Mercurius
Legend
This has been discussed in other threads, but I deemed it worthy of its own. Here's the relevant quote from Mr. Michael Mearls:
"We're looking at two storylines a year. Right now we have plans laid down for stories up through 2018."
There are other quotes, but that's probably the clearest that I've come across.
So what are the implications? What can we take away from that, and other quotes? I'm talking about anything - products, philosophy, licensing, etc.
It would seem that WotC has nine storylines planned to some degree, including Tyranny of Dragons in 2014 and Sons of the Apocalypse (aka "Elemental Evil") in early 2015. That would leave seven more storylines - late 2015, 2016-18.
Both seem to have two books, although ToD has two adventure books while SotA seems to have a mega-adventure book--presumably 300ish pages due to the $50 price tag--as well as an "Adventurer's Handbook;" its msrp of $40 makes me think this is probably going to be around 200 pages (192?).
So another takeaway: there isn't a specific format for storylines, other than two books.
Now what we don't know is if there are going to be other non-storyline specific splats, one-shot adventures, or campaign guides. My best guess based upon what I've read, at least for the foreseeable future, is "No, probably not, and maybe" respective. Seeing that Mearls has repeatedly stated that they want 5E to avoid bloat, non-storyline splats seem unlikely. Given the skeleton staff of WotC's D&D department (15 total, 7 on D&D design), it seems unlikely that we'll see (m)any one-shot adventures. I think our best best for non-storyline books would be campaign guides. I mean, given 5E's oldschoolish philosophy, it would seem odd that they would limit official material to story arcs and not provide something for the "continued adventures in the world of..."
All that said, I think we're going to see 4-5 hardcover books a year, 4 being storyline-related and one being something else - probably a campaign setting. And then we might see one or two other items, stuff like DM screens and other play aids.
I think there's also an implication that 5E's game license will be somewhat allowing, certainly moreso than the GSL if not quite as "anything goes" as the OGL. But with the Basic Game free for all, I wouldn't be surprised if the 5E license is quite open-ended.
What say you? Anything else that can be extrapolated from the quote above or Mearls' recent statements?
"We're looking at two storylines a year. Right now we have plans laid down for stories up through 2018."
There are other quotes, but that's probably the clearest that I've come across.
So what are the implications? What can we take away from that, and other quotes? I'm talking about anything - products, philosophy, licensing, etc.
It would seem that WotC has nine storylines planned to some degree, including Tyranny of Dragons in 2014 and Sons of the Apocalypse (aka "Elemental Evil") in early 2015. That would leave seven more storylines - late 2015, 2016-18.
Both seem to have two books, although ToD has two adventure books while SotA seems to have a mega-adventure book--presumably 300ish pages due to the $50 price tag--as well as an "Adventurer's Handbook;" its msrp of $40 makes me think this is probably going to be around 200 pages (192?).
So another takeaway: there isn't a specific format for storylines, other than two books.
Now what we don't know is if there are going to be other non-storyline specific splats, one-shot adventures, or campaign guides. My best guess based upon what I've read, at least for the foreseeable future, is "No, probably not, and maybe" respective. Seeing that Mearls has repeatedly stated that they want 5E to avoid bloat, non-storyline splats seem unlikely. Given the skeleton staff of WotC's D&D department (15 total, 7 on D&D design), it seems unlikely that we'll see (m)any one-shot adventures. I think our best best for non-storyline books would be campaign guides. I mean, given 5E's oldschoolish philosophy, it would seem odd that they would limit official material to story arcs and not provide something for the "continued adventures in the world of..."
All that said, I think we're going to see 4-5 hardcover books a year, 4 being storyline-related and one being something else - probably a campaign setting. And then we might see one or two other items, stuff like DM screens and other play aids.
I think there's also an implication that 5E's game license will be somewhat allowing, certainly moreso than the GSL if not quite as "anything goes" as the OGL. But with the Basic Game free for all, I wouldn't be surprised if the 5E license is quite open-ended.
What say you? Anything else that can be extrapolated from the quote above or Mearls' recent statements?
