Domains of Delight confirmed.

[alhoon]

At this point Jester, the assumption the quests would be shorter to help streamers seems ... premature. I am not aware of what goes on in the net-sphere, but I wonder where that suspicion comes from.
Is it because movers and shakers in WotC said so, or is it simply because the streamers are getting a lot of attention lately?
In either case, more exposure is not necessarily bad for the game, Jester. Most people would either play 2 of these shorter quests together to get a "full" session or they will play one, 2-hour-long session (that as I said, in roll20 etc it simply takes longer so I actually appreciate the smaller quests).
And it's not just the published adventures. If people want longer quests they can do it in their own, homebrew games. I have no idea how many people play mostly the published adventures and how many play mostly homebrew but... the game can accommodate them both.

[Resonant Curse]

At this point Jester, the assumption the quests would be shorter to help streamers seems ... premature. I am not aware of what goes on in the net-sphere, but I wonder where that suspicion comes from.
Is it because movers and shakers in WotC said so, or is it simply because the streamers are getting a lot of attention lately?
In either case, more exposure is not necessarily bad for the game, Jester. Most people would either play 2 of these shorter quests together to get a "full" session or they will play one, 2-hour-long session (that as I said, in roll20 etc it simply takes longer so I actually appreciate the smaller quests).
And it's not just the published adventures. If people want longer quests they can do it in their own, homebrew games. I have no idea how many people play mostly the published adventures and how many play mostly homebrew but... the game can accommodate them both.

Wizards explicitly stated that they are designing adventures now with streamers in mind. That isn't people assuming, it was outright stated. And the argument for convention play or store Adventurer's League play doesn't really work because official convention events and the Adventurer's League/Lair Night/other in store events all use their own modules that probably tie-in with the most recently released adventure, but aren't just ports of books.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Wizards explicitly stated that they are designing adventures now with streamers in mind. That isn't people assuming, it was outright stated. And the argument for convention play or store Adventurer's League play doesn't really work because official convention events and the Adventurer's League/Lair Night/other in store events all use their own modules that probably tie-in with the most recently released adventure, but aren't just ports of books.

WotC are working for the Matrix
I never got the streamer thing... Why should I spend my time in a convention or online watching someone else playing, why not spend the same time to gather up with friends and play? I really don't get it. Events in general cost money it is cheaper for everything to be online, that's what happening with most (busyness) conventions around the world. Covid-19 made an already digitalised societies digitalisation faster. For me no other playing environment compares with the board game environment D&D started from, the gathering of friends and playing stories is embedded in the human psych since the gathering around the fire and listening to a shaman telling myths of the biggest boar the tribe ever caught. I can understand that watching someone playing is a new digital form similar to watching a shaman tell a story, but it is still through a proxy and participation is always better.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

And every encounter can be solved without combat, so you can play the game without doing what 90% of class abilities are designed for.

I wonder how dice rolling hack-n'-slasher streaming freak Arkhan the Cruel will play this...

[Jester of the FoS]

At this point Jester, the assumption the quests would be shorter to help streamers seems ... premature. I am not aware of what goes on in the net-sphere, but I wonder where that suspicion comes from.

It's from here:
https://gizmodo.com/d-ds-lead-rule-desi ... 1847342631

“The short answer is yes, it does influence us the way every type of D&D play influences us,” Jeremy Crawford, D&D’s principal rules designer, told press in a recent event for the reveals of the latest sourcebooks for Dungeons & Dragons’ fifth edition. “So we know that D&D is a big tent. We’ve talked about this again, going back to the D&D Next process [the playtesting experience that helped create Fifth Edition] that not only do people of many sorts play in the D&D, but also people of many tastes play D&D. We know some people really love heavy improvisational role-playing and other D&D players, for them, that’s all about the tactical nuances of D&D combat, and everything in between. We’re concerned about supporting traditional tabletop play well, but also the types of D&D experiences people have in streams.”

Streamed TTRPG content—whether it’s with the D&D ruleset or others, whether it’s broadcast on platforms like YouTube and Twitch or is released in audio formats—has become one of the most popular ways for people to explore roleplaying games as a genre for storytelling and entertainment media. But it’s also accustomed both players and watchers alike to be able to tell big, sweeping stories across smaller, modular chunks, something Crawford says the D&D team has started to consider in designing its own official adventures. “One of the things that has been on our minds for several years now, as a result of the popularity of streamed games combined actually with the tidal wave of new people coming to D&D, is the need to have bite-size adventure content,” Crawford continued. “So you’ll notice that around the time we came out with the Essentials Kit and then continued on with a lot of our adventure content—even when it’s a large, epic campaign, like last year’s Rime of the Frostmaiden—they’re much easier to divide up into digestible segments that where ... if the DM wants to just read a part of this big book, or just run one of these little quests, we’re making that easier to do. Not only to make things less arduous for a brand new Dungeon Master, and with new groups of players coming to D&D for the first time, but also because of that format of play, also suits streamed games better.

“We know streamed games, with the exception of maybe Critical Role, tend to be shorter than a lot of [traditional] tabletop games. You know, in the old days and even today, a lot of people’s tabletop games [sessions] might range between three and four hours, although we’re seeing the average length go down—most streamed games are often sometimes as short as two hours, or even 90 minutes.”

So they're designing the adventure with a very small minority in mind, because it will make it easier for the people who work as free advertising for the game.
And ostensibly for new DMs. But I don't think the length of the quest is particularly a barrier to being a DM. In fact, having to prepare multiple quests because you don't know which of the dozen small quests the players will choose as the two to play in a four hour session is harder...

[Jester of the FoS]

I never got the streamer thing... Why should I spend my time in a convention or online watching someone else playing, why not spend the same time to gather up with friends and play? I really don't get it.
...
I can understand that watching someone playing is a new digital form similar to watching a shaman tell a story, but it is still through a proxy and participation is always better.

In my case it's because I only play every other Thur/Sun and can't get together with my friends more often. We get toghether as often as we can, which ends up being four hours a week.
So if I want MORE D&D or to engage in a little D&D at a different time—say 8AM on a Saturday of 9PM on a Tuesday—I'm out of luck.

But I can watched a streamed game.
I can engage in a hobby and listen to other people get involved in a game I love whenever I want. And wherever I want since I can listen during my lunchbreak or on the treadmill or while having a soak in the tub.

It's not the same and not as good as playing, but it's pretty much a hybrid of a Big Finish Audiodrama and a D&D game, as the dice get involved in telling the story.

[alhoon]

And every encounter can be solved without combat, so you can play the game without doing what 90% of class abilities are designed for.

I wonder how dice rolling hack-n'-slasher streaming freak Arkhan the Cruel will play this...

He will probably ignore the non-combat option and go for the combat option.

I am with those that are about the "streamers" thing. I once tried to do that and I was bored within minutes. I mean, it was not even high end D&D there with people taking their turns and effects or anything. It was like watching a table of people you hardly know play.
Do these streaming events even get a decent number of viewers ... considering the number of people that play D&D?

That justification for streamers aside, I don't mind at all smaller quests for the reasons stated before.

[alhoon]

It's not the same and not as good as playing, but it's pretty much a hybrid of a Big Finish Audiodrama and a D&D game, as the dice get involved in telling the story.

Is the same as an Audiodrama though? The 2-3 times I tried to watch it was NOT like hearing a story in an audiobook or the radio and much more similar to people playing hack-an-slash D&D. You don't listen to things like a story since descriptions are interrupted with "I roll perception."
I.e. it doesn't 'flow' like a story, it flows like... a game.
And I remind you that battles are long.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

It's not the same and not as good as playing, but it's pretty much a hybrid of a Big Finish Audiodrama and a D&D game, as the dice get involved in telling the story.

Is the same as an Audiodrama though? The 2-3 times I tried to watch it was NOT like hearing a story in an audiobook or the radio and much more similar to people playing hack-an-slash D&D. You don't listen to things like a story since descriptions are interrupted with "I roll perception."
I.e. it doesn't 'flow' like a story, it flows like... a game.
And I remind you that battles are long.

The only one that I've really "watched" has been Tales from the Mists, and I put watched in quotes because I listen to in podcast form, while I'm doing other things, like driving, washing dishes, or mowing the lawn. Not times I could be playing D&D. And I listen in 1.75x speed, so it doesn't feel slow. I do recommend it. TK Johnson, the DM, does some very interesting things with Ravenloft and the D&D system as well. Definitely some stuff I'm swiping for when I next play.

[Jester of the FoS]

It's not the same and not as good as playing, but it's pretty much a hybrid of a Big Finish Audiodrama and a D&D game, as the dice get involved in telling the story.

Is the same as an Audiodrama though? The 2-3 times I tried to watch it was NOT like hearing a story in an audiobook or the radio and much more similar to people playing hack-an-slash D&D. You don't listen to things like a story since descriptions are interrupted with "I roll perception."
I.e. it doesn't 'flow' like a story, it flows like... a game.
And I remind you that battles are long.

Game sessions with a lot of combat are pretty rough. But some games focus as much on the story. Generally, the games I watch tend to get you somewhat invested before that happens.

But it's rare that I just sit and listen. Often I'm painting minis, or doing some grinding in a video game, or doing the dishes. It's background noise, so I can half-listen to the combat and perk up during the exciting bits.

It's not as good as playing D&D. But, for example, my game is on a busy-schedule break for three weeks. So no-D&D until mid-September. But rather than completely zero gaming, I can at least watch Black Dice Society do some Ravenloft.

[alhoon]

There seems to be an important issue.
I can't do that.

I am not a native English speaker. I would either have to rewind several times or I would have to read subtitles. When I hear audiobooks, I have the actual book in front of me and read as I listen. When I watch movies, I have English subtitles on.

[Hell_Born]

So, we finally have an official answer as to what Domains of Delight are, revealed in the mini-book "Domains of Delight" released by WotC on the DM's Guild as a tie-in to The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/371449 ... Delight-5e

In short? They're a combination of 4e's Fey Demesnes and 5e's Domains of Dread. They're pockets of the Feywild where an archfey has chosen to dwell, and consciously forged a bond with the inherent wild magic of the Feywild. This grants them greater direct and unconscious control over the natural malleability of the dream-like reality of the Feywild. Unlike a Domain of Dread, an archfey isn't bound to their Domain of Delight; it's simply a place where their power and influence is concentrated. Whilst Domains of Delight can magically trap creatures inside their borders, they're not as impenetrable as Domains of Dread are - a simple Plane Shift can free you.

...I don't know why, but I find myself underwhelmed by this entire idea. Maybe it's because the booklet itself is largely just tables and tables of random generation stuff to roll on...

[Rock of the Fraternity]

That does sound underwhelming at first read.
At least give us an idea of what kind of archfey are lurking around these so-called domains.
Make it harder to get out, throw in some altered magic tables!
If these archfey are linked to the local wild magic, why wouldn't they warp reality in their domains to suit their needs?

[alhoon]

So, we finally have an official answer as to what Domains of Delight are, revealed in the mini-book "Domains of Delight" released by WotC on the DM's Guild as a tie-in to The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/371449 ... Delight-5e

In short? They're a combination of 4e's Fey Demesnes and 5e's Domains of Dread. They're pockets of the Feywild where an archfey has chosen to dwell, and consciously forged a bond with the inherent wild magic of the Feywild. This grants them greater direct and unconscious control over the natural malleability of the dream-like reality of the Feywild. Unlike a Domain of Dread, an archfey isn't bound to their Domain of Delight; it's simply a place where their power and influence is concentrated. Whilst Domains of Delight can magically trap creatures inside their borders, they're not as impenetrable as Domains of Dread are - a simple Plane Shift can free you.

...I don't know why, but I find myself underwhelmed by this entire idea. Maybe it's because the booklet itself is largely just tables and tables of random generation stuff to roll on...

That short blurb you mentioned doesn't sound bad. Effectively a domain of delight is... the land of an Archfey that is mystically bound to the archfey.
That's more or less what I expected and it seems very usable for adventuring purposes and exploration.

Of course, I would have to see the books and those tables to make a final judgement because while the premise seems promising, there are dozens of ways to mess it up and make it underwhelming. Furthermore, art and vivid descriptions are an absolute must here so we know WHAT these places look like, have a base line.