D&D 5E D&D Next not planning to compete against Pathfinder, Splatbook Hints

[pukunui]

I can complete a mission in Mass Effect in about an hour and a half. So why can't I complete an adventure in D&D in that time? Why does it take me 4, 8, 12 hours just to get from page one of the adventure to the end?

For me, the answer would be one of solo vs team-based play. You can whiz through an adventure a lot faster when you're the only one playing it. The more people you add to the mix, the slower things get, especially if those people all have differing goals, opinions, priorities, etc. Tabletop RPGs can be like gaming by committee sometimes.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I just worry that they're too late and the fantasy rush is over. The time to realize this was 15 years ago.

You mean when they were busy with the hugely popular D&D 3E? I doubt we would have Paizo/Pathfinder without it. I don't have any salesnumbers, but I am quite confidant that the tabletop rpg industry is much bigger now than 15 years ago.

 

[DMZ2112]

You mean when they were busy with the hugely popular D&D 3E? I doubt we would have Paizo/Pathfinder without it. I don't have any salesnumbers, but I am quite confidant that the tabletop rpg industry is much bigger now than 15 years ago.

Sigh.

My point, which was made in line with [MENTION=2525]Mistwell[/MENTION] 's OP theory and the general theme of the thread, was that the time to realize that D&D was marketable as a multimedia fantasy franchise was 15 years ago, just after Hasbro had bought Wizards of the Coast and when the Lord of the Rings movies and Star Wars prequels were all anyone could talk about and the world was desperate for knockoffs like the Golden Compass and the Chronicles of Narnia. Not now, when there's one Hobbit movie left and the world has once again collectively moved on to moralizing, empty-headed Will Smith and Tom Cruise action sci-fi.

This is an ex-parrot.

So no, nothing about Pathfinder, D&D3, RPG sales, or even the RPG industry and its relative size. If everybody on this forum wouldn't pull the pins from their grenades at the slightest hint of provocation we'd have a lot less edition warring.

 

[Remathilis]

I just worry that they're too late and the fantasy rush is over. The time to realize this was 15 years ago.

Fifteen years ago was 1999; before Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings & Hobbit movies, Percy Jackson, Thor, Once Upton a Time, and tons of books, movies, TV, and music. WotC was in the right place and time with 3e in 2000 to capitalize on the rush that defined the aughts. Time will tell if we survive the Superhero boom and move back to fantasy.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Fifteen years ago was 1999; before ... Once Upton a Time ...

Not before this Upton:
[sblock] [/sblock]

 

[DaveMage]

Not before this Upton:
[sblock]View attachment 61368[/sblock]

I like this Upton better than any topic on this board.

 

[Umbran]

Fifteen years ago was 1999; before Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings & Hobbit movies, Percy Jackson, Thor, Once Upton a Time, and tons of books, movies, TV, and music. WotC was in the right place and time with 3e in 2000 to capitalize on the rush that defined the aughts. Time will tell if we survive the Superhero boom and move back to fantasy.

I think you guys are thinking down the wrong line of "multi-media". It isn't just movies and TV.

1999 was before smartphones, tablets, and World of Warcraft.

 

[delericho]

Two things:

1) Hasbro won't pay game designers to sit around doing nothing.

2) Game designers are, in general, a poor fit for writing novels, coding video games, making movies, handling licensing, or otherwise doing the whole "multimedia" thing.

Consequently, either D&D 5e will be released and then quickly cease ongoing support, or there will be something published for it regularly - the game designers want to stay in a job after all!

Assuming they do choose the "publish something" route, then when faced with the choice between an adventure selling some units versus a splatbook selling many more, they're likely to choose the latter.

 

[Hussar]

To be fair though, Paizo has shown that you can go the adventure route.

I'm just hoping they'll finally embrace virtual tabletop play and give that some serious support.

Given the success of Magic Online, this seems like such a no brainier to me.

 

[delericho]

To be fair though, Paizo has shown that you can go the adventure route.

True, and as long as WotC don't care about tiny profit margins, that's a valid approach. But if they want the RPG part of the business to pull its weight, then they need to consider that Paizo's subscription model is hugely important to their success.

I'm just hoping they'll finally embrace virtual tabletop play and give that some serious support.

I'm still not convinced there will even be dedicated 5e tools added to the DDI. As far as I'm aware, WotC don't have the capability in-house to do those tools, which means they'd need to either recruit or subcontract. But if they'd done that, surely we'd have heard something about it by now?

It's also worth noting that, per Dancey's old Escapist interview, a key part of WotC's motivation for doing the DDI was that they couldn't do a full-on MMO due to licensing reasons. Since those reasons no longer apply, and if they're now following their multi-platform path, doesn't that suggest that they're more likely to go for the full-on MMO rather than a new DDI?