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Instagram Hasbro stock jumped this week
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after cutting costs and unveiling a new
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game plan but are there troubling signs
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for the Dungeons and Dragons brand we
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analyze Hasbro's latest earnings and
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explain why things might be getting
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worse for DND D today on dungeon graft
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[Music]
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welcome to dungeon craft i'm Professor
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DM and this channel is about all things
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tabletop role playing games deathbringer
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tell them what they should do like
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subscribe Bell comment newsletter
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Facebook X Hasbro reported earnings
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Thursday and the stock went higher but
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the earnings report curiously didn't
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mention DN D you know the version that
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we've been told is the bestselling D and
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D product of all time it's nowhere to be
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found which is pretty sus before we
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begin I'm going to preemptively answer
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one of the most asked questions in the
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comments of this video Professor dungeon
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master why do you just do waty clickbait
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you used to have a good channel that did
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campaign Diaries but you don't do those
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anymore actually I do I just did them
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where are you I just did one called make
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it epic here's the thumbnail do you know
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how long it took to build this scenery
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and complete these shots why aren't you
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watching them I also just did an
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interview with Mike Merles where we talk
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serious game design you like that
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content I still make it watch it now
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let's get to the lead story this is from
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Forbes Wall Street rewarded Hasbro today
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for cutting cost and reducing inventory
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in 2024 investors also signal they are
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optimistic about the toy maker latest
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game plan which includes an emphasis on
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digital gaming and creating more
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products for adults and teens the new
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strategy is called playing to win Chris
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Cox the CEO says they're going to be
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focusing on fans 13 and up driving
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digital growth both in gaming and direct
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to Consumer e-commerce licensing
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Partnerships are the rocket fuel that
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will help Hasbro's iconic Brands go
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supers Sonic let's look at the report
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itself this is the fourth quarter 2024
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highlights Wizards of the Coast and
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digital gaming segment declined 7% due
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to the lap of Lord of the Rings holiday
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set and consumer products declin 1% so
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earlier this year watsi said that bler
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hbook was the quote bestselling DND
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product ever notice they didn't say the
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bestselling DND book nor did they say
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how it compared to say Tasha's cauldron
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of everything wizards of the ghost has
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three brands we've got magic digital and
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DND they mentioned magic sales had gone
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down 1% they mentioned digital sales
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were up 22% no mention of D and D at all
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now just last month Jess Len Zillow the
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VP of D and D franchise and product said
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DND D Beyond had 19 million subs and 3.6
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million characters had been created it
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sounds odd to me if they have 20 million
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Subs they should have 50 million
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characters even I have created a
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character on D and D beyond what about
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the character goblins you know the
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players that make five or six characters
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but don't actually play them that 3.6
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number really seems low to me so I'm not
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saying they didn't sell I'm saying if
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they sold really well they'd be bragging
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about it I posted that comment last
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night on X and Mike Merles the former
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lead designer of the fifth edition liked
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it if anyone has insight into D and D
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the game of the business it would be him
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and this is what he said recently I
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think the pandemic was something of a
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sugar high for gaming as a whole but D
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and D is an outlier and tabletop for its
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inability to retain the audience it had
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during that era I believe it lost those
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players and a big chunk of its core fans
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just aren't excited the ogl took the air
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out of the community around the game and
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other than shaky claims of backwards
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compatibility the game has almost gone
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out of its way to avoid answering a
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simple question why buy this new
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addition the audience is treating it
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like a new addition backless sales crash
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down meanwhile the lack of energy in the
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community has dragged down new player
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acquisition big picture ttrpgs are
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growing as far as I can tell I think
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we're entering an era where D and is no
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longer the dominant cultural force in
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ttrpgs is there anecdotal evidence to
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support this I think yes here's the
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latest video from dungeon dudes we're
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not switching to the 2024 rules here's
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why the dudes are sticking with the old
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rules until they finish their campaign
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and they speculate others may be doing
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the same they also point out others may
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be waiting for all three books to come
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out before they switch over entirely and
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the core rule books cost $300 as Merles
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points out Wizards hasn't really made a
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compelling case about why you need to
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switch over to these new rules I'm not
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saying the game is a bomb I'm saying
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players seem to be slow to adopt the new
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system I don't feel the hype do you is
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the cool Factor gone because I'm also
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getting that Vibe Merles was recently on
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Ben rig's podcast I'm going to
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paraphrase what he said U maybe I could
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just start doing 5e compatible stuff but
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I'm finding I just don't want to it's
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just it seems boring it's like trying to
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start a hair metal band in
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1992 it's like Seattle and rain and
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flannel and Nirvana is in now and poison
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is out I can't recall a period where TTR
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RPGs were flourishing and d and d wasn't
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on the upswing because I think that's
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what's happening now we're in very
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strange Waters where I think DND D is
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now uncool the conventional wisdom is as
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D and D goes so goes the rest of the
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industry I've talked to many Publishers
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and they confirm that that when Third
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Edition was hot they were selling better
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when fourth edition was lackluster they
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sold less when 5e came along sales went
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up again but Merles and I am not sure
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that this is the case anymore just look
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at the crowdfunding for dagger heart
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draw steel cosmere and Shadow dark and
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the hype around those games and the
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millions of dollars they raised Shadow
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dark's Booth this year at Gen Con is
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going to be twice the size it was last
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year there's always people are going to
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say well these are fantasy Heartbreakers
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these games will never be as big as D
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and D but I say so what role playing
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games are art I grew up in the 80s every
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time I turned on the radio I couldn't go
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20 minutes without hearing a Madonna
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song does that mean Tom weight shouldn't
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have made Rain Dogs I quit this album's
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just a musical Heartbreaker more
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anecdotally evidence a lot of formally
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Hot D and advice channels are just
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giving up there's not as much content
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about how to play the game content today
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seems to fall into one of three
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categories a unpacking the latest stuff
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like the classes subclasses rules Etc B
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funny videos about D and D especially
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game's gone wrong and C news and since
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I'm really not funny I do mostly A and C
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and these are my videos for 2025
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encumbrance 37,000 the South Park hack
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about streamlining your prep 40, ,000
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make it epic one of my best videos
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60,000 between those three it's 137,000
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views but this is bad got a
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120,000 views and d and d dumps Orcs
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close behind with 118,000 views the
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audience seems to be saying we already
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know how to play this game either tell
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us something terrible or make us laugh
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if D and D were attracting new fans who
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never played the game before they'd be
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looking for more entrylevel content but
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I don't really see it resonating now
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that may change later on in the year
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when stranger things season 5 or
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whatever it is debuts and we're still
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not clear on when exactly that will
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happen but you can correlate bumps in D
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and sales figures with the premiere of
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stranger things whenever stranger things
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is on D andd is extremely hot people go
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to the stores and they buy it and that's
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probably why the sea sues aren't
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panicking about D and D just yet they
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also have sigil coming online it's in
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play testing and that's what Cox is
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talking about he's talking about
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licensing and e-commerce he's always
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going back to that I think D andd is
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going to go the Marvel route they're
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going to try to license everything we're
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talking video games plushies T-shirts
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they don't need people to play DN D just
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to buy the merch in the future DND D
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will be a primarily digital experience
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whether it's sigil or another VT or Zoom
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or video games like balers gate 345 I'm
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sure they're coming and films and
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television there's a new forgotten realm
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show in development at Netflix I don't
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place a lot of stock in that like in
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development doesn't necessarily mean the
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show is going to be made that's like the
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embryonic stage but they're moving
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forward on it and in 10 years from now I
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think the D and audience is going to be
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very different it's like many of the
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people today they're more aware of
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Marvel characters through the films than
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comic books I grew up on comic books but
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my children my students are more
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familiar with the films and that
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universe is almost 20 years old by the
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way now of course there are still comic
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book readers like me but they're mostly
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older my prediction is in 10 years
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people are still going to be playing D
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andd but the tabletop segment is going
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to be the smallest segment of the
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audience you're still going to be able
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to get a hard cover book but it's going
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to be like a collector's item and you're
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still going to be able to play either
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with your friends or at conventions but
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that audience will skew older it's going
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to be a bunch of old weirdos with dice
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and I think that actually makes it more
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cool when I was a kid ttrpgs was a weird
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thing done by weirdos and we're probably
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going back there and that's okay with me
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I was weird and uncool for most of my
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life it's all coming full circle at
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least that's what I think what do you
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think share in the comments below you
00:10:10
can support my slow decline into
00:10:11
obsolescence on patreon I have tons of
00:10:13
bonus content there and get a
00:10:15
deathbringer mini and sign up for the
00:10:16
deathbringer newsletter at the links
00:10:17
below thanks so much for watching I'll
00:10:19
see you soon may all your roles be 20s
00:10:21
so deathbringer what's our strategic
00:10:23
plan to grow our channel it's called cat
00:10:26
kill all toi that's terrible how about
00:10:30
kill all teelings same acronym I just
00:10:33
watch the latest campaign diary it's
00:10:35
great I promise
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[Music]