D&D 5E Next D&D Next Adventure Scourge of Sword Coast will be PDF Only

[mach1.9pants]

It would be very sad to see the D&D TT RPG line die, but it may happen. But it is not as if we don't have a lot of other quality games out there. I don't know if D&D is the gate way to TT RPGs anymore, so it may no hit the hobby too hard as whole, either.

Still I hope it goes well and pushes into new territory and players

 

[Blackwarder]

What the hell?
Why does this immenent D&D death posts keep creeping up every couple of months? So the adventure will be sold online, so what? It won't kill the game, we already knew that they are using the sundering adventures to test some new concepts in adventure design and distribution and I believe that this is something in the same vain.

Personaly, I would love to have both an actual product and a digital one, preferably not a simple PDF.

Warder

 

[Serrrg]

I am relatively new to the D&D universe, so my opinion will be of one, who has played even less than a year, but still has witnessed the changes and the "new ways" WOtC has chosen to go with the new model of distribution. Personally, one of the points I love in D&D encounters is how they look like, it reminds me in some way at the old days with some comics I used to read, or some magazines and so on.. What I mean is the colorfull cover, the well drawn pages with pictures of the main characters and locations...you can imagine all of this and immerse even better into the fantasy world... With the next encounter being only a PDF file, it would be a shame, to look at a pile of cheap black and white pages, taped together, having no DM screen... it would be not so impressive, IMHO.

 

[fjw70]

What the hell?
Why does this immenent D&D death posts keep creeping up every couple of months? So the adventure will be sold online, so what? It won't kill the game, we already knew that they are using the sundering adventures to test some new concepts in adventure design and distribution and I believe that this is something in the same vain.

Personaly, I would love to have both an actual product and a digital one, preferably not a simple PDF.

Warder

Unfortunately its human nature. Something has changed so obviously that means something dire has happened or will happen.

 

[dm4hire]

Unfortunately its human nature. Something has changed so obviously that means something dire has happened or will happen.

I think they are basing this on the recent trends of Hasbro/WotC's handing of the D&D IPO. They have made a lot of bad decisions (in some peoples opinions) over the last couple of years that have turned a lot of fans away from the game. This new decision is just another. While online sales are increasing for small press markets I think what they are failing to see is that their largest market, the long time gamers, still cling to dead tree format because that's what they were raised on. Cutting out the FLGS is in effect eliminating a marketing angle to those people. I know many FLGS who don't participate because it cost to get the kits, savvy ones used it as a way to push sales by getting trickle sales from attendance at these events.

One problem that arises from this is now the FLGSs will have to foot the printing cost in order to run these events. Sure some GMs may have the PDF and can run the event, but each would have to have the PDF or a print copy. That expense then gets multiplied by how many the store needs in order to run their events. Those who buy the PDF would eliminate that expense for the store it won't eliminate all of it. The kits also came at a reduced cost since mass printing costs are cheaper than small print orders, meaning the cost for the same materials for the FLGS will cost more in the long run.

I have to wonder if Hasbro/WotC are basing this move on their current online sales. I hope they understand that their recent trending of online sales is due more to the re-release of out of print products that people have wanted for a long time. And that those sales are due to people not wanting to spend large sums buying either inflated collector priced books or paying a ton for books so worn and abused that they can't justify buying the product.

 

[Cybit]

Folks are aware this is exactly how Pathfinder Society (Pathfinder Organized Play) works - right? The products are purely digital, and bought by those who want to run it.

What I bet will happen is that stores that consistently run Encounters might be sent free codes to redeem.

All they're doing is mimicking PFS - which has a ton of players.

 

[Stormonu]

Ugh, more FR adventures. I kinda wish they had the foresight to include a playtest packet with the Slavelord and Dungeons of Dread releases they recently had done. I might have picked up the slavelord copy for that, since I otherwise couldn't justify it as I have the original modules.

I used to like FR, but after the fiasco with its last incarnation, I haven't wanted to touch it with a 10' pole. I'd far rather see some Eberron, Mystara, Greyhawk or Dragonlance related 5E stuff.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Folks are aware this is exactly how Pathfinder Society (Pathfinder Organized Play) works - right? The products are purely digital, and bought by those who want to run it.

What I bet will happen is that stores that consistently run Encounters might be sent free codes to redeem.

All they're doing is mimicking PFS - which has a ton of players.

But, if WotC is doing it, it must be terrible, bad for business, bad for gaming and of course, spells the doom of D&D and RPGs worldwide.

 

[DMZ2112]

What the hell?
Why does this immenent D&D death posts keep creeping up every couple of months?

My bad, B. I did that thing, although it was not my intention.

Personaly, I would love to have both an actual product and a digital one, preferably not a simple PDF.

I think everyone would, which is why it's odd that Wizards is switching formats on adventure three of five. Hence the speculation regarding their budget. However, I have every expectation that D&D5 will release at GenCon 2014 in hardcover and meeting Wizards' usual quality standard -- any suggestion to the contrary was intended only as sarcasm.

 

[TerraDave]

What the hell?
Why does this immenent D&D death posts keep creeping up every couple of months? ...

Every few months...for several years. But ya, this was a particularly funny case.