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| Ah yes, original Dragonlance |
So I hear Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman are suing Wizards of the Coast for like 30 million US because they as authors cannot finish a newly started project set in the Dragonlance setting which they designed. So why aren't the folks at Hasbiro just firing everyone at the D&D shop? The complaint shows how incompetent the WOTC staff is as well as how, well, let's say, smart the authors are.
In this age of brand-based literature, the phrase "D&D" is going to sell something to somebody. There is a two-fold problem for the business majors spoiling our hobby in this. As Nick (last name unknown at this time) at the Complex Game Apologist points out, WOTC selling any world setting does not really help out the bottom line of a publisher that is not the creators of said setting. But at the same time the bean-counters among them take a look at the sales of sublets of D&D and see their original sales, so they cannot let those titles go. Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Planescape and a few other non-sellers in following years come to mind but don't have the energy to type.
So why did WOTC enter into contracts with Weiss and Hickman? Is it because Dragonlance would sell massively? Maybe it was the stars in their eyes, before they got all distracted by the Alt-Right VS the SJW marketing ploy to keep sales increasing among people that have high levels of interest in gossip if pathetic bank accounts. It was because of the glamor of superstar-ed-ness or something or another I suppose. So industry savvy authors contract with a butt of sly-kids without the skills of a bar-tender, baker, or candle-maker into getting out their WOTC-owned title's magnum opus. The sly-kids, now in their 30s-60s, get befuddled at all the stuff that they find controversial and then start doing contractually illegal crap. Spend money much for no reason? Yeah? Good. They've got practice for the next phase of things.
And if it's about the diversity quota, why isn't WOTC incorporating people like Milton Davis, Elois Lasanta, or Mark Hunt? My list is limited but there are so many others. People that have designed, marketed, and sold their own games to other people not made up markets. Let them handle the business end and then later indulge in their own bits of world building. Instead the cast and crew of the publishing organ seems to made up by, based off their past works, to be more infatuated with maudlin sexuality and depression not gaming.
At the same time, we could very well see Hickman and Weiss get full control of their created work. How well it does without hype from Hasbiro's petty cash account, we'll see. I am sure a year's rent will get paid though. Then whoever is running D&D shop for Hasbiro can heartbreaking buy up the brand again and let future widget-producers type up stuff for the title.
