D&D 5E Could the next book be Advanced D&D?

[The Grassy Gnoll]

No, I never saw those, but I have played GURPS in the past so I'm somewhat familiar with reputation-based systems and games that revolve around something other than combat. If you have any insights to share which you gained from Golden Heroes, I've created a thread for discussing this topic: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?484570-Reputation-and-social-achievements

Done

 

[jayoungr]

I do not think WotC is considerate of their competitors.

Which is a good thing really. At least for us disinterested in 3PP solutions.

I meant that competing might damage their own bottom line (or they might see it that way). The Tome of Beasts Kickstarter was pretty huge. WOTC might figure that putting out a competing monster manual any time this year would result in them getting fewer sales because it's too similar to a major product that will be brand-new. If they wait until next year, people might be ready for more new monsters by then, and meanwhile, WOTC can put out some other type of book that doesn't have such direct competition.

 

[CapnZapp]

Zero chance.

WotC wants the free basic rules to be enough to play in any game. Any expansions will present more options, not make the game more complicated.

The major expansion will probably be psionics, and it will probably be tied to an adventure path that has psionic enemies and plot lines.

This.

I can't imagine an expansion that splits the user base into "Basic" and "advanced".

Any rules expansion will remain strictly optional. This means that no future supplements will "require" this rule expansion (except just possibly a companion adventure released simultaneously, assuming a two-volume release is warranted)

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons? Maybe in five years time, after a successful consolidation of the market (mainly, Paizo folding).

I believe WotC is doing everything in their power to target every module to every gamer, and drop any proposals that could risk splintering the player base.

That's why we aren't seeing Eberron or Greyhawk campaign books (or even a full Forgotten Realms one). And that's why we won't see any "bring up your game to the next level" modules - WotC desperately wants everyone to play at the same level.

 

[CapnZapp]

I meant that competing might damage their own bottom line (or they might see it that way). The Tome of Beasts Kickstarter was pretty huge. WOTC might figure that putting out a competing monster manual any time this year would result in them getting fewer sales because it's too similar to a major product that will be brand-new. If they wait until next year, people might be ready for more new monsters by then, and meanwhile, WOTC can put out some other type of book that doesn't have such direct competition.

That's not how competition works. Handing a market or even a niche away for free to a competitor makes sense when you're on the defensive, when you need your money better elsewhere.

But I can't imagine 3PPs having that much of an impact on official sales.

 

[Erik Westmarch]

Can there be an expansion that doesn't add complexity? Do you have an example?

Think of the differences as swapping out parts vs adding layers.

If you take the free Basic Rules and make a fighter, you can swap out the Stat bumps for Feats, or you can swap out the Martial Archetype benefits for different benefits (like Expertise dice or limited spellcasting). WotC could expand the game tomorrow by giving you more parts to swap in for those things; more Feats, more Martial Archetypes, or even the base class or race. They can introduce Psionics by adding new base classes, or making a new Fighter sub-class that's like the Eldritch Knight "but psionic".

But what WotC will never do is release an expansion that adds a whole new layer to the game that makes the races and classes you can make with the Basic Rules just inferior or incomplete compared to the new "Advanced" options. They won't replace the basic combat rules with "Advanced" combat rules that include weapon speeds, weapon vs armor tables, and other complications. They won't create "Advanced" saving throw categories (like "Breath Weapon") that the basic classes just don't have. Changes like that would fundamentally break compatibility between the free Basic Rules (and the OGL) and whatever "Advanced" rules they've got, and then their customer base (which isn't all that large to begin with, by Hasbro standards) would be further fragmented. An adventure written with Advanced rules in mind would be as useful to the free basic 5E players as an adventure written for Pathfinder, or 4E.

What WotC wants to do is release big, thematic campaign books like Curse of Strahd and Out of the Abyss, and make sure that every single person who plays D&D (whether they have just the free basic PDF or every 5E book ever published) can sit down and play it. If they fragment the audience into basic and advanced rule sets, that whole business model doesn't work.

 

[collin]

If they were to do a large mechanical expansion of "advanced" style rules, I would definitely expect it to be called Unearthed Arcana, and include a lot of the finished versions of the playtest concepts we've seen already.

I think the Unearthed Arcana seems the most likely in that they already have an Unearthed Arcana of sorts within the WotC DnD 5th edition website. So what I would foresee them doing is coming out with a book that is 25% compiled information from those documents and 75% new material, but not as much 'optional rules' and more focused on adding more detail to creating other campaign worlds (e.g., Eberron) and character archetypes or variants.

 

[matskralc]

I think CapnZapp and Erik have it correct. WoTC wants to expand the game with options, not rulesets. That leaves us responsible for deciding which options are, uh, options, but also doesn't break compatibility. Somebody with the Basic Rules PDF and somebody else with whatever this new book will be can both sit at the same table and play Curse of Strahd. That's what WoTC wants, not a situation where PDF Guy and New Book Guy have to find tables playing the right version of CoS.

 

[Jester David]

I kinda thought the PHB *was* the advanced rules.