Dungeons & Dragons/D&D Beyond Video Commentary, Continued

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything is the first major expansion for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and it’s officially releasing on November 21, 2017. It broadens the scope of the latest iteration of the venerable pen and paper RPG with over 25 new subclasses, dozens of new spells, new ways for Dungeon Masters to enhance their campaigns, and more.

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything will also come to D&D Beyond on November 10th, a few days prior to the expansion’s retail release. And as a result, the D&D Beyond website is now filled with introductory videos for the new subclasses that give us a taste of all the new stuff. So far, we’ve been introduced to the Rogue Inquisitive, the Horizon Walker, the Fighter Cavalier, the Druid Circle of Dreams, the Bard College of Glamour, the Cleric Forge Domain, the Samurai, the Shadow Sorcerer, the Warlock Celestial, the Arcane Archer, the Divine Soul Sorcerer, the Monster Slayer (here’s the correct video), and the Bard College of Whispers.

And apart from all the Xanathar’s-related posts, we’ve also gotten one where Ruty Rutenberg gives DM tips and storytelling advice, and one where Mike Mearls talks about the evolution of Dungeons & Dragons over the years. You can check both of them out below:

Here’s a transcript for the latter:

Todd Kenreck: I spoke with Mike Mearls about the evolution of D&D, from the rules, to the campaign settings, and about that what if factor that makes D&D so fun to play.

Mike Mearls: My job of building games, and building worlds, like we just now have years, decades of doing it, we know more. First edition, you go back to that time period, they were making it up as they went. They were literally building the road as they were driving down it. They were war gamers, right? Miniatures, or hex and counters, and suddenly they’re playing role playing games, right? It’s a huge transition.

Then, in second edition, you see now it’s about world building. Let’s start doing that. It’s very much a product of its time, like at that time, no one had really done world building before. So, what’s a sensible thing to do? Well, it’s to start describing these worlds in detail. Like we need to know, answer all these questions. They didn’t yet know what questions they needed to ask, so they just had to start asking all the questions.

Everything we do is built on the foundations that have come before. We now can address world building, I think, in a way that it works better for our audience, because people, the folks like Dave Cook, and stuff, Zeb Cook, back in the day, tackled those questions, right? They built Planescape, they built Dark Sun, Troy Denning and that team. Gary Gygax creating Greyhawk. Ed Greenwood building Forgotten Realms, with Jeff Grubb helping bring it to life. Dragonlance with Weis and Hickman building it. Gary and Dave, Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax, they were doing that, they were building the road as they drove down it, for game design. Then the next wave of TSR giants came along and did that for world building, right?

So, we’re just kind of driving down the roads they built, and then noticing, “Oh, hey, we can now make the more fine tune adjustment.” And then its also looking the more contemporary audience. What connects with the audience, today? Especially in delivery, right? Like we’re recording a video right here, right? This would have been, 30 years ago, a massive undertaking. Not only would it have been much more technically complicated, how would then you get people to watch it? Well, buy time on a network? Well, good luck with that, right? Or we’ll buy airtime in a local station in Iowa, and hope, you know, whatever. Right? Now, it’s we’ll put it online, and anyone all over the world can watch it.

What we do, so often, especially for me, because Perkins is the storyteller, he knows a lot of stuff. I’m the engineer. I like figuring how things work together, and how things can be made useful. That’s what I love, and so many times for me, it’s just like, “This is all great, but how do I use it in my campaign?” You know? It’s not where it ends, right? I can just say, “So, this is good enough for me, so now we’re done.” But, I always feel like the stuff we’ve done, that’s resonated the most, has been like, “Oh, now I want to use this in my campaign.” Now I understand how to use the Feywild, I understand how to portray it. I can get my hands into it, as a storyteller, and start building things with it, rather than just like, “Oh, it can be kind of anything you want.” Well, if I wanted it to be anything I want, I don’t need you to give me permission to do that. I can just go do anything. Right? I can just start a blank page, but if I’m starting with D&D, I kind of want to have a foundation built, that I can start from.

That element, it’s classic Dungeons & Dragons. Here is a thing, and then here is some kind of weird twist on it that now I have to try and make sense of. So much of D&D is like why do wizards have spell books? You have clerics, and they pray to gods, why don’t the gods just come and solve all your problems? That’s what’s fun, is well now I have to come up with why. Right? Then you can end up with just a very simple, “Well, the gods are just forbidden from directly interfering in mortal affairs.” Or you can have like Dragonlance, which answers it by saying, “Oh, no, the gods.” The last cataclysm, well, Paladine, the lawful good god, he was the one who actually caused this massive cataclysm that killed untold numbers of people, so that’s why the gods aren’t around. That’s why they don’t interfere, because last time they interfered, they actually kind of made a mess of everything. That’s D&D, right? You could have explained that in a lot of ways.

Dragonlance, it started the story, gives you this really interesting, really juicy explanation for it, and like, “Oh, that’s why.” Then you have, in Dragonlance, you have the Theocrats who kind of start their own religion, and the entire tension there, and all that. That’s storytelling, right? It’s like you take your third answer, not just the obvious one. Well, what’s a more interesting nuanced answer.

That’s what a good RPG campaign, or game, does, right? Its the what if. Like what if you’re vikings and you sailed south to raid England, and everyone in England was dead? What’s happening? Right now, there’s your campaign, like, “What’s the answer? What’s happening? Is this a threat to us? Is there some malevolent force behind this?” You kick in the door to the monastery, to steal all the objects, and they’re all undead now. They’re all charging in, there are zombies traveling around, like, “Okay, now we have an adventure.” Right? You just change one thing, and then let your players chase after it.

And here’s the official product description for Xanathar’s Guide to Everything:

Explore a wealth of new rules options for both players and Dungeon Masters in this supplement for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

The beholder Xanathar — Waterdeep’s most infamous crime lord — is known to hoard information on friend and foe alike. The beholder catalogs lore about adventurers and ponders methods to thwart them. Its twisted mind imagines that it can eventually record everything!

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything is the first major expansion for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, offering new rules and story options:

• Over twenty-five new subclasses for the character classes in the Player’s Handbook, including the Cavalier for the fighter, the Circle of Dreams for the druid, the Horizon Walker for the ranger, the Inquisitive for the rogue, and many more.
• Dozens of new spells, a collection of racial feats, and a system to give your character a randomized backstory.
• A variety of tools that provide Dungeon Masters fresh ways to use traps, magic items, downtime activities, and more — all designed to enhance a D&D campaign and push it in new directions.

Amid all this expansion material, Xanathar offers bizarre observations about whatever its eyestalks happen to glimpse. Pray they don’t come to rest on you.