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Wizards Stops Selling Physical-Only Books (Extended) (Patreon)

Published:
2023-06-30 16:25:16
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:
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Videos

Content

The rumors are true. No bonus content but this version is 17 seconds longer than the YouTuber version. 

Files

Previews only

No More Physical D&D Books

Comments

Matthew Shaker

🤷‍♂️ weird, but it will ultimately push people towards the indy games

Chuck Thorin

All in for Indie TTRPG month.

Richard White

the $10 per month is an interesting concept. The difference between WoW or a Netflix/Hulu subscription is that yo can use it any time and ultimately you're probably going to use it a lot more often then a D&D sub. BECAUSE D&D is a social game, you can only play at pre-agreed scheduled times. I would guess the average user would only play once a month? And even then, people play D&D on and off. They'll play a campaign for 3 months and then take a hiatus for 6 months and come back to it. I just think users are going to have trouble justifying the sub fee compared to other entertainment subs they may use.

Lars Grabowski

Time to travel down the "North Road" into Shadowdark ;)

Weird Cat

I've always preferred physical books to digital. It's not a dealbreaker if something doesn't have a physical edition (especially if it's a small indie RPG), but I've always found scrolling through PDFs on my computer to be a very unpleasant way to read a book - especially an RPG book.

James C

I’d like to think this will push more players to physical tabletop but I don’t think it will. Sure, the older generation that grew up playing around the table will continue to do so. But Gen Z and beyond are different. They didn’t grow up sitting around the table. Online socializing is the norm not the exception. Call it convenience or laziness but the vast majority of younger people are perfectly content sitting behind a computer screen. The best we older gamers can do is what PDM is doing; teaching and playing with teens and kids so they see for themselves how more fun it is to interact in person. So TTRPG will become more niche again. Perhaps it’s better that way? Call me a grognard but it seems like anything that gets too popular becomes too commercialized and generic, losing all its flavor and uniqueness. That’s what I think (I stole your line PDM!).

Graham Kane
>>111877252

100% agree. I've bought plenty of PDF's but I always print them off. I can flip through a book twice as fast as I can read a PDF.

Richard White
>>111878110

there's an audience for both online and digital. Personally the VTT looks great. But what about when you want to run content around your PC's background. Hard to re-create a custom scene just for your party with all the production values WotC have at their disposal.

CptHubris

Yeah I've gone full indie. Just got my copy of the awesome Badgequest and bought Errant and 5B on drivethru. With so many great products available out there it's hard to want to buy WotC's bloated, recycled crap anymore. It's like the difference between quality cinema and the overproduced CGI junk they are shoveling at us these days. Just my opinion, but indie stuff has heart and the real spirit of innovation that keeps me invested in our fine hobby.

MrGunn

Hey PDM, thanks for the video. I don't think anyone should be surprised by this move. I believe WizBruhs announced this on either their website or at the "Idiotfluencer Summit" cannot remember which. Additionally, you already prognosticated on this very subject, and once again your twenty sided palantir is amazingly accurate. Keep up the great work! One topic I would like to see you cover in detail are henchmen and hirelings, staples of the OSR but rarely seen today.

MrGunn
>>111871883

@Matthew Shaker I am not so sure, McDonalds and Pizza Hut are still very popular.

Matthew Shaker
>>111871883

I feel like I understand what you mean, but I also think you're comparing Apples to Wrenches.

Jeff Hollis

Good video, and great insights. HOWEVER, it's NOT going to be $10 per month. It's going to be $10 per month, with a ton of micro transactions. Want to use the Player's Handbook? $2 per month. That cool elf mini? $5, flat fee. Oh, wait, you wanted her to have a crossbow? $2 more. Customize her hair color? $3.

RUNEHAMMER

let's talk about it MORE though lol

Chuck Thorin

A couple more thoughts here. VTT should be just that Virtual Table Tops. Dice, Minis, and Maps; and maybe chat. No rules connected to the table. Based on what WOTC attempted to do with OGL, I just can't wait to see what happens when people see the Terms of Service for their VTT/Marketplace/Walled Garden.

Nick Zema

This stickyness tactic worked well for World of Warcraft too. There was a cyclical nature to what some called "WoW Addiction". When I buy a videogame, it's mine. I can keep playing it, or not. But it's mine and I can play whenever. Not with World of Warcraft. With World of Warcraft... You pay $50 for the base game, then for each expansion pack, plus a $15/m subscription fee - not including hats here and there. If you ever STOP subscribing to this game, then you lose access to everything you ever did. You keep playing and paying BECAUSE you have to keep paying to play. Two things are happening at the same time and feeding eachother. 1. You keep paying to play due to the sunk cost of how much time and money you've already put into the game. 2. You play as much as you can to justify the amount of money you're playing the game. If you were a typical player, who started around the beginning and stopped somewhere in the middle of Mists of Pandaria. At a minimum you spent $2,000 playing World of Warcraft. If you're still playing, you're easily over $5,000, just in subscription fees. Very smart for Blizzard. This form of subscription model preys on a persons basic Fear of Missing Out and Fear of Sunk Cost. Maybe it'll work for WotC, we'll see. I'm sticking to an edition that's totally analog. I've been running it for a while. It's called, "MAKE IT UP YOURSELF". And I learned how to do that thanks to Prof. DM.

Nick Zema
>>111881256

Yeah, I'm sure PHB, MM, and DMG will be included at base. But they will definitely come out with a tier system. For the books with the class options many claim are "OP" that'll be a higher sub. Which will be pretty divisive, which is why it will work. People with the more... cheese-strat PC options will pay more, and because of that, likely challenge their DM that because THEY pay for the higher sub, the DM should accept their PCs - even if that PC either is stronger than the DMs personal ability to challenge, or violates the narrative universe they made (I HAD players like this, not anymore, I think they're still looking for a DM, I don't put up with this any more). I have a theory where they will have a "DM's sub" with the DM books, and it'll be more expensive, or just a different price structure. But I just don't see that happening. I'm assuming this idea of "books" will just go away. They will release class options, or new classes. No book needed. And Players who want to play them, will just subscribe to it - or something like that. And then, yes as you said, charge out the butt for $1 cosmetic addons to your mini. Not at first obviously, the mini creator will likely be SUPER robust and completely included, but generic fantasy styled. Then after a year, they'll start incrementally releasing small cosmetic packs, themed for settings. "Here's the Forgotton Realms, Phandelver cosmetic addon, includes Lightbringer, the Mace of Lathander" and so on.

Robert DeLuca

Did you ever notice that your female figure in the blue dress, holding the torch, looks like Lady Gaga!

MrGunn

PDM, looks like the ORC licecne is finally out, surely a topic worthy of a video this July! Sometimes the content writes itself :D

Jay
>>111880388

Looking forward to that one for sure PDM. I don't mind all the RPG buzz news but really miss the stuff I can actually use at my table. An NPC video would really be a breath of fresh air.

Jay
>>111884059

Yep! Ironically they are getting all the attention they want. Even bad press is good press.

Jay
>>111909290

I would be interested in that but think everyone else including some lawyers will cover it. That being stated, I'd rather see something to draw people more toward the games rather than the legal mumbo jumbo.

Timothy J. Mallory

I do think that the claim that VTTs don't support intrigue or mystery type stories is false. You certainly don't need the full feature set of a VTT for those, but if you are playing online for whatever reason, you can still use the VTT for sharing handouts, art, dice rolls, etc. Its still an improvement over playing over zoom or discord or whatever. Playing in person has definite advantages, but I live in Hawai'i and my friends don't :/ So I run games on Fantasy Grounds (because Traveller is my main game, though I do a lot of others as well). I probably only run a full blown combat like once every 5 or 6 sessions, if that often. Am I fully utilizing FGU's technology? Not really. Is it working fine for my game and are we having fun? Hell yes. None of that is disputing that WotC is trying to create a wall garden and crush its competitor's VTTs. Which I think is very bad for the D&D community. But I don't think it means that D&D is going to get more limited than it already is in terms of styles of play. 5e is already better at hack n slash epic questing than other gameplay styles. But focusing on VTTs isn't going to make it *worse* at other styles. IMHO.

Tuska

I give the VTT a few years tops before it implodes. Tech is good, but only at some things and only for certain types of play styles and scenarios.

Jimmy De Ruysscher

It's also the end of homebrew dm rules for DND. Great loss while they weren't always great but they added flavor and uniqueness. Also out

MrGunn
>>111909290

@Jay I hear you and appreciate the sentiment, I am not all that interested in legal double speak either, I just thought it would be easy content for PDM.