D&D 5E Mike Mearls interview - states that they may be getting off of the 2 AP/year train.

[Mistwell]

They seem to have plenty of resources to get Goodman Games to reprint old adventures and in the DMs Guild era do they even pay contractors in advance now a days?

Reprinting old adventures doesn't involve all the things that new products built for 5e involve. They don't market and do PR and do playtesting and editing and so sooo many of the things involved with a new product.

Face it, it IS an expenditure of limited resources. They can't just authorize 10 third party products and pretend it costs no limited resources. They all cost them something, and I want those limited resources focused on something else. Why is this such a problem with you?

And yes, when you hire out the writing (and it's usually just the writing and artwork, and no other aspects) then yeah you pay them in advance at least a portion.

Now if you want DMs-guild stuff, that is a different story. But you could write and sell a FR Campaign Setting book right now for the DMs-guild.

 

[Shasarak]

I'm no marketing expert, but I still hold my personal belief that the real fanbase splitting happened when TSR decided to publish Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Mystara, and Birthright (maybe there's something else, I honestly can't remember). Also dropping the settings that allowed you to go in different directions and tested the limits of the system was just WotC throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Obviously, this is just the opinion of someone whose whole investment in RPGs can be put in a bookshelf, so I'm probably wrong and Dancey is probably right.

I see more splitting of the player base every time they make a new edition rather then every time they make a new setting.

If you believe the poll results that showed the majority of games as categorising themselves as "Home Brew" then does making a Forgotten Realms adventure "split" the market any more or less then making a Greyhawk adventure?

 

[Shasarak]

Reprinting old adventures doesn't involve all the things that new products built for 5e involve. They don't market and do PR and do playtesting and editing and so sooo many of the things involved with a new product.

Face it, it IS an expenditure of limited resources. They can't just authorize 10 third party products and pretend it costs no limited resources. They all cost them something, and I want those limited resources focused on something else. Why is this such a problem with you?

As they are "wasting their limited resources" on reprints of adventures that are already available then it is obviously a huge problem. Man I got a 100 problems right now and not having reprints of old adventures aint one. Especially after all that stuff Mike was saying about not doing stuff that has already been done.

And yes, when you hire out the writing (and it's usually just the writing and artwork, and no other aspects) then yeah you pay them in advance at least a portion.

Now if you want DMs-guild stuff, that is a different story. But you could write and sell a FR Campaign Setting book right now for the DMs-guild.

You know as soon as I get my advance check from WotC then I will get right on that!

 

[Mistwell]

As they are "wasting their limited resources" on reprints of adventures that are already available then it is obviously a huge problem. Man I got a 100 problems right now and not having reprints of old adventures aint one. Especially after all that stuff Mike was saying about not doing stuff that has already been done.

Again, reprinting old adventures does not involve most of the issues I raised. It involves some, but not most.

But regardless, nobody here said EVERYONE wants those adventures reprinted. You want to say you don't want them spending limited resources on those reprints, have at it. I won't harsh on you for saying it. So why are you on my back for saying what I prefer?

 

[Shasarak]

Again, reprinting old adventures does not involve most of the issues I raised. It involves some, but not most.

But regardless, nobody here said EVERYONE wants those adventures reprinted. You want to say you don't want them spending limited resources on those reprints, have at it. I won't harsh on you for saying it. So why are you on my back for saying what I prefer?

I am not harshing on your preference. I am however harshing on your belief or agenda or whatever it is that WotC can not do a FR guide because of some kind of limited resources bs that is just patently not true. Now if you are saying that WotC can not do it because they do not want to do it then you know fair enough, just like the reason there is no Warlord class. But to claim they can not because of some theoretical "limited resources", well I just got to harsh on that.

 

[Mistwell]

I am not harshing on your preference. I am however harshing on your belief or agenda or whatever it is that WotC can not do a FR guide because of some kind of limited resources bs that is just patently not true.

Ah, OK you're upset about something I didn't say. To clarify, I didn't say WOTC can't do an FR guide because of anything. What I said is I personally prefer they not spend their limited resources (however limited they are) on that project. They are capable of doing that, I am sure they could make room for that project at the minor expense of some other things they could do with those resources, but that's not my preference for how they spend those resources.

Is that clearer?

 

[Shasarak]

You usually do in the software business, which is a pretty good analogy for the game publishing business in that most of the cost to make a product is in the design of that product, not in the production of any particular copy. For example, you don't see Microsoft making another word processor - they're happy with Word. You don't see Blizzard making another fantasy-themed MMORPG, they're happy with World of Warcraft.

I do see a new Word every few years and they also offer other options to add on if I want to get a "complete" package. And I guess I could choose to play only vanilla WoW but Blizzard also offers Starcraft as well - does that not split the gaming market?

Actually looking at their site it seems that Blizzard offers WoW, Overwatch, Starcraft, Heartstone and Diablo. How come they are not worried about splitting their market? How come it is just RPGs that have to worry about splitting their market?

 

[Shasarak]

Ah, OK you're upset about something I didn't say. To clarify, I didn't say WOTC can't do an FR guide because of anything. What I said is I personally prefer they not spend their limited resources (however limited they are) on that project. They are capable of doing that, I am sure they could make room for that project at the minor expense of some other things they could do with those resources, but that's not my preference for how they spend those resources.

Is that clearer?

Right, and I prefer that they would spend their resources doing a proper Realms book.

I mean they must have a proverbial crap ton of stuff done over the last three years and they have Matt Sernett working there as their Loremaster.

 

[robus]

And the even more ironic thing is that you get posters like [MENTION=16728]schnee[/MENTION] for example that sincerely believe the century jump means Ed Greenwoods characters are gone.

I think you're confusing wish with believe

 

[Shasarak]

I think you're confusing wish with believe

At least Elminster is dead, right?

Right?


Right?