From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

Yeah, so WOTC and Hasbro are trying to lock in whatever audience they
got from BG3 into a corporate-controlled ecosystem.
I... don't think this is a good idea. But not much that WOTC is doing
lately has been.

Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/d-d-s-upcoming-vtt-codenamed-project-sigil-will-come-with-baldur-s-gate-3-minis-further-cementing-wotc-s-plans-to-franchise-the-heck-out-of-it/

D&D's upcoming VTT, codenamed Project Sigil, will come with Baldur's
Gate 3 minisrCofurther cementing WoTC's plans to franchise the heck out of it


By Harvey Randall
published 1 August 2024

They turned Karlach into a mini. She's Mini Karlach.

D&D's got a lot going on this yearrCoa 50th anniversary, new revised rulebooks, and a virtual tabletop to boot. Said virtual tabletop (VTT)
was showcased heavily at Gen Con 2024, where several head honchos from
Wizards of the Coast took to the stage, including VP of franchise and
product Jess Lanzillo, seasoned designer Christopher Perkins, and lead
rules designer Jeremy Crawford.

The team went over some of their intentions for the new rulebooksrCoas
well its upcoming VTT, now given the codename Project Sigil. The app, as reported by journalist and attendee Christian Hoffer on Twitter, will
"have constraints on it" for free users, adding: "D&D Beyond subscribers
have more access. They want to use the beta to figure out what's most
valuable to players."

As part of the bells and whistles attached to Project Sigil, the cast of Baldur's Gate 3rCowho belong to Wizards of the Coast, nowrCowill be
available as digital minis. Further details, as shared by our friends
over at GamesRadar, note that these minis will come with multiple poses
but be otherwise unanimated.

Some of these tools do look pretty interesting. A screenshot (thanks, GamesRadar) showcases a powerful-looking editor that'll let you cobble together battlemaps in the same way you'd flesh out a custom map in a videogame.


The VTT's head of project, Chris Cao, boasts that the app is "a 3D
sandbox that brings your favourite franchises to life in a fast, fun,
and immersive way." Which, alas, gets my hackles up.

My inner old fogey just can't help but get an uneasy gut feeling when
the words 'franchises to life' get bandied about in a hobby I started on
cheap craft paper using coins for minis. I'm aware I'm being cynical
here, but I don't really play TTRPGs to explore my favourite franchises,
I play them to tell new stories with my mates.

On the other hand, it would be a right laugh to do a one-shot or short campaign following Karlach's adventures after the end of Baldur's Gate
3rCoshe practically pitches us on one during the game's epilogue if you
take a certain story path, promising a heist to Zariel's personal forge
we'll never get to see, since Larian isn't planning on making DLCs.
These shiny minis would be a fun way to facilitate that, if Wizards of
the Coast doesn't beat players to the punch and make an official adventure.

However, I could probably achieve that well enough with some elbow
grease and access to the other VTTs out there, and while seeing a
3D-rendered Karlach in all her glory would be nice, one of the TTRPG's
biggest advantages as a genre is that you can bring cities into
existence with the power of your words and shared imagination.

WoTC's seeming insistence on creating a shared, hyper-monetised
franchise out of a hobby that's ultimately held together by graph paper
and duct tape is setting off a mental carbon monoxide alarm in my brain. Turning the cast of Baldur's Gate 3rCowritten, conceptualised, and created
by LarianrCointo marketable minis to promote an app feels just plain
weird, if entirely anticipated.

Especially since these new rulebooks have pre-order bonuses for Project
Sigil already. I don't want to keep ragging on itrCoI want D&D's first
proper VTT to be additive to the hobby, rather than adopting all the
worst habits of videogame monetisationrCobut nothing I've seen so far
inspires that confidence. I'd like very much to be proven wrong.

That being said, I'm not some luddite who's strict about pen and paper, either. I've run games for a player with aphantasiarCoa condition where
your "mind's eye" can't form mental imagesrCobefore, and I think offerings like Project Sigil could be great for them. Similarly, as someone with
working memory difficulties due to ADHD, Foundry's automations and
modules have been a godsend for keeping track of Pathfinder 2e's
floating modifiers as a DM.

Time will tell. All I can hope is that both D&D and the Baldur's Gate
canon don't drown under the sound of a dead horse being beaten into its
own grave with characters I love, all in service to a franchised, more
easily monetised future.
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