Will 5e be the last edition to emphasize print products?

Kobold Avenger · Mar 19, 2019

Definitely a bunch of speculation here, but I feel 5e still emphasizes most of its products having print releases, even if it might be more of a hybrid approach with the PDF versions available at the same time.

But if and when 6e comes along (sometime around 2025 or whenever), are they not even going to bother releasing most of the product line as physical books? Would D&D sourcebooks and supplements have a version or patch model of errata and updates.

Yes there's always the thing about "print is dead" even though I don't think it'll ever truly die, but I feel it's becoming less and less important.

And some might argue that 4e already is the last edition to emphasize print.

Morrus · Mar 19, 2019

There’s plenty of money to be made selling print products. On their scale, that’s a LOT of money. Just look how many of the things they’re still shifting years into the edition.

Retreater · Mar 19, 2019

As someone who played 4e at the time (and still does), I would say that it emphasized electronic tools even more than 5e does. The online suite (including the Compendium, online Dungeon & Dragon magazines, and character builder) was/is nearly essential for play.

I can make a high level 5th edition character in a matter of minutes. Even a low level 4e character can take well over an hour - if you even have access to all the splats you need in print form.

That said, my experience with 4e, losing access to the online resources, trying to MacGyver something to work, etc., makes me hope that print is around for a long time. I believe that the reliance of 4e on its online suite and that online suite being unavailable is a contributing factor for making it an almost "dead" edition - whereas 1st-3rd editions can have a robust OSR life.

lowkey13 · Mar 19, 2019

*Deleted by user*

BookBarbarian · Mar 19, 2019

The way I see it. M:tG still drives enough people into stores. Putting Books for other WotC games on those store shelves still makes sense.

Now if M:tG is now longer a major player in the future this could change, but it's been around for quite a while at this point so I think it will continue strong.

Mort · Mar 19, 2019

Retreater said:
As someone who played 4e at the time (and still does), I would say that it emphasized electronic tools even more than 5e does. The online suite (including the Compendium, online Dungeon & Dragon magazines, and character builder) was/is nearly essential for play.

I can make a high level 5th edition character in a matter of minutes. Even a low level 4e character can take well over an hour - if you even have access to all the splats you need in print form.

That said, my experience with 4e, losing access to the online resources, trying to MacGyver something to work, etc., makes me hope that print is around for a long time. I believe that the reliance of 4e on its online suite and that online suite being unavailable is a contributing factor for making it an almost "dead" edition - whereas 1st-3rd editions can have a robust OSR life.

100% agree with this.

One of the main reasons (in addition to the fact that I don't really wish to double pay for product) I haven't invested in D&D beyond. My books will likely be around for a long time (heck I have all the books 1e forward and still look at them occasionally), let's see if D&D beyond makes it a decade.

5ekyu · Mar 19, 2019

I imagine the next edition of D&D culture and its needs will be as far removed from today's as the current streaming popular D&D culture and needs are from say 3.5.

My gut feeling is were are at a point in RPGs "ttRPGs" which is kind of analogous to the 8-track-cassette-CD-stream era of music delivery. So, pretty much i expect significant changes at a rapid pace ahead fueled by the changing culture and evolving technology.

if new knew with any certainty what that next thing would be like.... i would be patenting, licensing, copyrighting like a banshee whatever i could and not telling you guys a thing until all that was locked down.

Kobold Avenger · Mar 19, 2019

Mort said:
100% agree with this.

One of the main reasons (in addition to the fact that I don't really wish to double pay for product) I haven't invested in D&D beyond. My books will likely be around for a long time (heck I have all the books 1e forward and still look at them occasionally), let's see if D&D beyond makes it a decade.

D&D Beyond might be renamed or rebranded, but I feel that someone might try the Games as Service model. Anyways my thoughts on why it may go this way is the way that monthly comic books seem to be heading, with monthly issues in possible declining sales, but collected trades in print going quite strong, and the rise of services such as Comixology.

Though I know that comics and RPGs are very different models, but comics are often sold at the same places many RPGs are. Certainly there's no longer an in print Dragon or Dungeon magazine anymore, but those things were always more "disposable".

Umbran · Mar 19, 2019

Kobold Avenger said:
Yes there's always the thing about "print is dead" even though I don't think it'll ever truly die, but I feel it's becoming less and less important.

The death of print may have been exaggerated. While big box bookstores are in a decline, independent bookstores have grown about 35% in the past decade, and traditional ebook sales have slacked off some 10%+ in the past couple of years. There's a mixture of reasons for both, but we are left with the fact that the expected ordained death of print... just hasn't materialized.

Sure, I do most of my fiction reading on an e-reader these days. But my gaming? I generally don't use e-print products as my primary source. I use physical books at the table, and my pdfs are for reference when I do prep during lunch at work - they are an extra convenience, if I use them at all.

And some might argue that 4e already is the last edition to emphasize print.

Some might argue it... but some might argue that the world is flat, the sky does not appear blue, and that water is not wet. And they'd be wrong. That some would argue it is not, itself, an argument.

What are the arguments that 5e has somehow not put emphasis on print products? Lay 'em out, so they may be judged.