Wizards of the Coast - D&D Video games coming

@RollingStone Wizards of the Coast has plans for new games, movies, TV, comics.

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D&D
Dungeons & Dragons, the other castle at Wizards of the Coast, received its latest update - the Fifth Edition - about three and a half years ago after two years of large-scale beta testing. “It really helped us refine the rule set and open up the world of players,” Cocks says. “After three and a half years, we had our best sales in November. It sold out and we’ve been struggling to restock. It’s a great engine of play.”

Cocks’ personal history with D&D echoes the history of a lot of folks who are helping to fuel the game's resurgence. He started playing when he was 10, in 1983, and recently returned to the game to play it with his son, who is now 10. “Everyone raised in the ‘70s or ‘80s when D&D was a cultural phenomenon, are rediscovering the game with Fifth Edition,” he says. Adding that those same early players also have in many ways taking over a lot of powerful, creative positions in Hollywood. “The sweet spot is 35 to 45,” he says. “They grew up playing D&D and were inspired to be storytellers by it.”

The resurgence is also being helped along by the popularity of tabletop, gameplay streams by folks like Wil Wheaton and others. “They create webisodes based on D&D campaigns,” Cocks says. “They create these dramatic arcs over the course of play. And we see millions of people consume this content. It shows that it’s fun to get a group together and go on this adventure and act silly as you socialize together.” For the first time, he adds, people asked about how they got into D&D, listed watching videos online as a bigger source than recommendations from friends.

And as with Magic, Wizards is starting to plumb the depths of the game’s rich lore and history. “We are looking at TV series or movie deals as well as more web-based content and actively pursuing a larger slate of video games for D&D,” Cocks says. “Right now we have a slate of four to five coming in 12 to 18 months and five or six set for 2020 and beyond across a variety of genres.” While that may sound like a lot, since 1987 there have already been more than 100 games based on the slew of D&D properties, he noted. “At its core, D&D has a couple things going for it: A rich lore and rich history and six or seven different worlds. That’s a rich vein to be able to tap into. Also, the history associated with it means that when you play D&D it feels very authentic because it’s a mature property and has had so many iterations of it. The secret to D&D is that really the rules are just guidelines.”

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More information.

More D&D games would be wonderful. Never actually tried 5th Edition - though I hear it's a lot better than the travesty that was 4th Edition.

Still, I suspect 3.5 will remain my favorite.

Anyway, looking forward to hearing more about these new games - though the guy being interviewed seems pretty far from a real gamer - despite his "Baldur's Gate" reference.

I also thought that 3.5 would be my favorite forever. I was wrong. 5e is by far the best experience I have had with D&D. it really makes things fun and lets everyone get involved in story telling and game play. I'm excited for the games to be brought back!

Now bring back the damn books!

Originally Posted by NewDArt
travesty that was 4th.

The travesty is 5th in sticking it back in a Vancian straight jacket and putting the dice rolls for spells back into the DM's hands as 'to miss' rolls. Crazy.
4th is a decent tabletop skirmish game, as long as you approach it as that.

13th Age is better than either.

Sounds interesting. For movies and TV they will have to spend a decent amount of money or it will tank (as the two D&D "movies" did years ago). It could be cool, though.

As for games I guess they will have to decide if they want to get real in a direction to BG (or even something like Skyrim) or if they want to give the licence away like Games Workshop with a lot of small games from all genres and a lot of hit and miss.

Originally Posted by Darkheart
Sounds interesting. For movies and TV they will have to spend a decent amount of money or it will tank (as the two D&D "movies" did years ago). It could be cool, though.

As for games I guess they will have to decide if they want to get real in a direction to BG (or even something like Skyrim) or if they want to give the licence away like Games Workshop with a lot of small games from all genres and a lot of hit and miss.

The Games Workshop approach would be best. At least then there is a chance for some creative diversity and we may even get a good game or two.

Oh please, not another wretched live action D&D movie. Something like a 'Star Wars: Rebels' animated TV series for D&D would be good.

Now would you PLEASE make it turn based (or at least RtWP)?

Originally Posted by NewDArt
More D&D games would be wonderful.

Less MMOs would be even more wonderful.

Expecting an MMO/Online style game with mainstream idiosyncrasies from them.
Would love to be disappointed.

A DND movie that took itself seriously would be a good start. The direct to video sequel wasn’t half bad

I would love to see a Netflix or HBO D&D series. Each season could be a module. I'm old so it could go something like this.

Season 1 Keep on the Borderlands.

Season 2 White Plume Mountain.

Season 3 Against the Giants.

Season 4 Tomb of Horrors. Everyone dies and the series is over!

I've been weirded out from hearing of people using the OGL again which made no sense to me - because I thought WotC recinded with 3.5e

Now I am hearing of people using the OGL, albeit unofficially, for video games - part of the OGL was you couldn't make a d20 program if it actually had game features in it.

That said, its mostly moot. Game rules can't be copyrighted, patented, or trademarked, etc (possibly could be considered a trade secret in certain circumstances such as alpha testing). WotC knows this better than anyone - as their CCG Patent is for a business model; not a game.

Please make the games turn-based and, even more importantly, make certain that they do not stink. Another poor D&D venture could really just be the end of the entire computer franchise.

…actively pursuing a larger slate of video games for D&D,” Cocks says. “Right now we have a slate of four to five coming in 12 to 18 months and five or six set for 2020 and beyond across a variety of genres

What do you call people who tell you there are four or five D&D games coming in 12 to 18 months?

Cocks!

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
I've been weirded out from hearing of people using the OGL again which made no sense to me - because I thought WotC recinded with 3.5e

Now I am hearing of people using the OGL, albeit unofficially, for video games - part of the OGL was you couldn't make a d20 program if it actually had game features in it.

That said, its mostly moot. Game rules can't be copyrighted, patented, or trademarked, etc (possibly could be considered a trade secret in certain circumstances such as alpha testing). WotC knows this better than anyone - as their CCG Patent is for a business model; not a game.

The final question of the WotC OGL FAQ covers the topic:

https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?…lfaq/20040123f

Kingmaker is based on Pathfinder, which I believe is based upon OGL.

Would love to see more D&D games in the vein of BG/IWD series. Yes, I love RTwP the best!

If they're going for cooperative gameplay, then RTwP tends to flow better.

That said, DOS2 proved that you can create a great combat flow with turn-based combat in multiplayer - so I'm not too sure anymore.

However, I don't really get a great feeling from this interview. It sounds a lot more like a business decision than a passionate desire to create great RPGs.

That's never the best starting point, is it.

To be honest, I don't have high hope for this either, they will probably end up producing something on the par with Sword Coast Legend at the best *sigh*. It's ok, there is still Pathfinder: Kingmaker.