D&D 5E Mearl's Book Design Philosophy

[Mistwell]

I'm agreeing with @JeffB too. 5e so far is, IMO the most catering toward nostalgia and taking only the most financially safe steps edition.

I think, but it could be just my personal bias, that this quote is his justification and rationalization for not making setting and lore books.

If you don't want to make anything that was done before, well, you won't make an awful lot of things. Besides, his reasoning, that "reused" material wouldn't be interesting, because people seen it before... Well, what about the new gamers, who didn't? What about them, who wasn't here for the 2e era, or even for the 3e FRCG? The material would be completely new and interesting for a LOT of people. It's just no in-line with the game's focus on new gamers, reasoning not dong books because old fans already have that material.

They're selling the classic books from past editions as PDFs on their site. If people want one of the several manuals of the planes, which were mostly non-crunch material anyway, they can still buy any of them.

 

[sandvirm]

One a year? There hasn't been one yet. Adventure paths and a cancelled book don't cut it. Volo's will be the first, but that's just a monster book. The Dungeonology will be the first real release since the game started.

You are forgetting The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

 

[Mistwell]

One a year? There hasn't been one yet. Adventure paths and a cancelled book don't cut it. Volo's will be the first, but that's just a monster book. The Dungeonology will be the first real release since the game started.

Naw dude there's been a lot of non-adventure stuff in the adventures, and there was Sword Coast Adventures Guide.

 

[Jester David]

One a year? There hasn't been one yet. Adventure paths and a cancelled book don't cut it. Volo's will be the first, but that's just a monster book. The Dungeonology will be the first real release since the game started.

Ummm... Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (and the PDF/ Print on Demand Elemental Evil Player's Companion).
But I imagine that doesn't "count" as it has setting lore, like Volo diesn't count as it has monsters.

(And Dungeonology isn't for the RPG. It's a book of lore and pictures for young readers.)

 

[The_Gneech]

I thought that was the point of this edition? Not "new and exciting" but "expected and safe". 5E is like a warm pillow for D&D, you can snuggle right up in it and feel just as comfy as in your last pillow.

The point of this edition as I understood it was "supports as many playstyles as possible."

To that end, I'd say we've reached the point where "the past" is pretty well covered. I'd like to see some innovation, myself. Time for 5E to start making its own history!

-The Gneech

 

[JeffB]

The point of this edition as I understood it was "supports as many playstyles as possible."

To that end, I'd say we've reached the point where "the past" is pretty well covered. I'd like to see some innovation, myself. Time for 5E to start making its own history!

-The Gneech

Bingo. There is plenty of "new" in other D&D sectors and derivative systems. Lets see something new from WOTC. Repackaging/ mixing and matching bits and pieces from previous editions is boring. Mike needs to put his money where his mouth is.

 

[Maxperson]

Ummm... Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (and the PDF/ Print on Demand Elemental Evil Player's Companion).
But I imagine that doesn't "count" as it has setting lore, like Volo diesn't count as it has monsters.

(And Dungeonology isn't for the RPG. It's a book of lore and pictures for young readers.)

Why would a setting specific book count as a general release for all games? I also didn't actually look at dungeonology and just assumed that it was a general release book. My bad. I should have known better.

So we only have one book in more than 2 years that is general release, and it's a monster book. Color me unimpressed.

 

[Parmandur]

They're selling the classic books from past editions as PDFs on their site. If people want one of the several manuals of the planes, which were mostly non-crunch material anyway, they can still buy any of them.

I got a used copy of the1E MotP, and it is entirely usable for 5E...

 

[Parmandur]

Why would a setting specific book count as a general release for all games? I also didn't actually look at dungeonology and just assumed that it was a general release book. My bad. I should have known better.

So we only have one book in more than 2 years that is general release, and it's a monster book. Color me unimpressed.

They are only doing hybrid books at this point; some setting fluff, some player crunch, something for people who like either. The player material from SCAF has seen heavy use outside of the Realms in one of the games I've been in, at least.

 

[Maxperson]

They are only doing hybrid books at this point; some setting fluff, some player crunch, something for people who like either. The player material from SCAF has seen heavy use outside of the Realms in one of the games I've been in, at least.

Yeah, I get that. When I buy a book, though, I don't really want to be buying a bunch of stuff I'm never going to use in order to get a bit that I will. Currently, I play 5e, using books that other people have purchased. I won't spend a dollar on the game myself, though, until I get some general release support, which means that I will continue to run 3e games. If/when 5e ever bothers to support players who want more than core material and setting books/adventure paths, I'd love to start running the game.

If/when I do start buying, I run the Realms, so I'll buy the Sword Coast book, but I won't be buying the Dragonlance book at all. I don't run that game and I'm not going to throw my money at a bunch of Dragonlance pages for whatever rules are in there that I might use.

General release books are something that a lot of people want. WotC threw out the baby with the bath water on this. 3e and 4e had too many general releases, but that didn't mean that they had to drop down to next to none.