D&D General D&D Book Prices Are Going Up

WotC announced today that D&D books will be increasing in price this year.

Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants will be $59.99 as a preorder and $69.99 thereafter. These will apparently come as physical and digital bundles, so you won’t need to buy the D&D Beyond version separately.

This space is dedicated to communicating clearly and transparently with our players- even when the topic isn’t particularly fun. Since the release of the 2014 D&D core rulebooks, we’ve kept book prices stable. Unfortunately, with the cost of goods and shipping continually increasing, we’ve finally had to make the decision to increase the price of our new release print books. We're committed to creating high-quality products that deliver great value to our players and must increase our prices to accomplish that.

This will go into effect starting with Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants and new releases after Glory of the Giants. Digital pricing is unaffected by this MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) increase, as digital products don’t need to be printed or shipped. The increase also doesn’t impact backlist titles. While we can’t promise that there will never be a change to the prices of digital products and backlist titles, we have no plans to increase either.

Players who purchase the Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants digital-physical bundle through Dungeons & Dragons store can get the bundle for $59.95 for the entire preorder window, which is consistent with our current digital-physical bundle pricing. After the preorder window closes, digital-physical bundle prices will go to $69.95.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Heh.

The specific list of purchases that were value for money will differ from person to person, of course. In my case, my copy of the FF has never been used at my game table, I've never used it while preparing a game, and I've never actually even read it properly. (That said, I got it because I decided to pick up a complete set of 1st Ed hardbacks a number of years ago. It was never really intended to be used. And who knows what use it saw before I got it?)

But I'm increasingly disturbed by the amount of shelf space I have dedicated to books that were intended to be used but didn't live up to that promise - 3e's "Complete X" line, most of 5e's big campaign-style adventures, innumerable Vampire clanbooks... In many cases it's not even that they're bad - just not really worth the purchase. (Of course, then there are the books that are just bad - 3e's "Deities & Demigods" and "Epic Level Handbook", "Scourge of the Howling Horde"...)

The answer is, of course, to stop buying - simple, effective, and really really difficult.

Yeah, I have tried to exercise a "but will I use it" discipline rule with both my purchases and what I actually retain nowadays. The sole exception are the 1E and 3E core books and the OAR reprints by Goodman. Everything else, I need to be able to seriously say I intend to use it in the next 12 months.

And I suspect the Fiend Folio isn't an inspirational text if you weren't there when it slithered onto the scene, almost without warning, back in the 1E era. Now it's just a very weird 1E book. Back then, it was blowing the doors open on the already-pretty-conservative take on fantasy coming out of Lake Geneva. (Compare the contents of the Fiend Folio with the Monster Manual 2, which arrived soon after. One has an undead "mummy" made out of sticky strips of organic material that's immune to fire and attempts to grapple adventurers, while the other features evil squirrels.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I do wonder how many people will shell out all the money for the Giants book. (You know, I could probably make a joke comparing it to Redfall - hopefully unwarranted!)

Will the Deck of Many Things be close to $100?

I am puzzled about this myself. I was one of the few people here enthusiastic about the Book of Many Things, but I find the idea of paying for a deck of cards I do not want to be a real turn-off. (And please, no one explain to me that I'm wrong to want what I want, and not want what I don't want. You wouldn't enjoy me doing the same to you.)

Goosing an extremely niche product up to a sky-high price this way feels like a great way to discover what the market will and won't bear. I am guessing we will see lots of sales on the Book of Many Things bundle once it's clear that, oh, yeah, most people were iffy on this book even before it turned out to be one of the most expensive books on the 2023 publishing schedule.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I am puzzled about this myself. I was one of the few people here enthusiastic about the Book of Many Things, but I find the idea of paying for a deck of cards I do not want to be a real turn-off. (And please, no one explain to me that I'm wrong to want what I want, and don't want what I don't want. You wouldn't enjoy me doing the same to you.)

Goosing an extremely niche product up to a sky-high price this way feels like a great way to discover what the market will and won't bear. I am guessing we will see lots of sales on the Book of Many Things bundle once it's clear that, oh, yeah, most people were iffy on this book even before it turned out to be one of the most expensive books on the 2023 publishing schedule.

I thought Spelljammer was their way to discover what the market will bear.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I hate to say it but many people outraged about this will go see a sensory overloading mind numbing super hero movie AND get the popcorn.

I think many of the people outraged are waiting for those superhero movies on streaming, actually.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Does anyone happen to know, if I pre-order the physical + digital bundle on dndstore.wizards.com will I still get the pre-order bonus items (frames, backgrounds, etc.) that D&D Beyond typically gives away with a digital pre-order?

I cannot imagine you won't get the D&D Beyond bells and whistles, which they are creating anyway. Folks who preordered the Dragonlance bundles got the digital extras as well.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I thought Spelljammer was their way to discover what the market will bear.

I think Spelljammer is going to make it harder for them to sell these slipcase/box set/other format books. Cost isn't the only thing that matters -- quality is the thing that matters most, at the end of the day.

Upselling people at the same time that people are feeling burned by Spelljammer is a risky game for them to be playing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think many of the people outraged are waiting for those superhero movies on streaming, actually.

That's what I'm doing. I'd have definitely watched GotG3 in theaters if it didn't cost an arm and a leg. But I need those for walking and manipulating objects, respectively.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I pay my employees more than Amazon does, but that's another story.

I bet you let them use the restroom, too!

 

[OptionalRule]

It's called "inflation" which has impacted the cost of materials and manufacturing. Not particularly surprising.

That brutal inflation rate of 20% we've all been working under.

 

[OptionalRule]

Kidding aside, I don't generally mind the increase. I can afford it. I'd feel a bit better about it if I knew it was going to writers and artists instead of shareholders.