D&D 5E Warlord - Is 5E SRD/DMsGuild a Solution? Is AL a Problem?

[Tony Vargas]

If you do spot any new Warlord-ish content on DMsG, please, post a link here:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?475508-9-1-2-Warlords

...or a review, for that matter. Still haven't seen any reviews.

 

[Remathilis]

I will, though the lack of content from the community is telling in its own right...

 

[Jester David]

I will, though the lack of content from the community is telling in its own right...

And the lack of sales.
Three products, and not one is Copper seller. Fewer than 50 people are willing to pay money for warlord content. More people seem to be interested in chronomancy than a warlord.

(I honestly did not see that coming. I rather expected a warlord to appear early and sell well.)

 

[Zardnaar]

And the lack of sales.
Three products, and not one is Copper seller. Fewer than 50 people are willing to pay money for warlord content. More people seem to be interested in chronomancy than a warlord.

(I honestly did not see that coming. I rather expected a warlord to appear early and sell well.)

I'm not that surprised. The main warlord demands are from maybe a dozen hardcore posters form the WotC boards. Psionics and various classes from AD&D would be more popular most of the time.

 

[ChrisCarlson]

Yep to both of you. I will add, and continue to contend, that the bulk of 5e players (who transitioned from 4e), and who were seeking a "warlord", recognized the options the devs put in 5e already and are happily playing them just fine.

 

[Jester David]

Yep to both of you. I will add, and continue to contend, that the bulk of 5e players (who transitioned from 4e), and who were seeking a "warlord", recognized the options the devs put in 5e already and are happily playing them just fine.

That and at least one detractor doesn't even play 5e, ostensibly out of protest for the lack of warlord. So even that potential sale is lost.

 

[Remathilis]

The one thing I gotta say about Warlord-Aficionados: They keep in character well. Rather than design their own warlord (sub)class, they sit around and command others to do it for them!

 

[jodyjohnson]

I will, though the lack of content from the community is telling in its own right...

I find it more likely that potential designers of the Warlord would like to do it well and offer a version with the potential for widespread support. Writing a Warlord while listening to both critics of the concept and proponents isn't something that can be negotiated easily.

No Warlord fan would be served by dozens of slapdash, unworkable, complicated, over or under powered DMs Guild versions which would divide and dilute the "Warlord brand" as it were.

The goal isn't just to get a Warlord version to play at individual tables. The many home-grown versions can meet that need. My preference would be to have one version done right that gets some traction rather than a shotgun blast of mediocre ideas.

At this point, by your reasoning, everyone wants a Gunslinger and Blood Hunter. Name cred plus art and layout seems to be a bigger factor in sales at this point. Anything from a recognized designer will basically shoot up the charts.

DMs Guild isn't even a month old. It's a little early to start making "in your face" posts.

 

[Jester David]

I find it more likely that potential designers of the Warlord would like to do it well and offer a version with the potential for widespread support. Writing a Warlord while listening to both critics of the concept and proponents isn't something that can be negotiated easily.

A compromise would be nice, but that seems unlikely. Sides are too divided.
So widespread support isn't coming.

No Warlord fan would be served by dozens of slapdash, unworkable, complicated, over or under powered DMs Guild versions which would divide and dilute the "Warlord brand" as it were.

The goal isn't just to get a Warlord version to play at individual tables. The many home-grown versions can meet that need. My preference would be to have one version done right that gets some traction rather than a shotgun blast of mediocre ideas.

The game has been out for eighteen months. That's more than enough time to design a class. Heck, that's significantly longer than most of the PHB classes took to design.
Given the number of fan warlord classes that had been released prior, there's ample time for one written earlier to be revised and posted. If the interest in posting it was actually there.

At this point, by your reasoning, everyone wants a Gunslinger and Blood Hunter. Name cred plus art and layout seems to be a bigger factor in sales at this point. Anything from a recognized designer will basically shoot up the charts.

Those have name recognition. But there are many, many others that don't, which are doing much better. It's unlikely that there is this huge lurking audience desperate for warlords when an article on blood magic by a rookie designer is doing much better.

And while the gunslinger has the name recognition to sell likely thousand of copies, that's not the bar we're even aiming for. We're aiming for the 50-ish sales "copper seller" category. Less than a tenth as many.
So it's not that warlords aren't in the Top Ten that says they're not as popular as might be believed, but that they can't even sell 50 copies in a month.

 

[jodyjohnson]

A compromise would be nice, but that seems unlikely. Sides are too divided.

I'm not talking a compromise so much as being aware of where the sore points are, and either diplomatically phrasing the abilities or having to just plow through and admit it won't please everyone.

The game has been out for eighteen months. That's more than enough time to design a class. Heck, that's longer than most of the PHB classes took to design.

A rough Warlord designed for home use. Sure that's designed.

A product for publication trying for professional grade layout and art, that takes a little while. DMsGuild is not even at the 4 week mark.

Those have name recognition. But there are many, many others that don't, which are doing much better. It's unlikely that there is this huge lurking audience desperate for warlords when an article on blood magic by a rookie designer is doing much better

The product from these guys?

http://www.apg-games.com/#!who_we_are/c1enr

http://www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?keywords=Alea+Publishing+Group&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=

I suppose one could take a week's vacation to crank something out.