Sean Merwin

Well, they had me write a Moonshade sort of backdrop back for fourth edition. And from that backdrop, which was quite long, we got permission to update it for fifth edition. Bald Man Games put it out on the DMs Guild. And then we started creating adventures from that. So I too am like, hmm, there's been, like you say, a lot written about that. Hopefully it will...

We'll see if they move forward, if they step back, how they work. So that was a look at the books. Then we got a rather large section talking about Project Sigil. Whether that's going to be the name for the tabletop or not, we still don't know. But we learned more and more about it.

We saw shots of the VTT being used, being played with, being used by creators to create the rooms and the hallways, walls, et cetera. Shots were very close up. So you could really see the details on the minis and the artwork that went into it. They showed off Baldur's Gate three characters. What else did we see there?

Yeah. And we hear that characters from D&D Band can be brought in with all their abilities, equipment, spells, which was a question that hadn't quite been directly answered yet. And they're also going to have 2D tokens to fill in your needs. And you can also add your own art for those tokens. They did use the term.

Yep. they used the term modules and then they had to clarify, well, we know modules is an old term for full length adventures. So they're using the term module more as a computer video game thing, where it's a short experience to get a taste of an adventure rather than a full adventure. So you could pull in a cemetery module

Yeah. And they're going to start on PC only, but they're looking to add mobile and console and maybe beyond in months, years down the line. Excuse me. And it's free to try out. You can go to D&D Beyond right now and sign up to use it. Excuse me if you're a subscriber there.

And there was a mention of using this not just for D&D. I thought that was hugely important because you can tell that they're really liking this, but they're still trying to figure out a way to monetize it. They're still trying to figure out how to recoup all of the development costs. And so... There is nothing stopping anyone from going on to here and running Pathfinder games.

There's nothing stopping people going on here and running any sort of games because it is literally a tabletop that you can do and build anything on. It won't be hooked in necessarily to a database to pull in roles or pull in other things, but it's there.

Yeah. We're going to switch to some non-D&D news just for a second, as it was reported that the Traveler role-playing game has been sold to Mongoose Publishing. So Mongoose had the license, I believe, to make Traveler content, but Traveler designer Mark W. Miller posted on Reddit to share the news that he had sold the rights to Traveler to Mongoose.

Fellow designer Greg Stafford, another person who had worked on Traveler, passed away, I think a few months ago, if not a couple of years ago. And Mark Miller wanted to ensure that the game would live on. So he sold it.

Your story. NPR has a D&D series, several articles, including Dungeons, Dragons and Shoulder Bags. Why I loved D&D as a closeted teen. So tell me about this article and the others like it.

And in some not bad news, but interesting news, we wondered about Greg Tito, because for the longest time we hadn't heard from Greg. Greg worked for Wizards, I think since 2015, maybe 2016, 2017, around there. And he had many positions or many titles, including head of communication. And for the longest time, he co-hosted Dragon Talk, the Dragon Talk podcast. with our friend Shelley Mazzanoble.

And so Greg announced that he was leaving and I went, oh, that's too bad. Greg was a good egg and a good steward of the brand and really enthusiastic. And what was he leaving for? He is going to become Deputy Director of External Affairs, joining the staff of Washington Secretary of State, Steve Hobbs.

Now, Steve is obviously the Secretary of State for the state of Washington and a huge proponent of D&D and tabletop games. And he's been interviewed and he's talked publicly often about how important D&D and role-playing games and tabletop games in general are. And he's created programs. So I was like, okay, that's, That sounds good. Greg's probably communicated with him and good.

And then Greg had a quote and I was like, oh, Greg, that's so funny. Do you want to say it or shall I? I will bleep it. Greg said, it feels good to do something that doesn't just line the pockets of a-holes. And then later he added, sorry, I meant shareholders. And I was like, thank you, Greg. Thank you for saying it.

When you and I talk about Wizards and Hasbro as a publicly traded company, we always get accused of being apologetic to Wizards and to Hasbro. And when we say this is something that all businesses do, we're not apologizing to Hasbro and Wizards. We are saying, yes, this thing is terrible.

It should be called out as being terrible everywhere, across all industries, across all things, when horrible decisions are made because you are trying to please shareholders. So to have Greg say that

Well, on behalf of myself, Greg, if you hear this, thank you for all the work you put in and, you know, Godspeed in doing what you can in service to the government there.

Absolutely. So now that we sit here, we're recording a day late. And so then we can report that the D&D 2024 Player's Handbook is now out at local gaming stores officially. D&D Beyond pre-orders should be going out officially. Mm-hmm. You should be able to, if you are a subscriber to D&D Beyond, access your 2024 players handbook there. I know I did. Yep.

And even if you are not going to buy it, there will be free rules out that at least for a bit, to give you a view of those. There may be some technicalities there that I'm missing, as Teos already corrected me once. What do you know about this, Teos?