Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University. This week, Thorne discussesthe recent Alliance Open House and Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks’ comments on the future of AI in Dungeons & Dragons and other Hasbro brands.
I had the opportunity to attend the Alliance Open House the weekend of September 6, 2024. Of the retailer- oriented events, this is my favorite one, simply because I used Alliance as a distributor back before they were owned by Diamond Comic Distributors. I was using them even before that, when the company was first formed from the merger of The Armory and Chessex Distribution (hence the “Alliance” name, just in case you wondered).
I must admit I do enjoy the 30-minute group presentations by assorted manufacturers (I hesitate to call them focus groups, since only a couple of them met the traditional definition of one). Wizards of the Coast’s presentation on the upcoming Dungeon Master’s Guide 2024 got me to order several more copies of the book and even perked up some interest in my less-than-interested staff. Still, I think WotC spent a bit too much time promoting the WPN and recruiting stores to join it, especially with the company’s otherwise empty table in the exhibit hall. If you are a retailer willing to take time out of your schedule to attend an event like this, your store is almost certainly a member of the Wizards’ Play Network. If the company wanted to promote the Network, using the space to promote reasons for stores to seek Premium status seems a better use of the time and space.
Another interesting aspect of this year’s event was the number of exhibitors there with RPGs. Kobold Press, Goodman Games, Palladium Books and Monte Cook Games all had strong presences as did Evil Genius Games, Steve Jackson Games, Catalyst Game Labs, Hit Point Press and likely others I am overlooking. What really struck me though was Exalted Funeral Press’ display, which showed off over two dozen small press RPGs available through Alliance.
There were also a couple of noticeable publisher absences. Reaper Miniatures, which was the go-to miniatures company for years before it started relying heavily on Kickstarter, was a no-show. Ravensburger also had no presence there, either with their board games or Disney Lorcana.
I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks’ recent remarks on the future of AI/LLM in Wizard of the Coast’s products. After the kerfluffle last year over the use of a piece of AI art in Glory of the Giants (see “D&D Artist Tries to Slip AI Artwork By“), it strikes me as exceedingly tone deaf for Cocks, at a Goldman Sachs event (as reported by EN World), to discuss the probable use of AI-generated content in future Dungeons & Dragons products, especially given that Hasbro’s corporate policy on AI (see “AI Artwork Policy“) vaguely says the company will not use it unless it is “right for their businesses, fans and community,” whatever that means.
The report quotes this Cocks comment at the conference: “I play [D&D] with probably 30 or 40 people regularly. There’s not a single person who doesn’t use AI somehow for either campaign development or character development or story ideas.”
As Bell of Lost Souls points out, 1) it is hard to imagine the head of a multi-billion dollar corporation has the time to play D&D with that many people and 2) no one should make decisions for a billion dollar corporation based on what 30 to 40 of your friends do. Given the amount of controversy in the game industry over the use of AI/LLM and the pushback WotC got the last time it tried to change something it had said it wouldn’t (see “Well, That Was Quick and Four Picks for RPG Week“), I imagine we will see a follow-up press release from WotC soon.
Comments on the Alliance Open House? Hasbro’s maybe embrace of AI/LLM? Send them to castleperilousgames@gmail.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Source: ICV2
