D&D 5E [Merged] D&D Next/5E Release Schedule Threads

[Patrick McGill]

I'm not sure that I'd go so far as to say "non-sexualized." She's still in kind of a weird pose with those ballerina-pointing feet and those akimbo arms, and the lighting on her waist, and the light she's holding is all "Hello, cleavage!" I'd be interested to see this picture Hawkeye'd. But it's no DRAGONBRO AND T&A MAGE, and that's cause to be happy. She's at least subtly sexualized. And she is leaping through the air to assault a giant, which is cool and heroic.

Hmm, not sure if I agree. That armor seems to totally cover any cleavage to me. I mean, it is a small picture, so I could be wrong. But nothing about it really seems sexual to me, not even in a subtle way. She does look graceful, and her waist is pretty thin. I dunno.

I'm just saying I don't think the picture will make women feel uncomfortably objectified; my wife for instance thinks it looks heroic and badass.

 

[ExploderWizard]

If a group gets 10 hours of enjoyment, and it costs $20, how is that a fail? Compare to going to see 4 movies (5 tickets at $10) and it's a steal.

It's explicitly a *STARTER SET*, not D&D itself, so I don't see any problem with this approach. Where you see "fail" I see "win-win".

Its a game so it shouldn't have an expiration measured in just a few hours. Games are re-playable things. The material included might be very limited in scope and players are bound to want to go beyond those limits of course, but play within those limits shouldn't be so limited to just the play through of a spoon fed adventure.

Based on that logic ( A $20.00 set providing 10 hours of fun), the core books @ $150.00 should provide you with about 75 hours of fun before you exhaust the possibilities. Heck, that's 15 movies! With a movie being 2hrs long on average that's a more than 2X fun bonus for the buck!

 

[GX.Sigma]

I thought fire giants were twelve to fourteen feet tall? My only concern with one on the cover is that it is more like twenty to thirty. More like a fire titan, or Surtur himself.

According to an article from last year, fire giants in 5e are 18 feet tall. The Elf there is more than twice the height of his head (ignoring the beard and the hat). If he's 6ish heads tall, that just about works out. Note that we don't know how tall Elves are in 5e.

 

[DMZ2112]

Beholder art is seriously hit and miss, but that beholder might be at the top of my list for both most terrifying and least stupid looking. Where'd you get the higher-res image?

I thought fire giants were twelve to fourteen feet tall? My only concern with one on the cover is that it is more like twenty to thirty. More like a fire titan, or Surtur himself.

Maybe she's a halfling.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Beholder art is seriously hit and miss, but that beholder might be at the top of my list for both most terrifying and least stupid looking. Where'd you get the higher-res image?

I got the image from amazon.com, they have updated the items with higher resolution images. I still think they are mockups though, or the graphics on them are mockups. The art is probably what they wanted.

 

[Umbran]

The material included might be very limited in scope...

Or, it might not be. We should not base critique of the pricing on what might be.

 

[Callahan09]

Two things:

1) Is it me, or is this stuff really hard to find on Amazon? Next to impossible, in fact.

It doesn't even appear on the first page of results if you search for any of the following terms:
"D&D"
"Dungeons & Dragons"
"Dungeons and Dragons"
"D&D Next"
"D&D 5th Edition"
"D&D Starter Set"
"D&D Player's Handbook"
"D&D Dungeon Master's Guide"
"D&D Monster Manual"
"D&D Core Rulebook"
etc.

The only way I know of to find it is to find one of the two adventures. If you search for "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" or "The Rise of Tiamat", the first results are exactly what we want to find, and then when you click on them, you can the category "Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Gaming > Dungeons & Dragons" to find the other books. REALLY difficult to find, even if you know what you're looking for.

To me, this is a big problem, but I expect it to be rectified rather soon. Amazon's search results for all of the above terms *must* start returning the D&D Next products, because that's what their customers want to be able to find!

And yet despite it being so hard to find on Amazon:

2) The new D&D Starter Set is currently the #1 ranked product in Amazon's Books: "Movers & Shakers" category. Cool!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/movers-and-shakers/books/ref=zg_bs_tab_t_bsms

 

[DMZ2112]

Here's an easy link to all of the products on Amazon, so you can see the updated art. Thanks, [MENTION=63962]Blackbrrd[/MENTION].

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_hi_2...55&sort=date-desc-rank&ie=UTF8&qid=1400528144

While you're at it, check out that new cover art for the Dungeon! board game! What?

 

[Dausuul]

Hey, that's kind of a neat thing to think about. The center image of the PHB of the Fifth edition of DnD features a female character in a non-sexualized way. I can understand if no one cares about that, but to me that's a huge step in a good direction. I'm very happy with it. That is all.

I concur. I think it might be the first time that's ever happened. Not many PHBs have had female PCs on the cover at all; the only ones I can find are Moldvay Basic and 4E. The woman on the 4E cover was blatantly sexualized. The Moldvay one wasn't too bad, but there was still a lot of bare thigh and skintight clothing. This is the first time we've had a female adventurer on a PHB who looks like she puts survival above glamor.

That aside, something about the lighting seems off to me. It's too garish and glarey for my taste. But the proportions are good and the detail is excellent. Assuming the logos and titles are placeholders (I'm 95% sure they are), I'm pretty okay with it.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Assuming the logos and titles are placeholders (I'm 95% sure they are)

Seems unlikely, since this was a big press release where they plastered the covers (including logos and titles) everywhere, and made the logo their avatar image on all social media.

You might as well accept it now. Maybe it'll grow on you after you get over the first impression.