Wizards Presents & OneD&D: Updates in the World of D&D

 

Warmup: Tanner to Justin

Intro

Dungeons and Dragons is evolving. Wizards of the Coast has come out with some major announcements in the last few weeks and today, we’re going to talk about them.

Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host, Tanner Weyland, here with my cohort Justin Lewis. Together, we are going to learn how to craft better stories for you and your players as you DM sessions of D&D 5e and soon-to-be OneD&D (more on that later). Before we get to the meat of our conversation, let’s go through some housekeeping items.

First of all, our next one-shot is coming up on September 17th at 2:00 Mountain Time. All the spots are taken up, but you can still watch by going to betterdungeonmaster.com/watch to enjoy a good game of D&D.

Our next one-shot will be on October 22nd, and we are still nailing down the exact time for the one-shot, and we’ll let you know when we know. The important bit of information is that there is, at the time of this recording, only one open slot left in that one-shot. After that, we’ll be opening up our November singup. If you want to explore “The Web of Waking Dreams”, an original horror one-shot created by friend of the show and guest host Bone Daddy Rob from This Dungeon Is Occupied, go to betterdungeonmaster.com/one-shot and sign up today.

Last thing I want to mention is that we need your help, desperately. Justin and I are committed to giving you amazing content, but sometimes we’re a little too close to the work. We need outside eyes and ears to tell us what is actually helping you become the very best dungeon masters possible. So to do that, go to betterdungeonmaster.com/feedback and fill as much or as little of that survey as you want. All of it is useful to us to make better content that tears down your barriers to ultimate DMhood. 

Main Content: Wizards of the Coast Presents – The Facts

  1. Wizards will be releasing OneD&D in 2024.
  2. OneD&D will be created on the foundation of 5e but with input from the players
  3. OneD&D will have a virtual engine created from the Unreal Engine to help facilitate online play
  4. OneD&D Playtest material will be available periodically on DnDBeyond. 
  5. Now and beyond will be releasing digital/physical bundles
  6. Races changed to “backgrounds,” and the feats differentiate them.
  7. New race added, kind of the opposite of teaflings.
  8. Spelljammer is now released which are sourcebook for D&D in space.
  9. New resources for DragonLance will be released including a new companion board game that can be used to play through war scenarios.
  10. Initial Rule changes:
  11. Nat 20 automatically succeeds.
  12. No Monster/DM crit attacks.
  13. Magic attacks don’t crit, but physical attacks do.

Intermission: Warmup Cont.

Main Content Cont: Wizards of the Coast Presents – The Opinions

Justin:

Tanner:

Questions for discussion

  • Is the Virtual TableTop a good thing?
  • Price concerns
  • Constraint on creativity
  • Push the envelope
  • What is the purpose of Crits?

Conclusion

Transcript
lewis]:

i'm there

lewis]:

m welcome back to how to be a better d m before we get into

lewis]:

the show let's jump into the warm up that we do with every show tanner

lewis]:

and kind of going along with our theme of creating maps that i was talking

lewis]:

to about the show building one shots you have the task you know you're playing

lewis]:

with your group and they want to go to this dungeon that you just made

lewis]:

up so now you have the task to populate the dungeon with three at least

lewis]:

three unique rooms in the dungeon they don't have to be like breathtakingly unique but

lewis]:

they have to be somewhat unique in a sense of this is an interesting room

lewis]:

of the dungeon what would you put in that dungeon

weyland]:

okay three unique rooms in the dungeon okay for one room it's a little mix

weyland]:

of indiana jones in the last crusade slash what i'm planning for my d and

weyland]:

one shot coming to her in a couple o weeks but basically what c is

weyland]:

a treasure chest first well first off they enter into a large cavern it's domed

weyland]:

kind of like rocky as if it were hewn out of the rocks of this

weyland]:

dungeon and they enter and they see they see a big floor that seems almost

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as if it's made of glass it's just

lewis]:

yeah

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shimmering in the light that's coming from a single hole in the top of the

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ceiling and which is shining down of course classic on a treasure chest

lewis]:

oh

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and so the whole key of this room is that there are different kinds of

weyland]:

symbols or riddles i mean it could be either one i'm going to say riddles

weyland]:

because why not there's riddles on glass and they essentially have to step on the

weyland]:

right answer if they step on and there's going to be multiple possible answers they

weyland]:

step on the wrong things then they fall through right and they

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

have chance for you know reflex save so that's one room

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

um second room i'm going to do a rope swing room because why not they

weyland]:

walk in there on a plan form and then much like luke and lea before

weyland]:

they knew they were siblings they will either hug each other or

lewis]:

okay

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just like swing across um and you know it's

lewis]:

will

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all

lewis]:

there

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bad

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be snapping alligators in the water underneath

weyland]:

for you yes um

lewis]:

oh

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you want snapping alligaties

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

you get it okay justin

lewis]:

thank you

weyland]:

h h and then the third

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

room is going to be you know what the third room is going to be

weyland]:

a little it's going to be a little storage room

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

that they walk into and they

lewis]:

my

weyland]:

don't think it's anything special but then they see some bagets in a barrel they

weyland]:

go over one of the hungry players goes over starts playing with them one of

weyland]:

the gates moves with a chunk sound and then and then

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

it slides the barrel slides across and there's a ladder leading down and in there

weyland]:

there's a little let's say nome who's running in a little mid dungeon way point

weyland]:

shop for them that they of course have to buy but yes there you go

lewis]:

i love that that's awesome

weyland]:

yes but thank you for the warm up i'm feeling you know i'm feeling fired

weyland]:

up thinking about bad

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

gets and broken glass

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and everything but listeners dungeons and dragons is evolving wizards of the coast has come

weyland]:

out with some major announcements in the last few weeks and today we're going to

weyland]:

talk about them but first we want to welcome to how to be a better

weyland]:

d m i'm your host tanner wayland and here with my cohort

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

justin lewis we're going to learn how to craft better stories for you and your

weyland]:

players so d n d so you're m sessions of d and d five soon

weyland]:

to be one d and d would just be the best they possibly can be

weyland]:

you ready justin

lewis]:

i am very ready i'm stoked

weyland]:

perfect first though i mean cooler jets justin

lewis]:

cool

weyland]:

cool

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okay

weyland]:

so first off just some announced announcements i'm running one shot september seventeenth at two

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p m mountain time i'm going to be sending out an email today so the

weyland]:

time you listen to this podcast you should you who

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

are playing you lucky few should be be sorry you should have a link for

weyland]:

that and then otherwise we're going to make sure that everybody else can watch it

weyland]:

on better dungeon master dot com for slash watch and you get to enjoy a

weyland]:

good game d and d um so then our next one shot is on october

weyland]:

twenty second now you're thinking wait tanner justin weren't you only going to do this

weyland]:

every quarter we were

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

until we got some help from from friends and we're still nailing down the time

weyland]:

of this one shot but we're pretty sure it's going to be october twenty second

weyland]:

and we'll send out later information later so an important bit of information is that

weyland]:

there's only one slot

lewis]:

yes

weyland]:

left for this one shot

lewis]:

actually

weyland]:

go ahead

lewis]:

so i don't know i'll say i don't know if i would say that just

lewis]:

because with the person who was going to your one shot if they moved to

lewis]:

the october one then they're going to take up the one the one lot the

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

one

weyland]:

that's

lewis]:

slot for the one shot

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that's right for the listener yeah

lewis]:

yeah

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okay i'll go back and

lewis]:

so just start that over sorry

weyland]:

okay

lewis]:

i wrote this like like a week ago i guess

weyland]:

that's fine oh okay so as far as it goes

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

once we once we send out the info for the october twenty second

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oh

weyland]:

one shot don't worry we will be

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

having another one shot for the final quarter so get excited for that

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

as far as it goes if you want to

lewis]:

my

weyland]:

look at the web of waking dreams it's an original horror one shot created by

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our friend of the show and guest host bone daddy rob from this dungeon is

weyland]:

occupied

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oh

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so in order to find out more about this go to better dungeon master dot

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com forward slash one shot and sign up today anything else

lewis]:

yeah

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worth mentioning

lewis]:

oh yes so big shout out to our listener his name is josh hermanstorfer he

lewis]:

actually gave us some awesome feedback i sent out a survey and he filled it

lewis]:

out and he gave us some great feedback and and we wanted to extend to

lewis]:

you the same opportunity too help create the show you can have a stake and

lewis]:

ownership in the show and help us in our commitment to give you ever better

lewis]:

content all you got to do is go to better dungeon master dot com feed

lewis]:

back and you can answer as many questions or as few questions of that survey

lewis]:

as you want and if you don't want to put your name don't put your

lewis]:

name it can be completely confidential but it's just a way for us to rely

lewis]:

get a bead for how you listen to the show why you started listening to

lewis]:

the show what you do like what you don't like what things you might change

lewis]:

and really just to wait for us to again figure out what is the best

lewis]:

possible way to view more

weyland]:

perfect love it so once again we really look forward to your feedback and in

weyland]:

the meantime let's just jump into our topic today so i actually pitched this it

weyland]:

to justin

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

because i was you know on youtube as one does and i saw the announcement

weyland]:

by wizard wizards of the coast i believe that's who's in charge of that um

weyland]:

and

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

so they they basically announced not a new edition they made sure not to say

weyland]:

that even though

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

for all intents and purposes it is they basicall are launching well first off they're

weyland]:

launching a play test for essentially the next edition of d and d um which

weyland]:

they're kind of almost phrasing their marketing is essentially

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

one d n d to rule them all you

lewis]:

uh

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know not not that phrase but essentially that they're like oh there's not going to

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be additions there is just going to be one d and d

lewis]:

yeah

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it comes with a few changes right like did you get a chance to kind

weyland]:

of

lewis]:

yeah

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watch their little video that they came out with

lewis]:

i did indeed

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

and one thing i will add is so a lot of this i believe actually

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

is possible because wizards of the coast who created dungeons and dragons they bought dan

lewis]:

d beyond and they actually mentioned in the show in the show but in their

lewis]:

kind of youtube presentation announcing all of this that some of these particular initiatives are

lewis]:

only possible because of their merger with d and d beyond and to tanner's point

lewis]:

you know they said in in the video that five was built based on things

lewis]:

that players liked or didn't like about previous editions and they're trying to do that

lewis]:

with one d n d but the they're doing it in kind of i guess

lewis]:

they're following the format of major video games you know rather than fortnight getting a

lewis]:

new edition they just have patches come out and things change here and there and

lewis]:

a new seasons come and i think that's what one d and d is really

lewis]:

trying to mimic right

weyland]:

yeah yeah exactly and i think that's it's kind of i mean for better or

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worse they're essentially my guests switching to a subscription

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

model you could almost say

lewis]:

yeah

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um

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

not necessarily for the content because you know you can buy books and everything like

weyland]:

that

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

but i mean just before we get into this like the nuts and bolts is

weyland]:

that wizards was coming out to announce it because similar to many other kind of

weyland]:

table top r p g systems when they're trying to release a new a new

weyland]:

edition and they have a play test and they kind of throw all of their

weyland]:

different ideas at the wall and see what and they say what sticks now the

weyland]:

only other

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

kind of recent one that i'm that i can think

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

of or compare to another kind of similar system pathfinder they did one for their

weyland]:

second you know edition of pathfinder and they did a play test and p had

weyland]:

all these different negative and positive thoughts on it and

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

and then they came out with the official like second edition right

lewis]:

oh

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and something that people didn't realize as like oh the play test actually the feedback

weyland]:

was listened to you know a lot of the

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

things in the play test that people were if on it got changed and that's

weyland]:

one thing i want to point out here right now they've just released stuff for

weyland]:

the play test which i believe

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

you can find info on is that on d n d beyond where you can

weyland]:

get

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

in

lewis]:

yeah it's just read on the home page it's

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

like when you go to the home page there's kind of at least last time

lewis]:

i checked there's like four boxes at the top and end the one i think

lewis]:

third from the left is the one d and d beyond or one d and

lewis]:

d play test material

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

or at least the first batch

weyland]:

yeah and so basically this is a great chance they're kind of giving it to

weyland]:

everyone to be like hey try it out give us your feedback and then hopefully

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

their goal is to release official one d and d um in twenty twenty four

weyland]:

so it's going to be a sec and i'm interested i'm interested to see how

weyland]:

it goes frankly

lewis]:

for sure and and actually that the first batch of play test material we're going

lewis]:

a dig into it and kind of talk about it on a separate episode so

lewis]:

i guess stay tuned for that but one thing i would iterate okay two things

lewis]:

i'll iterate is one it's going to be created on the foundation of five v

lewis]:

because five was popular there were lots of things good going there's going to be

lewis]:

changes and frankly this is the second thing if you as a player don't like

lewis]:

those changes then you can actually tell d and d

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

tell wizard the coast they have a survey essentially attached to the play test materials

lewis]:

and you can say hey this i didn't like this and you know just like

lewis]:

tanner said with pathfinder to they're going to listen to it and hopefully change it

lewis]:

you know

weyland]:

yeah exactly this is you know frankly i've been watching a lot of videos you

weyland]:

know commentary on one d n d and their proposed changes es really some of

weyland]:

the rule changes

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

and people are concerned you know rightfully so for some of the stuff but

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

you know i think that the wizards of the coast is right to you know

weyland]:

throw some of these you know

lewis]:

yah

weyland]:

throw out some of these ideas because some of them are

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

like oh

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

this could be bad but i don't

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

technically know no

lewis]:

right

weyland]:

we haven't had a chance to actually play with it and so now i would

weyland]:

say first off keep an open mind and then if you play with the new

weyland]:

play test material and your concern is realized then like hey that's what they're looking

weyland]:

for they're looking for your feedback they're looking for any kind of suggestions you have

weyland]:

um but yeah just kind of to move on and

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

talk about some of the specifics here uh you know they've well yeah they've like

weyland]:

they've added a new race they've

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

changed they've made

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

some significant differences to how races i belie they're calling them backgrounds now

lewis]:

right

weyland]:

m and like which i think is like smart you know because

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

like if you get a little too nittygritty with each of the races and the

weyland]:

sub races you

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

know it just gets a little weird and it's like hey let's just call them

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

a background and

lewis]:

yep

weyland]:

you know the different kind of races or backgrounds have different feats associated and so

weyland]:

that's kind of different well fairly different and then there's a changes to some rules

weyland]:

like oh how crits work and also

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

like how

lewis]:

may

weyland]:

they categorize magic for the further purpose of for different you know classes and things

weyland]:

like that one of the big things though and justin you know if you have

weyland]:

any thoughts on this they're releasing

lewis]:

sure

weyland]:

a virtual tabletop like essentially engine for you to play games on

lewis]:

yeah to be honest when i so again they are that specifically was only possible

lewis]:

because of their pairing with din as well as also in addition to that they're

lewis]:

now going to be releasing digital physical bundles so you can get the physical books

lewis]:

and the digital books which

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

is nice but all of this is possible because they s with dandy beyond specifically

lewis]:

for the virtual engine i honestly think that that is kind of a bid for

lewis]:

staking their claim for m tabletop role playing games in the medaverse i guess if

lewis]:

you can say that so um i honestly think this is them trying to say

lewis]:

hey when virtual reality becomes even more prolific and ubiquitous d n d is the

lewis]:

thing to do and you can play it just with none and your friends you

lewis]:

know and i don't know how i feel about that like ready player one was

lewis]:

an awesome movie but i'm also kind of scared of like society changing but

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

only time will tell you know

weyland]:

yeah you know change is scary it's okay just

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and it's okay

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

you know honestly

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

though i hear

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

that for me it's a little bit more of you know initially i thought it

weyland]:

was awesome frankly

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and i don't know if we want to go into this now basically the nuts

weyland]:

and bolts is that it's made with the unreal engine and so in their video

weyland]:

it actually looks incredible you know but

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

of course you know i have concede about if it will always look incredible i

weyland]:

don't know

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

but either

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

way it's it's it's like an upgraded version of role twenty you could almost say

weyland]:

specific

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

to dungeons and draft and um m and i think that that's that is probably

weyland]:

one of the biggest things because like yeah new rules everything like that that's big

weyland]:

them kind of making a bid for like you say that kind of virtual reality

weyland]:

slash just like a new major competitor against role twenty and these other online tabletop

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

systems uh yeah that's it's a big news you know but so just for the

weyland]:

listeners we're planning on kind of talking about what they're doing and then later talking

weyland]:

about our thoughts on it just in general but but just in anything else that

weyland]:

you think we ought to cover before moving on

lewis]:

yeah so just kind of a heads up for for those of you who might

lewis]:

not be aware they just released kind of not necessarily well it was part of

lewis]:

this but it was

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

also like slightly before

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

they released spell gammer a whole kind of source book

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

bundle complete with monsters new race even some rules for not are

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

space combat i guess you will if you will and for

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

those of you who are n't aware spell

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

jammers uh kind of an old d and d setting which takes place in the

lewis]:

astral c like essentially think of the movie treasure planet and that is spell jammer

lewis]:

right that that's the kind of adventures that you're allowed to do it's d indian

lewis]:

space so that's available now i'm actually looking forward to get that for myself sooner

lewis]:

or later but also they are releasing new resources for another d and setting which

lewis]:

is the setting of dragon lance or the world of grin which i have a

lewis]:

fund place in my heart i actually started reading dragon lance novels before i ever

lewis]:

heard of the forgotten realms so you know like all of those stories are near

lewis]:

and dear to my heart but one cool thing about that is they're also releasing

lewis]:

a companion board game for the dragon lance world that you can play in india

lewis]:

but this board game is supposed to help you play out kind of grand war

lewis]:

scenarios which to be honest i always thought that war was kind of something that

lewis]:

was pretty difficult to do in dandy so i'm excited to see how this works

lewis]:

and i'm hopeful that the dragon lance resources don't read they already said they don't

lewis]:

require the board game but i'm hopeful that the resources

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

themselves for d and d will allow you to simulate grand conflicts like war easily

lewis]:

even without the board game and just having the board game makes it a little

lewis]:

bit more fun you know

weyland]:

absolutely and i'm glad that these things are coming out still because i don't know

weyland]:

sometimes when other companies

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

have moved down from one product you know essentially d d five

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

in this case right on to one den i'm always worried that they kind

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

of abandon their old one and i still think that's coming to some extent but

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

it's nice to see that they're still releasing that right now like spell gammer i

weyland]:

think that's just classic right

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

you mentioned treasure planet i think everybody would be you know remiss if they didn't

weyland]:

play camp and set in a very treasure planet sk style and play that one

weyland]:

song that everybody knows from that movie

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

you know um you know the one but

lewis]:

i do i

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

do

weyland]:

you do yeah you do

lewis]:

love it

weyland]:

but yeah honestly take a look at wizards of the coast are doing a lot

weyland]:

of cool things right now but first let's let's talk about opinions and everything but

weyland]:

first i believe you've got a continuation

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

to the warm up right

lewis]:

yes i do so for this dungeon

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

with these three very interesting rooms that you have just made up on the fly

lewis]:

what would you say is kind of the not the core but like the mystery

lewis]:

at its center so either what's the big boss or

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

what's the treasure that they're looking for like what's the purpose of this dungeon

weyland]:

okay purpose of the dungeon the purpose of the dungeon i'm gonna you know what

weyland]:

i'm going to say that the core of this dungeon is a disappointed child m

lewis]:

who

weyland]:

i know right wait until i figure out what that means no i'm just

lewis]:

yeah yeah

weyland]:

i'm thinking about him like okay swinging on ropes every child's fantasy uh

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

you know walking like where would you hide something from a child across a thing

weyland]:

of glass where they could easily fall you know and

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

what do kids like they like when people buy stuff for them and

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

so essentially they're going through this dungeon and they little by little realize the story

weyland]:

in the murals on it that this dungeon is created by a super powerful being

weyland]:

who um well actually a super powerful beings child who had been born and then

weyland]:

bereaved of their parents but the child was also like galactically powerful in like have

weyland]:

great arc powers and essentially molded you know there their desire for for love for

weyland]:

you know or care for gifts everything kind of molded into a dungeon and these

weyland]:

players stumble up on it and little by little you know they can either learn

weyland]:

what it's all about and try and show that child love by like by bringing

weyland]:

certain gifts that they found or they could just try and attack the child and

weyland]:

see how that goes and see if they and now

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

like basically take down this super powerful um like child childlike creature so yeah

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

that's that's what i have for now

lewis]:

an that was really good have you have you seen hiomazaki's spirited way

weyland]:

you know yeah of course of course

lewis]:

you know what you just described made me think of that giant baby person that's

weyland]:

yes

lewis]:

the son of the witch

weyland]:

exactly

lewis]:

um dan

weyland]:

ah

lewis]:

that's a freaking cool dungeon i hope you know

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

flesh that out soon so was

weyland]:

yeah you know that's that's the next one you know that's a

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

dungeon of the cry baby coming coming

lewis]:

i

weyland]:

in

lewis]:

love

weyland]:

hot

lewis]:

it i love it so i think we're talking about our opinions on what wizards

lewis]:

of the coast is doing now right

weyland]:

yeah is there anything you want to start with because i mean i'm interested to

weyland]:

talk about the table to

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

the virtual tabletop along

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

with some of the rule changes and things like that you

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

have anywhere you want to start

lewis]:

uh actually um let's start with the virtual tabletop i want to hear what you

lewis]:

think and then i'll give my two cents

weyland]:

okay virtual table top some people were saying so one guy came at it from

weyland]:

a video that i thought was very interesting you know i was

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

like okay i see his point but i also disagree his main point was like

weyland]:

oh there are two reasons why this is bad one you know that they're going

weyland]:

to charge like a subscription entially to use this service

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

right much like roll twenty they have an upgraded version that you can pay monthly

weyland]:

for right

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

and they're an he's saying like hey they're doing all this stuff on unreal gen

weyland]:

that's not cheap you know so they're going

lewis]:

yep

weyland]:

to put in that time his second point was that like oh people become less

weyland]:

you know less imaginative you know they'll kind of do adventures that you are able

weyland]:

to do within the virtual reality versus kind of doing some theater of the mind

weyland]:

and some other stuff and i mean i partially agree with him you know yeah

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

like for example in terms of the cost i do think that this is going

weyland]:

to be high quality um but as a person who you know growing up was

weyland]:

constantly trying to find work around for things with subscriptions you know i played

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

guild wars online because world

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

of war craft had a monthly subscription i you know i tried to find

lewis]:

yep

weyland]:

like free content on line when i was creating um you know campaigns

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

essentially for d and d like free pictures and stuff i could put in instead

weyland]:

of buying the actual thing on role twenty or d and d beyond you know

weyland]:

like

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

from that point of view i'm like yeah i think that's that's an certainly concern

weyland]:

you know about affordability there because it's certainly not going to be free nor do

weyland]:

i think it should be free but yeah i don't know what do you think

lewis]:

so as you were talking i was kind of thinking about like various pricing models

lewis]:

um everything that well d n d beyond has done so far ben there's a

lewis]:

freemium model so free and then you can pay to upgrade and that seems to

lewis]:

be kind of standard across the dandy market you know rolled twenty

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

for the most part so i could see that this virtual engine this virtual tabletop

lewis]:

game is kind of the premium model but then i also thought you know like

lewis]:

that's not going to be cheap that's going to be a subscription i thought

weyland]:

hm

lewis]:

about all those deums there who spend you know myself included spend time and money

lewis]:

uh creating or building tabletop mines you know and you can play the game for

lewis]:

free essentially but you get those mines to augment the game and i thought back

lewis]:

to the video that they showed in uh the wizard's presents video um and one

lewis]:

thing to note here is that they didn't say that this one d n d

lewis]:

is going to be ready next year they said it's going to be ready twenty

lewis]:

twenty four which means it's at least a year and a half away probably more

lewis]:

in my opinion i don't think it's going to come out january first twenty twenty

lewis]:

four which means

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

i think at they showed kind of to be honest is is but i think

lewis]:

that they showed a video of what it could look like not necessarily what it

lewis]:

does look like

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

and they've they've assembled you know so i could easily see them offering it for

lewis]:

free especially because either you're going to need some sort of virtual reality

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

equipment or you just have it on your computer but then you have to pay

lewis]:

to get certain mines that you can use in the virtual tabletop because the video

lewis]:

they shared wasn't you know with a character fighting

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

these things it was you looking at a table top you know with minnie's and

lewis]:

everything

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

and and much like we'd have it at a normal table and i think they

lewis]:

want to preserve that so i could see them go in either the subscription route

lewis]:

or you know you pay for different rain pieces many things like that much like

lewis]:

you would do in normal life and you know with the world of n f

lewis]:

t s that's not that's not impossible you know what i'm saying

weyland]:

yeah and i kind of expect that it's going to be like that right like

weyland]:

there's probably going to be

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

some i mean it would be a bold move if they just make the entire

weyland]:

thing free but like basically

lewis]:

right

weyland]:

make it so that the content like or the

lewis]:

right

weyland]:

mines you know the

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

actual like pieces and everything are behind the pay wall you know that's

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

an option um

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

in terms of the creativity aspect you know i i hear that that like you

weyland]:

know oh if this thing comes out like a meta verse or whatever then some

weyland]:

people might feel like oh we like it's not really d and d if this

weyland]:

isn't he thing and frankly i don't

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

like i think that's a little bit you know

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

like fear mongering in terms of like oh people

lewis]:

imogene

weyland]:

get yeah comoginy where it's like hey things are if it gets so good then

weyland]:

people won't want to go back and i'm like i mean people will do what

weyland]:

they want to do

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

you know but

lewis]:

i agree

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

i think like you know we just had covid nineteen right a lot of people

lewis]:

went to playing dandy online and then the second they were allowed to or ever

lewis]:

they went back to playing with their friends and family because

weyland]:

hm

lewis]:

like as much as we do like the convenience of being able to talk over

lewis]:

riverside like we are we do like being in the same room we get a

lewis]:

lot more sights smells sounds feelings even of just being in the same room i

lewis]:

am curious because all of science fiction points to the fact that humanity will devolve

lewis]:

into more of a

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

you know luxury and uh what's the word like they do whatever is easiest

weyland]:

like

lewis]:

and so

weyland]:

indolent

lewis]:

i'm

weyland]:

is probably

lewis]:

exactly

weyland]:

the really fancy

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

word for it

lewis]:

yeah i am curious to see but know the doubter inside me says the tech

lewis]:

isn't there quite yet and i mean we all have to go to work or

lewis]:

we all have to exist in real life so i think do prefer those real

lewis]:

life experiences right now but there's only only time we'll tell you know

weyland]:

yeah and it's not like in a way i'm like oh it's cool that someone's

weyland]:

essentially taking role twenty and making it like the next step which is kind of

weyland]:

triple

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

aging

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

the whole thing right by making it so you can look at the computer and

weyland]:

is like oh high definition minnies and everything right and you can build the

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

dungeons because right now you kind of have to go to other places to find

weyland]:

tools that you can

lewis]:

right

weyland]:

do that with right hand i'm like it would be cool if they did it

weyland]:

all together and if they had some real money they do like that's the thing

weyland]:

that i kind of like here as much as

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

i personally don't love when certain things get monopolized um like like social media but

weyland]:

like facebook metavers whatever

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

you want to call it right i do appreciate when like a company with a

weyland]:

lot of money gets to essentially throw like that money at a problem and see

weyland]:

if it solves it you know

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and i'm like yeah in terms of taking the virtual playing of d and d

weyland]:

to the next level you know we'll just have to see how how that works

weyland]:

i think that this is a big step forward that way and then hopefully other

weyland]:

hopefully they come up with some ideas that other creators can kind of rift off

weyland]:

of you know um

lewis]:

for sure

weyland]:

but other than that have you had any thoughts any other changes with d n

weyland]:

d with one d and

lewis]:

yeah um for

weyland]:

ah

lewis]:

one well and actually

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

kind of go in to your previous point one thing i do want

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

to note is that the d and d movie or the remake or the next

lewis]:

d n d movie whatever have you want to call it is coming out i

lewis]:

think next year which should hopefully be a nice shot in the arm for d

lewis]:

n d as a whole and hopefully flood some and for some of these projects

lewis]:

to make them so that even if the idea is terrible that the text doesn't

lewis]:

suck

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

you know but one thing that i'm still not like is the kind of changing

lewis]:

of the backgrounds races feats and all that so basically

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

my thought process with the races is you know it was kind of cool to

lewis]:

be able to choose to be a dragon born because you get these certain buffs

lewis]:

and flaws and crap like that but they've somewhat changed it so that way no

lewis]:

matter who you are your stat change based on how you want them to change

lewis]:

so it's not based on race and the only thing that you

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

get from your race are specific racial features which i guess makes a lot more

lewis]:

sense um m you know but it kind of like the whole trope of dwarfs

lewis]:

being somewhat hardy and strong you can still choose that but now you're going to

lewis]:

see a lot more dwarfs that aren't that way and and to me it's like

lewis]:

how can you have interesting exceptions to the rule if there aren't rules any

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

more you know and maybe that's me being a karmudgen but i think we're going

lewis]:

to see a lot more exceptions to the rule which won't be as interesting because

lewis]:

you know there's there's not that trope of every dwarf is strong and hardy but

lewis]:

instead certain dwarfs are smart or fast or whatever you know m i just again

lewis]:

i worry that maybe the creativity won't be there because everyone will just be able

lewis]:

to do whatever they want which sounds like it's more creative but i don't know

lewis]:

one thing i

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

do like the go ahead

weyland]:

no go ahead

lewis]:

i was just going to say i was reading some of the play test material

lewis]:

and we'll go into that a little bit more in another episode but one thing

lewis]:

i do like is that there aren't really sub races anymore they call it legacies

lewis]:

and they've actually added more legacies to certain races um te flings for example and

lewis]:

the legacy also have not just physical effect on your character but also a mechanical

lewis]:

effect based on m like the legacy you received

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

from your ancestors and things like that i do think that is a really cool

lewis]:

concept of you know you're a te fling but this one's an ebistalteefling so they

lewis]:

get various boons from their demon blood and this one's a infernal te fling and

lewis]:

they get various boons from their devil blood different and i think that does make

lewis]:

it a lot more dynamic

weyland]:

yeah i think that i think some of the things they're doing is the groundwork

weyland]:

for an interesting change in how you approach

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

you know creating a character because with

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

their inclusion of you know hey

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

we're going to instead of doing the whole mechanical changes we're

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

goin to do feats

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

um there essentially being like hey let's not put each type of race in a

weyland]:

box and to that

lewis]:

right

weyland]:

point i'm like you know what i get that like

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

it's nice to be like hey if you want the tip or you know just

weyland]:

distribute your points accordingly you know

lewis]:

right

weyland]:

however if you want an ork who's a scholar and everybody's like oh you know

weyland]:

fie on you you know and he's out

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

an outcast then it's like oh at that point you can you know make them

weyland]:

know respect them in a different way but they

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

still have same feats uh and then like you said the lineages or legacies those

weyland]:

are just nice ways to

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

um you know just to

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

differentiate them a little bit more like the old system but i think they've just

weyland]:

slimmed it down

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and one thing i thought was interesting is that you know one thing i've

lewis]:

yes

weyland]:

noticed about d and d five they you know there's a lot of home brew

weyland]:

content or other content out for you know different kinds of races right or

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

you know but but they have like in terms of the core races they keep

weyland]:

it pretty simple pretty tight i

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

would like to say

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

right and this time they're adding one race and it's just funny to me that

weyland]:

it took them this long to do it

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

you know and i'm like

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and they added a race that i don't i mean i don't know it's like

weyland]:

it's a very interesting

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

like so they added something called ard lings

lewis]:

yep

weyland]:

and in case anybody s wondering that's essentially you know t flings they're kind of

weyland]:

like demon spawn kind of delos uh ard lings are the opposite they're more i

weyland]:

angelic and same as how the teflings now have three uh three legacies or lineages

weyland]:

that they can account branch out into same for the ardlings it's like oh they

weyland]:

have these different three different types um and

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

there's actually like because previously there was a different kind of like essentially angelic race

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

in d and d and it's kind of funny that instead of going with that

weyland]:

one they just went with a new one called art lings i don't know

lewis]:

yeah yeah i thought the same thing to um i do like their description

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

of ard links it makes

weyland]:

ah

lewis]:

me

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

think of kind of the egyptian gods how

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

you know the bodies of a human their heads are animalistic

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

uh and to me that

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

that's very interesting it's different and it's unique um i do wonder though why they

lewis]:

didn't just say

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

you know a mar are these and sometimes they

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

have the heads of humans sometimes they have the heads of animals and

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

you know these are i don't know i don't know why

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

they went completely left field you know

weyland]:

now because asonmar already exists right

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and they're

lewis]:

exactly

weyland]:

essentially that equivalent of a celestial thing and i'm like you know what good on

weyland]:

them for like at first i thought it was weird and i still think it's

weyland]:

a little weird that they didn't just canonize a simar in a more real

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

way

lewis]:

uh yeah

weyland]:

but i'm like you know what good on them for being creative and like you

weyland]:

said the description very interesting where it's like oh they're part animal which frankly speaking

weyland]:

that's more in line with a lot of ancient religion like texts for how

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

they describe angels and things like that right even

lewis]:

right

weyland]:

in the bible there's like wings for days and eyes and everything else

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

right uh

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

and it's

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

like you know that's probably closer to what things would be angelically celestials speaking

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

so yeah we'll have to see i think the people were like oh that's weird

weyland]:

you came up with a whole new race instead of just you know sticking with

weyland]:

a simar but you know i think good on em for being creative

lewis]:

sure for sure i think the last thing that we can really riff on is

lewis]:

the crits so they are

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

changing how crit work crit now so so natural twenty automatic success natural one automatic

lewis]:

failure and there's some other rules on that so like let's see

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

no monster slash dem crit attacks and magic

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

attacks don't create but physical tacks do that right

weyland]:

yeah yeah so like people are up in arms about this and this is where

weyland]:

i really want to emphasize the play test part of this um

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

for example because in the past technique i only like with a tax would like

weyland]:

a natural one or an actual twenty like do that you know where it's like

weyland]:

oh you fail regardless of your modifier

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

and you know or you succeed regardless but skills that wasn't the case right you

weyland]:

weren't supposed to be able to nat to crit either bad for better or worse

weyland]:

on a skill

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

check you just weren't supposed to be like hey still add your modifier and see

weyland]:

if it works but people

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

were naturally

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

already kind of treating it the same as a tax here they're like oh my

weyland]:

goodness you got a natural twenty so what if you know this in order to

weyland]:

succeed you needed a twenty five you got a natural twenty like you know that's

weyland]:

good enough

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

and

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

to that point you know some people are mad about that me i'm like i

weyland]:

was the kind of person who especially if i be playing with someone who's new

weyland]:

to d and d i'd throw him a bone i'd be like oh my goodness

weyland]:

natural twine yeah you did it great awesome let's be creative you know but so

weyland]:

i don't have a problem there but i understand what people are saying like oh

weyland]:

my goodness the grits like

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

you can't just naturally win on a skill check i don't know yeah

lewis]:

ah um one quick side i think auber's gonna hop in here real quick so

lewis]:

we might want to finish

weyland]:

and

lewis]:

up real quick

weyland]:

kay

lewis]:

um m one one thought i had on that is i wish that and maybe

lewis]:

i'll treat it this way in my personal games and kind of play tested that

lewis]:

way but in intriting crit and stuff i think i'm gonna start going that whatever

lewis]:

the d c is they have to beat that if they roll a one or

lewis]:

natural twenty uh that doesn't necessarily mean they succeed or fail but let's they roll

lewis]:

a natural twenty but the d c is twenty five and they get a twenty

lewis]:

four i'm goin to say you fail just barely but something amazing happens what amazing

lewis]:

thing happens that does not make succeed and

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

kind of steal steal that same type of idea from the fantasy flight star war's

lewis]:

genesis game where if you roll a triumph or despair you know something amazing or

lewis]:

something despicable happens that is somewhat related but it's also kind of out of the

lewis]:

blue i think i think that might be good way to do that if you're

lewis]:

really still not interested with the the natural twenty natural

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

one automatic success failure model but

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

like tanner said play test this you know

weyland]:

yeah exactly and so on that note there's plenty more we could talk about we're

weyland]:

not going to today we'll talk about it later but in the meantime get out

weyland]:

there get play testing i think you'll be happier with end product if you do

weyland]:

um and you know until then let's all roll initiative

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