MGibster
Legend
I think of that as a new version of the RPGA. It's just not the same as walking into your local hobby shop and seeing Against the Giants or Keep on the Borderlands on the shelf next to the other D&D books.
What Does the RPG Hobby Need Now?
- Thread starter SlyFlourish
- Start date
They just aren't profitable (or profitable enough). The market for stand alone modules was one of the driving forces behind the success of the OGL and d20 license, though. I think it also works pretty well for DMsGuild creators.
payn
Glory to Marik
That seems backwards to me. Store reach is limited compared to the net. I dont think most folks wander into a store looking for adventures anymore.
I do think that AL can bring people to stores, though, and it would be great for stores if there was something they could buy there for $10 or $20.
And Starter Sets, which have had pretty good adventures.
Dire Bare
Legend
For long term fans plugged into the online community, perhaps.
But casual and new fans don't visit the DM's Guild looking for adventures, but they actually DO search out the mainstream releases either in physical book/game stores or online retailers like Amazon.
How many folks have purchased and played "Out of the Abyss" versus ANY of the Adventurer's League titles?
payn
Glory to Marik
Much harder to say for Out of the Abyss than Adventure League or PFS as im more familiar since those are tracked for completion amongst gamers. I mean, a purchase doesnt mean it got used, where as someone recording playing an AL or PFS game means it did.
Im also not convinced the uninitiated just wander into brick and mortar stores looking for adventures (aside from starter sets).
MGibster
Legend
If they're losing money on adventures I can understand ceasing production. But even if they're not the most profitable product, they provide a relatively inexpensive proving ground for new writers, new ideas, and new intellectual property that might still be in use decades later. Pathfinder started out as a series of adventures, and there's no reason WotC couldn't possibly develop their own thing as well. WotC is still making money off of adventures published by TSR more than 40 years ago. Far be it from me to pretend to know the market better than WotC though. It's entirely possible there's something I'm missing here.
What you are missing is that people don't buy stand alone adventures in enough numbers to interest WotC. But they do buy them enough to sustain smaller companies. look to Kobold Press, among many others, for the types of adventures you are looking for. Or, if you must have WotC IP, the DMsGuild.
The best "proving ground" you are talking about was Dragon and Dungeon, for decades. And then they shuttered them. Whatchagonnado?
Pathfinder started out as a means of continuing to make adventure paths. That was the killer app Paizo had discovered via Dungeon: selling a full campaign rather than standalone adventures. They did make standalones as well, but nowadays they're down to about one or two of those per year (plus Pathfinder Society offerings), because they don't sell all that well. And even the standalones are now meant to cover 3-6 levels – it feels a lot like Paizo's APs (who now mostly are three parts long and either cover level 1-10 or 11-20) and their standalones are converging.
The problem with standalone adventures is that the target audience is tiny. For the PHB, the target audience is "Everyone who wants to be a player." Then you have rule expansions like Xanathar's or Tasha's, whose target audience is "Players who want new stuff." After that you have the DMG and MM, whose target audience are "Everyone who wants to run a game." Additional monster books are aimed at "DMs who want new stuff." Setting sourcebooks try to sell to "DMs who think this setting seems cool." Campaign-length adventures want "DMs looking to start a new campaign." And finally, standalone adventures want "DMs whose party is in this particular level range and who want this specific type of adventure."
This is particularly problematic in a game like D&D where the power differential between low and high levels is extraordinarily high. A 5th level party would absolutely demolish a 1st level adventure, and in turn get smashed by a 10th level one. And if you want to make cool adventures, you probably want to tie them into the world somehow, but an Eberron adventure focused around house Deneith potentially making a bid to expand their military power base (influenced by agents of the Dreaming Dark) would be really hard to put into a Forgotten Realms campaign that's mainly set in the High Forest.
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