Zardnaar
Legend
Some of them look alright I think the big banner cutting through them is a pain. Not really a fan of any of the Pathfinder covers.
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D&D 5E A lesson I hope WotC learns from Paizo (with regards to 5E)
Some of them look alright I think the big banner cutting through them is a pain. Not really a fan of any of the Pathfinder covers.
Halivar
First Post
DISCLAIMER: This post makes a number of unfounded assertions based on my understanding of how the RPG market works. If I'm wrong, just remember that I am a delicate snowflake and you need to be gentle.
Another thing: you need a lot of books, but you HAVE to do with without bloat, and it has to still be quality. At my local B&N the Paizo books outnumber the D&D books 3:1, simply because of the sheer number of titles. And these are NOT "advanced" books or somesuch with rules bloat. For the most part these are adventures, GM helpers like the NPC Codex, etc., i.e. things that help GM's start and run a Pathfinder game. Meanwhile, the 4E books are all player options books. Players don't drive your sales, DM's do.
I think the heart of it is this: stop making books for players and start making books for GM's. Adventures, adventures, adventures. Stop putting them on the website and start putting them in binding and battle Paizo for shelf-space. Don't make adventures this add-on afterthought to selling the core rules. Rather, make the core rules just a gateway into the purchase of adventures and modules.
NOTE: I don't buy adventures or modules. I have no care for them at all. As a player, I buy every player options book I can get my hands on. But the fact remains that I am in the vast minority (I think), and I am not one to be catered to. Ever. I'm niche at best.
Another thing: you need a lot of books, but you HAVE to do with without bloat, and it has to still be quality. At my local B&N the Paizo books outnumber the D&D books 3:1, simply because of the sheer number of titles. And these are NOT "advanced" books or somesuch with rules bloat. For the most part these are adventures, GM helpers like the NPC Codex, etc., i.e. things that help GM's start and run a Pathfinder game. Meanwhile, the 4E books are all player options books. Players don't drive your sales, DM's do.
I think the heart of it is this: stop making books for players and start making books for GM's. Adventures, adventures, adventures. Stop putting them on the website and start putting them in binding and battle Paizo for shelf-space. Don't make adventures this add-on afterthought to selling the core rules. Rather, make the core rules just a gateway into the purchase of adventures and modules.
NOTE: I don't buy adventures or modules. I have no care for them at all. As a player, I buy every player options book I can get my hands on. But the fact remains that I am in the vast minority (I think), and I am not one to be catered to. Ever. I'm niche at best.
Zardnaar
Legend
Players books still sell but you have to make an edition that people want to buy. 3.5 apparently was worth 25-30 million per year while Paizo's best year was 11.2 million in 2012. Paizo outsold PF using adventures and we can speculate why but the bar was fairly low it seems ie 4th ed did not do very well after the initial shiny coat feeling wore off.
I suspect a lot of DMs buy players option books for their players to use. I know I do. Would not surprise me if 80-90% of D&D's sales come from 10% of the player base. The peak of D&Ds golden age (1983) TSR made $20 million (48 million adjusted for inflation) with one hard cover a year. That is about 4 times the size of Paizo and more than Paizo got in 2009-2012 combined. Keep on the Borderlands sold 1-1.5 million copies or something crazy like that.
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Halivar
First Post
Well, TBH there isn't really much more to buy, is there? Once you got the core, you can either get on the crunch treadmill, or just get DDI like I did. I suspect that overall, WotC got less money from DM's by offering crunch in downloadable format at a cheap price, and nothing else they'd want in print.
GX.Sigma
Adventurer
They shouldn't publish adventures until they learn how to write a good one.
Halivar
First Post
Well, then they ought to start taking submissions like Paizo did with Dungeon. Find the talent, and exploit it, because right now it's all over at Paizo.
Rune
Once A Fool
To be fair, they (assuming you mean WoTC) eventually did. It was just way too late in the edition's life-cycle.
Jester David
Hero
I agree with the OP.
I want 2-4 books each each crammed with content for characters new and old. I want big sizable books with content I look forward to for months. There should be a lot to each release. It should seem big and special, a must-buy product.
I want 2-4 books each each crammed with content for characters new and old. I want big sizable books with content I look forward to for months. There should be a lot to each release. It should seem big and special, a must-buy product.
I want books that I actually enjoy reading. The 4th edition books were as boring to read as a VCR manual.
Sound of Azure
Contemplative Soul
I definitely understand this sentiment, but I'm really of two minds about it. If they are going to release fewer sourcebooks, the quality control definitely needs to be very high. With a frequent release schedule, if a title does not appeal enough it is a lot easier for me to skip that book and not feel too bad about it. On the other hand, if it going to be the only book of that type for a couple of months, that would far more disappointing for me. It's a hard call.
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