Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana probably coming to D&D website (Reddit AMA)

[Raith5]

Agreed. I don't believe that for a minute. I don't see how they can stay in business only making one or two products a year. They have to be able to make money and you make money by producing products either in print or electronically. If they don't, Hasbro will fold the product line in a heartbeat.

Agree. I dont fully understand why they are being so guarded about the future of 5e. Is it the old business chesnut of underpromise/overperform? Maybe something about how they intend to use and monetize their online system?

There just seems to be a wide amount of design space and material for players who want to go beyond the basic/ standard format of 5e and either have more advanced options or some material relating the various D&D worlds.

 

[AverageCitizen]

My reading of Mearls' explanation was that the player's source is a separate book from the adventure, so you can get the players' options without having to buy the adventure itself.

The sourcebook would have all the info for creating psionic characters, along with world material for players who are creating characters for the mind flayer campaign. The player's book might also have a chapter written from an in-world perspective on psionics and psionic monsters, the kind of information that a character might have access to or have heard.

The player info is packaged with the player campaign info. So in order to get the Thri-Kreen race, I'd have to buy a $30 book on whatever BS Dark-Sun campaign they are running at cons that year, instead of a sourcebook on how to make my OWN campaign. That annoys me.

 

[AverageCitizen]

Kender and Warforged don't belong in the DMG. They should be in the Monster Manual (or the Players Handbook 2)

You don't get it. There IS NO PHB2. It is not gonna happen. This whole thing is designed to not assume any books are coming out after the DMG. The entire company has an axe over it. If it is not in the core books, there was a chance it was not gonna happen at all.

However, with the success of the core books, they are probably going to be publishing more APs like HotDQ. But that is it. That is all we get from here on out, APs and player guides for them, if we are lucky.

So I am mad, because they should have been SOMEWHERE, and the DMG was the best bet.

Edit: messed up the quote

 

[SkidAce]

The player info is packaged with the player campaign info. So in order to get the Thri-Kreen race, I'd have to buy a $30 book on whatever BS Dark-Sun campaign they are running at cons that year, instead of a sourcebook on how to make my OWN campaign. That annoys me.

That's kinda how I got the bladesinger, although I don't play Forgotten Realms. And the Warforged and Artificer from Ebberoon, which I also do not use.

 

[AverageCitizen]

>You can expect us to do one or two such products a year, to give people enough time to play through a campaign without overwhelming them with new options."

I don't buy that for a second. There was so much content being cooked up for 4e that I couldn't keep up with my players for all the new stuff they wanted to do with their characters. Reversing course might be a good thing for the game and for the DM, but how does that square with the profits that Hasbro is expecting from this division?

There are only a handful of them, now. They could not produce more than that. Because the design team of 4e made grandiose promises to Hasbro and then failed to deliver the profits, the whole D&D operation has been scaled way, way back.

 

[AverageCitizen]

That's kinda how I got the bladesinger, although I don't play Forgotten Realms. And the Warforged and Artificer from Ebberoon, which I also do not use.

I understand what you are saying, and in your position I see that it isn't really different. But I used both the sourcebooks for Eberron and FR, because I create my own campaigns in those settings, but I never used any published adventures for them. But now they are packaging that info with an AP, instead of a sourcebook. I like sourcebooks and I don't like APs, so for me it is different. If you don't like sourcebooks OR APs, it would be pretty much the same.

 

[Mistwell]

>You can expect us to do one or two such products a year, to give people enough time to play through a campaign without overwhelming them with new options."

I don't buy that for a second. There was so much content being cooked up for 4e that I couldn't keep up with my players for all the new stuff they wanted to do with their characters. Reversing course might be a good thing for the game and for the DM, but how does that square with the profits that Hasbro is expecting from this division?

It's long term versus short term profits. Overwhelming people with content is great in the short term, but in the long term it burns people out on a game and you get diminishing returns with every product until you finally release a new version of the game. However long term profits can be realized if you pace the releases over years instead of months. In addition, you can slowly grow the brand that way year after year, without having to reset it and driving some of your core audience away with each reset, and ultimately the brand can (and should) make more than the game itself.

 

[Hussar]

I'm sorry, but, isn't this largely the Pathfinder model?

A couple of rule books per year, with most of the material tied into the Pathfinder modules? Aren't the modules themselves about half module and half rules and setting material?

So, this year you're getting the Rise of the Dragon Queen which has lots of Forgotten Realms goodies, much of which is being added to the Basic Book. Next year we get ... Spell jammer (just for giggles) and we get Spelljammer stuff added to the Basic Rules.

What makes you think that Thri-Kreen, for example, won't be added to the Basic rules?

 

[Scorpio616]

Personally, I thought about not buying anything from WotC since Hasbro supports child slave labor in china.

Got anything corroborating for this? By some folk's definitions, a 17 year old in an american burger dive can be called "child slave labor".

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm sorry, but, isn't this largely the Pathfinder model?

A couple of rule books per year, with most of the material tied into the Pathfinder modules? Aren't the modules themselves about half module and half rules and setting material?

So, this year you're getting the Rise of the Dragon Queen which has lots of Forgotten Realms goodies, much of which is being added to the Basic Book. Next year we get ... Spell jammer (just for giggles) and we get Spelljammer stuff added to the Basic Rules.

What makes you think that Thri-Kreen, for example, won't be added to the Basic rules?

It bears a LOT of resemblance to the pathfinder model. Since that is their big competition, who they need to grab market share from, I suppose that's a good plan!

So I am mad, because they should have been SOMEWHERE, and the DMG was the best bet.

They are gonna be released for free online! This is unacceptable because.....?

The player info is packaged with the player campaign info. So in order to get the Thri-Kreen race, I'd have to buy a $30 book on whatever BS Dark-Sun campaign they are running at cons that year, instead of a sourcebook on how to make my OWN campaign. That annoys me.

Your position seems to be "Ew, I don't like AP's, I want nothing to do with them, I don't want my sourcebook material even touching them and getting AP cooties!"

Fair 'nuff, I suppose, but one might approach this from a position of "Hmph. AP's. Well, maybe I can mine that for ideas, too."