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

[HobbitFan]

Bryon raises a good point.
And it's one that several people on the forums raised in January.

I hope the answer is that they are working on something awesome they haven't told us about yet.
It's possible....they kept the news of the new computer game stealth silent.
I keep saying this like a broken record...they need to talk to the fans about what their plans are.

 

[Sailor Moon]

I want table top RPG products. I couldn't give a rats arse about card games, board games, a movie, and video games. There are plenty of other fantasy RPG video games coming out that satisfy that itch. There is a new Elder Scrolls and Fallout coming so I'm not worried about a D&D video game.

 

[jayoungr]

I keep saying this like a broken record...they need to talk to the fans about what their plans are.

Eh, that can backfire bigtime, though. They talked about their plans with Trapdoor/Morningfire, and that fell through, and look at the amount of complaining and backlash that resulted. I can't blame them for wanting to avoid that.

 

[HobbitFan]

Eh, that can backfire bigtime, though. They talked about their plans with Trapdoor/Morningfire, and that fell through, and look at the amount of complaining and backlash that resulted. I can't blame them for wanting to avoid that.

I think you have the explanation for their behavior there. They must figure that any bad PR from being silent and uncommuinicative is better than bad pr from plans falling through.

 

[Nellisir]

My best guess is that they're working on the tie-in products for the movie - an adventure, maybe a setting, board games, video games, card games, toys, etc etc.

Of course, with the ongoing lawsuit they can't currently be certain that there even will be a movie, so announcing anything would be premature.

That doesn't make any sense. Why would they have RPG writers working on card games, toys, video games, board games? To tie into a movie that's in tied up in legal red tape and at least two years out? Or did I miss something and there's a script and director and casting and etc?

I think there's a second wave of products coming. Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, for one. Monster Manual II. And they're trying to build up an inventory of online articles, or reinvent Dragon or something.

 

[Sailor Moon]

Eh, that can backfire bigtime, though. They talked about their plans with Trapdoor/Morningfire, and that fell through, and look at the amount of complaining and backlash that resulted. I can't blame them for wanting to avoid that.

This is nothing new though. Happens all the time and by now is something that people are familiar with. I don't buy the backfire excuse any more. I could understand if it happened all the time but things happen and most people know it comes with the territory.

 

[jayoungr]

I don't buy the backfire excuse any more. I could understand if it happened all the time but things happen and most people know it comes with the territory.

That doesn't mean they don't want to avoid it, though. I'm not saying that silence is objectively the best approach; I'm just saying that I could imagine someone at WotC thinking it's the best approach.

 

[Jester David]

I have most of the Pathfinder modules and you have only named just a fraction of what's out there, plus those are AP's. Changing treasure is probably the easiest thing to do because you can just remove it and add what you like based on how much gold you want circulating.

Once again, if you have time to read them run them, then you have time to quickly convert them. If you are that pushed for time then you couldn't run an already converted module anyway.

I'm sure I could name far more subsystems if I looked. Lots of modules have a subsystem somewhere. Some are super easy to convert, and some need work.

Treasure is easy, but you do need to be aware. The cost of all things needs to be taken into consideration. The economics of Parhfinder are fairly different. Getting a 10,000gp item is not a big deal in PF, but it's huge for 5e.

Converting monsters can be tricky. Not every encounter will map over easily. Not every monster will be the right Challenge, and be higher or lower. And if you just map things over 1:1 the players will likely out level the story. You advance significantly faster, even beyond level 3.

So while converting is not *hard*, it is not effortless. Right now I'm poking away at Gardmore Abbey and some rooms just don't easily convert. I have a beholder that's 4 challenge higher than it needs to be.

2: You replace them with traps in the DMG.

There are all of 8 traps in the DMG. You'll run out quickly.

 

[Sailor Moon]

I'm sure I could name far more subsystems if I looked. Lots of modules have a subsystem somewhere. Some are super easy to convert, and some need work.

Treasure is easy, but you do need to be aware. The cost of all things needs to be taken into consideration. The economics of Parhfinder are fairly different. Getting a 10,000gp item is not a big deal in PF, but it's huge for 5e.

Converting monsters can be tricky. Not every encounter will map over easily. Not every monster will be the right Challenge, and be higher or lower. And if you just map things over 1:1 the players will likely out level the story. You advance significantly faster, even beyond level 3.

So while converting is not *hard*, it is not effortless. Right now I'm poking away at Gardmore Abbey and some rooms just don't easily convert. I have a beholder that's 4 challenge higher than it needs to be.


There are all of 8 traps in the DMG. You'll run out quickly.

We'll how about you go through them and make a list?

Wh can't you use a good trap more than once?

You are really trying to make this more difficult than it really is.

 

[Sailor Moon]

That doesn't mean they don't want to avoid it, though. I'm not saying that silence is objectively the best approach; I'm just saying that I could imagine someone at WotC thinking it's the best approach.

Trying to avoid every little pitfall is a fantasy. Stuff happens in the business world and sometimes things get pushed back or changed or even dropped. That still doesn't mean they need to keep people in the dark.