D&D (2024) Deborah Ann Woll and Matt Mercer consulted on the 2024 DMG.

WotC consulted with celebrities including True Blood's Deborah Ann Woll and Critical Role's Matt Mercer when revising the upcoming 2024 edition of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Apparently another (unnamed) consultant provided advice on running game for kids.

That's it; that's the news.

 

[Staffan]

Have you read it? Trust me, Gygax was not known for his ability to write things in a clear manner back then.

I've read Dangerous Journeys. He did not improve much with age in that regard.

The ideological divide of Rulings vs. Rules would tear this country apart, but be humorous to watch.

Common law vs civil law.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

I've never watched Deborah Ann Woll. Is she fun to watch run a game?

 

[Reynard]

I've never watched Deborah Ann Woll. Is she fun to watch run a game?

YES!

 

[O-Castitatis-Lilium]

DnD has always been about both player and DM imagination, if there wasn't something on the topic in the rules book, it was encouraged to make a choice and go with it; that how home rules are born. More and more WoTC is trying to make rules for everything and account for every single situation, which in turn is taking away the imagination and creativity from both the DM and Player, which in my opinion is making the game worse overall. I see more and more people going to places like reddit to ask other what to do when the book doesn't tell them distinctly what to do, and it's really disheartening that people have lost the ability to be creative and imaginative while playing this game. This game has slowly taught people "Learned Helplessness" and it's going to eventually come back to bite them in the ass; because you can't account for every single situation. Now with having two celebrity DMs offering guidance or input on the new book, it's only going to make things worse, because these two celebrities are well liked not only because of how they play the game and who they play the games with, but because they are WAY more creative with the game these days than most people playing it.

For anyone wondering, "Learned Helplessness" in the VERY basic sense, is the term used to anyone that has learned that any small minor inconvenience or lack of guidance sends them into a state of depression and lack of drive. In the case of players:

They run into a situation where the DMG or PHB doesn't tell them exactly what to do -> They feel they have lost control of the game via the lack of that guidance -> They decide to do nothing despite being given the option to make it up

or

They run into a situation where the DMG or PHB doesn't tell them exactly what to do -> they make a ruling that the party gives them any slight negative reaction, giving them the notion they are losing control of their game -> They decide to backtrack on it and then decide to either do whatever one of the players says or decide to ask someone else what to do despite being the option to either stick with their choice or make something else up.

With WoTC asking these two to add any input into this game is only going to lead to more issue, on top of the adding for more grey areas they can't really control or truly account for.

 

[Reynard]

DnD has always been about both player and DM imagination, if there wasn't something on the topic in the rules book, it was encouraged to make a choice and go with it; that how home rules are born. More and more WoTC is trying to make rules for everything and account for every single situation, which in turn is taking away the imagination and creativity from both the DM and Player, which in my opinion is making the game worse overall.

Are they? I don't see it.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

DnD has always been about both player and DM imagination, if there wasn't something on the topic in the rules book, it was encouraged to make a choice and go with it; that how home rules are born. More and more WoTC is trying to make rules for everything and account for every single situation, which in turn is taking away the imagination and creativity from both the DM and Player, which in my opinion is making the game worse overall. I see more and more people going to places like reddit to ask other what to do when the book doesn't tell them distinctly what to do, and it's really disheartening that people have lost the ability to be creative and imaginative while playing this game. This game has slowly taught people "Learned Helplessness" and it's going to eventually come back to bite them in the ass; because you can't account for every single situation. Now with having two celebrity DMs offering guidance or input on the new book, it's only going to make things worse, because these two celebrities are well liked not only because of how they play the game and who they play the games with, but because they are WAY more creative with the game these days than most people playing it.

For anyone wondering, "Learned Helplessness" in the VERY basic sense, is the term used to anyone that has learned that any small minor inconvenience or lack of guidance sends them into a state of depression and lack of drive. In the case of players:

They run into a situation where the DMG or PHB doesn't tell them exactly what to do -> They feel they have lost control of the game via the lack of that guidance -> They decide to do nothing despite being given the option to make it up

or

They run into a situation where the DMG or PHB doesn't tell them exactly what to do -> they make a ruling that the party gives them any slight negative reaction, giving them the notion they are losing control of their game -> They decide to backtrack on it and then decide to either do whatever one of the players says or decide to ask someone else what to do despite being the option to either stick with their choice or make something else up.

With WoTC asking these two to add any input into this game is only going to lead to more issue, on top of the adding for more grey areas they can't really control or truly account for.

I believe that this is utter tosh. It is possible that this "Leaned Helplessness" is worse now than in the past, but I assure you it was always a thing. A rule for everything was pretty much a driving force in 3.x
What specific things have WoTC done to promote this phenomenon?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It isn't about genre elements or setting details, it is about what actual gameplay they are focusing on. For example, DAW's game are usual combat lite and investigation heavy. D&D isn't particularly well suited to that.

Everything I said applies to gameplay, as well.

If I want to run a whole “campaign” that is investigation heavy and combat light, and every PC will be dialed in to that purpose, that is different from playing a heroic adventure game that investigation challenges as a major element, or one where some PCs are all about investigation while others aren’t, or where some adventures/story arcs/whatever are investigations and some aren’t, etc.

IME, a lot of times it’s people watch int games that involve a lot of different types of gameplay, and saying that a game that hard focuses on one type would be better for that campaign.

 

[Reynard]

Everything I said applies to gameplay, as well.

If I want to run a whole “campaign” that is investigation heavy and combat light, and every PC will be dialed in to that purpose, that is different from playing a heroic adventure game that investigation challenges as a major element, or one where some PCs are all about investigation while others aren’t, or where some adventures/story arcs/whatever are investigations and some aren’t, etc.

IME, a lot of times it’s people watch int games that involve a lot of different types of gameplay, and saying that a game that hard focuses on one type would be better for that campaign.

This post makes literally no sense in regards to the subject. Do you or do you not pick a ruleset that better facilitates the kind of game you want to run? Why or why not?

 

[Fifth Element]

See it as, I don't want that streamer mentality in my core D&D.

That's a pretty myopic opinion. It's not your D&D.

 

[Fifth Element]

Which in a way is kind of sad. I’d rather they consult people like Ed Greenwood and Margaret Weis over “streamer DM”.

Surely they've been consulted enough in the last 30 years? New eyes and new voices should be encouraged.