Yes, it has.... AND 5e 2024, AS WELL! 

I've now played the DDB VTT and, I gotta say, you're right. Modding BG3 is probably going to give a better experience. If Larian added a Neverwinter Nights-esque expansion that allowed for DMing and servers, etc, there would be no contest.

Im a bg3 modder (Creator of Animist Sorcerer, Fighter Rework, Tashas BM Manuevers, and soon to be psi warrior and rogue rework). Its coming, the desire is 1000% there, but its not going to be here any time in the forseeable future, at least until very robust mod tools are given. Right now we're still modding using text editors and wrestling with odd arbitrary script. Tools are slowly being developed though (like the script extender and modders mutlitool etc.) that will probably exponentially grow the intensity of the mods. As more and more mods get made, mod makers have more and more references to use as a template. Id say we're maybe 2% of the way there so far, but itll get there provided larian gives great modding tools

BG3 will teach players that dropping heavy things from up high works well IF it hits. One of the biggest issues with any game or VTT is that players are either not encouraged to think outside the box or are simply not allowed to. Social interactions are especially vulnerable to this.

This reminds me of an anecdote. Players were facing a Dragon that breathed sodium, the DM thought it’d be challenging as there would be no resistance from it. One of the players was a chemist. He said he’d hold his action waiting for the dragon to start his breath weapon attack to… cast create water. The DM didn’t quite get it at first, then he was pointed at looking what sodium does when put in contact with water. BooM. Some players are just terrifying

A quick clarification for 4:35 - Wizards of the Coast funded the movie, but didn't put a cent into BG3's development. Larian apparently paid for the license and then funded BG3 themselves as a private company (which is quite the feat). Acknowledging Baron didn't actually say WotC funded BG3 - but it's easy to mishear in this vid, and a misconception that has been thrown around the internet a bunch.

Fun fact: all of Renegade's Hasbro RPGs use the same engine. So you can have a crossover event that involves Joes and Ponies taking on the Decepticons and Rita Repulsa.

Two of my players play BG3, and they are already showing better understanding of the rules. You're right about BG3 improving player knowledge. That's an interesting point about Renegade Studios. But if any of those games become lucrative, Hasbro won't renew the license and can bring the game in-house by releasing a new edition via WotC. Matt Mercer used Original Sin 2 to run D&D as a promo for Larian. After that, a lot of people said they we're going to run D&D that way. How many actually did? I think all this merely creates options. I'm sure some people will use BG3 mods to play D&D. Some will use the WotC VTT. Some may even use the new DnDBeyond MAPS. And others will continue with Owlbear or AboveVTT or whatever they're already using. I think the player base is broad enough... there's no One-VTT-to-Rule-Them-All.

Not all the rules in Baldur's Gate 3 are the same as in 5th edition. We're technically going to get a bunch of people who know the rules possibly more deeply but not without some confusion and disappointment.

For me, Baldur's Gate 3 is the definitive D&D experience adapted to a video-game, and i've been playing RPGs both tabletop and video games for more than 2 decades. Seldom i've felt empty after playing a game and that happened after i finished BG3, I wanted more and more and more, that's how good it was!

I would love it if bg3 turned into a VTT through mods, I’ve always wanted something like that since Neverwinter Nights, but even NWN, a game made specifically to let people DM their groups, didn’t get that kind of lasting traction. I’m still not convinced a BG3 DMing mod will take off. I hope I’m wrong, but typically systems that do 3D VTT style things take a ton of work and time to learn and use.

Having followed Hasbro and WotC for the last several years (and also being a Magic: the Gathering player), I think you have one part of the analysis exactly backwards: it is not WotC itself that is making these bad choices for D&D (and MtG), it's Hasbro. WotC was quite successful and had a good relationship with it's fandom for a number of years. Then Hasbro started taking a greater interest (because WotC was making money while the rest of the company was not); Hasbro started making changes at WotC, emphasising monetization over product quality and customer satisfaction. MtG was hit first (and hardest), but there has definitely been a decline of quality in D&D as well; as far as I can tell, this has been _entirely_ due to increased Hasbro involvement and attention (including taking WotC from being a subsidiary and instead making them a division of Hasbro itself, putting them more fully under Hasbro's control). Virtually every questionable monetization decision has been (as far as I can tell from my position as an outside observer) a decision pushed on WotC by Hasbro, and their desire to use WotC profits to keep failing divisions of the company afloat. As I understand it, the current CEO of WotC (and her ruthless monetization mindset) were choices _Hasbro_ made, not WotC itself. Now, I don't want to suggest WotC is this angelic organization that can do no wrong; they certainly made their share of mistakes and just generally poor decisions; but, most of the terrible monetization choices have come from Hasbro.

Solasta is also worth a look for players who don't mind the indie implementation of the core D&D rules - they have a campaign builder and actually made no real changes to the ruleset like BG3 did. It also handles flying much better than BG3 and I think now you can go as high as level 14. It's not a triple-A experience, but it's an excellent system.

If I was making decisions at Wotc, I think I would try to create an ecosystem and marketplace of new BG3 adventures in co-operation with Larian. They could easily sell official adventures like Waterdeep dragon heist and Curse of Strahd. But they could also benefit from other people making modules: host free modules for free, but allow people to create and sell their own adventures there, taking some percentage cut from the profit. While dm mod would be awesome, I think a well integrated map and adventure creator tool could be more popular and offer easier paths to monetization. User made content would keep the community and platform active, but the official content could still do well because of higher interactivity and more professional voice acting and writing.

As far as video games as training aids go, I learned to play D&D 3.x very easily because I started playing Neverwinter Nights (PC game) in 2002. Neverwinter Nights was my gateway into D&D and I bought the 3e Forgotten Realms Setting and D&D 3.5e books as my first D&D books after I had been playing Neverwinter Nights for awhile. So speaking as someone who came to TTRPG after learning the mechanics in video games first, video games can serve as an excellent way to learn the system. They can't get it 100% correct, but they'll bring a player close to system mastery a lot faster than just starting from scratch with the books.

There's an influx of new players in the official D&D Discord server who arrived via BG3. One thing I noticed that is they have a mindset of the 5E rules based on BG3, which is heavily homebrewed compared to the 5E SRD. One person thought rogues in 5E have two Bonus Actions because apparently it's a thing in BG3.

Hasbro D&D has no impact on how I play Fantasy Ttrpg but it's entertaining to follow the ebbs and flows!

I am wondering how much of the game's environment is engine and how much is game design. Like, if you don't need to write code to determine cover and vision lines in specific places, BG3 map maker could be the best DnD thing ever

Turning BG3 into a VTT will take a lot more work than just releasing modding tools. Creating the entire DM side of things is a lot of work. It would probably be a better VTT than what Wizards are cooking, but I would not hold my breath for it

Before BG3 I basically had no hope of ever doing Tier 3 or 4 play. Because it's just too complex. But thanks to BG3 it's now realistic. Because all the candidates have hundreds of hours in BG3. and therefore are very familiar with everything up to including the entirety of tier 2. With the addition for wizards: "Oh yeah, in the table top variant you can stay mid air and shoot fireballs. You don't have to land. You only risk to fall to the ground if your concentration is broken." And they won't even ask what concentration is or what happens when they fall!

I think Baldur’s Gate 3 is different enough from 5e (mage hand has hit points and can shove, rangers are completely different, spells are reworked, rests work differently, etc.) that I think changing to the tabletop game will be a learning process regardless of whether it’s OneD&D or not.

I’m not 100% sure BG3 taking off is a “checkmate” for WotC - it’s a win and a money maker for them.

Yes. When I first played Baldur's Gate 3 my impression was that it really feels like DnD, just in a form of a computer game. And that it really looks like the announced VTT would/should look like.

As a longtime DM and Baldur’s Gate 3 lover I thought I’d chime in. I’ve also used most major VTTs out there extensively: Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, and finally, happily settled on Foundry, which is vastly superior to anything else IMO. Even if Larian released the modding infrastructure necessary to run D&D games in BG3, there are a few things that make it very impractical. 1. No native module import support. Many VTTs have importing capabilities that make world set up time simpler and MUCH less time consuming. Building a campaign without those tools is an insane amount of work. For instance, Foundry allowed me to import the entirety of Curse of Strahd - maps, tokens, walls, lighting, all text, etc, - with only a few clicks. Now I just read the adventure and run it. Done. 2. No community sharing of maps. Many VTTs have online resources, or even Patreon creators, providing maps for just about any scenario you can think of. I have over 200 gigs of these maps personally. The thought of hand building a map in BG3 for every single encounter is daunting to say the least. 3. The nature of a BG3 VTT would be such that you are limited to the assets that are in the game. Want to run a setting or a creature that doesn’t exist in BG3? You just can’t. I also own well into the 1000s of tokens and thats not a flex, it’s to illustrate the gap between the needs of a DM vs what’s available in BG3. 4. The ability to even run games effectively in BG3 is likely years away. 5. Most players and DMs I know have little to no interest in WotC’s VTT to begin with, regardless of BG3. The flexibility and pool of resources available in other VTTs wins out, 3D and special effects notwithstanding. (And if you really want to run 3D then Foundry + Ripper93 mods + BaileyWiki assets works beautifully, spell effects included)

We’re already getting 1st time players coming in to play because of BG3. They’re even easier to teach how to play. Their pick up of what needs to be done on turns are really quick. And really, you find that they only need more experienced players or the DM to confirm what they instinctively know to do. You only need to tell about some of the mechanical differences. Also when they’re not worried about the mechanics so much they RP more and to me that’s what takes more getting use to. One guy in our game today just brought in a Shadar Kai soul knife rogue at Level 12 and ran with it with almost zero hand holding needed. And he was filling for some one, it was only his second game(he played a one shot before). So I think I tend to agree. We don’t need no VTT. If people wanna play in a VTT, just play BG3. If they want to play D&D on a TT, they’ll easily transition in to TT they don’t need anything in between.

My guess is BG3 won't ever get the mod tools to the level of DOS2. And the reason is likely non-compete style agreements we aren't privy to. This isn't to say the community couldn't try to make this, but it would be a huge endeavour that will take much longer for the community.

Baldurs gate really through me for a loop I'm used to throwing 'throwables' so when I learned you could throw a bottle of grease or a bottle of water on an enemy it kinda blew my mind. Untill I was able to grasp the creativity of D&D I had a real hard time on my first playthrough.

The magic of this hobby is friends at the table. But the competition for the best alternative is now happening

I came to this conclusion after about an hour of my first session in BG3. In fact, I was already to the point of wanting a BG3-type game for half a dozen other pen/paper TTRPGs like the Savage Worlds, Pathfinder, Mechwarrior, etc systems. WOTC must have had about a week of extremely low morale among their owen VTT dev team.

Hi, Scrubby indie but actual UE5 dev. This was a damn good watch. There are some misunderstandings surrounding everything in the VTT not being animated and or polished. Regardless of how the VTT turns out. It hasn't even been a year. It's literally physically impossible for everything to be polished and animated. I run into similar misunderstandings almost daily. I'm burnt out on all the misinformation around game development. It frankly sucks the fun out of talking about games. As such I avoid videos like this. But this is a calm, rational take, that I can't do anything but respect. Thanks for taking time to put this together. Take care and have a good one

I think you vastly overstimate the difference between just using DnDBeyond and a VTT for having hidden maths, and how much BG3 teaches you the rules. As to different people turning up to the table with different rules 1) that'll almost certainly be cleared up when it releases, 2) having had a non-tashas ranger at the table, while they were weaker than they could've been it didn't ultimately create any gameplay problems

I usually host games just for new players. Since BG3 launch the number of requests for games quadrupled. Last month I had 12 tables only for new players. BG3 is a big win for DnD.

Is there a big demand to game-ify the VTT space? I don't see it. I might not be the market. But for me - I want a VTT for when I want to play a tabletop experience and BG3 when I want to... play BG3. Even if I'm playing BG3 with friends. Even if BG3 eventually allows NWN-levels of customizations for community-create modules. If my friends and I sit down one night to play BG3 and the Wombats of Doom module... we'll be playing BG3. When we log in to Discord and fire up the VTT... we're playing D&D. These are two very different experiences. With different expectations. Having said that... I suspect the business model for the WotC VTT is a very pre-fab future. You can run your own campaign. But good luck building up a VTT battlemap with custom assets. Much easier if you pull some prefab battlemaps from one of a dozen modules WotC has already provided via online store.

A++ quality Discourse cameo

I concur 100%. Great cameo by Discourse, BTW.

A DM mod would be amazeballs. But it would require a map editor, dialogue tree editor, monster and loot editors etc. etc. It sounds like way more homework your average DM would want to do. Maybe it can come with preprogrammed modules, but that defeats the "do anything" ethos of table top, and might as well just be an expansion to the he game.

I think if their modding scene pops off, then their VTT system will need some serious lifting. As far as 2024 5e the system? No way, BG3 is good but as far as the scope of their player options go, TCE introduced so many cool and fun mechanics. The new play test have invited even more and it makes some BG3 subclasses feel outdated or limited. Yes I know they were going for 5e14 and they’ve done a great job, but 5e24 has good potential.

First off, thanks'for another excellent discussion. Secondly, I feel that these videos are overproduced. The frequent pop up images are distracting. I guess if some people have trouble following discussion of a concept without constant visual stimulation then this makes sense. But for people like me that are trying to follow what you're saying, this is just distracting. Thanks again. Love your series.

I had been trying to get my best friend into D&D for a very long time. He's politely declined. After playing BG3, he is very excited about playing pen & paper D&D.

My experience is that people don’t actually understand the mechanics. People all over reddit are confused by spell slots, durations, concentration, saving throws, damage rolls, etc. I doubt many people who are enjoying BG3 will have a smooth transition to tabletop.

I ran my first D&D session two weeks ago. With one day advance warning. I’ve been GM’ing for over 20 years in other systems but had never ran D&D. Playing Baldur’s Gate 3 for "a few" hours made that work with so little preparation - that was awesome. It even provided me enough intuition to improvise enemies.

If one wants a VTT experience one can get it for like 5-10$, that has immense mod support, most if not all of the prewritten 5e adventures up in the steam workshop for free and is easily customizeable there is Tabletop Simulator. I honestly have no clue why would anyone would buy WoT’s VTT over it. It might look one bit shinier, but that’s about all the positives.

It would be good if you did real research for these stories as Larian already added a full VTT system to their previous game - and even had Matt Mercer show it off in a one shot campaign so odds are the underlying code is there already. However hidden in the OGL 'drama' was WOTC trying to draw a line between videogames and VTTs that may have prevented Larian adding DM mode which would explain why they had no plans at the moment - but Larian has a history of adding new features over time. You are also assuming WOTC will charge people up front for the VTT when DnDBeyond, Idle Chapions/Magic:Arena are all free at base level with micotransactions on par with Roll20. There was also the recent release of the DNDBeyond 2D VTT which would seem odd except that not every DM/group will want/be able to run a 3D VTT. Its important to remember that VTTs TTRPGs and videogames are not muturally exclusive. As a player who was introduced to the rules/world of DnD via BG2 the crossover between videogame and real DMing can really go both ways. There are also recent UA interviews and BG3 interviews talking about how OneDND rules, names and mechanics were added to BG3 - such as the Wildheart Barbarian and it's possible that some of the homebrew BG3 rules may be based on OneDND - or simply homebrewed in if DMs like them. In terms of how it impacts players/DMs growing up with DND videogames helped me learn the lore and mechanics that my DM would never have time to explain in a game (eg by reading lorebooks) and it wasn't hard to jump from 2nd edition to 5th. However watching the recent High Rollers BG3 one shot actually added a lot of context to the city of Amn that I never grasped from playing the games as a kid...but a lot of that had to do with the limits of the videogames of the time. Either way it's great for players/DMs to have a whole bunch new toys to play DND...and for the videogames to introduce a whole lot more people to the game.

All my players who tried BG3, become way more creative in fights and with useing their skills. D&D really need a good tutorial.

I was interested in the thesis statement at the beginning, but the video ended as another "WotC BAD" rant. I guess we'll have to animate another Warhorse Skeleton to beat.

Eh. While it might expand the playerbase some, I am very skeptical of it being remotely close to the sort of numbers WotC is looking at. The extremely low cost of entry to ttrpgs is a major part of their accessibility (where inaccessibility is a primary problem it faces). A lot of that prospective overlap does not have access to the sort of pc quality to run BG3 (although this seems to apply to their vttrpg as well). Modding video games is its own additional skill that many are not going to want to bother with. There are significant rules differences from BG3 to 5e, let alone 5.5e. The transfer, to say naught of expectations, will not bleed over entirely.

I agree, there are already some really impressive mods out there- it shocks me how fast modders get this stuff developed and published!

That moment you wall in your garden, and it's the outside the flourishes.

The modding scene will be massive for BG3. So many casual/noob CRPG gamers are working through their 3rd, 4th, 5th playthrough and will soon want more end-game BG3 content.

Having DM'ed in Divinity Original Sin 2 for a long while, I doubt it will have the impact as a VTT you think it will. It was a hassle and a pain in the ass because it was so extensive and the design in the game itself was so polished and good. Sure, it can have a scene like Solasta, where scenarios and campaigns made by players are actually impressing and renowned, but actually running and DMing a game using the tools, if its any similar to Divinity, won't be for too long, where as simpler VTTs have a longer retention due to easier access.

Once WotC has fully transformed D&D into a mobile phone game and is rolling in that Candy Crush money, you all won't be laughing then!

Baldur's Gate 3 may have pre-emptively torpedoed 5.5e or 6e or whatever the heck it'll end up being, and secured basic 5e as the definitive D&D version for the next two or three decades (in spite of its many, many deviations from 5e RAW). It'll be very interesting to see how many tables in the next few years start up with a bunch of new players and homebrew such things as Shove and Leap bonus actions without even realizing they're homebrewing it.

You are taking a random prediction and really running with it here as though it’s fact. I don’t see any reason to believe BG3 will supplant either 2024 DnD or the VTT. BG3 is phenomenal, but the very things that make it so cool also make it less than ideal as a VTT.

At my local library, I volunteer as a GM and teach kids how to play TTRPGs. Throughout the whole summer, every single kid had either never played any TTRPG before, or had only played Dungeons & Dragons 5e. Now I know there's a large TTRPG marketplace, and kids in highschool and younger are not the majority of the buyers, but it was shocking to me that all the kids had unanimously only played D&D, and hadn't even heard of other TTRPGs. I think Hasbro is zeroing in on the youth market (like usual) and is relying on a monopoly ovser the youth soon-to-be young adults to make their VTT work. They'll try to get the kids playing it and paying for it like other video games they already pay for and play. I think it will work for them, despite traditional TTRPG players avoiding their VTT.

I love all of the guest stars with all the gamemastery channels over the past little while!

I love thay Larion didnt explicitt tell their fanbade to create the VTT, they for sure let us know that we have their support, again, another reason Larion is walking away with goty as well as the overwhelming trust and support of the community old and hella new. Thisbis the type of company we gamers and players of any genre have been waiting for for over a decade now. Thr second coming of a gaming revolution that will be a kin to the explosion of the beginning of the console wars when playstation and xbox and pc all entered the same chat in 2001. Lets keep supporting them because they are leading a charge to a better gaming industry.

I never got into a D&D play session that lasted more than few nights. Just one hour wit BG3 made all my D&D knowledge gaps disappear. Free cantrips, advantage, always considering Guidence, just stuff that Seasoned D&D just did automatically, it all made sense

Just being able to create an official 5e adventure module in BG3 would be fun! That would mean I can play for once 😂

Something I've noticed (and that I want to try myself) is to use the character creator in BG3 to make tokens for new characters in my own campaigns. And the mods make it even better with a ton of options if you're creative enough

That GI Joe deep cut at the end was great.

One thing that I think people aren’t thinking of is that there are plenty of people who don’t have gaming computers to run BG3 or download mods. I play the game on my PS5, and if I learned anything from my version of Skyrim, it’s that the modding community (if we even get it!) will be significantly different from PC players. Considering that the player count will be comprised of people with different consoles, you can’t assume that half of the people who play 5e would jump over to BG3 as a substitute for a virtual tabletop, WOTC or otherwise.

I'm a relatively new player, granted I got DMG and PHB out of nerdy curiosity. I'm playing in a couple different campaigns that started with mostly new people, campaigns began before BG3 came out and continued after it's release. Also, my girlfriend has never played D&D, but is playing BG3. She bought me a copy of BG3 actually 🥰. Its got her curious to try in person D&D. Anyway. In the in person campaigns there's an increased awareness of what characters are able to do or try because of BG3. There's increased knowledge of their character's abilities and of action mechanics. The players are planning better, more likely to try things other than attack. But, they only understand the rules a little better. My girlfriend will be confused about why something happened a certain way in BG3, why there's two dice for some rolls, etc. The newer players in the in person 5e games still ask what they need to roll for certain checks, ask how mechanics work, etc. BG3 is helping them, but its not really teaching them the rules or even how to play. No one is yet entirely fluent. Its more giving them a general idea of how pen and paper works, and a very good idea of what's possible and of the flow of pen and paper. If there are concerns about players being confused about a change in rules because of a new edition, well yeah, there will probably be some confusion. There usually is with new editions of the rules, but I think there are a lot of examples of players being able to learn new rules and adapt. But I don't believe everything players learned ( whether from BG3 or in person ) is inert. This spell works a little differently is not the same as no more spells. If we believe people can adapt from BG3 to pen and paper, we should be able to believe they can adapt to changes in rules. People still play old and original editions of D&D, they can always stick with 5e if they prefer. Its hard to understand how or why someone would point to a video game as being a great method for teaching, but in the same breath declare that a different, unfinished, unreleased video game is awful, because it is a video game. Players are coming to the table intetested in D&D specifically, and TTRPG generally. We've already got one player who's found a non-D&D rpg they want to try Just let the kids have fun, man.

Larian states that they did not add the DM mode into BG3 (like they had Divinity) because it would have been too difficult. I don't believe that - I think if the plan was to have it from the very beginning of development, then it would have been possible to incorporate and ultimately monetize. However, I have a feeling that Wizards made it clear in the contract that such a system or mod would not be allowed. Modders won't have the same tools they had in Divinity because they don't want BG3 to compete with their virtual and physical D&D products. Too many people would move their campaigns to BG3 instead of buying books / figures / dice, etc. There will be mods for adding monsters, gear, etc, but there will be no map making or campaign building. It is a shame - because the game engine in BG3 is well polished and they have already put in a lot of work into D&D, but they will be making use of this with a sequel, a DLC, or a new game setting instead.

BG player at table: “I dip my sword in a candle for an extra 1d4 damage.” DM: “No you don’t.”

Dude, you are talking so perfectly, it's a lot of words for saying ultimately that Baldur's Gate 3 is the best D&D experience.

This guy: Me: i walk slowely..stoicly towards this man with shadow from my long dark locks obscuring my grim countenance and bend on one knee for this man as i calisly unsheath my sword sweat beading almost dripping from my chaded out body long dark hair draping almost to the floor as i grasp the sharp end with my bare hand gripping it as it eats into my bleeding flesh i extend with both of my hands gracefully holding my sword in silence raising it up to thee..i must learn your ways in a bellowing crackled voice solemnly vowing to hold my steel against any who might stand against him *rolls 2 This guy:oh yea man what "version of d and d do you know Me: like a knife the shame ran deep through my spirit as i slowely stood and turned around and walked away..just walked away

I think what a modded BG3 and WotC VTT will be is simplicity. The basic game is theatre of the mind and the more you add the more complicated the setup gets. the more setup the harder it is for the DM to find time to do it. Less DM's will be around to join a game. I think the number one goal should be making it easier for the DM to put a game together, not making another video game.

1:20. FWIW, this is not just a problem in gaming. It's a problem anytime one has to transition from ready reference to memory. Learning languages (especially archaic ones), or math rules that are hard-coded into calculators so you don't have to look them up.

Ironically, BG3's dice cheat like a DM who rolls behind his screen, but with the dice in the player's face. If anything, BG3 is a threat to face-to-face tabletop roleplaying. At least until someone creates DM controllable loaded dice. ;-)

I don't see BG3 or its modding scene as being the big problem for WOTC's VTT. The issue I think is going to be convincing people to leave Roll 20 and Foundry for it, its more direct competitors. I don't expect the BG3 modding community to end up rivaling these platforms in playerbase. The idea of a DM creating a campaign in BG 3 sounds neat but also seems like a lot more work and tehcnical know how required than it is to upload some maps and actors on a VTT and start rolling dice.The vast majority of people who bought and played BG 3 are not going to be sticking around to play mods of it. Ultimately, while I'm sure some people will have fun modding BG3, I think it's not going to be nearly as accessible for DMs and players in general as Roll 20 and Foundry are. And so the problem for WOTC is going to be competing with those platforms. If they can't make a BETTER VTT than roll 20/foundry, they won't get people to migrate to it en masse. And if they try to force the others to shut down, there will be another OGL type blowback against the company they probably can't afford.

This happened with the first two Baldur's Gate games as well. A bunch of new players learned AD&D2E rules by playing those games, but by the time BG2 came out WoC had already taken over D&D and introduced D&D3E which was almost a complete revamp of the mechanics. So all those new players who had learned 2E rules from playing BG1&2 came into 3E wondering why all the rules were different.

I'm confused, what you mean by saying "wizards of the coast inadvertently did a huge service for Larian studios by offering up the 350 million dollar required to produce a brand awareness movie for the Baldur's Gate 3 release" what's that about???? Are you talking about DND honor among thieves movie hat was released earlier in 2023? cuz for all i know Larian didn't get a single dollar from WOTC, if anything they had to pay for the rights to create Baldur's Gate 3, and i doubt the movie itself had a huge impact on the game, idk if you played and finished it yourself since i don't watch your content and this is my first time viewing any of your videos, but BG3 is a masterpiece of a game, and due to itself being so good that even mainstream players started picking on it is why it's so successful. So all in Larian Studio's integrity and skill all throughout the 20+ years that they have been making games and their recent success with Divinity Original sin 1 and 2 that got them to secure the approval rights to Baldur's Gate 3.

ehh having gone from 3.5 to 5e it wasn't hard to change (there was no version in between). The group I played with was knowledgeable in both and we would pick and choose things from both like all feat options and some spells. As long as core mechanics are the same it wouldn't be too hard to incorporate say an old version of a class with newer ones. I really don't think that BG3 will poach much from D&D there is just so much you can do with homebrew that you couldn't do with modding, especially for ordinary people. For homebrew you just need an imagination, to mod you have to actually know computers. Table-top also lets everyone involved use their imagination not just the modder.

Most of the company stuff I can get on board with, Larian has a banger with BG3 and could really change the VTT landscape considering how many people already own BG3 if they put out some seriously powerful modding tools. However, the idea that people who play and finish BG3 will be ready to jump into D&D 5e knowing the rules on anything more than a very, very basic level without prior D&D knowledge is not an opinion I agree with. The box needed for that to be true is far too small to contain the glories of proper D&D gameplay between the DM & the players, instead of a player and the video game. I had hoped to prepare my son for his first D&D campaign by introducing him to D:OS2, learning how to interact with the environment strategically and how to investigate, ways to use dialogue to your advantage or how it could be a hinderance. How stealing is much more high risk compared to other video games. Within a short time, he crushed it on Tactician difficulty. Unfortunately - though not unexpectedly - even after reviewing a typical beginners guide for players that came with a starter pack (and later the actual PHB), much of the "Theater of Mind" aspects simply did not translate over, rules on the most basic level were easy to adapt to but knowing to search for things not immediately obvious, speak to NPCs or press in different ways, etc., were not always obvious without a nice little window prompting such behaviors or icons / outlines giving visual aid. The best way to learn the rules, is to read the rules and actually play D&D, preferably in person with the least amount of technological assistance as possible.

After Larian Studios made Divinity Original Sin 2 (DOS2), I always had faith that they would make an excellent D&D video game. Half a decade ago, WotC had a job posting of VP of D&D. I made a video on my channel about it (and what I would do, if I were the VP of D&D). In it, I stated that WotC should either further partner with or acquire Larian Studios (hence I am not talking with 20/20 hindsight). DOS2 has a GM Mode which functions like a VTT. THUS. WotC should have worked with Larian to create a DM Mode (aka D&D VTT) for BG3, which I also stated I would have done, if I were the VP of D&D.

hear me, bg3 mod, where players can create adventures and players can hook up to them in the tavern job board.

My once a month game has a player who couldn't grasp the simplest rolling and post baulders gate is telling me about the intracies of my character build. I was shocked

Very insightful. Keep up the great content.

I've been thinking for a while now that your videos have been getting worse, but this is something special. It's just your last video about this.. Again. With a bunch of antiquated EA footage of BG3 and AI art thrown in for good measure to really sell how little you're trying.

The vtt is a creativity killer larian studios shows we love and should embrace creativity

Wondering how, and/or if and when a video game equivalent of the OSR movement will occur. Like if a competitor of Larian sees the market they've created, and makes a D20 system of their own for a video game that attempts to cut a slice of the markets pie away from the official DnD rules branded version of what would become a bigger video game subgenres, expanding on Diablo and D:OS2 for a more TTRPG like playing system.

I mean, you are putting a lot onto the modder community. Until I can DM a campaign of mine in BG3, the answer is: No. I mean, I really think you are living in a bubble here. And I say this as someone playing in multiple non-D&D games, and who LOVED BG3.

I think "fluent" is too strong of a term. A buddy of mine is playing it, and he gets annoyed when I'm like "that's not in 5e", "yeeeah 5e doesn't work that way". 😆

The time has come: Larian is the one to make the definitive, 1:1 WH40k VTT game.

this is 100% true. I understand how real D&D works SO MUCH BETTER now thanks to playing BG3. No VTT required. It's rare that a video game is such a help to the core book game. I never really liked VTTs anyway, I much prefer the imagination and visualization of RTT :)..... Videogames should be video games, and D&D should be D&D.

If only the multi player had better support. Once a map editor is opened up we can go bananas.

" . . . players who are converting from the Baldur's Gate platform." 5:30 😁👍

Spitting hot takes! Love the insights here.

Caught me with the GI Joe meme closer 😅 well played

I can't wait to be able to download campaigns for bg3 on mod sites.

All I can say is: good. D&D has suffered from the incompetence of WotC writers for too long. If Hasbro farmsit to a different company, it's likely to benefit the quality of the products. Though, if I have to be honest, dice roll mechanics and the D&D ruleset have only hurt BG3 as a videogame--at least the way they were implemented. Failing a roll often just meant missing content, not "failing forward" towards an engaging narrative. Which is why save-scumming even is a thing. Then again, I tend to avoide dice rolls as much as I can even when I run a TTRPG campaign--especially d20s, because they fail to give the proper value to a character's training and competence.

My only question is: Has anyone played as DeathBringer!!!!

One D&D incorporates changes made to 5e for BG3, they even changed the name of the Totem Barbarian to match BG3. So BG3 players will be more comfortable with the OneD&D rule set than the 2014 PHB

It really depends on their license agreement with WOTC. If they included language that prevents them from adding a GM mode for a number of years, then it may not have that much of an effec

My DnD group stopped playing because life. I was sad because I liked my character, A Grave Cleric. With mods I was able to add the Grave Domain, design ny character how ive imagined him, add the other 5E spells BG3 didnt have, and have a new appreciation for my character and think of things I wanna try if I can again in the future.

I know a few people who learned 3rd edition by playing Knights of the Old Republic. Going from the simple version of video game mechanics to the complexity of tabletop. Wasn't that difficult.

Everything from 6:30 on in this video is insane. Baron, I'm a fan, but come on, all these hand waving imaginary mods that you think will just appear is just silly. You're anti-WotC is really showing here. WotC is bad, but that doesn't mean all these free mods that are orders of magnitude better than anything else on the market are suddenly going to appear.

As someone who needs a bag full of books or flash drive full of PDFs, in order to cross reference and remember every mechanic needed to run my character, I don’t see what the problem is. You shouldn’t have to memorize every rule book to enjoy the game or be seen as someone taking it less seriously. Many casuals don’t have the time to commit to absorbing the source material, and due to that appreciate the game all the more.

love the video A++ with unknow youtuber Discourse cameo 💜💜 a lovely nerd like us! 😁😁

Don't worry, as a gamer and bg3 player who didn't know nothing about D&D prior "if" I ever played D&D tabletop I would quickly learn the new rules, that comes with being a "gamer". On the other hand chances of PC/Console gamer choosing to play tabletop instead of video games is slim.

I'm old enough to remember Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2. Or for that matter Baldur's Gate 2. In fact, Baldur's Gate 2 used AD&D rules, and it came out in the year 2000... What happened that year? Oh yeah, 3d edition was launched. BG2 was considered one of the best video games that year, and of all time. And yet, people figured out how to play 3rd edition, which was a pretty big change from the BG2 rules. I think this is really assuming gamers are dumb and won't figure things out. I also think that the crossover between new players playing BG3 and then wanting a live experience may not be as high as you think. A video game, even a modded one, won't be able to eliminate what a live table offers. And not everyone needs to know all the rules to have fun. 8 million BG3 players are not playing a current D&D game. Let alone want to. From a marketing standpoint, if some small percent do migrate over to D&D, great, but it's not like its a perfect circle on a venn diagram. That whole argument seems to be on shaky ground on the OP's part.