D&D 5E A Board Game style Release Schedule

[BryonD]

Depends on the board game. D&D has far, far more in common with some board games (Descent, Dungeon, Talisman, etc) than it does with many other RPGs (FATE, Fiasco, Word of Darkness).

This I agree with in the relative sense. Of course, you can not make the same low release + long sales life case for these.

And they are still not truly "RPGs". 4E was called comparable to Descent on occasion and this was met with howls. So I suppose the overlap depends on the argument being made.

Treating RPG releases like other hobby game releases makes sense.

Only within reason, and I don't agree that this is within reason for the "release schedule" conversation. The nature of the on-going "new adventures" of RPGs vs starting at the same point every time of board games is one (among many) major difference that is very relevant here.

Other than Pathfinder - which is mimicking D&D - few other RPG releases monthly content or waves of regular splatbooks. Most space out their releases and focus on larger noteworthy expansions. Like board games and similar hobby games.

Such as? I'm happy to agree with the release model for any highly played and long lasting RPG. But you are going to need to name an RPG that has been out with one edition for more than 5 years, has very slow splat release, and is recognized as a major brand name in the marketplace.

You say "other than Pathfinder". But the case has been made that D&D is "failing" because of updates every 2 to 5 years. Pathfinder is going on six and going strong. So perhaps Pathfinder *IS* the exception, but is it the exception demonstrating success?

 

[Shasarak]

Maybe if D&D limits its expansions, a single edition of the game will last 20 years.
1e was one of the longest lasting editions and it had sparse expansions.

ADnD was getting monthly expansions in the form of the Dragon magazine.

5e is getting "sparse" expansions.

 

[Reynard]

Depends on the board game. D&D has far, far more in common with some board games (Descent, Dungeon, Talisman, etc) than it does with many other RPGs (FATE, Fiasco, Word of Darkness).

Yes, some versions of D&D have more in common with some board games designed to emulate some version of D&D than they do with some versions of some RPGs that are designed to not emulate some versions of D&D. This seems intuitive.

Treating RPG releases like other hobby game releases makes sense. Other than Pathfinder - which is mimicking D&D - few other RPG releases monthly content or waves of regular splatbooks. Most space out their releases and focus on larger noteworthy expansions. Like board games and similar hobby games.

There are lots of RPGs that have robust release schedules and lots that do not have robust release schedules. Some are more successful than others, but there is not necessarily any corollary between success and release schedule. You mentioned World of Darkness above, which has quite a robust release schedule (almost 300 products in its catalog), actually emulating, say, 2nd Ed D&D with all its myriad settings in WoD's various monstrous subtypes and campaigns. DTRPG lists almost 300 FATE Core products, 18 of which are from Evil Hat. FATE Core was published in 2013. Your argument does not really stand up to scrutiny.

 

[darjr]

I'm happy with this release cycle. I don't know if it's sustainable, but I think it's a better attempt than the churn, book, digital, or edition.
Further I think it's a great edition to do this with. It seems to me to be timeless. Almost like a throwback but yet new fangled and inventive.

I don't have any great ideas how interest can be maintained or grown, I do know that, personally, the churn contributes to my interest waning.

 

[scruffygrognard]

I'd like to see WotC work out an OGL-esque license so that other companies can publish short adventures that can be plugged into any campaign setting. As a lazy DM it would be great to see more pre-published adventures out there.

I'm happy with a slow release schedule for rulebooks but think they're missing the mark by not publishing short adventures or offering converted classic adventures. Those would sell well, even if sold solely in pdf format.

I'd like to see a few campaign settings released over the next few years. Flesh out Forgotten Realms, since it's the default setting, and move on to Greyhawk, Planescape, and Dark Sun into order to vary the types of settings that are officially supported.

 

[Sailor Moon]

The problem I see is the fact that Wizards released tons of rules and options in the previous editions so they think they need to tighten the release schedule to an almost extreme. I think they are going in the wrong direction and they haven't learned from the previous editions.

Stay away from rules bloat is the simple solution. They should put most of their focus on FR and put out loads of books on the setting such as short term adventures, regional books, past lore, etc... Throwing in the occasional rule supplement is fine as long as you don't go nuts.

I think the lack of support is going to turn a lot of player's away.

 

[Staffan]

I'd like to see WotC work out an OGL-esque license so that other companies can publish short adventures that can be plugged into any campaign setting. As a lazy DM it would be great to see more pre-published adventures out there.

They don't need to work one out, they already have one. It's called the Open Gaming License. It works perfectly fine, they just need to release the rules under it.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm happy with a slow release schedule for rulebooks but think they're missing the mark by not publishing short adventures or offering converted classic adventures. Those would sell well, even if sold solely in pdf format.

What possible evidence do you have to presume this is true?

Just because *you* might want to buy something like this... does not prove that enough other people would as well, to make the spending of man-hours to produce said material actually result in a profitable exercise on WotC's part.

 

[Sailor Moon]

What possible evidence do you have to presume this is true?

Just because *you* might want to buy something like this... does not prove that enough other people would as well, to make the spending of man-hours to produce said material actually result in a profitable exercise on WotC's part.

And there is no evidence to support Wizard's theory about an extremely slow release schedule is the way to go.

They have gone from one extreme to the next and I bet you that cperkins is correct. Focusing on non rule content is the way to go.

 

[scruffygrognard]

I'm going with my gut DEFCON 1. PDF sales of older materials seems to be doing well so, by extension, offering pdf conversions for 5th edition would probably do well.

No need to get snarky.