D&D 5E The Printers Can't Handle WotC's One D&D Print Runs!

One of the reasons why the three new core rulebooks next year will not be released together is because D&D is such a juggernaut that the printers can't actually handle the size of the print runs!

Jeremy Crawford told Polygon "Our print runs are pretty darn big and printers are telling us you can’t give us these three books at the same time.” And Chris Perkins added that "The print runs we’re talking about are massive. That’s been not only true of the core books, but also Tasha’s Cauldron. It’s what we call a high-end problem."

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Errr... that is just nonsense. Unless they mean 'this one printing place printed more Tashas than this same place ever printed 4e books', which might well be true, first of all because they might not even have existed 10 years ago.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that that statement has been confused with "One distributor ordered quantities of a book (that were provided by a nearby printer) that were greater than the same distributor had ordered of all the 4e books combined".

It's still impressive for 5e, but it's hardly "the print run of one 5e book was greater than the print run of ALL 4e books", like the wording above makes it sound.

But I've seen enough 4e haters doing their thing, that I have no doubt some people are spreading that sort of information in all seriousness. Right behind claiming that Pathfinder1 always outsold 4e, despite Paizo themselves stating that they never did.

Pathfinder1 outsold 4e for a couple of months, late in 4e's cycle, when, IIRC, 4e didn't have any "big new books" out, and Pathfinder did. They didn't (as people like to think/quote) outsell any 4e books with any Pathfinder books on a direct sales-to-sales comparison.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The same people who have had dozens of publishers they backed on Kickstarter explain that there are printing issues due to lack of paper, printer closures and similar stumbling blocks are now insisting that WotC is lying about having the same problems they have experienced for three years.

I don't back Kickstarters that don't have product ready to go.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

The comment you’re responding to isn’t about size of print runs, it’s about the number of titles released. They would rather do one book every few months that everyone buys than do 2 books a month that a small subset of the community buys.

Speaking as a retailer... we ALL prefer the former over the latter.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yea cause Dyson Logos doesn’t know anyone at WotC or anything……

I don't think that's the issue. I think it's that the way the statement is phrased is hard to parse its actual meaning. The most obvious interpretation (that one 5e book outsold all 4e books) is incorrect. Dyson may know it, and have misspoken with the quote, or he may have misunderstood what he was told.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

You know, you have a point. A lot of the language and way monsters are conceptualized has changed dramatically, too.

The MM could be furthest along in development, too. They have probably been updating MM monsters since MMoM came out. The PHB may be what we've been playtesting, but it's totally possible that the MM could drop first.

 

[JDR]

I don't back Kickstarters that don't have product ready to go.

I am learning that lesson now. Tanares RPG now over a year past due...

 

[dbolack]

I don't back Kickstarters that don't have product ready to go.

It's supposed to be a kickstart. Not a kick finish.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's supposed to be a kickstart. Not a kick finish.

Sorry. Reality has proven this model to be too unstable for me without finished product, at least digitally.

 

[bedir than]

I don't back Kickstarters that don't have product ready to go.

You backed Level Up, which didn't print until after the release. I believe some of Russ's products have had printing delays.

 

[dbolack]

Sorry. Reality has proven this model to be too unstable for me without finished product, at least digitally.

Then you are not the audience. Wait for finished product to appear like it's 1988.