Chris Perkins: Reintroducing Settings in Ways that Surprise People

WotC's D&D Story Manager, Chris Perkins, was the subject of an interview by a chap called Chris "Wacksteven" Iannitti. One of the topics covered is campaign setting books; Perkins says that they want to reintroduce settings in "surprising" ways, and that they're not guaranteed to be books. (thanks to Mistwell for the scoop)

The video is below, but if you can't watch it right now, here are the highlights as listed by pukunui on WotC's website:

• He can't talk about products that haven't been announced yet
• They value all of their worlds, as each one has "tons of fans"
• They are focusing on specific areas within settings to detail and "codify" via their story bibles
• Their goal is to "challenge people's expectations" re: sourcebooks
• They're "not interested in releasing books for the sake of releasing books anymore"
• They want book releases to be events that will "surprise and delight people"; they also want to put out books that people will actually use rather than books that will just get put on a shelf to "stay there and slowly rot"
• "One of our creative challenges is to package [setting] material - reintroduce facts and important details about our worlds - in a way that we know that DMs and players are going to use, that's going to excite them, that's actually going to surprise them. We may get that content out, but I'm not going to guarantee it's going to be a book. I'm not going to guarantee that it's going to be anything that you've seen before. But it will be something."

[video=youtube;alnwC34qUFs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alnwC34qUFs&feature=youtu.be[/video]
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[fjw70]

If the current strategy doesn't have the payback they are looking for I wonder what the next strategy would be. The TTRPG business is a tough one if you are looking to make money.

Note, I am not saying the strategy is failing or will fail. I have no evidence one way or the other. Just wondering what they would do in that case.

 

[sunshadow21]

The thing that perplexes me about this whole thing is not WotC's strategies, nor their release schedules... but rather the numerous posters here on the boards who seem to not want to play the game unless they know ahead of time a list of products that are coming out, and that they are kept "in the know". The game itself seems to be meaningless to them... it's only the knowledge of the future that inspires them to play in the present. THAT'S what I find completely baffling.

I could understand if the game as it stood was rather unplayable right now and they wanted to make sure the rest of the system was being still being developed and on pace for release... but that's not even close to what we have here. 5E is a complete and finished game. You needn't buy anything further in the future to play 5E for the next however many years, with years of options in the PH and DMG at your fingertips to try all kinds of new and exciting things. But for some people... they seem to need three more books announced with another three years worth of character options that they'll never get around to playing before they feel it's "worth" playing the game in the first place. I am just unable to comprehend that way of thought. My problem, I guess.

At least for me it comes down to finding people to play with. There are already lots of systems that people could buy the initial books (often for a lot cheaper than you can for 5E)and not have to buy anything else, so 5E is not unique in that respect. What has consistently set both D&D and PF apart is the ability to find a full group of people willing to play them. A lot of people don't have stable groups to play in, so future support is going to dictate ease of finding a game in the future. $150 for the 3 core books isn't much if you know that you are going to be able to use them consistently for the next 5 years, but if access to a willing group is less certain, it becomes a bit more of a gamble, one that would be more likely to pay off if WotC was showing an interest in producing something substantial (character options, campaign setting books, etc.) to show active support. A few APs a year doesn't give the same level of confidence that the investment will have a long term payoff.

Even if someone doesn't intend to spend anymore themselves, there is almost always going to be at least one person in any given group that will, and that person is often the person that has the most influence on what gets played. Therefore, the others in the group are going to be likely to use the level of active support as a gauge for their own purchases and interest level. Most people don't need the level of product that previous editions had, but they do need something more than the paltry amount of product, support, and communication we have seen for 5E thus far.

 

[pukunui]

I want to know that there are products coming out ...

I can say for certain that there are products being developed. I can't tell you what they are (NDAs and all that) or even if they'll ever see the light of day, let alone when and in what form they'll be released. But rest assured: the guys at WotC aren't just idly sitting there twiddling their thumbs. They're just playing their cards close to their chests at the moment.

 

[sunshadow21]

As much as I didn't want to see it, I have concluded that we are seeing the end of D&D as a TTRPG, and that these last books are its last hurrah. THAT is the issue! I don't want to devote money and time to a game system that I think is finished; until I see some indication that it is not (and saying they will release something, but not necessarily a book is solidifying my conclusion), I will treat 5th Edition as I will Top Secret.

I don't think it's quite to that stage, but I do think that they are showing a very definite "if this doesn't work, ending it is very much an option" vibe. WotC is throwing minimal resources into it in the hopes that something else bigger emerges in the long run, and the dev team does seem to be genuinely doing the best they can with what they have, so saying that the ttrpg is finished is still a bit premature. But, for a new edition to be made or for WotC to actively support the game, 5E is going to have be amazingly stupifyingly successful and somehow produce a large profit off of what is right now very obviously a very small budget, and there will likely have to be major sustained successes in other markets as well, so functionally you may well be correct. But there is still a slim chance that it might survive; for me at least, the state of the game in late summer will be the key indicator, so for now, we just have to wait and see.

 

[sunshadow21]

If the current strategy doesn't have the payback they are looking for I wonder what the next strategy would be. The TTRPG business is a tough one if you are looking to make money.

Note, I am not saying the strategy is failing or will fail. I have no evidence one way or the other. Just wondering what they would do in that case.

That's what I'm wondering as well. At this point, they have tried just about every strategy out there, so it's hard to tell what their backup plan is, or if they just plan on scrapping all product for it if this fails. I hope we don't have to find out the hard way.

 

[sunshadow21]

I can say for certain that there are products being developed. I can't tell you what they are (NDAs and all that) or even if they'll ever see the light of day, let alone when and in what form they'll be released. But rest assured: the guys at WotC aren't just idly sitting there twiddling their thumbs. They're just playing their cards close to their chests at the moment.

That's good to know, but unless they have some of those cards ready to play soon, the market is going to leave them behind. They have a larger window of opportunity to get more product out while interest and attention is still strong than I expected, but if they wait too much longer and/or the product is anything less than the absolute best currently on the market, it's not going to matter. They will have lost any advantage they have right now, and will find it harder to sell the product they do release, regardless of how good it is or what format it's in. I understand their basic strategy, but trying to make every single release a huge news worthy event comes with a lot of risks that they have not managed very well in the past.

 

[HobbitFan]

The thing that perplexes me about this whole thing is not WotC's strategies, nor their release schedules... but rather the numerous posters here on the boards who seem to not want to play the game unless they know ahead of time a list of products that are coming out, and that they are kept "in the know". The game itself seems to be meaningless to them... it's only the knowledge of the future that inspires them to play in the present. THAT'S what I find completely baffling.

I could understand if the game as it stood was rather unplayable right now and they wanted to make sure the rest of the system was being still being developed and on pace for release... but that's not even close to what we have here. 5E is a complete and finished game. You needn't buy anything further in the future to play 5E for the next however many years, with years of options in the PH and DMG at your fingertips to try all kinds of new and exciting things. But for some people... they seem to need three more books announced with another three years worth of character options that they'll never get around to playing before they feel it's "worth" playing the game in the first place. I am just unable to comprehend that way of thought. My problem, I guess.

DefCon1 you are making quite a few assumptions about other board members and their reasons for posting in your post. You make it sound like you think complaining is more important to people than playing the game.
I find that more than a little offensive.

You don't know me nor how much I play/DM compared to my posting habits. And I seriously doubt you have that information for anyone else on the forums.
Instead of calling people out, why not engage in discussion?
Read back over your post and think about what you are saying about other posters on this thread.
Then please think about what you saying that says about you.

I think it might have been better for you just to have said something like: "I don't understand or enjoy the complaining I am reading on this thread. "

 

[Kramodlog]

D&D did made Hasbro's November 2014 10-Q filing, but considering that it didn't make any of Hasbro's official shareholder communications for 3Q or 4Q 2014 I think it's safe to assume no one but the accountants actually cared.

http://investor.hasbro.com/results.cfm

Sorry.

Don't be sorry for me. I'm not the D&D PnP RPG.

 

[Kramodlog]

And the folks at WotC would pull out all their documentation and tell them "The first three core rulebooks ALWAYS sell gobs of copies to make piles of cash... but here are the metrics that show that each subsequent book released past those three sell less and less and less copies.

So make another batch of core books as soon as you can. If the subsequent non-core books make profit, make them. A shareholder wants to maximize profits. Car makers make all sort of models even if they aren't all the #1 seller. 6e is just as tempting as MtG's next expension that is released, what, every 4 months? A psionic expension could play that role too. Not making any books is not going to generate any money. That is a certainty. Ok, they are making some books. Two lackluster APs a year.

The current low release schedule seems to make people who do not want to spend money on D&D happy. Those who want to spend money are disappointed. How is cattering to those who do not want to give you money a good business move? Seems reminiscent of 4e who turned away people who liked a more "traditional" D&D to catter to other gamers.

They have sold all the other products (boardgames, video games, minis) during editions with a more robust release schedule. Those revenue streams has been tapped and those editions aren't being supported anymore (except for 3.x). So, all they are doing is alienate those who want to buy PnP RPG books (alienate is strong this early. Disappoint is better). Last time that happened it was during 4e's reign and that taught us that a weak/disliked PnP RPG hurts the brand as a whole.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

That's good to know, but unless they have some of those cards ready to play soon, the market is going to leave them behind. They have a larger window of opportunity to get more product out while interest and attention is still strong than I expected, but if they wait too much longer and/or the product is anything less than the absolute best currently on the market, it's not going to matter.

Maybe from your perspective. From my perspective, I'm pretty happy with the Core + Frog God. WotC could put out another set of stuff a year from now (Spelljammer 5E!) and I would buy it, but it's not like I'm going to get bored and leave just because they don't publish something every month. If I leave it will be more because I get bored with the game/system, and that's more about what's going on in real life than what WotC publishes. In short, the window of opportunity to sell to me is not measured in months. Three years would be too long, but one year is fine.