D&D 5E If WotC is outsourcing official 5E material to 3PP, What is WotC working on?

kenmarable · Jan 5, 2015

TrippyHippy said:
Fair enough. I don’t want it, and I think it would be a mistake in terms of attracting new players and a new audience to the game if it is seen to have rules bloat. In my view, the game cannot afford to keep appealing to an ever ageing, existing fan base anymore - so even if these fans tend to prefer to buy crunchy books, the game developers still need to look at the bigger, long term picture.

It is complicated, and I don't envy WotC trying to find a balance, but as far as anecdotal evidence goes (which isn't far), out of the group of 13 year olds that I have introduced to 5e, many of them are wanting more crunch as well - especially more class options. I tried to keep them out of sight, but a couple of them saw my 3.x and Pathfinder books and are wanting to convert stuff over from those because there are so many more fun options available to them in those books (but they like the streamlined 5e system).

Among that one group of brand new gamers, they run the gamut from the kid who just borrows someone else's book for a few minutes whenever he needs to level his fighter and doesn't ever want to take his sheet with him, to the ones who hope for PC death because they have a different character idea every other week and full on hack the system wondering how they can add new class options to fit their latest crazy ideas. I don't know how typical this group is, but perhaps even the new players have as much variety as us old timers. *shrug*

However, as much as I liked the PHB X series of books, I realize that is a really bad way to go since that offers new options in a way that feels like they are essential core books. It may just be a branding difference, but giving more options but making them appear as optional as possible might be the best way to address both sides. Something like the Adventurer's Handbook might be a good balance.

But however it goes, the one thing I am really happy about is that this group of 13 year olds is really geeked about D&D, and that's pretty awesome to see first hand.

Jeff Carlsen · Jan 6, 2015

I suspect that one way they're planning to avoid bloat is through attaching crunch to storylines. For Elemental Evil, we're getting the adventure and the Adventurer's Handbook that supports it. I don't anticipate that the Elemental Evil Adventurer's Handbook will ever be republished (at least physically) after that storyline is dropped. The D&D shelf at your local game or book store will have the core rulebooks and the current storyline at any given time. This keeps the barrier to entry low while still providing a fairly regular flow of material.

Beleriphon · Jan 7, 2015

painted_klown said:
If sales are dipping, drop an occasional splat book (still not 100% sure what that term means to be honest), MM, etc to coincide with the latest printing of the three core books.

I'm not sure about the source of the term, but it refers to any additional rules book material. For example anything after the PHB, MM and the DMG for 5E would be a splatbook if adds more rules material (this would at a practical level be everything). If the books doesn't add new rules its not usually considered a splat book, but there are few if any books for any game that have no extra rules content of some kind.

I have seen that having too many rulebooks is referred to as "bloat" and I have also read that WOTC are saying they plan to avoid bloat with 5E. Put those things together, and I ran with D&D.

Rules bloat isn't a default of publishing splatbooks, but they tend to go hand-in-hand. Its the nature of the beast I suppose that some degree of bloat occurs, and its usually caused by a high turn over production schedule, which I think is part of the reason the Wizards has gone with a slow release to keep a handle on how much new rules material gets added.

AmerginLiath · Jan 7, 2015

Also, keep in mind that Mearls and his wife just had a child born at the start of December (his Twitter isn't just rules talk, you know!) and he's only finishing up six weeks of paternity leave, so that slows down work on new releases – given that children tend to give you a few months' warning, that was probably baked somewhat into the 2015 schedule.

Hussar · May 23, 2019

A cogent and interesting point.

I am convinced.

Azzy · May 23, 2019

Hussar said:
A cogent and interesting point. I am convinced.

I missed something good, didn't I?

LuisCarlos17f · May 23, 2019

I don't mind an agreement between WotC and Dreamscarred Press for a 5th Ed of psionic powers, incarnum/akasha magic and martial adepts (Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords).