Return of Boxed Sets?

[Morrus]

No, not really. I know boxed sets are expensive, that's why WOTC dropped them. I think the price could be close to that, but it might vary a bit.

That said, it shouldn't be as expensive as it used to be now that WOTC has ramped up miniature production and technology has improved.

Yeah - however, I remember reading somewhere that the randomization system of miniature distribution was the only viable way to get them to the comsumers and make money on it. I don't know how true that is, but there's a reason why, even with all that miniature production improvement, you still can't go out and buy the ones you want from WotC.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Yeah - however, I remember reading somewhere that the randomization system of miniature distribution was the only viable way to get them to the comsumers and make money on it. I don't know how true that is, but there's a reason why, even with all that miniature production improvement, you still can't go out and buy the ones you want from WotC.

You may be right, and this might not work because of it, but they did pre-package some things with minis, such as the little 3.5 starter box and of course the big dragons.

I have no idea how/if this impacted the current mini market though.

 

[HellHound]

Are you saying this from a degree of knowledge about printing, distribution and development costs?

(Not knocking the idea - I'd certainly pay for it at that price. Just dunno how viable it is).

Let's look at Catalyst Labs' latest boxed set release:

The Classic BattleTech Introductory Box Set thrusts you onto the battlefields of the 31st century. This box contains everything needed to play:

• 24 unpainted, instantly ready-to-play plastic BattleMech miniatures
• One 12-page full-color quick-start rulebook will have you into the action in minutes
• One 32-page book of pre-generated BattleMech Record Sheets
• One 80-page full-color rulebook
• Inner Sphere at a Glance, a 48-page full-color book containing universe background and BattleMech technical data
• One16-page full-color Painting and Tactics Guide
• Two heavy-duty cards of compiled tables
• Two 22" x 27" full-color mapsheets, with two different maps printed on either side
• Two six-sided dice
• One full-color, poster-sized map of the Inner Sphere circa 3067

MSRP on that sucker is $40 - now it needs to be pointed out that the R&D cost on this set is very low, the minis are not painted, the mapsheets are cheap poster-maps (not the heavy cardboard of the original Battletech boxed set).


So I think a $60 price point MIGHT work if you KNEW it would sell heavily. In other words, for the FIRST major module release for 4e, this would probably fly quite well.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would not buy it. I do not use miniatures and found most boxed sets to be inferior to a single book compilation.

 

[HellHound]

I would not buy it. I do not use miniatures and found most boxed sets to be inferior to a single book compilation.

Personally, I would skip it also - I don't play with minis at all. They annoy me.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

It also occurred to me that there could be another book included that showed the buyer how to use the minis and maps in various scenarios for the miniatures game. This way, Wizards could market it to both D&D players and those who just play minis game.

 

[Jer]

For, let's say $60, you get:

<snip>

I wouldn't get it - $60 shoots right past my spending limit and out the other end for a single product.

I could see picking up something like it, but the price point would have to be closer to $40. A scaled back version like:

• An adventure that goes from 1st to 5th level.
• Miniatures to do the "big encounters" in the adventure (let's say 8 minis - one "booster pack" worth)
• Miniature scale maps for the "big encounters" in the adventure (let's say 4 maps - one "map folio" worth)
• A bunch of "Dungeon Tiles" to piece together for other encounters in the adventure
• A set of tokens for the encounters not covered by the miniatures in the box
• A book for the DM that has the adventure in it, as well as stats for anything "nonstandard" in the adventure
• A set of 4 premade PCs, usable as a party out of the box
• 4 extra minis - one for each of the premade PCs

(I could do without the premade PCs, but that would defeat the purpose of having an "adventure in a box")

For that, I'd be willing to shell out $35-$45.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

I wouldn't get it - $60 shoots right past my spending limit and out the other end for a single product.

The way I see it, if it was 1-5th level for $60, I'm getting about 20 game sessions for $60. That's $3 per 4 hours game session. Since the average 2 hour movie ticket is what? $10? That's cheap entertainment.

On the other hand, it's $60 for game stuff, so it just depends on perspective.

 

[PatheticWretch]

I would buy this, and I think it would be a lot more interesting to me than the Drizzt/White dragon type packages they have been selling.

Further, it could have some minis that you can only get in that box set. I'd love it.

 

[vongarr]

60 is pretty steep to me for that. I'd expect a wide amount of diversity amongst the miniatures, and a pretty wide spread - So there would be more than 30 in a 5 level adventure.

Now, where I do see this working is on the D&D insider. For 20 bucks, you get the aforementioned adventure, all of the virtual miniatures, and pre drawn maps to use. You'd also have easy access to change things in it, if you so chose.

Man, how cool would it be if players could make something like this and post it for public consumption? I guess there would be a fee as well. It would almost be like modding for D&D. The guy who made it would make some cash, it would have the Wotc label, and it would make them money.

You could do the same for campaign settings. I see many possibilites here.