Hussar
Legend
Again, I always take TSR era sales figures with a HUGE grain of salt. But, even accounting for that, EVERY 5e module to date has been selling 6 figures. And, doesn't the new starter set not come with a module? Why, yes, yes it does.
Adventures don't sell well because straight up adventures never sell well. Again, there's a reason that Pathfinder doesn't print just modules, but, rather, mini campaign settings with an attached module.
Look, I get wanting shorter modules. Granted you HAVE about a thousand or so to choose from right now, many of which are produced by WotC, but, apparently that's not good enough.
So, let's take a look at the math shall we? A 32 page module needs an artist, cartographer, and someone to write the adventure. As well as editing, play testing, layout, etc. IOW, a 32 page module takes virtually the same amount of investment as a 300 page module. It's not like the writers are the big cost here. It's that heavy paper cover with the map on the inside and all that full color art. Because gone are the days when WotC is going to do line art. Well, unless it's for maps.
Then we have to market that module, advertise it, generate that buzz and whatnot. How much money should we be spending on a product that, at best, we're going to make about 3 dollars a copy selling? After all, the most we can charge for something like this is what, 20 bucks? Maybe? Between distribution, and whatnot, that means about 3 dollars goes to WotC/unit. They'd need to sell hundreds of thousands of copies of each title just to break even.
So, again, what's in it for WotC? Why would they bother? Can the hobby really grow much faster than it already is? We've seen the market nearly TRIPLE since 5e released. How much faster do you think it can grow?
Adventures don't sell well because straight up adventures never sell well. Again, there's a reason that Pathfinder doesn't print just modules, but, rather, mini campaign settings with an attached module.
Look, I get wanting shorter modules. Granted you HAVE about a thousand or so to choose from right now, many of which are produced by WotC, but, apparently that's not good enough.
So, let's take a look at the math shall we? A 32 page module needs an artist, cartographer, and someone to write the adventure. As well as editing, play testing, layout, etc. IOW, a 32 page module takes virtually the same amount of investment as a 300 page module. It's not like the writers are the big cost here. It's that heavy paper cover with the map on the inside and all that full color art. Because gone are the days when WotC is going to do line art. Well, unless it's for maps.
Then we have to market that module, advertise it, generate that buzz and whatnot. How much money should we be spending on a product that, at best, we're going to make about 3 dollars a copy selling? After all, the most we can charge for something like this is what, 20 bucks? Maybe? Between distribution, and whatnot, that means about 3 dollars goes to WotC/unit. They'd need to sell hundreds of thousands of copies of each title just to break even.
So, again, what's in it for WotC? Why would they bother? Can the hobby really grow much faster than it already is? We've seen the market nearly TRIPLE since 5e released. How much faster do you think it can grow?
