Chris Dias owns Dias Ex Machina and created Ultramodern5, the most successful non-fantasy book for 5th Editoins D&D not published by WOTC. We’re now in the final 48 hours of the BackerKit crowdfunding for a new exclusive leather edition of Ultramodern5, a deal that comes with six adventures.
As the crowdfunding campaign is live, I asked Chris whether we had a thought piece for Geek Native readers in which we might mention the future of D&D. It’s timely, too, with the final ORC license now out.
Chris agreed, and his future D&D is simple. It’s yours.
D&D Belongs to You
by Chris Dias of Dias Ex Machina
I posted on several Facebook groups where I told people not to abandon D&D, just abandon Wizards of the Coast; support third-party publishers and their 5e-compatible books. We need you now more than ever. People associate D&D with Wizards, but why is that hate diverted to a game system just because they own the rights to it? I have the same issue with people who hate Star Wars because of Disney; you still have hours of pre-Disney Star Wars, just don’t watch the new stuff.
Wizards did not create D&D, and many people who worked on 3.5, 4th edition, and 5th edition are not at Wizards. This is like hating Beatles music because of your opinions on Michael Jackson.
You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?
Michael Jackson and his estate now own the rights to most Beatles songs. The surviving Beatles, at least their estates, don’t own their songs, so I can easily divorce my opinions between Wizards of the Coast and D&D. The idea of a company owning an entire set of rules is becoming increasingly archaic, and you can’t look at better examples than the board game industry.
Dominion came out and created the first real deck-building game.
There are now hundreds, with many using the same mechanics, creating what could only be described as a genre. Many of these later games would create new standards from which other games would derive their mechanics. Some, like the recent Dune Imperium, are arguably better than the first game that originated the concept. While every board game is different, it does help teach someone if several games share concepts. When I first played Scythe, I found the rules intractable, then learned what an engine builder was, and now learning similar games is easier.
D&D is a trademark that happens to attach itself to a series of rules. With an origin dating back to the early 80s, the current company owns a trademark—they own an IP. They could even take a few extra steps and claim ownership of original monsters like mind flayers and owlbears. They own art and expressions but not rules. The OGL was more a peace offering than anything else; it showed that the creators of D&D wanted to tell us that we were going to be safe in the future to create our content for that trademark despite not being able to name that trademark by name (even though technically we always could).
D&D has a 56% market share on Roll20, and that is a number you can extend to the industry. Yes, they have likely lost some of that, but to those people saying third-party publishers should abandon 5E for Pathfinder second edition… I mean, I’d love to. I love Pathfinder but look at the market share. It’s just not there; thousands of publishers rely on 5e for considerable income. They can’t just walk away from that. These are the ones who will be affected the most; large companies have proprietary in-house systems and established IPs like The Expanse or Blade Runner, and there is a large segment of publishers where this is a part-time gig, meaning they don’t concern themselves over income.
But for the rest, we’re the ones that would be ultimately affected the most. There are no large markets outside of D&D because they are too small. I find it frustrating, to be honest, the number of people who find a survivable solution to write for another system.
I have one book series, Amethyst, published for five different systems. The sales from Savage Worlds, Fate, 13th Age, and Pathfinder combined are five times less than those from Fifth Edition, and when I have to create the same book from multiple systems, it is time-consuming and honestly a nightmare. The aforementioned took four years to adapt two books for five different systems. I would spend more time adapting than writing new content.
Only publishers that don’t rely on game sales for income are comfortable enough to move away from D&D, which is why the push should be to ensure Fifth Edition rules are not wholly owned by one entity but is instead a sandbox everyone can employ. But bothers me that most people associate 5E with WOTC and they respond by moving away from that system altogether. They want to see WOTC hurt by what has occurred this yeat, except many of these third-party publishers will go under as a by-product, accomplishing precisely what Wizards of the Coast may have been attempting, crushing the competition in the third-party market.
I think the best way to stick it to WOTC is to prove that 5e doesn’t belong to them, show that you can play their game without them, don’t use D&D Beyond, and don’t use their upcoming VTT. Use Roll20 and Foundry, and Fantasy Grounds. Don’t purchase their new books; instead, purchase third-party books. Show them that you can play 5e without giving WOTC a dime. They believe you’re under-monetized. Show them that’s true. Show your receipts for the third-party books. Prove their fears by spending your money on books compatible with their system. WOTC, regardless of intent or actions, is detonating a marketplace many rely on. So, if you enjoy D&D, play it. No one’s taking your books.
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