D&D General Does D&D (and RPGs in general) Need Edition Resets?

[Remathilis]

I see to recall multiple books for Dark Sun and the Realms in 4e...

4e introduced "everything is core" as a notion. 3e had begun with "All you need is the Core 3" but gave that up come mid 3.5 (arguably PHB 2 killed and notion of it). 5e returned to the notion, but even then it's lip service as several setting books pushed PCs towards supplemental cleric domains, and additional spells were tagged as being artificer spells.

 

[mamba]

I'm sure they would be moat happy with both, hence producing the bundles. But as long as people will buy the books, I am autee WotC will make them.

yes, for the foreseeable future there will still be books, doesn't mean that they don't prefer digital over print and probably combo over either - and then selling you the same thing on Roll20 or FG or their own VTT yet again for good measure

 

[Remathilis]

Which is too bad, in that it sounds like exactly the sort of thing I'd buy if I saw it in a game store and it looked to be any good. But the second I'm expected to print it out myself in order to get a paper copy, I'm out.

Not a fan of PDF only products either then?

 

[Minigiant]

yes, for the foreseeable future there will still be books, doesn't mean that they don't prefer digital over print and probably combo over either - and then selling you the same thing on Roll20 or FG or their own VTT yet again for good measure

I fully expect to see WOTC see Book/Digital, Digital/VTT. Book/VTT, and Book/Digital/VTT combos. Then they'll see how many books they sell.

 

[Clint_L]

Which is too bad, in that it sounds like exactly the sort of thing I'd buy if I saw it in a game store and it looked to be any good. But the second I'm expected to print it out myself in order to get a paper copy, I'm out.

It would never have been published and available in a FLGS, though. Well, not by TSR or WotC. It's exactly the length that would have been great in Dragon or Dungeon, but premium magazines like that have collapsed, so a digital platform provides a new means for work like this to get published and writers to get paid. I think that's a good thing.

Of course, if you're on DDB you don't get a printable copy, anyway, but presumably if you're on DDB you're happy using digital texts. So I know it's not for everyone, but I'm glad that an option like this can exist so we get these sorts of short adventures. I really hope WotC keeps doing them, and I'd also love to see Demiplane start offering standalone 5e adventures like this so there's more competition and ways for writers to make a living. So far Demiplane is offering some 5e tools as well as a few books like Tal'Dorei Reborn and Tome of Beasts, and I would not be surprised to see adventures start appearing on their 5e portal.

I'm also really hoping to see Call of Cthulhu added to Demiplane. I'm planning to run another campaign.

 

[Lanefan]

Not a fan of PDF only products either then?

Nope.

EDIT: to clarify, I've picked up a few .pdf adventures along the way but only just to read; I wouldn't want to print them out (printer ink is damn expensive stuff!) and can't run them unless they're on paper as I don't have a computer anywhere near my DM seat - as in, not even in the same room - and trying to read stuff like that on my phone just makes me want to throw the phone against something hard.

 

[Lanefan]

It would never have been published and available in a FLGS, though. Well, not by TSR or WotC. It's exactly the length that would have been great in Dragon or Dungeon, but premium magazines like that have collapsed, so a digital platform provides a new means for work like this to get published and writers to get paid. I think that's a good thing.

Of course, if you're on DDB you don't get a printable copy, anyway, but presumably if you're on DDB you're happy using digital texts.

So what you get for your $5 isn't a .pdf then; that you can download and print?

Or is it more like a rental, that goes away if-when you let your DDB subscription lapse?

So I know it's not for everyone, but I'm glad that an option like this can exist so we get these sorts of short adventures. I really hope WotC keeps doing them, and I'd also love to see Demiplane start offering standalone 5e adventures like this so there's more competition and ways for writers to make a living. So far Demiplane is offering some 5e tools as well as a few books like Tal'Dorei Reborn and Tome of Beasts, and I would not be surprised to see adventures start appearing on their 5e portal.

And I hope both platforms eventually put out printed compilations of these small adventures. Doesn't have to be a fancy hardcover - that's overkill - but an 80-page softcover with maybe 10-15 good short adventures in it? Yeah, now we're talking.

 

[Parmandur]

4e introduced "everything is core" as a notion. 3e had begun with "All you need is the Core 3" but gave that up come mid 3.5 (arguably PHB 2 killed and notion of it). 5e returned to the notion, but even then it's lip service as several setting books pushed PCs towards supplemental cleric domains, and additional spells were tagged as being artificer spells.

But none of it is assumed or required to function.

Bigby does something very interesting for random encounter tables, providing a d6 and d8 variation for many, with results 7-8 being Monsters of the Multiverse options, but the tables are totally usable with just the MM and using a d6 instead. Not "Everythijg is Core," but older books aren't being ignored either.

 

[nevin]

Nope.

EDIT: to clarify, I've picked up a few .pdf adventures along the way but only just to read; I wouldn't want to print them out (printer ink is damn expensive stuff!) and can't run them unless they're on paper as I don't have a computer anywhere near my DM seat - as in, not even in the same room - and trying to read stuff like that on my phone just makes me want to throw the phone against something hard.

oh come on. ink isn't as expensive as the preprinted modules. And if you use something like HP instant ink it's about the same price as a laser printer or a copier. I can buy a PDF and print it and still be below normal price for a module or a book. and it's even cheaper if you print in black and white. Now if you just don't like PDF's fine everyone's got thier line.

 

[Staffan]

So what you get for your $5 isn't a .pdf then; that you can download and print?

Or is it more like a rental, that goes away if-when you let your DDB subscription lapse?

DDB products come as part of the web site, not as PDFs. You can of course print the page out, but it's designed to be viewed live. Personally, I find this to be much better than PDF, because as a reasonably well-designed web site it adapts to whatever screen I am using, whether that is my big desktop screen, my iPad screen, or my phone screen. It also means it can be used as a proper web site with hyperlinks that can open up in new tabs, which makes it a lot easier to keep tracks of various monsters and spells and things like that. But tastes vary.

Your subscription, if any, is separate from the products you have bought there, and have more to do with your access to the various tools on the site. So you can have a free account on the site and still have access to the things you bought, but there will probably be ads on the page, and you'll be limited in how to use the character creator and things like that.

Edit: the website model also allows things to be integrated in a way that's impossible in physical books and PDFs. For example, I have bought both the PHB, Xanathar's, and Tasha's on DDB. So when I look at any of the class pages, all the various subclasses are included without me having to cross-reference three or more books. That's super convenient. Though maybe not all that relevant if you're only after a single adventure.