a bit confused but that is quickly resolved. You can either read the original post (which is quite long and goes very in depth) or check this quick explanation out. In short we divide all D&D stat blocks into three categories, representing one type of fight you can run at your table: Action Stat Blocks, Tactical Stat Blocks, and Hybrid Stat Blocks. Tactical Stat Blocks are perfect if you’re running a fight on a grid with miniatures. Monsters have distinct roles, multiple abilities, and varied actions, giving players and DMs plenty of tactical decisions to make each round. Hybrid Stat Blocks work best when you want cinematic encounters with or without a grid, such as a spellcasting boss with minions or a battle that blends combat with diplomacy. They’re versatile, closer to the official style of stat blocks (natural stat blocks), and flexible enough for mixed encounter types. Action Stat Blocks are designed for fast-paced, theater-of-the-mind play. Ideal for hyper-escalating showdowns (like a lone bandit boss against a party of four), their numbered actions make them easy to run while keeping the focus on dynamic, cinematic action. If you have any questions go to r/DnDMonsterManifest and make a post there. You can also join our discord server to pitch us ideas or just talk with us. Thats that, go to the original post if you are interested in a pdf, some tokens or a 5etools compatible json that includes all of the above. *Internal Rock studio boulders away*

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The group actually put on the damned ring this session. But I remembered I’d run things differently and it had to be a usurped cult leader in the ring, not a demigod. It was almost five years ago they found the fucking thing.

I’m down for some sci-fi. I just don’t have appetite for fantasy. Roll20 has listings for many systems, there’s discord, there’s startplaying.games for paid GMs.

I’m surprised to see them playtesting what pretty clearly seems like Dark Sun material. I didn’t think modern Hasbro/WotC had any interest or desire to revisit that setting.

This map pack features 120 total map tiles that are split into two themes - Forgotten Caves and Ancient Temple. There are transition tiles included to connect both themes. Each map is aligned to the center of the x-axis, y-axis, or both, which you can use to mix and match the maps. The tunnels match in size and placement, allowing for easy connection! Download the first 5 tiles for free here.