Of us, I’ve been a bit of harsh on Dungeons & Dragons creators Wizards of the Coast—and its proprietor, Hasbro—for its many fusses and foibles over the previous decade. And never for horrible causes: Bizarre pre-order bonuses that reek of the worst of videogame DLC, the slow-motion trainwreck that was Sigil, the troubles with getting something BG3-related off the bottom (and likewise shedding many of the of us who made BG3 accountable).
I’m delighted to report, nevertheless, that D&D Past is doing one thing unequivocally neat in its partnered content material program, and appears set to proceed doing neat issues with it with out screwing up.
Whereas my little independent-loving coronary heart thinks sweeping every little thing into one WoTC-owned platform most likely is not wholesome for the passion as an entire, this type of cooperation remains to be a serious enchancment over… nicely, your complete OGL factor. You recognize, the place WoTC put a metaphorical gun to the top of its total creator ecosystem for mainly no cause, whereas making headlines as a result of Hasbro CEOs mentioned it was under-monetised.
It is so fashionable, in reality, that it truly made it to an episode of Dimension 20—one of the crucial fashionable D&D precise performs on the market, second solely to Essential Position (and actually so good that Essential Position received its DM to run its new marketing campaign).
The remainder of the roadmap contains an Eberron complement by its unique designer Keith Baker, a group of first stage one-shots by Beadle & Grimm’s Pandemonium Warehouse referred to as “Sooner, Purple Worm! All people Dies, vol. 1”, Heliana’s Information to Monster Searching: Half 2 by Loot Tavern, and the primary Griffon’s Saddlebag e book, a well-liked magic merchandise complement.
And hey, that is very a lot WoTC simply doing what it ought to’ve been doing for years—however given we have gone from the seemingly open hostility to third-party creators by way of the OGL fiasco in 2023 to this, I am more than pleased to offer credit score the place it is due.
