Where Are We One Year After the D&D Summit?

On April 3^rd, 2023, about 30 community members visited the Wizards of the Coast offices for a Creator Summit. Another 100 joined virtually. The event was prompted by the OGL debacle and was promised to be the first of many, with tangible results to come. A year later, what has changed? What remains to be done?

The Briefest of Summaries

I should perhaps state that I am a fan of Wizards and D&D. I am not writing this article to weaken D&D, but rather to strengthen it. Okay, here we go.

In late 2022 and early 2023 it leaked that Wizards was attempting to rescind the Open Gaming License (OGL) used by third parties to create and publish D&D material, despite the OGL being a perpetual non-revocable license vital to the hobby. A strong negative reaction to this was felt across the community and briefly reached beyond the hobby to the general public. While there is no indication of financial impacts (data shows no sudden change, yet shows sudden growth from other factors such as the D&D movie), the blow to WotC’s reputation was severe and in the invested online community, it was and is a big problem.

Reacting to the backlash, Wizards did not revoke the OGL license and instead in late January released the SRD under a Creative Commons license. This ensured that creators would indefinitely be able to publish D&D content.

Further, Wizards created and publicized the April 2023 Creator Summit (which I reviewed extensively) with the primary goal “to listen to our community.” Before the Summit, Wizards created a Community Update page promising “This event is only the start of our renewed conversations with content creators—not a one and done. There are thousands of creators and members of the community we want to talk to.” And, “We will be taking everything we learned from creating and hosting this summit to help inform future community and creator events.”

Is the Summit One and Done?

As you can see from the quote above, Wizards had recognized the value of listening to creators and other community members. A criticism of the first Summit was too little time spent listening and hearing concerns and too much time spent discussing product initiatives. Wizards recognized this in the April 2023 update, and promised next steps.

There have not been any further steps. There have been staff at conventions, but that was true before the OGL debacle. How can it be that a year ago, WotC felt it needed to listen, but a year later seems to no longer be listening? This is hugely disappointing.

To-Do – Listen: Historically, D&D teams at TSR and WotC have at times operated as an ivory tower, sheltering themselves from external and even internal feedback. D&D should find ways to bring in outside ideas and hear the community. It will be stronger for it.

WotC’s Accomplishments

On the Community Update page, Wizards posted an image with a list of accomplishments and goals. This has been updated a few times, most recently in September ‘23. The list of accomplishments includes playtesting the 2024 release, but I don’t find any evidence that the playtest was modified based on the OGL debacle or the Summit. Similarly, they list AI guidelines and recommissioning Glory of the Giants artwork, but this had nothing to do with the Summit or OGL and was a separate misstep. It’s fine for WotC to communicate it on their Community Update page, it just isn’t pertinent to this discussion.

What’s left?

Localized SRD

The 5E SRD5.1 was localized (translated) in French, Italian, German, and Spanish. This is fantastic, though only the barest start to conversations we had at the Summit regarding language and equity. The international market for translated products is not strong, and it isn’t because the SRD wasn’t translated. A localized SRD is a first step that needs to be followed by a viable strategy to grow international markets.

To Do – Localized Pricing: One of the requests I and others have made is to find ways to offer affordable products internationally. Wizards has instead done the opposite, ceasing to sell products in Brazil due to low sales. This is no surprise. In most areas of the world, the price of a single D&D sourcebook or adventure is an unaffordable luxury. D&D Beyond could solve this, providing localized pricing similar to how Steam can offer affordable prices based on a purchaser’s country.

To-Do – Localized Basic Rules: Wizards could also begin to grow foreign language markets by translating the free Basic Rules. The SRD cannot be used to properly play the game, but a translated Basic Rules would allow players in other countries to being to use the D&D Beyond platform and have the means to start playing in their language.

Closed Alpha Playtest for the Virtual Tabletop

The VTT looks amazing and has been available for several closed and even convention playtests. However, the topics at the Summit had to do with equity (the majority of the world doesn’t own a gaming computer and instead plays games on a phone), with language (will the VTT be localized?), whether there would be third-party support, whether art assets would be diverse, whether the D&D Beyond database would link directly to the VTT (hopefully), and whether it would be affordable (especially a concern given the drive for monetization… is that for optional visuals or will the larger experience require many payments?).

While these questions are of interest, it is important to note the VTT wasn’t a primary community concern at the Summit.

Increased Support for D&D in Classrooms and Libraries

Fantastic! Wizards should be recognized for this and other efforts they make to help classrooms and supporting charities. However, this was not related to the OGL or the Summit.

Stepping back, really the only truly strong OGL/Summit accomplishment to date seems to be the localized SRD. For a company of Wizards and Hasbro’s resources, this is not impressive.

WotC’s In Progress List

Interestingly, the list of “In Progress” has changed between March and September. Reviewing previous editions for inclusion in the Creative Commons and Publishing the Internal Content Policy for D&D Products have both moved to the “Upcoming” category. Does this mean they aren’t being worked on?

The only item currently on the list is to update the D&D rules. That’s a product launch, and not in and of itself a community, Summit, or OGL item.

Having nothing in progress may make sense given the company’s likely focus on the 2024 core rules, but it is hugely disappointing. As we will see below, there are some relatively easy wins the company could accomplish.

To-Do – More in Progress: Wizards really should be listening to the community and ensure they make progress on items of interest to the community.

WotC’s Upcoming List

The items WotC plans to provide sometime later?

Ensure 2024 Compatibility with 5E 2014 D&D and SRD

This is a strange item as it is something that should be in progress. But, perhaps the SRD component is what isn’t in progress and that’s okay… if it gets the right level of attention after the release of 2024. Given D&D Beyond now partnering with larger creators such as Ghostfire Gaming and Kobold Press, WotC should want to provide clear guidelines helping creators navigate the changes. For example, if 2024 will change how solo/boss monsters use legendary actions and reactions, and shocking grasp will change to accommodate this, then creators will create better adventures if they understand this.

Specifically to the SRD, the ambiguous wording on the Community Update page begs the question whether WotC will actually update the 5.1 SRD for the 2024 and even previous changes. Will we see the artificer added? Will we see the new versions of spells, monsters, and so on? Or, will this be something else? Wizards’ inability to answer this may still indicate an inability to fundamentally understand how the OGL has tremendously benefited them during the 3E and 5E eras.

To-Do – 2024 SRD: Wizards should provide an actual updated 2024 SRD, including a guide for creators to update to new language and approaches.

To-Do – 5E Subsystems in the SRD: It would also be to WotC’s benefit to include in the SRD 5E systems that creators can use, creating more interest in WotC products. These include:

• Downtime and Trap updates in Xanathar’s
• Patron system in Tasha’s
• Chase system in the DMG
• Siege Equipment in the DMG
• Epic Boons and alternate rewards in the DMG
• Experience Point systems (milestone, story advancement) in the DMG
• Mythic Actions in Theros
• Revised encounter building and magic item award systems in Xanathar’s
• Sidekicks in Tasha’s
• Curses in Van Richten’s
• And, of course the 2024 version of all of the above

Even just one example of each (the way SRD 5.1 provides one example feat) would provide a template creators could use.

Publish the WotC Internal Content Policy for D&D Products

The topic of WotC’s responsibility to the community and creators was very important to Summit attendees. Wizards says they have an internal policy now… so why can’t they share it?

I was able to break down recent inclusivity and sensitivity changes and shared them in this video. Surely Wizards could do this much more easily? Creators and the community will benefit from understanding WotC’s approach. Absolutely, there will be criticism (I had plenty for my post and video). But if I can handle the heat, WotC surely can for the benefit of the hobby.

To-Do – Share the Policy: It’s long overdue.

Related to this topic, I am concerned with the types of typos and logical mistakes I am seeing in WotC products. For example, repeated copy-paste “one or more of following traits of your choice” errors in Planescape’s monster book. Or, in Phandelver and Below, room S2 where the boxed text no longer matches what is in the room. Look, I’m far from perfect. But we expect industry-leading products from WotC. These and other errors suggest changes being made to products after the final editorial pass. It is possible this indicates changes after inclusivity review as well – exactly the kind of process problems that caused the Hadozee incident and why Wizards instituted an internal inclusivity process in the first place.

Review Previous SRD Editions for Inclusion in Creative Commons

This isn’t hugely important to me, but it would be useful to creators and was promised repeatedly by WotC. The to-do, as described by Wizards, is to review previous SRDs for the presence of brand IP. That should take a few weeks, not over a year.

To-Do – Previous Editions SRDs: If these are going to be released, get this item done. Not doing so seems like a breach of trust.

What Isn’t On the List, But Should Be

To-Do – Another Summit or Other Ways to Listen: I want to repeat this for emphasis. The summit was a good idea. Listening is hard, but the best WotC is one that bears the painful process of listening and devotes time to hearing and acting upon community feedback.

To-Do – Playtests that Matter: We are running out of time, but when it comes to 5E’s rough spots, DMs agree on monster design and encounter balance as big issues. Why won’t WotC let us playtest these? At the very least, a closed playtest for folks already providing closed playtesting would be wise. Will we see other DMG revisions? Has playtesting been quietly closed after we were told how important it was?

To-Do – Migrate D&D Web Site History, Errata, Communications: D&D Beyond is becoming the hub for D&D, but we have articles on the old D&D site that should be migrated over. This includes items of historical note, such as the studio blog series. D&D Beyond’s web site should have easy-to-find menu items for product errata (still on the old site) and Organized Play (there is a blog article on DDB but no menu item). There should be a menu item to see communications from the D&D studio (Imaginative Play team) and perhaps also communications from Immersive Play (VTT) and Digital Play Services (D&D Beyond).

To-Do – Organized Play is Community: The organized play community was not represented at the Summit. Wizards has let organized play lie fallow, and it is time to reenergize home, store, and other forms of organized play. These communities can provide vital growth for D&D with proper attention. The number of players looking for this is incalculably large.

To-Do – Freelancer and Company Feedback: Those closest to Wizards often feel they can’t speak plainly. I do it because D&D means so much to me. Wizards should create a culture where partners and freelancers can speak directly to WotC with feedback and it will be heard. (There is a way for Summit attendees to communicate. The community leads are great, but when they pass on our questions, often no response comes back to us.)

To-Do – Localize and Promote Basic Rules: WotC seems to hide the fact that the Basic Rules exist, but this is a huge asset to D&D. Bring people in with the Basic Rules. Promote them for school clubs and organized play, and translate them for global use. The new-player onboarding web pages don’t mention the Basic Rules. The Basic Rules are an asset, not a liability, especially internationally. See my earlier notes on localization and global price equity.

To-Do – Digital Offerings in PDF: When an offering is in paper and digital, it will never be lost. When it is only digital, and only offered via a site, it can be lost. We saw Dragon+ articles vanish. There will come a day when D&D Beyond is no longer active, just as today there is no DDI (the 4E version of D&D Beyond). Digital-only offerings should be provided in pdf so that they are preserved historically and for the persons paying for them. This also means WotC can sell them in the future (just as it sells 4E DDI pdfs today). It also means DMs and players can print a formatted version for use at the table. Please, please, please, provide a pdf version of all digital-only D&D Beyond content. I suspect digital offerings are also best as free products that draw people to the actual product, instead of preorder-only offerings, but what do I know. (Compare the success of Death House as a popular on-ramp to Ravenloft with the far lower buzz around the preorder-only Vecna pdf.)

To-Do – Parity for D&D Beyond Mobile and Web: These are two separate solutions, with the mobile app providing different and often better functionality. For example, on mobile I can enter a product and search just that product, finding what I need. On the web, I can only search the entire database. The features on both should be the same, providing the best of what is currently on each.

To-Do – Control Campaign Sources on DDB: Currently, a DM can decide what content to share on D&D Beyond with players. However, if the player owns content, the DM can’t stop or even indicate to the player not to use it during character creation. DMs should be able to limit content, especially as all these partner content options show up. I might not want a warforged in my Humblewood campaign, or a Corvum crow-person in my Eberron campaign, and I should as DM be able to impose that. DMs also can’t limit what they share – if they share an adventure so the players can use the player content, they can also see the adventure. Another issue on DDB is that the web page’s Sources menu shows only the highest-selling and new products. A better menu system is needed, including the ability to customize it. If I want to easily access Acquisitions Incorporated, let me!

To-Do – Creator On-Ramp: The D&D Team still reminisces about getting their start in Dragon and Dungeon magazines, but such a path no longer exists. While the DMsGuild was touted as a way to draw attention, it took years for the highest-selling creator to be recognized and the number two never was. Other creators were brought in through word of mouth. WotC should consider a new on-ramp to identify and train talent.

To-Do – Marketplace Creators: At the Summit it was proudly proclaimed that there would be a marketplace for creators. I’m not sure that’s a great idea (the DMsGuild is flooded with low-quality content and it is very hard to earn enough to cover production costs), but it would be good to understand whether the D&D Beyond marketplace will be by invitation only or eventually allow any creator. Similarly, whether the VTT will allow third parties and how. Personally, I would keep the number of third-parties very small. I want WotC products to shine and I’m not overly concerned about walled gardens when D&D is already such an incredibly dominant force in the hobby. However, this is a huge issue for the community and my perspective isn’t typical. If there will be a marketplace, it is important that it not be exclusive and that it have capabilities in place to make it healthier for creators than the DMsGuild. The more content allowed, the more that D&D Beyond (or the VTT) will need robust tools for searching and campaign filtering.

What do you think should be on the To-Do list? If there were to be another summit, what would you want it to cover? Do you think there will be progress on the above topics a year from now? Let me know in the comments.