D&D (2024) The 2024 Core D&D Rulebooks Are Coming In May

21st May 2024 is the official release date!

Update--WotC has taken down the promo image and replaced it with one without a release date. See more here.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

The hardcover book format was fundamentally a mistake, they should have stuck with game boxes.

I'm not sure that I agree. You pay A LOT for the "empty space" and the "four corners" in a box. More than you do for more pages in a HC.

 

[Parmandur]

Paizo, of course, did the WotC "the new edition is backwards compatible" dance and much like 5e, a number of people are calling it 2.5 due to the changes.

The big difference to me would seem to be 10 years versus 4. The revision seems overly hasty.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm not sure that I agree. You pay A LOT for the "empty space" and the "four corners" in a box. More than you do for more pages in a HC.

I'm not 100% sure that I agree, but it seems more reasonable than multiplying Core books.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm not 100% sure that I agree, but it seems more reasonable than multiplying Core books.

Either way, it's not what they've decided to do. Traditional 3 core. This time thickened up a bit. Splat books for whatever else. I mean, I get it. It works, so why mess with it?

 

[Echohawk]

I'm not sure that I agree. You pay A LOT for the "empty space" and the "four corners" in a box. More than you do for more pages in a HC.

In the 80s and 90s, putting D&D stuff in a box seems to have typically increased the price by $3.00.

1986
AC9: Creature Catalogue (96 page book): $12.00
Immortal Rules (32/64 page books in a box): $15.00

1990
FOR1: Draconomicon (128 page book): $15.00
The Horde (64/64 page books in a box): $18.00

By 1990, that $3.00 also got you four maps, four monster sheets and two dozen cards, so there's that plus the fact that TSR's product pricing model during the 90s can hardly be described as "solid".

 

[FitzTheRuke]

In the 80s and 90s, putting D&D stuff in a box seems to have typically increased the price by $3.00.

1986
AC9: Creature Catalogue (96 page book): $12.00
Immortal Rules (32/64 page books in a box): $15.00

1990
FOR1: Draconomicon (128 page book): $15.00
The Horde (64/64 page books in a box): $18.00

By 1990, that $3.00 also got you four maps, four monster sheets and two dozen cards, so there's that plus the fact that TSR's product pricing model during the 90s can hardly be described as "solid".

Cute facts, sincerely. However, I was talking about now and referring to how much they'd pass on to the consumer if they made boxed sets now. (Barring loss leaders like the Starter Sets, of course.)

 

[Iosue]

Either way, it's not what they've decided to do. Traditional 3 core. This time thickened up a bit. Splat books for whatever else. I mean, I get it. It works, so why mess with it?

It's too bad the 4e Essentials didn't do better*, because I quite liked that format.

If I had my druthers, I'd do something like this, with all books being 9 x 6 inch paperbacks that retail for $25-$30:
Basic Rulebook - the rules plus the Core Four races and classes
Player's Handbook - Box set, with book (no rules, just all the additional races, classes, backgrounds, feats, etc.) and player side tokens, character sheets, spell/class ability cards, and dice
Dungeon Master's Guide - DM side rules, magic items, additional optional rules (everything a veteran DM wants or needs)
Dungeon Master's Kit - Box set, with book (geared specifically for teaching new DMs how to run the game, how to create dungeons, adventures, homebrew world, and campaigns), maps/tiles, maybe NPC tokens, magic item cards, adventure/campaign design sheets, and DM screen
Monster Vault - Box set, with book (monster stat blocks, art, and random encounter tables), and tokens

The idea is, people can pick or choose depending on what they need. A completist might very well get the whole thing for $130. A player might get only the Basic Rulebook for $25, or get the PHB as well at a total of $55. Beginning DMs can get by with just the Basic Rulebook, DM's Kit and Monster Vault for $85, and get the DMG later if they want to. Someone who does a lot of online gaming might only get the Basic Rulebook, but supplement it with a slightly cheaper digital purchase of the PHB. A veteran DM might not need all the advice in the DM's Kit book, but the additional items might make it worth buying.

You have the same exact content, but a more flexible purchasing format, and ultimately cheaper than 3 big hardcovers at $60 a pop.

*Of course, if it had done better, we might not have gotten 5e, which is much more where my sympathy lies...

 

[Horwath]

Yep. Not just tradition, though. If they tried to make 4 core 2024 books rather than 3, the number of people who would rush to the internet to scream money grab would skyrocket. The pushback would be intense.

maybe not.
depending on page count and quality.

if you get 2 books with combined page count of 700 instead of one of 450, there would not be a lot of pushback.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

yes, but they were forced into it by the OGL debacle, otherwise it would not have come this soon. A remaster would have come, but probably 3 or 4 years down the line, shedding the OGL forced them to do so now

Well no they were not forced into it. It was their choice to change the game away from the OGL out of fear it would change, which didn't end up happening, but they still didn't wish to risk it in the future.

 

[Maxperson]

maybe not.
depending on page count and quality.

if you get 2 books with combined page count of 700 instead of one of 450, there would not be a lot of pushback.

Of course there would be. You'd be paying about the same price as two books of 450. Plus two more books the same price. A whole lot of people would view it as a money grab.