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."

 

[Micah Sweet]

Mine as well, 3.5e wasn't bad however, and even 4e at least put more effort into their alt lore then 5e puts into lore period,like 4e at least knew to seperate setting books from the adventures, instead of trying to do everything with one book.

Yeah, the implied 4e setting, taken on its own merits and not as the default setting of D&D, is solid.

5e, on the other hand...they started in a rather vague place that at least allowed me to fill it in with old lore, but everything they put out inched it further and further away from that, and in recent years the inches grew. Couple that with maintaining a depressing lack of detail across the board, and I found myself abandoning what they were doing with it. Eberron was still good (practically the same in most respects), and the actual new settings had value, but I have little to no use for the 5e versions of old lore.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Personally, I tell the cashier every time I go to the Five and Dime that more than a quarter for a candy bar is price gouging.

I know this because I saw a youtube video that told me that BigCandy is trying to get me to move to digital candy. And youtube never lies, which is why I make sure to SMASH that subscribe button whenever someone posts something that angers my blood.

This is why I avoid YouTube.

 

[Micah Sweet]

How does a company actively marketing new books look ambivalent?

They keep telling everyone that they're happy if they keep using the old books, and I haven't seen them really trying to encourage people to jump on the planned revisions. Most of their effort seems focused on damage control and shilling their digital plans.

 

[Stormonu]

New edition coming gives Wizards an excuse to increase prices. Probably doing it now because if they started it at the same time as a new edition, they’d probably get a larger pushback or reluctance to move forward. Doing it a few books before the new edition “preps” the community for the new price tags.

I’ve seen GW use the tactic for years.

 

[Velderan]

They keep telling everyone that they're happy if they keep using the old books, and I haven't seen them really trying to encourage people to jump on the planned revisions. Most of their effort seems focused on damage control and shilling their digital plans.

That's certainly one way to look at it. You could also look at it from the perspective that they currently don't have the new books to sell you, so telling you your old books will work just fine encourages you to continue buying the books they've released and continue to release until the new books are actually available, at which time they'll work on promoting all the reasons they think you might want to buy the new books.

 

[Velderan]

Personally, I tell the cashier every time I go to the Five and Dime that more than a quarter for a candy bar is price gouging.

I know this because I saw a youtube video that told me that BigCandy is trying to get me to move to digital candy. And youtube never lies, which is why I make sure to SMASH that subscribe button whenever someone posts something that angers my blood.

But you don't click the like button or ring the bell to get notified the next time they have some clickbait available to anger up your blood again?

 

[Oofta]

Another perpective, this one that true reason for the physical price increase is to push folks to go digital.

Finding other clickbait videos that happen to agree with your opinion doesn't really prove anything. With a handful of exceptions, prices for physical goods have gone up over the past decade. Prices for digital have different price structures and constraints.

 

[Velderan]

New edition coming gives Wizards an excuse to increase prices. Probably doing it now because if they started it at the same time as a new edition, they’d probably get a larger pushback or reluctance to move forward. Doing it a few books before the new edition “preps” the community for the new price tags.

I’ve seen GW use the tactic for years.

It's not really an excuse when costs have clearly changed in the decade since they established $50 as the baseline price, but you're not wrong that a new line of product is the best time to change a price if you're going to. Video game publishers tend to do the same thing and it's probably the best chance for a company to raise prices with minimal fuss.

 

[Micah Sweet]

New edition coming gives Wizards an excuse to increase prices. Probably doing it now because if they started it at the same time as a new edition, they’d probably get a larger pushback or reluctance to move forward. Doing it a few books before the new edition “preps” the community for the new price tags.

I’ve seen GW use the tactic for years.

Agreed. Not to say that inflation isn't real, but WotC is hardly struggling to make ends meet. This isn't a move demanded by changes in the printing industry, as much as those changes are real. It's a move given a plausible excuse by changes in the printing industry, so they can increase profits and meet their shareholders demands for ever-escalating success.

That's my take on it anyway. I can't claim insider information, and I'm sure the creative team is working to express their own ideas through the corporate filter as well.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

But you don't click the like button or ring the bell to get notified the next time they have some clickbait available to anger up your blood again?

Oh, I live to have blood angered. I have gone straight past dislike to hatred, and have SMASHED the subscribe button to every youtube channel available that discussed the perfidy of your garden-variety bard.

Saying I hate bards does a true disservice to the deep well of antipathy I have cultivated toward those miscreants.

My hatred of Bards is the fuel that warms the cold, dark cockles of my heart as the sun grows ever dimmer during each Winter. I hate Bards like a young child loves Christmas morning; with unreserved enthusiasm.

Some might say I drink too much, but I only drink to separate my knowledge of the existence of Bards from my consciousness.