D&D 5E New survey from WotC about boxed sets

As a bit more context, "Descent to Avernus is getting a companion box set in September that includes some of these items specifically aimed at that adventure, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they are hashing out something similar for the Eberron book:

Infernal fortune finds form! From the streets of Baldur’s Gate to the front lines of the Blood War, the dice you cast might be your last. This accessory contains resources to enhance the experience of playing Baldur's Gate™: Descent Into Avernus™, a Dungeons & Dragons adventure book sold separately.

• Eleven dice (two d20s, one d12, two d10s, one d8, four d6s, one d4).
• A durable, lined dice tray, which also works as part of a two-piece dice box.
• 20 double-sided cards with encounter tables and story content for the devils and demons of the Blood War, featuring exclusive art from Max Dunbar
• 2 exclusive cards with bonus Baldur's Gate™: Decent into Avernus™ content (Strange Encounters and Trinkets One Finds in Avernus)
• Foldout color map of Avernus, the hellish setting of Baldur's Gate™: Decent into Avernus™ (10.5” x 15.75.” For player use.)
• Sizing chart for Blood War demons and devils

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dra...XWZBZN3NVHJ&psc=1&refRID=HYB9MJJ2XXWZBZN3NVHJ

Arnwolf666 said:

I hate boxed sets with a passion. I love Hardback books. Just my taste.

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I find A-1 sauce helps the taste of boxed sets.

Parmandur said:

Nate Stewart said on Spoilers & Swag that sales for Ravnica were excellent, and would be effecting their long term business strategy. A Ravnica box set seems possible, though they already have sold most of the contents under discussion in this survey for Ravnica last year (the "Maps & Miscellany" package, the dice set, and "Krenko's Way" cover most of the items involved).

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I didn't know that, good for WotC! Based on those products you've listed, you're likely right that they want to move on to something else.

I'd say the likeliest box set they are thinking of is for Eberron. We already know that a book is on they way, so it makes a lot of sense to release a box set for people to quickly start a game there. Plus it aligns pretty well with the questions in the survey as Eberron would require a slim rules book.

I'd be pretty happy with that, that way Eberron gets an official adventure, but also doesn't take up on of the big adventure book slots.

To me, with the questions they asked and who they sent the survey out to (i.e. people who follow them on Facebook and Twitter) this survey has the feel of them seeing if the kind of fans who follow them on Facebook/Twitter would be interested in buying a campaign setting boxed set that was targeted at the folks who are buying boxed sets from Target.

I know there was an interview posted with someone from the D&D team who said that the reason the Essentials boxed set was coming was because Target specifically asked to partner with them for a product that people who had bought the Starter Set could pick up as a second product (that's also why it's a Target exclusive). This survey has the hallmarks of them trying to think of another product that they could sell through Target if the Essentials kit is a success and Target wants more (or if another big box retailer is looking to do the same thing). Why else ask about including dice and character sheets and a rules-lite version of D&D in the box?

FWIW - I would actually love to see what they could do with a mass market setting box. Just from a design question perspective - what do you include in that kind of box? How much can you put in there for the presumably $25 price point? What kinds of setting info are you going to include for folks who are buying a boxed set as their second or third (or even first!) D&D purchase? How much adventure do you include and how much setting info?

(Actually I'd love to see the market research on putting out a boxed set to Target in the summer and following it up with a hardcover book in the fall aimed at a less casual audience. Dunno if it would be a good idea, but if they've got this channel to a broader audience for new gamers why not leverage it?)

Parmandur said:

As a bit more context, "Descent to Avernus is getting a companion box set in September that includes some of these items specifically aimed at that adventure, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they are hashing out something similar for the Eberron book:

Infernal fortune finds form! From the streets of Baldur’s Gate to the front lines of the Blood War, the dice you cast might be your last. This accessory contains resources to enhance the experience of playing Baldur's Gate™: Descent Into Avernus™, a Dungeons & Dragons adventure book sold separately.

• Eleven dice (two d20s, one d12, two d10s, one d8, four d6s, one d4).
• A durable, lined dice tray, which also works as part of a two-piece dice box.
• 20 double-sided cards with encounter tables and story content for the devils and demons of the Blood War, featuring exclusive art from Max Dunbar
• 2 exclusive cards with bonus Baldur's Gate™: Decent into Avernus™ content (Strange Encounters and Trinkets One Finds in Avernus)
• Foldout color map of Avernus, the hellish setting of Baldur's Gate™: Decent into Avernus™ (10.5” x 15.75.” For player use.)
• Sizing chart for Blood War demons and devils

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dra...XWZBZN3NVHJ&psc=1&refRID=HYB9MJJ2XXWZBZN3NVHJ

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So apparently they're combining the various support accessories for the hardcovers that have been previously sold separately into a single box. Makes sense.

gyor said:

Al Qadim IS FR, Can here to be specific, I think you mean not Faerun. I get being sick of the swordcoast, but Faerun has other really cool areas.

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I'm perfectly aware Zakhara is in FR. I do have all the 2E boxed sets and other material for the setting after all.

FR was ok, but all the peripheral settings (Al-Qadim, Maztica and Kara-Tur and The Horde) were more interesting (and that's saying something, considering I hate almost all things Oriental - Kara-Tur should not be more interesting to me).

If the first box is FR, they will have a devil of a time uning the place, since 4E decided to nuke the setting (...again...).

Then again, if they do something like Dark Sun, I'd hate to see them screw it up by trying to make the setting another "everything goes" place. Tieflings and Dragonborn have no place in DS, and I'm afraid they'd create some idiotic justification to have them walking around...

BronzeDragon said:

I'm perfectly aware Zakhara is in FR. I do have all the 2E boxed sets and other material for the setting after all.

FR was ok, but all the peripheral settings (Al-Qadim, Maztica and Kara-Tur and The Horde) were more interesting (and that's saying something, considering I hate almost all things Oriental - Kara-Tur should not be more interesting to me).

If the first box is FR, they will have a devil of a time uning the place, since 4E decided to nuke the setting (...again...).

Then again, if they do something like Dark Sun, I'd hate to see them screw it up by trying to make the setting another "everything goes" place. Tieflings and Dragonborn have no place in DS, and I'm afraid they'd create some idiotic justification to have them walking around...

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They've already walked the FR back from the 4E changes, across a number of books over the years.

Mike Mearls went over the Class/Race situation for Dark Sun in an episode of the Happy Fun Hour. As he laid it out, in detail, an official 5E Dark Sun would limit Race and Class options for flavor, and he detailed which specific Subclasses that would entail.

Just my thoughts. I like the idea of boxed sets (perhaps nostalgia ). On the other hand, I don't really like "campaigns" so much. (I haven't bought any of the adventure paths.)

What I think would work better for me would be a campaign guide (background("fluff"), unique monsters, spells, classes, etc.), perhaps with a big map. But instead of a series of inter-connected and plotted-out adventures, I would love a box with like 10 short adventures of low to mid-level and maybe one of higher level. All of them consistent with and featuring the setting. Heck, I'd even skip the big map, if there was enough of a general description to set up the mini-adventures as a campaign, if you wanted.

Parmandur said:

They've already walked the FR back from the 4E changes, across a number of books over the years.

Mike Mearls went over the Class/Race situation for Dark Sun in an episode of the Happy Fun Hour. As he laid it out, in detail, an official 5E Dark Sun would limit Race and Class options for flavor, and he detailed which specific Subclasses that would entail.

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All good stuff. Thanks for the heads up.

I stopped following FR when 4E came out, and I haven't bought any of the faux-mini-gazetteers bundled in with useless adventures, so I'm totally out of the loop on the current state of FR.

So the D&D Essentials Kit, which handles character creation (which the Starter Set does not) and has an intro adventure, is already coming out this month at Target. What if the next box set, which this may be about, is another one that will start as a Target exclusive and will be something like the Forgotten Realms Essentials Kit and will be a sequel/add-on for the first box? Considering one of the items we could choose was the simplified/intro/whatever it was called rules insert and even the Realms could have something like that for setting-specific race and class info, like the stuff we have already seen in a few of the hardcover books.