OG Dungeons & Dragons is NEVER Coming Back...

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: all right so wizards of the coast has introduced a new dungeons and dragons community advisory group and these people are going to help steer the ship for dungeons and dragons going forward and i suspect a lot of these people maybe not these people in particular but a lot of like-minded individuals have been steering the ship right into an iceberg for the last couple of years and i was kind of secretly holding out hope that dnd would go back to its roots we have the new boss and he's reaching out to the guy gaxes or luke gax at least and reaching out to some of the og tsr crew trying to get them involved in some capacity but it does look like the future of dnd going forward will probably have a lot of pronouns in it and that's not going to make some old school gamers happy and i'm going to be honest guys at this point if you're unhappy with the activism why are you still playing dungeons and dragons it's i don't think it's ever going to go back to what it was and honestly the old books still work that's the great thing about books they don't take them offline they still work and i think a lot of people are just going to go back to playing older editions doing homebrew going to other systems but um i think in the the bigger context the larger context of things what has surprised me so much about dungeons and dragons is not only how much it's changed from you know its roots but the lengths to which uh activists have kind of gotten in and trying to change try to change the whole tabletop scene through dnd through magic it's very weird to see um the last last couple years have been just shocking to me to see hasbro you know in an official capacity throw gary gygax and a bunch of guys who worked on the original version of dungeons dragons who created the game kind of throw them under the bus in the official capacity we've seen uh thaco the clown we've seen all this stuff poking fun at old school gamers because they don't want you back let's be real i just did a video about stargate and the corporate machinations behind changes to franchises long-standing franchises is they realize that the old men are eventually going to die and they need new blood but they feel like it's a zero-sum game like no pun intended but like we you know we have to get rid of the old guys to to bring in the new blood because those two groups can't coexist and there is some truth to that it's very hard to coexist with uh people who are diametrically opposed to everything that you liked about a particular franchise or game and when you've got the media out there especially uh you know kicking up uh hostility uh between these groups of people and you've got some people that are very very uh far gone i think in their activist mindset that literally are celebrating death and wanting people you know out of their space that voted a certain way or whatever it's really hard for everybody to get along right i mean i used to think the games and comics and and all this stuff was just like nerd stuff we did in our spare time but people were bringing their real lives to the gaming table they're bringing their real lives to the comic shop um everything has become so damn politicized so anytime a company announces something like this and they put i'm gonna say they put the pronouns right in people's bios in the announcement it's gonna it's gonna rub people the wrong way i'm just saying just hasbro it's gonna rub people the wrong way and uh you are making a statement even without making a statement necessarily uh because there are certain things that are those are activist dog whistles but no it's seriously like if they're really serious about trying to win back uh old school dnd fans i don't think this advisory council based on what i've seen is gonna make anybody older than 30 feel good about where tons of dragons is going and that might be the point that very well may be the point and i would say good luck with all that because what's going to happen is they're going to pivot to this new audience this new audience isn't going to buy shit as we've seen from the past you know the the most recent incarnation of dnd they're going to try to push this audience into a subscription model online they're going to try to force this audience to like ai artwork and before you say well they're not going to do it at wizards hasbro's all over ai they just made an announcement the other day that they're going to do ai transformer stuff they're all about the ai so this is all lip service baby they're trying to keep i think the grognards happy on one side by you know bringing in these tsr member berries and then the other side they're trying to keep the critical role crew happy they want to have their cake and eat it too and it might turn out that nobody's going to eat the cake right the cake's going to wind up at the clearance bin all smashed up and bags ripped open and it's going to be so moldy the rats won't even eat it just saying like you guys need to be very very careful you're at a crossroads right now hasbro you have a chance to make good on things you got to be very very careful not that you care what i think anyway let's talk about this before you get into it any further please subscribe for more pop culture news views and rants guys go out to more more.clownfishtv.com that's more clownfishtv.com for more clownfish tv in fact geeky has a very spicy video uh spanking the ceo of youtube coming up today so i'm going to get that posted here later today so check it out on more.clownfishtv.com videos that we do not post on youtube uh check us out on spotify uh the itunes version of clownfish tv the audio version of clownfish tv can also be found on iheartradio wherever you listen to podcasts there's an audio version that way you won't miss any episodes now there is about days delay we got a guy that posts them for us but um most of what we put on youtube will wind up in audio form over there as well so thank you very much for that uh let's talk about this i got to go out to nerd cognito's tweet uh nerd cognito says wizards of the coast cave to the woke mob by this is his opinion just putting it out there wizards of the coast cave to the woke mob by forming a dnd community advisory group of dei activists and sensitivity readers to challenge their designs and force ideas after years of flops outsiders steer the ship and call the shots watsi classic gaming will take your castaways that's just it um the grognards have moved on or they never moved on they never got into 5.5 e uh oc character larping simulator 5000 they don't give a shit they're playing the old school stuff uh nerd cognito says statement from the schlock advisory committee put on your hip waders before you read this okay okay as the first dnd advisory group we wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves as a diverse group of professionals from across the rpg industry long-time players of the game and members of the community we care deeply about the future of dnd and tabletop gaming we all join this panel with both a sense of responsibility and a fair share of skepticism we are here to offer honest independent feedback to wizards of the coast ask hard questions and raise concerns directly we share our perspective but what they choose to act on is ultimately up to them so they can give their opinions doesn't mean that watsi is going to listen i mean to be fair it's just this kind of reminds me of what disney did with influencers and that's what these people are they're they're influencers they listen to them somewhat they'll ask them questions what would you like to see whatever it doesn't mean they're going to do it since we began wizards of the coast has actively listened and engaged in good faith discussions with us which has created a productive exchange of ideas we're grateful to be part of this community and look forward to continuing the work the conversations ahead i thought the dnd influencers hated watsi right now because of the uh virtual tabletop the way that that influencer shindig a couple of years ago was handled um but here's here's where it's really rubbing people the wrong way well uh number one it is june so we've got the rainbow dnd logo so people are gonna point that out i know but we're gonna talk about the people involved in what they do and again this is i think broadcasting this in the way that you're you're broadcasting it you're basically saying hey hey progressive people who are afraid we're going to go back to old school dnd no we've got advisors who are going to keep us from doing that and also let's reach out to the old tsr people so we can get the grognards and the wokesters all together but they're not going to play at the same table dan there's a lot of damage done i'm just saying good luck to you sir because i do not envy your position at all this come from dnd beyond introducing the dnd community advisory group uh by dan dnd dan uh first thank you thousands of you took the time to share honest feedback in our winter community survey we're reading it we're acting on it we're going to keep doing this to regularly check our course three times or three themes came through consistently trust game quality honoring the legacy while strengthening what's next and value especially for dnd beyond subscribers yeah why should i subscribe to dnd beyond we're very excited about our 2026 roadmap and a seasonal model for you uh that i'm not sold out like i don't i don't care one way or the other i'm gonna be honest i'm not playing current year watsy dnd i don't care but it is interesting again when you look at everything through a corporate lens and you realize they're just doing it because that works for magic and they're like printing money with magic so they're gonna do it here too but here's the thing here's here's the group they said last summer i shared we were forming an annually rotating dnd community okay so it is rotating an annually rotating dnd community advisory group with a simple goal being uh bring trusted community leaders into the room early so we can help stress test decisions surface risks and make better calls before things are final that actually i do agree with it the problem is at this point in time it feels to me feels that the only people playing modern dnd are they're part of that community are mostly on the left younger left-wing people these are people that actively hate the grog nerds actively hate the legacy of gary gygax again not everybody but it does seem to be overwhelmingly uh progressive left-wing activist type people so you're gonna get a very skewed version but the thing is i think i think dnd has already kind of yeah let's see again if we're gonna get into the culture war thing uh it got see every time i do that i gotta use a voice changer so people know i'm super serious about all this nerd shit that's how you tell them i'm super serious about disney princesses yeah that's how you get them to believe you you know can't sound can't sound like a soy boy i have to sound like a serious culture warrior um yeah so i think i think if you're gonna frame it that way i think the the battle for dnd has already been lost i think watsi's lost i think it's and honestly at the end of the day they're gonna piss these people off anyway like i'm saying the ai stuff is gonna send these people people packing absolutely so yeah they said it's a changing group uh i will give you this artwork is better this is better than what we saw before we had like whatever it was the steven universe looking pride parade uh in the realms or whatever but here this is what's gonna this is what's gonna piss people off or what they're gonna zero in on regardless of intention uh david christ he him rumored to be part of frost giant having a wicked pants energy uh donna ricci she her owner of geeky teas and games jennifer kretschmer she they jennifer is an award-winning game designer author and actual play performer television actor producer and disability consultant there are okay so this is one thing that stuck out to me and this is where i mean normally i'd be like pronouns whatever it's not that big of a deal whatever they're just trying to be uh current year and not offend anybody there are a lot of consultants a lot of diversity consultants a lot of yes um so it's basically like from where i'm sitting again this is an outsider looking in from where i'm sitting i'm like oh this is like sweet baby ink all over again these people are gonna help steer the direction of dnd oh boy again not that i care i talk about it because i i'm just shocked at how weird everything has gotten in the tabletop space when it should just be about games but it's all gotten weirdly political um and i'm not playing current year dnd so i don't really give a shit but you know i i'm saying as somebody who looks at this stuff and can tell you what a lot of fans are probably thinking their first impression is going to be pronouns and activists at dnd and they're okay bait and switch you just you teased all these tsr people and now you're bringing in the pronouns and the activists and i'm out again and they might not care i'm gonna be honest they might not care they might not want you 52 year old grognard they might not care there's a very good chance they don't they they might want the 32 year old hipster to play dnd you know if i i don't know i mean we just did a video the other day i have to post it i haven't posted it yet but talking about how new york city hipsters are paying three thousand dollars a year for the privilege of playing chess and backgammon in new york city in private clubs that might be the audience they're looking for they might not care about you and your old your old ass friends listening to your iron maiden in your you know in your basement or whatever they don't give a shit they don't give a shit about you anymore you're old man you're old you're almost retirement age they don't care about you um yeah so this is a a disability consultant and the creator of the accessibility and gaming resource guide okay if it's just a couple but there's like four or five consultants in here kelly lynn d'angelo um kelly is a tusca war writer and veteran online dungeon master okay uh vox machina amazon uh kelly mclaughlin kelly is a co-host of dungeon dudes a youtube content creator okay michael shea he him writes for sly flourish hosts the lazy rpg talk show um monnie martin he him monnie martin is the creator of dungeon dudes again we have more co-creator of dungeons so the dungeon dudes on there so they are getting youtubers in there okay so here is uh now nala woo they them uh jay is a proud multiple marginalized freelance art director layout designer sensitivity cultural consultant an award-winning illustrator and actor working full-time in tabletop rpgs people are people are going to make assumptions i i'm nala may be very nice jay i'm sorry jay may be very nice i'm just saying given given the state of things right now people are gonna look at this and be like nope uh scott board he him he owns silver dragon games arizona's best dnd store um a community driven game store intentionally designed to create a welcoming space for women and new players uh tense uh ted zikora nerd immersion um teo sabadia he him colombian american advocate for health a healthier tabletop industry what does that mean uh zach clay he him zach is a professional dungeon master from san francisco he coordinates youth dnd programs mentoring the next generation of ttrpg storytellers people can be like sam francisco well i grew up outside san francisco and neurotic is actually from san francisco so that doesn't necessarily mean anything it was a nice town it was a real nice town when i was growing up and i was just like full of shit it's like it's crazy um but yeah i used to i used to uh bounce back and forth between the east coast and the west coast and san francisco was uh beautiful it really was uh very sad very sad um so i don't know guys i i would say good luck with all that i think this might not have been i get i get what they're trying to do but i think they're trying to have their cake and eat it too and uh i don't think this is gonna go the way they think it's gonna go plus you're gonna have a bunch of people they're gonna try to dictate the terms and these are the same kinds of people that probably tried to uh you know throw watsi under the bus for any whiff of ai and that's coming i mean everybody's like they're not gonna do it they said they weren't gonna do it i'm like they said like three or four times they weren't gonna do it they still did it they're absolutely gonna do it you're so naive Anyway, I'm going to wrap it up. 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