D&D 5E How Do You Feel About the Rate of New WotC Game Content for 5E DMs?

[Sulicius]

They need to release proper setting books again, not these terrible campaign books that are part setting part mid adventure.

For sure. I love the Ravenloft and Theros books, and I have heard great things from the Eberron book.
Sadly it appears that books that have adventures in them sell better.

 

[Parmandur]

They need to release proper setting books again, not these terrible campaign books that are part setting part mid adventure.

The regionalnsettijf plus adventure campaign format is awesome.

 

[MuhVerisimilitude]

The regionalnsettijf plus adventure campaign format is awesome.

Nah the problem is that the excessively long campaign wastes space. I can make my own campaign, but I want inspirational material for the setting itself.

The ideal approach would be to keep them entirely separate, so for something like Ravenloft you'd have a core Ravenloft book with perhaps a tiny adventure in it, and then a book that is focused on an actual campaign.

 

[Parmandur]

Nah the problem is that the excessively long campaign wastes space. I can make my own campaign, but I want inspirational material for the setting itself.

The ideal approach would be to keep them entirely separate, so for something like Ravenloft you'd have a core Ravenloft book with perhaps a tiny adventure in it, and then a book that is focused on an actual campaign.

Nah, that isn't ideal at all. That's a giant pain in the patutsky.

 

[mamba]

The regionalnsettijf plus adventure campaign format is awesome.

it is ok to include some info for the region the campaign is in and maybe add details the setting book did not have, but if I want to know about a setting I am much better served by a book like the Eberron one than by having to collect 10 APs that combined still leave gaps on the map.

The one factor that makes this less of an issue is that older edition material can be found on DMsGuild and TSR / WotC produced a lot of material over the years

Will the FR book have an overview for FR, or exclusively be about the 5 regions within them?

 

[Parmandur]

Will the FR book have an overview for FR, or exclusively be about the 5 regions within them?

The have said there is a continent wide gazateer in the Player's Guide, with the 5 deeper dives in thenDM book. That suggests to me thst the Player's book will have fluffy "general knowledge" about all of Faerûn (doable), while the 5 focused regions will get material aimed at game prep similar to the Greyhawk stuff in the DMG.

 

[Parmandur]

it is ok to include some info for the region the campaign is in and maybe add details the setting book did not have, but if I want to know about a setting I am much better served by a book like the Eberron one than by having to collect 10 APs that combined still leave gaps on the map.

As to this...the big campaign books cover focused regions in a manner similar to the old TSR books like the FR modules (Storm King's Thunder explicitly covers FR5, for example). The modularity works great particularly or the core audience...plug and play homebrewers.

 

[mamba]

As to this...the big campaign books cover focused regions in a manner similar to the old TSR books like the FR modules (Storm King's Thunder explicitly covers FR5, for example).

SKT covers about the biggest region of all of them. That one definitely is half setting, half adventure (and by most accounts works better as a setting guide than as an adventure).

I guess if these were doubling down on being setting guides as well and not predominantly adventures that could work too for some - or maybe it works worse as an adventure then, never heard much good about the SKT one

By offering a separate setting guide, at least you can focus on that and people that want that do not get 80% adventure they did not want in the first place.

For those that want a gazetteer with their AP, they can keep buying the APs and ignore the setting book altogether.

There is not a one size fits all solution to this, nor does there need to be one. WotC creates a variety of adventures with different themes, why not create a variety of book ‘types’ (AP, setting guide, …), why would it have to be AP with a small gazetteer tacked on all the time… they did setting books before, they have some coming up for FR, would not mind them for other worlds too (and for those other worlds to not be a once and done case, as they mostly are as of today)

 

[Parmandur]

SKT covers about the biggest region of all of them. That one definitely is half setting, half adventure (and by most accounts works better as a setting guide than as an adventure).

I guess if these were doubling down on being setting guides as well and not predominantly adventures that could work too for some - or maybe it works worse as an adventure then, never heard much good about the SKT one

SKY is actually pretty good, though it does require some bake at home since so much can happen: it is not tightly plotted, it can’t be.

By offering a separate setting guide, at least you can focus on that and people that want that do not get 80% adventure they did not want in the first place.

But that assumes the market is really rhere for aeperated products: it well may not be.

WotC has, at least, sold the Waterdeep city guide seperately on the DMsGuild, and gave away the Baldur's Gate Gazateer for free.

For those that want a gazetteer with their AP, they can keep buying the APs and ignore the setting book altogether.

But if the main audience is those who want vote, it can be a problem to divide resources and split the market. WotC may be better served by annoying a smaller segment to please a larger segment of customers.

There is not a one size fits all solution to this, nor does there need to be one. WotC creates a variety of adventures with different themes, why not create a variety of book ‘types’ (AP, setting guide, …), why would it have to be AP with a small gazetteer tacked on all the time… they did setting books before, they have some coming up for FR, would not mind them for other worlds too (and for those other worlds to not be a once and done case, as they mostly are as of today)

There is no one size fits all, for aure: but that's also whybWotC has to figure out what will maximize value. And it would seem to me they may have done it.

 

[TwoSix]

Nah the problem is that the excessively long campaign wastes space. I can make my own campaign, but I want inspirational material for the setting itself.

The ideal approach would be to keep them entirely separate, so for something like Ravenloft you'd have a core Ravenloft book with perhaps a tiny adventure in it, and then a book that is focused on an actual campaign.

The real ideal approach would be to just not make adventures, but that's not the world we live in.