We made it through another week, everyone! Now let’s see what’s going on in our beloved hobby… Oh.
This week: a site tries to chronicle the work of iconic TTRPG designers with inaccurate AI summaries, Hasbro’s CEO speaks more to DnD’s video game-style future, and the official Legend of Heroes TTRPG announces a very close release date.
Site Full Of Incorrect AI-Generated Profiles Of Tabletop Designers Earns Widespread Backlash
One of the most discussed stories of the past week involved 4 Pillar Games, a strange website that calls attention to its “Current Table Top Game News from active tabletop news sources.” What this means in practice is two things: posting links to other tabletop news sources and creating a listing of AI-generated profiles of well-known designers.
It was the second part that sparked a wave of backlash on BlueSky as designers discovered themselves on 4 Pillar Games, their bios littered with the kind of inaccuracies only an AI-generated summary could provide. Many asked for their profiles to be removed, only to get a response from 4 Pillar either doubling down on the AI use or waxing poetic about their desire to preserve industry history. Lin Codega of Rascal News spent a good amount of time going back-and-forth with 4 Pillar’s chat service to get to the bottom of the whole endeavor.
Hasbro CEO Comments On DnD Crossovers And Live Service Model
Chris Cocks made some statements on the future of Dungeons & Dragons that once again have fans rolling insight checks on the company’s motives. The first told fans to expect more crossovers. Cocks pointed to Magic: The Gathering’s great success with crossovers via its Universes Beyond products. He also brought up DnD already having several genres under its belt, from Spelljammer to Ravenloft, so there’s precedent to expand its scope.
In another part of that same interview, Cocks said that players should shift their expectations of DnD into something more aligned with a live service video game. He does assure readers that books will still be produced, but also cites the high percentage of people that use D&D Beyond and VTTs like Roll20 or Foundry. As such, it “makes sense” for WotC to release content in frequent chunks like the new Drops program instead of relying on the few yearly book releases.
The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Destiny TTRPG Announced
JRPG series The Legend of Heroes is set to embark on its own TTRPG adaptation journey. Prometheum Books announced that preorders are live for a Trails of Destiny TTRPG. The BlueSky announcement confirms that there are no quickstarts or one-shot samples available before the core book’s June 1 release. Its retail price is set at $69.99 as per its Barnes & Noble and Amazon listings, coming in at a hefty 510 pages. The game uses the Prometheum System and features “customized orbments.”
I do love me some customized orbments! Hopefully Legend of Heroes fans get what they’re looking for out of this release. Until next week: thanks for reading and may your dice be kind.
Sergio Solórzano is the best Dungeon Master in the USA (according to a Wizards of the Coast competition, anyway). He loves minis and terrain but also goes all-in on improv!
