January 2010 Releases: Underdark, PH Heroes: Dragonborn, Galaxy of Intrigue

M.L. Martin · Apr 29, 2009

Over on the WotC boards, Jedi_Comedian revealed that the next STAR WARS book, [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Galaxy-Intrigue-Roleplaying/dp/0786954000/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240972745&sr=1-5"]Galaxy of Intrigue[/ame], had shown up on Amazon. I thought I'd take a look and report on what was coming for WotC's other game.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Underdark-4th-D-Supplement/dp/078695387X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240973036&sr=1-6"]Underdark[/ame], by Rob Heinsoo and Andy Collins. 160 pages, $29.95

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Races-Dragonborn-Supplement/dp/0786953861/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240973036&sr=1-3"]Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn[/ame], by James Wyatt. The shortest and least expensive supplement released by WotC in quite some time--32 pages, $9.95

mach1.9pants · Apr 29, 2009

Mmm I wonder if all the races will get this treatment, a short intense piece of fluff and very specific feats etc. Like the complete series but only covering one race rather than several classes....

Almacov · Apr 29, 2009

An interesting development, but the PHB Races series would have to be really well done for me to want to spend $10 for each. However, if they threw in a nice exclusive miniature of the appropriate race for an extra $2 or so they might have a winner...

Glyfair · Apr 29, 2009

mach1.9pants said:
Mmm I wonder if all the races will get this treatment, a short intense piece of fluff and very specific feats etc. Like the complete series but only covering one race rather than several classes....

I like the idea. Better to get a smallish book with a single race than the 3E "let's jam as many races together with a theme that often is pretty tenuous" method.

Knightfall · Apr 29, 2009

Matthew L. Martin said:
Underdark, by Rob Heinsoo and Andy Collins. 160 pages, $29.95

Hopefully this will be a better book than the 3e FR book, which was lacking IMO. And I hope it is more than a drow book. If not, then I'll pass.

Matthew L. Martin said:
Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn, by James Wyatt. The shortest and least expensive supplement released by WotC in quite some time--32 pages, $9.95

Interesting idea... and cheap too. Hopefully it will be more than just crunch.

mach1.9pants said:
Mmm I wonder if all the races will get this treatment, a short intense piece of fluff and very specific feats etc. Like the complete series but only covering one race rather than several classes....

More than likely.

Almacov said:
An interesting development, but the PHB Races series would have to be really well done for me to want to spend $10 for each.

Agreed.

Almacov · Apr 29, 2009

I think I should probably explain why it feels ridiculous that WotC would be charging $9.95 for a 32-page, likely softcover, book. I guess what really irks me is that Wizards of the Coast also publishes the "Practical Guide" series ("A Practical Guide to Monsters", etc.), and with those books the customer gets 80 full colour pages, in a hardcover bound extremely similarly to many of their game products, for $12.95.
That's 2.5 times the content, along with a hardcover binding for only $3 more.

Now, perhaps they do larger runs of the "Practical Guide" series because they can market them as kids books, but I can't imagine the difference in run sizes affecting product cost to THAT degree. And if it does, maybe WotC should be working harder to expand the audience for their product. (If the races series is to be largely fluff and story/world elements, it might be a good place to start...)

Dire Bare · Apr 29, 2009

Almacov said:
I think I should probably explain why it feels ridiculous that WotC would be charging $9.95 for a 32-page, likely softcover, book. I guess what really irks me is that Wizards of the Coast also publishes the "Practical Guide" series ("A Practical Guide to Monsters", etc.), and with those books the customer gets 80 full colour pages, in a hardcover bound extremely similarly to many of their game products, for $12.95.
That's 2.5 times the content, along with a hardcover binding for only $3 more.

Now, perhaps they do larger runs of the "Practical Guide" series because they can market them as kids books, but I can't imagine the difference in run sizes affecting product cost to THAT degree. And if it does, maybe WotC should be working harder to expand the audience for their product. (If the races series is to be largely fluff and story/world elements, it might be a good place to start...)

I think you're pretty much comparing apples to oranges here. The "Practical Guide" series is aimed at a different market than the hardcore RPG player, and I'll bet good money allows for a much larger print run than any D&D supplement, as these types of books are popular right now (from a variety of publishers).

Dire Bare · Apr 29, 2009

mach1.9pants said:
Mmm I wonder if all the races will get this treatment, a short intense piece of fluff and very specific feats etc. Like the complete series but only covering one race rather than several classes....

This is a brand-new format for D&D, I can't remember ever seeing a short, inexpensive product like this for D&D EVER!!! I imagine this first one is something of an experiment, and how well it sells will determine if we see anymore.

I'll pick one up, I like the idea!

Dire Bare · Apr 29, 2009

Almacov said:
An interesting development, but the PHB Races series would have to be really well done for me to want to spend $10 for each. However, if they threw in a nice exclusive miniature of the appropriate race for an extra $2 or so they might have a winner...

For an RPG supplement, $9.95 is a good price for 32 pages . . . assuming that's 32 pages of awesome and not 32 pages of crap (I'm guessing it will be pretty awesome, but we'll see).

While an included miniature would be nice, it would not be practical, and the price would jump well more than $2!

Almacov · Apr 29, 2009

Dire Bare said:
The "Practical Guide" series is aimed at a different market than the hardcore RPG player, and I'll bet good money allows for a much larger print run than any D&D supplement, as these types of books are popular right now (from a variety of publishers).

I touch on that idea in my reply. I think perception is still an important factor in how well customers will receive your price point though, and while I'm sure there are some hardcore gamers that would be willing to pay that for a 32 page book, we're talking about Wizards of the Coast here, and they publish a lot of young adult fantasy material. If their prices are being affected that drastically by audience, I'm surprised that they're not trying harder to grab that part of the market that's just a baby step away.
But then, I haven't seen the product yet, so perhaps I'm getting hasty. It could be packed full of crunch. If it is primarily story and fluff though, they could at least make their title a little less arcane and cumbersome, perhaps changing it to "Dungeons & Dragons Races: Dragonborn", or simply "Dragonborn".
I don't know. Maybe they've already assessed the risk in trying to reach further into that market and decided it wouldn't pay off.

I'll be interested in seeing how this product does, anyway.

January 2010 Releases: Underdark, PH Heroes: Dragonborn, Galaxy of Intrigue

M.L. Martin

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mach1.9pants

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Glyfair

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Knightfall

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Dire Bare

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Almacov

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