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

[painted_klown]

It'd also be nice if WotC released a product like Pathfinder's pawns. They're such a cheap and handy alternative to minis. They could even improve on them by giving them a dash of plastic, making them wet/dry erase friendly, so you can number or name them.

A BIG +1.

I so much wish they would do this. They could release several boxes already.

1. A box of "hero" pawns that could cover every variation of PC that can be created from the PHB. Both male & female, of course.

2. A box that covers the MM.

3. A box for all of the monsters (not already in the MM, if any) & NPCs from LMoP.

Repeat box #3 for HotDQ, TRoT, and PotA.

That's 6 boxes of pawns already. Of course the "Hero" and "MM" boxes would be bigger, and more costly, but you would get use out of them for the entire lifespan of the game. It would be worth the purchase IMO.

 

[Jester David]

One thing about the slower release schedule: it encourages fan content.
I never really felt the urge to make my own fighter build for 4e, but I did for 5e. And knowing there might not be an elemental barbarian or druid is encouraging me to think about making those for my blog.

5e is really designed around people making the game their own. We don't need monthly books or accessories to get excited about the game, not any more.

 

[Grainger]

I really like Paizo's game aids - their Face Cards are really useful (I make great use of them even though I don't run the corresponding adventures) and while I haven't tried the pawns, or their battle mats, that all looks good. I wonder, though, if it would even be viable for Wizards to also produce similar products - presumably Paizo have cornered the market on this sort of stuff? Plus, if 5e is meant to get people back onto gridless play as the default mode, then producing substitutes for miniatures might be sending a mixed message (but then again, Wizards are putting out "Heroes of the Realms" minis, etc.).

Still, personally, I'd much rather see Wizards release a variety of game aids than endless modules and splat books... but that's just my taste - I have no idea what would be best for most players, or for the future of the game itself.

 

[tomservo999]

A BIG +1.

I so much wish they would do this. They could release several boxes already.

1. A box of "hero" pawns that could cover every variation of PC that can be created from the PHB. Both male & female, of course.

2. A box that covers the MM.

3. A box for all of the monsters (not already in the MM, if any) & NPCs from LMoP.

Repeat box #3 for HotDQ, TRoT, and PotA.

That's 6 boxes of pawns already. Of course the "Hero" and "MM" boxes would be bigger, and more costly, but you would get use out of them for the entire lifespan of the game. It would be worth the purchase IMO.

A big YES to this as well. For me, this would be more preferable to the current "spend $100 for 30 blind draw minis" option. I will probably be buying a lot of the Pathfinder pawns minis for my game.

 

[Xohar17]

While I preffer a slow release schedule, I'm not sure if the actual announced schedule is exactly what I want, it seems to be extremely slow, with only two themed big adventure paths per year, and now that it seems we won't even get a splatbook along with one of the ones (elemental themed) that I whink it would have bennefited the most from one, and no other standalone adventures or modules, it worries me that there simply won't be enough aterial I care abut in this new edition.

To me an ideal yearly release schedule would be:
2 big adventure paths
4 standalone 32 pages adventures/ modules. 2 for each themed "season" (either linked or not to the theme, or maybe one linked and other unrelated, so as to offer more variety).
1-2 splatbook per year, related to one or both the adventure paths (Maybe only one of the paths in a year needs to be so strongly themed that it would benefit from a splatbook, for example a psionics splatbook for a dark sun AP; or they could make two APs in the same year using the same common theme, so that they would only really "need" one splatbook)

 

[Sailor Moon]

I just don't get their fascination with these "end of the world" types of AP's. What happened to all these stand alone adventure modules that would only level your PC a few levels that really had no impact on the overall setting?

 

[Xohar17]

I just don't get their fascination with these "end of the world" types of AP's. What happened to all these stand alone adventure modules that would only level your PC a few levels that really had no impact on the overall setting?

Well, we have the Expeditions adventures, although they're on the much shorter end of the spectrum (also they're Adventurers's league exclusives, but you can fnd them easily with a quick google search).

 

[Sailor Moon]

I was just going back through my old copies of Dungeon Magazine and I must say that it was the best setup ever. I mean what better way to bring in adventures was to let the customers submit their ideas and they get printed. A lot of the adventures that came through were fantastic.

Imagine this turned into an online format where you could download them for a small price and have them on your laptop, tablets, and phones.

It would be a win win.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

Paizo slowed their release schedule way the eff down, from the monthly hardcovers of WotC to 3 books a year. This has helped the game last longer than any other 3e variant (5+ years versus the 3 or 3.0 and the 5 or 3.5e), but the game has reached saturation. I'm pretty much done buying the hardcovers. I might buy the PDFs for review purposes, but I have enough content on my shelf for 3-4 more campaigns without doubling concepts.

Now, if Pathfinder hadn't gone to monthly Player Companions and crunch campaign books that might have helped, but after the first three hardcover accessories any extra crunch slipped into "optional" or "bloat" territory. Paizo could have called the line "done" as early as 2011,

I just want to add to this point. Pathfinder, like 5E, is a rather complete game with just the core. Their first major splat book, The Advanced Players Guide, was fantastic. But in my opinion, it was also the saturation point for player content. At least for classes, feats, spells, and the like. I also like Ultimate Equipment, but every other hardcover player book has been 90% bloat that kind of makes the game worse.

Not everyone will share that opinion, of course. But while there are players who feel that there can never be too many options, there are many others who are turned away by it.

That's why they should be careful about what they release. There needs to be a plan in place to provide exactly the pieces that improve the game.

 

[Sailor Moon]

I just want to add to this point. Pathfinder, like 5E, is a rather complete game with just the core. Their first major splat book, The Advanced Players Guide, was fantastic. But in my opinion, it was also the saturation point for player content. At least for classes, feats, spells, and the like. I also like Ultimate Equipment, but every other hardcover player book has been 90% bloat that kind of makes the game worse.

Not everyone will share that opinion, of course. But while there are players who feel that there can never be too many options, there are many others who are turned away by it.

That's why they should be careful about what they release. There needs to be a plan in place to provide exactly the pieces that improve the game.

I've spoken with a few of the devs on their forums and they've basically said that it's up to DM's what they want to use in their games. If they want their games to be based on just the corebook then that's fine, if they want to allow everything then the option is there. Same goes with any content that can pose problems. They know they can't fix everything single thing that is wrong with the system so they leave it up to individual DM's to leave ot out of their games if they don't want it there.

Paizo is actually doing it right and the proof is in the pudding. They are still going strong and I'm glad they use a bit of common sense in their goals.