D&D 5E Dragon Talk on Tyranny of Dragons

[dave2008]

Was it not that the core rulebooks that completely sold out? And was it not the selling out of the core rulebooks that stunned Wizards? I would like to see some more stats for the print runs of Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat.
Do not get me wrong. I am happy for Wizard's success. I am happy for their continued success. But Hoard was really goddamn bad. I hope you like mandatory homebrew bad.

What you seem to fail to understand is the central part of @darjr 's argument (or the part you're intentionally avoiding) is not whether or not HoDQ / RoT is a bad AP, but whether or not it almost "killed" 5e as you put it. Everything I have seen suggests 5e did extremely well from the get go. So unless you have data that suggest sales of the PHB, DMG, tanked when or shortly after HotDQ / RoT were release you statement is at the best hearsay. There are many people who complain about the quality of the adventure (and some who don't), but I have not heard anyone say it turned them off of 5e altogether (which would have to happen to "kill" it).

 

[jayoungr]

It'll feature a new and reworked opening chapter, reworking it into the epic campaign opening that this epic adventure deserves.

I know the original opening sequence wasn't universally popular, but in what way was it not "epic"?

 

[Bolares]

5e never sold poorly, so it was never even close to being killed. Hoard received A LOT of negative reviews, but they were focused on the problems with the adventure while everyone was in the early stages of the honeymoon fase of 5e

 

[Parmandur]

5e never sold poorly, so it was never even close to being killed. Hoard received A LOT of negative reviews, but they were focused on the problems with the adventure while everyone was in the early stages of the honeymoon fase of 5e

Heck, it got mostly good reviews,though reception was mixed and even those of us who enjoyed it had complaints.

Amazon, after 298 reviews, is at 59% 5 star, 20% 4 star, 10% 3 star, 7% 2 star and 4% 1 star. While this does make it the least well received of the 5E Adventure products.... that's pretty good.

 

[darjr]

It’s pretty much evergreen. It’s in the mid 4000 sales rank at Amazon. Has been pretty high for years. Better than almost all other whole RPGs and books.

I think WotC is tired of reprinting it as is in two books, over and over and over.

 

[Bolares]

Heck, it got mostly good reviews,though reception was mixed and even those of us who enjoyed it had complaints.

Amazon, after 298 reviews, is at 59% 5 star, 20% 4 star, 10% 3 star, 7% 2 star and 4% 1 star. While this does make it the least well received of the 5E Adventure products.... that's pretty good.

I didn't say most were bad, just that a lot of reviews were negative, if you consider how early in the development cycle of 5e the AP came out. Still, I don't get how it could have nearly killed the game.

 

[Bolares]

It’s pretty much evergreen. It’s in the mid 4000 sales rank at Amazon. Has been pretty high for years. Better than almost all other whole RPGs and books.

I think WotC is tired of reprinting it as is in two books, over and over and over.

That's what people fail to understand sometimes. 5e's numbers are ridiculous, a bad book for them seels more than the best selling book for other games. It would take a lot to nearlly kill 5e... and that is the reallity from the start.

 

[Parmandur]

I didn't say most were bad, just that a lot of reviews were negative, if you consider how early in the development cycle of 5e the AP came out. Still, I don't get how it could have nearly killed the game.

Oh, I agree with you: even good reviews tend to be tempered by the precise issues it sounds like this book is tackling (like the opening encounters, laying out the full outline from the beginning, etc.).

Another interesting point from this interview, Perkins talked about how often in five years he's personally grabbed whole chapters out of both and used them as modular pieces by themselves. Some of the individual chapters are amazingly strong modules standing alone.

 

[Bolares]

Oh, I agree with you: even good reviews tend to be tempered by the precise issues it sounds like this book is tackling (like the opening encounters, laying out the full outline from the beginning, etc.).

Another interesting point from this interview, Perkins talked about how often in five years he's personally grabbed whole chapters out of both and used them as modular pieces by themselves. Some of the individual chapters are amazingly strong modules standing alone.

The modularity is something great about all 5e adventures, and this is no exeption, I've used a lo of this book in my Eberron games.

 

[Reynard]

The modularity is something great about all 5e adventures, and this is no exeption, I've used a lo of this book in my Eberron games.

You could certainly use most of Avernus without going anywhere near not just Baldur's Gate, but the Realms completely. I considered transplanting it to Eberron (Avernus is just a realm in Shavarath or something) but decided it was not worth the effort in this circumstance.