D&D 5E Light release schedule: More harm than good?

[chriton227]

I'm afraid that this is the sign they won't do any more rules modules after this and I really need my psionics.

If you absolutely need psionics for your game, then 5e may not be the right system for you. In every edition of D&D after 1e, Psionics has been an optional module that wasn't published until 1-3 years after the release of the PHB. Even if WotC was planning on the splatbook release pace of the prior editions, you would still be waiting for months or possibly even years.

 

[jayoungr]

I'm looking for more rules, more classes, more races, more feats more spells, moar more!

My impression is that 5E is trying to put this power back into the hands of DMs, and encouraging them to use it. After all, if your ideas are "crazy," then you know better than anyone else what kind of things your game needs.

 

[Zaran]

It's definitely going to hurt them because the one book they are putting out this season I will not buy. Especially since everything I was looking forward to is going to be a free download. On the other hand, I would probably buy every setting book and non-adventure path module they are not putting out. You can't tell me that they lose money when they put out a product. If printing too many books is an issue then put them out in PDF. I would even buy Princess of the Pock Lips if it was in PDF.

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

Where in the space of logic does it mean ownership of something makes you right?

In the space of logic that makes up the entirety of intellectual property law and the space of logic that makes up the majority of regular property law. And both of those are based on legal concepts going back thousands of years.

So, in other words, the space of logic that exists in the very concept of ownership. And the space of logic that makes the work of people like Morrus or WotC possible to begin with.

 

[chriton227]

It's definitely going to hurt them because the one book they are putting out this season I will not buy. Especially since everything I was looking forward to is going to be a free download. On the other hand, I would probably buy every setting book and non-adventure path module they are not putting out. You can't tell me that they lose money when they put out a product. If printing too many books is an issue then put them out in PDF. I would even buy Princess of the Pock Lips if it was in PDF.

They very well can lose money when putting out a professional grade product. Once you factor in the author's, editors, and layout folk's time, plus the cost of commissioning the artwork and maps, the cost of managing the project and doing things like getting an ISBN number, and any cost of playtesting (assumed it is done in-house) it could easily cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce a module. If they are selling it online for $10, the online store is going to take their cut (probably 25-30%) or they need to pay to buy or develop a store infrastructure, they are looking at making maybe $7.50 per copy at best. They will need to sell thousands of copies to break even. My understanding of the RPG PDF industry (which very well may be wrong) is that if a product sells thousands of copies is it doing really well, and adventures tend to have a low number of sales per player of the game just by their very nature.

 

[TreChriron]

But I don't want adventures? ...

I'm afraid that this is the sign they won't do any more rules modules after this and I really need my psionics.

Check out Atomik Psioniks, it's a generic plug in for any game system. The free "how to use" document shows you how you can use the Atomik supplements with level-based and d20 based systems.

 

[Zaran]

They very well can lose money when putting out a professional grade product. Once you factor in the author's, editors, and layout folk's time, plus the cost of commissioning the artwork and maps, the cost of managing the project and doing things like getting an ISBN number, and any cost of playtesting (assumed it is done in-house) it could easily cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce a module. If they are selling it online for $10, the online store is going to take their cut (probably 25-30%) or they need to pay to buy or develop a store infrastructure, they are looking at making maybe $7.50 per copy at best. They will need to sell thousands of copies to break even. My understanding of the RPG PDF industry (which very well may be wrong) is that if a product sells thousands of copies is it doing really well, and adventures tend to have a low number of sales per player of the game just by their very nature.

And the most well known RPG out there can't sell enough books to warrant the production? That's pretty sad.

 

[chriton227]

And the most well known RPG out there can't sell enough books to warrant the production? That's pretty sad.

It is sad, but the reality is tabletop RPGs are a very niche market that is also highly fragmented, and while D&D might be the best known brand, it hasn't necessarily been the most popular brand recently. So out of the small percentage of the population that plays TTRPGs, only a fraction of them play D&D, and of that fraction only a small fraction (I'd estimate about 20%) are DMs, and of the DMs only a fraction of them use published adventures, and of the ones that use published adventures, only some of them will be interested in any particular adventure.

Just absolute back of the napkin numbers combined with some wild guesses for percentages, I'd say at best 1 person in 500 currently plays TTRPGs. With a domestic population of 300 million, that would be 600 thousand RPG players. It's a highly fragmented market, I'd be generous saying that 25% of those are currently playing D&D, meaning 150,000 RPG players. 20% DMing would be 30,000. Judging by surveys I've seen here and on other sites, it looks like a pretty even split between people using published modules and going completely homebrew. So that would be 15,000 potential customers. Tastes vary, and the adventure might not fit everyone's style or the level range that the DM is looking for (or even the DM's budget). Getting 50% of those potential customers to buy the module would be a smashing success (especially for a PDF), so that would be 7500 sales. Say after the cost of distribution and printing, they are making $7.50 per copy and you are looking at $56,250 in revenue as an example of a smashing success. That really isn't that much money once you start adding up the costs of production and advertising.

Realistically PDF products usually have much lower sales numbers than print products, so if they went PDF only they would probably only sell 25% of that number of copies for about the same revenue per copy, or about $14,000.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I'm really enjoying WoTC's pace myself. No need for Complete Fighter III at this point. If they avoid endless splat books that just keep driving the power curve higher I'll be delighted. Maybe Pathfinder is the game some should be playing? I think they have 135 hardback books out at this point.

 

[Sailor Moon]

I'm really enjoying WoTC's pace myself. No need for Complete Fighter III at this point. If they avoid endless splat books that just keep driving the power curve higher I'll be delighted. Maybe Pathfinder is the game some should be playing? I think they have 135 hardback books out at this point.

*sighs*

Why are you using extremes? You can have a healthy release schedule without needing a Fighters Handbook III or the like.