D&D 5E A Closer Look At January's D&D Rules Expansion Gift Set

WotC earlier announced a D&D Rules Expansion Gift Set for January, which includes three books - Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and the new Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse. These were intended for the holidays, but the global production issues mean they'll be out in January. Here's a closer look at them!

"The Future of D&D" (New Core Books in 2024!)

The online D&D Celebration event, which has been running all weekend, comes to a close with The Future of D&D, a panel featuring WotC's Ray Winninger, Liz Schuh, Chris Perkins, and Jeremy Crawford, hosted by Elle Osili-Wood. D&D is exploring the multiverse Revisiting classic settings. 1st of...

www.enworld.org

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Oh, don’t get me wrong. It‘s a bad choice for the game and the fans, and it is frustrating as hell, but it’s a good business decision (i.e. the only thing that matters is making as much money as possible). I’m just tired of people pretending WotC isn’t a business first and a game publisher second. If the new hotness was pogs, we’d have D&D content released as pogs. For any adult or child over 12 who’s paid any attention at all to act surprised about business decisions being profits first is rather gauche.

I don't think anyone is confused about WotC being a business for profit first. It seems to me that the message here is asking businesses not to exploit our weaknesses as consumers. We appear to be very efficient consumers and easily manipulated, and a lot of people will buy the boxed set not because they need all three books but because they can't wait for the new book to release separately. The supposition is that the business is aware of this, and can improve profits by doing this limited set first, then waiting a while for the individual book to release. That is arguably pro business/profit but predatory on consumers.

I do not think it's inappropriate to suggest that maybe as business practices go this is a bad strategy, one which can backfire on the business if they pull this sort of stunt too often. But....and this is probably the businessman in myself speaking here, I would also postulate that maybe we need to resist the FOMO and "get it now" feelings as consumers and maybe stop being such good consumers on occasion. This stunt will work because we can't resist buying the set, even when we know its a bad idea for us to do so. If we could just show restraint, this problem would actually go away.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Wizards doesn't care about completionists because they are a tiny subset of the tens of millions of D&D players. A vast majority of players don't own any book within the Core2.
Now they might.

If they weren't motivated to buy the single editions before, I am not sure why a collected and more expensive set would be motivating casual players to buy these books. Specialized covers with a new book in early release seems aimed very specifically at the collectors and the hardcore players who buy everything and aren't willing to wait a few more months for the single release of the new tome.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

All that aside....I do fit into the "collector of the special edition covers" group and will probably buy this set....sigh.

 

[Li Shenron]

. I'm pretty unhappy that I can't just get the new material.

The new material will be available separately, but at a later date. .

What new material? It's a box with 2 books already published and a third book that contains a "best of" previously released monsters repackaged in alternate format.

 

[Li Shenron]

Wizards doesn't care about completionists because they are a tiny subset of the tens of millions of D&D players. A vast majority of players don't own any book within the Core2.
Now they might.

I don't get it...

If I didn't already own part of this set of books and was interested in getting also the remaining material (which I'm not), I would still see no reason to spend this much money when I could buy the separate books for less, because normal books get discounted now and then but gift set do not (mainly because they're limited runs so the get out of print instead).

Maybe the only person who should buy this trio, is someone who specifically likes the new monsters book selection and doesn't like the other content of Volo (and also likes Xanathar and Tasha but hasn't bought them yet). Quite a specific combination.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I don't get it...

If I didn't already own part of this set of books and was interested in getting also the remaining material (which I'm not), I would still see no reason to spend this much money when I could buy the separate books for less, because normal books get discounted now and then but gift set do not (mainly because they're limited runs so the get out of print instead).

Maybe the only person who should buy this trio, is someone who specifically likes the new monsters book selection and doesn't like the other content of Volo (and also likes Xanathar and Tasha but hasn't bought them yet). Quite a specific combination.

These bundles usually make a lot of sense as gifts for friends/family. From an economic perspective, they don't make sense to buy for yourself. But as a gift, the slipcase and stuff makes it a nice looking present.

 

[OB1]

The interesting question to me is if the publishing of MotM will mean that VGtM and MToF go out of print. I'm guessing yes, and that this box set is also a test of the process to retire the current Core in favor of the refreshed Core in 2024.

 

[Li Shenron]

These bundles usually make a lot of sense as gifts for friends/family. From an economic perspective, they don't make sense to buy for yourself. But as a gift, the slipcase and stuff makes it a nice looking present.

Indeed. They are after all called a "gift set".

 

[Nikosandros]

What new material? It's a box with 2 books already published and a third book that contains a "best of" previously released monsters repackaged in alternate format.

My understanding is that the statblocks will be updated. Whether that counts as new or not, might be up for debate.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

The interesting question to me is if the publishing of MotM will mean that VGtM and MToF go out of print. I'm guessing yes, and that this box set is also a test of the process to retire the current Core in favor of the refreshed Core in 2024.

They definitely won't, at least not soon. They still sell very highly on Amazon.