D&D 5E What would be your ideal 5E yearly product output?

[The Myopic Sniper]

I would be happy with nothing but Story Arcs if we got about 16 pages of well produced free splat content per month. Otherwise, yeah, at some point I would like to see a big book of splat content, but no more than once per year and maybe keep it separate from organized play.

 

[Celtavian]

Let me see.

1. Articles with new content.
2. A splatbook for each class group per ten months to a year.
3. Some standalone modules of varying levels every three months. A 15 to 20 module now and again to finish off those final levels after doing a big module.
4. One or two big modules a year.
5. A big setting book once ever two or three years. Preferably a main setting like Forgotten Realms or Eberron. Then a setting that can add on to any setting like Planescape.
6. One smaller setting book based on one of the previous big setting books once or twice a year.
7. A monster book every year.
6. An additional DM tool every six months to a year featuring NPCs, magic items, and/or traps. Things useful to a DM that enhance our ability to create adventures.

 

[aramis erak]

I thought I'd ask the forum: What do you think the ideal yearly output should be? Please consider and balance two things in your answer:

1. What you'd personally like to see in terms of products.
2. What you think is best for the long-term viability of the game.

Please vote in the poll and then describe specifics in the reply.

For me...
I want 2 AP's per year (already on schedule)
1-2 small rules expansions (comparable to the EEPC)
2 compiled expeditions adventures volumes.
1-2 side products per year - setting volumes, or rules expansions (EG: Psionics) in the 90-150 pp range.

Preferably all also in legal OEF PDF.

 

[billd91]

I'd like to see:
1-2 APs
1 monster book or 1 rule expansion (they could alternate years)
1 campaign-oriented book
A variety of shorter adventures

 

[The_Gneech]

I want a quarterly release of 3-5 small, unrelated-to-each-other scenarios that I can drop into my own game easily.

So.

Dungeon magazine. I want Dungeon magazine.

I'd be set, with that.

-The Gneech

 

[BlueBlackRed]

I would like 1 core-type book a year, such as a monster manual or campaign world.

They can release however many modules they want, but I'm not interested.

 

[greylurk]

I like the general trend that seems to be happening: 2 major adventure paths per year for pay, and free rules supplements to go along with the adventures.

I *would*like to see them add one new campaign world a year, with a core settings book, and an adventure for it at the beginning of the year, and a second adventure later in the year, pushing the total number of books per year to 5 (two Forgotten Realms adventure paths, one Setting book, and two setting adventures) with the free online rules PDFs accompanying them.

 

[S_Dalsgaard]

While I am happy with their current release schedule, I will probably buy every book they release anyway (as long as they are hardcovers, I love hardcovers, they are so pretty...) :-/

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I wanted to answer the poll but couldn't find an "Other" option. I don't want story arcs, but I enjoy campaign settings and I wouldn't mind conversion guides for older editions. I enjoyed Frog God's Fifth Edition Foes and would like to see more monsters; I wouldn't mind alternative rulebooks a la Complete Psionicist's Handbook or The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, or GURPS: Martial Arts. Not character-oriented splatbooks but actual option rule systems, like the 10 pages in the DMG but expanded. Just as I can today say "I play 5E with a Speed Factor Variant" I would like to be able to say "I play 5E with Psionics" or "I play 5E with High Tech" and have people know what that implies, i.e. without having to explain my house rules.

My ideal product output is therefore "campaign settings and occasional rulebooks: over the course of five years I'd like two or three that I'd like enough to buy, so WotC would probably need to make five to ten, or about one to two per year."

 

[Mercurius]

So 105 votes so far gives us a nice cross-section of EN World. So far 15% are happy with the current output or less, and 85% want more. Most want just a bit more, but weighting the percentages it seems like the "ideal" output for most would be in the 4-6 products per year range.

One new product every two months sounds good. How about this: three "major" products and three "minor" ones. Major products would generally be hardcovers or box sets, and include campaign settings, big splat or theme books. Minor products would be under 100 pages, generally softcover, and anything form one-shot modules to short adventure compilations, or setting expansions, gazetteers, etc. Each quarter would see one major and one minor release, with one month off. So there would be a new product every other month, with a major release every four months or so. Realistically, though, it wouldn't necessarily be evenly spread as you want a major release in August for GenCon, and then one in late November for the holiday season (early December might be a bit too late).

Alternate:
Another approach would be to think of each of the main product types and then do one really well each year. Like so:

Campaign book - e.g. Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dark Sun, etc
Splat/Theme book - e.g. Unearthed Arcana, Psionics, Manual of the Planes, Underdark, etc
Creature/Foe book - e.g. Fiend Folio, Monster Manual 2, Draconomicon, Undead, Deities & Demigods, etc
Story Arc book - e.g. Elemental Evil, etc

Then each year could be centered around a theme, with products all linked thematically. For example:

2016: Underdark
Campaign book: Greyhawk
Splat/Theme: Underdark Adventures
Creature/foe book: Fiend Folio
Story Arc: Giants-Kuo-Toa-Drow type adventure; and/or "Greyhawk classics" in 5E form

2017: Psionics
Campaign book: Dark Sun
Splat/Theme: Psionics Handbook
Creature/foe book: MM2 - Psionic monsters/Creatures of Dark Sun
Story Arc: Dark Sun campaign

2018: The Planes
Campaign book: Planescape/Spelljammer
Splat/theme: Manual of the Planes
Creature/foe book: Deities & Demigods (but less focused on gods, more on extra-planar creatures...Devas & Demons?)
Story Arc: Something big and epic - Hellbound? Dead Gods? Etc.

2019: Dragons
Campaign book: Dragonlance
Splat/theme: Dragon Quests (Dragon-based campaigns)
Creature/foe book: Draconomicon
Story Arc: War of the Lance, or some mega Dragon Quest

2020: Undead
Campaign book: Shadowfell
Splat/theme: Undead Adventures
Creature/foe book: MM3: Undead!
Story Arc: Ravenloft

2021: War
Campaign book: Birthright
Splat/theme: Kingdom Building/Conquests/Wars
Creature/foe book: ?
Story Arc: Some epic war

I don't know, something like that. You may notice that there is no Forgotten Realms. There are only four products listed above; maybe two products could be dedicated to the Realms as the "default" D&D setting - a setting expansion book and a story arc.

Again, I'm just throwing some ideas out there for fun.