D&D 5E Initial D&D Next Releases Showing Up on Barnes & Noble Website

People always seem to do this math wrong.

"Pathfinder is all in one book!"
"D&D tries to sell us three books, effectively tripling the price of entry!"

Except the Pathfinder Core Rulesbook does not have monsters. The Pathfinder Bestiary is equivalent to the Monster Manual. So really Pathfinder is selling you two books to D&D's three.

Oh my gods, read the thread. You people and your not-thread-reading. I swear.

You're right in that Pathfinder is not a better deal, or at least not a much better deal. I've made that point repeatedly in this thread, which you would know had you read it.

I didn't even mention Pathfinder in my post. I was just saying that if Wizards continues with their historical three-book content division and pricing scheme, it's going to look queer when compared to its contemporaries, who do not do that anymore (if they ever did). Even Pathfinder is not the norm; most of these big-single-book games include some kind of bestiary appendix.

Personally, I don't expect a bestiary appendix from D&D; paying for a separate monster book is perfectly reasonable provided that is release is timely. But if (and I emphasize the IF) we are talking about an indivisible $150 price tag for a tabletop RPG, that is /weird/, no matter what else is on the market.
 
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There's a difference though. Pathfinder core book has both player and GM info in it. It is effectively two books in one. If WotC sticks to tradition then it's $50 for a book designed solely for the player. Though if they are breaking tradition and it does cover both player and GM stuff then there will be less gripping I think.

So including chapter for DMs on running a game justifies the $50 price tag then?

I prefer a separate PHB-DMG-MM. Don't get me wrong, for $50 I expect it to be good, both in content and quality, but $50 seems about right for a big core rulebook in 2014.

Sorry it to burst anyone's bubble, but the days of $20 hardcover PHBs ended about 1990.
 


I'll edit out the quote of you. I don't have time to do the assigned reading. Will this affect my grade?

If you don't care about reading our posts, why should we care about reading yours?

As social contracts go, it's not a goddamn nuclear disarmament treaty.
 

So including chapter for DMs on running a game justifies the $50 price tag then?

I prefer a separate PHB-DMG-MM. Don't get me wrong, for $50 I expect it to be good, both in content and quality, but $50 seems about right for a big core rulebook in 2014.

Sorry it to burst anyone's bubble, but the days of $20 hardcover PHBs ended about 1990.

Which is what I think is the real contention here. People want to make sure that their $50 is buying a lot compared to what it can get them if they go to another company. If I'm paying $50 to get one book, but can get in essence two books for the same price then I'm more likely to buy the two book deal. People are just expressing their concerns that their money will not be worth spending on the books unless WotC really makes them worth it. Great art is nice and fancy, but at the heart there needs to be a lot of meat to the rules to make that $50 buy in worth it just for one book.
 

Why are we assuming the DMG will be $50? They say they want to get more DMs into the game... make the DMG and MMI 35 or 40.

And just to add my 2 coppers:
I want 3 books
$50 each is just fine
I don't/can't go to FLGS
No one in my group reads Enworld other than me
 


I don't have a huge beef with that price level. If WotC makes core books that I actually want to read and not feel like I'm reading a textbook and has a good amount of meat to it, I'm in. That being said, I hope that option books after the core don't cost that much, I can't see an option book being worth $50.
 

We should also keep in mind that, according to Mike Mearls's statements from a while ago, the DM-side stuff will be in the basic set and online. The DMG will assume you're already an expert DM, and will be mostly rules modules.
 

We should also keep in mind that, according to Mike Mearls's statements from a while ago, the DM-side stuff will be in the basic set and online. The DMG will assume you're already an expert DM, and will be mostly rules modules.

Which is what I've been trying to say to [MENTION=48965]Imaro[/MENTION] , that the DMG is likely not necessary to play the game at all as it will instead be presented as a series of optional rules.
 

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