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One day I want to make a database of all my old DM materials. I wish I could do that without having it be either a money sink or filled with unsorted fluff. Sections for every different Roleplaying game with sub-categories.

My Dark Sun campaign had so many NPCs I created that I actually had to make a giant word document for the guy taking my place as DM. His response, "I think I'll just start a Forgotten Realms game". 

This is one of those events that can't be explained simply. What I can most easily state with absolute certainty is that this is in no way "WotC just not caring at all anymore for the fans of the current edition".

I'll do my best to recount what I believe to be the situation. I'm an admin, but I'm often not involved in direct discussions. Because of that, some of what is written below may be incorrect.

Phase 1: Con Only
The original concept for Ashes of Athas was a convention-only program. Chapters of three adventures, released at D&DXP (Winter Fantasy), Origins, and Gen Con. We started that way, but there was enough interest and support that at some point Wizards agreed to consider additional distribution.

Phase 2: Distribution Window
The decision was to allow distribution of the adventures through other conventions and also to allow a narrow distribution window for home play. Distribution would be through Baldman's site, confined to a narrow time-frame of one month after a chapter had run at two of the main conventions. Chapter One ran at D&DXP and then at Origins, then was available for a one-month period of time. Gamers could go to the Baldman site, request the adventures, and receive them some time after that. After a month, the window closed. The same happened for Chapter Two.

Phase 3: No Distribution
I'm not entirely sure what happened, but at some point either the popularity of the program or the discussions we were having with WotC about larger distribution opportunities had the opposite effect and created worries that caused a ceasing of distribution. There are two concerns that I consider the most likely. The first is quality. When an entity (Baldman Games and volunteers) is providing content, there is the chance that the content may be perceived as coming from WotC in its entirety, and that any problems with the content would be attributable to WotC. In an extreme case, imagine something really bad and how it would play out if we put that in an adventure and then someone felt Wizards condoned that. In a less extreme case, someone might dislike something, perhaps finding it to be of low quality, and attribute that to Wizards. One option would be to have WotC professionally edit and develop the content, but it seems very likely that there is far too much content for that to be cost-effective. I've had the pleasure of working on Dark Sun content for DDI, and I can say with certainty that Wizards staff are really at the top of their game. Their development and editing is better than ours. At the same time, I think that fans are okay with that (as they are with Living Forgotten Realms, which sees distribution through specific channels).

The second likely concern is intellectual property. There is often at Wizards a concern that allowing any distribution can weaken the brand or WotC's ownership. I don't frankly feel this concern is valid, but it could perhaps be an issue.

Current State
There is no question that the lack of distribution has hurt our campaign. Gamers at Gen Con 2011 showed up in huge numbers, but having largely having played the previous chapters. That was no longer the case at Gen Con 2012. Very few gamers can attend even two of the major conventions and that means they fall behind. Our campaign is story-driven, so it hurts play when DMs and players are not connected to the story. Most players of Chapter 6 adventures had not played Chapter 4 or Chapter 5.

If you read the editorial for the Dark Sun month of DDI, heard the mentions of the program in official podcasts, or have been to conventions where Wizards staff love wearing Ashes of Athas T-Shirts, you can see the the support that Wizards shows our campaign. Unfortunately, a developer might really dig the campaign, but they aren't in the team that deals with distribution concerns. So, while overall there is a lot of support for AoA, somehow we have this issue within WotC. The AoA admin team, Baldman Games, WotC Organized Play, we are all working on resolving this issue. It isn't simple, for various reasons.

What Doesn't Help
Badmouthing Wizards doesn't help at all, and isn't accurate. WotC's concerns aren't at all about not wanting us to have great games. They are actually about ensuring that we always get great games. Illegal distribution doesn't help (and we are really glad to have not seen any... thank you!).

What Does Help
Showing your interest in seeing AoA's adventures distributed helps. In particular, it is great to hear the reasons why you want to see the AoA campaign become available. It may also be helpful if you are fine with this not being officially edited and developed by WotC, and if you are okay with this offering having a slightly lower quality as a result. Communicating here, via Customer Service, in-person when you see Wizards staff at conventions... all could be effective.

In the meantime, the admins are staying focused on this issue. We really believe it is important for these adventures to be distributed. This is arguably the longest Dark Sun campaign ever created for the setting. It ties one other, but that one really doesn't have a coherent story. We think this campaign will create great value for Wizards of the Coast customers not just for 4E but for the brand well into the future.

Regardless, we are working on Chapter 7, which will premiere at Winter Fantasy in January. We believe it will be a fantastic part of the campaign!

Sep 13, 2012 -- 5:12PM, Alphastream1 wrote:

If you read the editorial for the Dark Sun month of DDI, heard the mentions of the program in official podcasts, or have been to conventions where Wizards staff love wearing Ashes of Athas T-Shirts, you can see the the support that Wizards shows our campaign. Unfortunately, a developer might really dig the campaign, but they aren't in the team that deals with distribution concerns. So, while overall there is a lot of support for AoA, somehow we have this issue within WotC. The AoA admin team, Baldman Games, WotC Organized Play, we are all working on resolving this issue. It isn't simple, for various reasons.

So who is the team at WotC with the concerns? What are those concerns? At this point it just seems they are hiding behind the faceless WotC brand with nobody the fans can deal with because everyone else at WotC apparently loves AoA. Can we be getting anymore mixed signals from WotC?

How about someone from WotC who does like the concept take ownership of this issue on behalf of the fans?  

Oct 16, 2012 -- 8:21AM, wemn wrote:

Guess I'll be the first one to ask, what happened to the Baldman games site? I've been trying to check on any info about the modules for ashes of athas on their site and now it seems like the whole site is M.I.A.

I'm getting to the site (www.baldmangames.com), but all the menu bar links other than forums seem to be broken. It's recently redesigned, so something was probably dropped somewhere.

EDIT: Baldman Games is telling me that they're getting pages repopulated as quickly as they can. FWIW, no updates reported recently on availability of adventures apart from Chapter 7 being available at Winter Fantasy 2013 in January and that chapter being the campaign's conclusion.