D&D General Is DnD being mothballed?

[Tony Vargas]

No, D&D is not being mothballed. It has a new edition coming out next year.

A new revision... which, I mean, you're 100% right, that's the opposite of being mothballed.
But they really are insisting it's a revision of 5e, not a new edition. And it sounds like it will not be very different from 5e, at all.
IDK why I feel like that matters, but it does...?
Maybe because it (the slow pace of release) reminds me of the way D&D was published back in the day, and 5e.2024 reminds me of how little the differences among the 'two prong approach' and 1e vs 2e felt at that time?

It certainly didn't work for 2e....It's hard to say what killed TSR exactly.

Well, it's not certain, then, and it sound like a lot of mistake were made apart from the pace of publications.
And, 2e is only one of a half-dozen examples I gave of RPGs (and one TT game with a lot of crossover that arguably started the trend) that fire-hosed away from the mid/late 80s through the 90s and into the aughts.

 

[Parmandur]

In my experience of selling D&D for... 6 core revisions of 4 editions (with a 7th on the way!) I can say that this is the only edition where I still have a significant number of customers who buy every book that they publish. This has NEVER been the case before, as they've always ALWAYS burnt-out even the most hard-core buyer with the pace (and quality) of books. Now, not all 5e books have been the best, and I suspect that they're close to a breaking point with the new increase in price-point and the higher-end slipcases for the same (or less) content. I think the breaking point is close. BUT, it's never lasted 10 years before. I don't think that it's lasted more than three years before.

There's gotta be something to the release schedule - it's not just the advent of Critical Role and Stranger Things. Those things are responsible for the stellar "Long Tail" of people who pick up a book here, a book there, but the sustained sales across the board? That's on the release schedule.

I think the release schedule also helps get someone back on the train if they reach that breaking point. I reached mine with Acquisitions Incorporated, didn't buy it...but then got back on when I saw something I liked, which I don't think would happen if hey put out like 4 things I was sort of interested in every month.

 

[SteveC]

For the first few years of 5E it absolutely was mothballed. Designers and writers of the edition were shocked that it was successful and they were thinking the brand was going to pretty much be shelved by Hasbro.

Since then there's been a ton of new interest, but let's be honest: there have been very few books targeting players. the PHB, Sword Coast, Mordenkainen's and Tasha's have been about it in terms of player content. We've gone over all of this many times before.

With the new edition on the line, we don't know what WotC's future plans are. I don't think anyone is talking about them suddenly starting to produce a lot of new books once the new core three are released. Add all of the content like Tales of the Valiant, and we have even less ideas about what the product lines for WotC are going to be. So Matt is speculating. That's all this is, and if you've ever seen Matt talk about stuff, once he starts, it just keeps on going.

And personally I lament the lack of a lot of content coming out during the 5E era, which is why I stepped away from 5E for a long time.

 

[darjr]

The main books that players will buy is big books of crunch, ALA Tasha's and Xanathar's. However, they won't buy too many of them, and their existence always unbalances the game, so it makes great sense that WotC would roll them out carefully, like they have with those two books.


It was always bad for the game to have the onus of brand-profitability being on the RPG. This is why they always went for a glut of books. Now, with the onus on the Brand as a License, the RPG is free to breathe. It's definitely good for the game.

Quoting to get in my history.

 

[Umbran]

Sure, but you’d expect a change in trajectory if it was a significant effect. More saw tooth than even slope.

Interpreting data based on what you expect introduces bias into your interpretation.

One of the hardest things for people to do is accept when the data they have does not answer the question they want answered.

Typically, getting a clear picture of the impact marketing campaigns on sales requires the marketing campaigns to be designed and controlled such that you can get clean data. WotC did not control either CR nor Stranger Things, so we should not expect the answer to be clear, especially when WotC doesn't directly publish all its sales data.

 

[Staffan]

Adventures are both DM-targeted and clearly optional. That hurts their sales as individual products, but also means that no matter how many are published, they don't hurt new player recruitment. And, as DM assistance, they may well help transition players into DMs, which also helps long-term line sales.

Dancey used to describe the D&D product line in general, and adventures in particular, as self-sustaining advertisements for the PHB. That was one of his reasons for the OGL/d20 thing: smaller and more agile companies could write adventures for D&D and leaving the more profitable books for Wizards. Didn't quite work out that way though.

 

[Parmandur]

Yes, and I agree that’s a special case. But the WotC CR books are not that. They were not magic fans for instance and folks got them from the same place everyone else did.

If anything I’d argue that the big box stores would be a greater share if the sales.

Counterpoint:

 

[Maxperson]

The main books that players will buy is big books of crunch, ALA Tasha's and Xanathar's. However, they won't buy too many of them, and their existence always unbalances the game, so it makes great sense that WotC would roll them out carefully, like they have with those two books.


It was always bad for the game to have the onus of brand-profitability being on the RPG. This is why they always went for a glut of books. Now, with the onus on the Brand as a License, the RPG is free to breathe. It's definitely good for the game.

This may belong in the unpopular opinion thread, but balance is overrated. As unbalanced as 3e was, and it was the most unbalanced of any edition, it was also the most fun I've had playing D&D. Imbalance is often very, very enjoyable.

 

[Umbran]

Exactly! That's my entire point. We don't know what would happened otherwise, so we can't say with the ultimate confidence of some of the posters here that it is the very slow release rate.

Ah, but for slow release rate, we did have precedent from past editions as a guide, while we had no precedent for the impact of successful media around the game.

 

[Maxperson]

Interpreting data based on what you expect introduces bias into your interpretation.

One of the hardest things for people to do is accept when the data they have does not answer the question they want answered.

Typically, getting a clear picture of the impact marketing campaigns on sales requires the marketing campaigns to be designed and controlled such that you can get clean data. WotC did not control either CR nor Stranger Things, so we should not expect the answer to be clear, especially when WotC doesn't directly publish all its sales data.

Not only that, but there have been several shows other than Stranger Things that also brought D&D into the main stream, and a ton of celebrity D&D games that have streamed and been reported on. Many podcasts. Social media was also exploding during those years. All of these things were also uncontrolled.