D&D 5E Don't Throw 5e Away Because of Hasbro

[Zardnaar]

That's how I do it. Do some research, use your experience, and make a choice. I don't paint with a broad brush, in large part because I don't assume WotC makes the best products or has any inherent superiority over other publishers.

WotC doesn't except maybe in production values

 

[Micah Sweet]

WotC doesn't except maybe in production values

And there are plenty of 3pps that equal or beat them there too.

 

[Zardnaar]

And there are plenty of 3pps that equal or beat them there too.

Kind of subjective though. I like Kobold Press art but they don't use glossary paper lije wotc.

WotC also has maps and often variant art cover. Tashas and Rime of the Frost Maiden are legit beautiful. Neither very good content wise (more average than bad tbf).

 

[Micah Sweet]

Kind of subjective though. I like Kobold Press art but they don't use glossary paper lije wotc.

WotC also has maps and often variant art cover. Tashas and Rime of the Frost Maiden are legit beautiful. Neither very good content wise (more average than bad tbf).

EN Publishing's production values are at least as good as WotC's IMO, and I have products from other 3pp like Mage Hand Press that rank right up there as well. I don't value glossy paper overly, but as you say this sort of thing is subjective.

Not that production value, at least insofar as art is concerned, matters much to me personally anyway, but I'm aware of what matters to people who aren't me.

 

[Zardnaar]

EN Publishing's production values are at least as good as WotC's IMO, and I have products from other 3pp like Mage Hand Press that rank right up there as well. I don't value glossy paper overly, but as you say this sort of thing is subjective.

Not that production value, at least insofar as art is concerned, matters much to me personally anyway, but I'm aware of what matters to people who aren't me.

My ENworld stuff is their older material. The art is something anyway.

I can find better pieces here and there but production wise WotC has been top tier consistently imho.

I'll happily insult the content. It's never been good in all of 5E run in the adventures but they look pretty.

 

[Micah Sweet]

My ENworld stuff is their older material. The art is something anyway.

I can find better pieces here and there but production wise WotC has been top tier consistently imho.

Fair enough, as you say the issue is subjective both in what's considered "good" or "top tier" and in how much any individual cares about it.

 

[Zardnaar]

Fair enough, as you say the issue is subjective both in what's considered "good" or "top tier" and in how much any individual cares about it.

True. Not all of Kobold Press stuff looks good arts always subjective.

But they're consistently good in their production even if the odd product or adventure is eh.
WotC are very consistent in the eh quality of the adventures while making decent settings in 5E. Soelljammers the exception of course but the ratio is inverted with adventures.

 

[Micah Sweet]

True. Not all of Kojold Press stuff looks good arts always subjective.

But they're consistently good in their production even if the odd product or adventure is eh.
WotC are very consistent in the eh quality of the adventures while making decent settings in 5E. Soelljammers the exception of course but the ratio is inverted with adventures.

When you say WotC adventures are consistent in quality, is that a vote in favor or against them?

 

[Zardnaar]

When you say WotC adventures are consistent in quality, is that a vote in favor or against them?

More against. They're mostly in the 50-70% range imho. Not much that's outstanding, nothing outright terrible.

 

[The Scythian]

I agree and disagree. I've seen a lot of people on Facebook, Reddit, and different Discords talk about how they actually wish that deck plans and more rules came with the ships. However, most of these people don't enjoy using the DM's Guild and, more importantly, don't TRUST the DM's Guild. It isn't that players don't want what third party is offering. A lot of things I see both DMs and players ask for I've seen done well in 3rd parties. But due to the culture of distrust, those options are usually not considered and thus go unknown.

My original post was a little longer with more steps in the funnel, but I decided to simplify things. I haven't bought any WotC products since Tasha's, so I'm not familiar with the new Spelljammer release, but I remember reading that people were disappointed that it was missing stuff that they believed should have been in it. I can see people not only wanting the missing stuff but wanting official versions of it. Officialness has a really strong pull, and there are absolutely people who won't even look at third-party products because they want things that are official, or canon, or whatever.

What I was getting at, thought, is that although there are a lot of 5e D&D players, the funnel narrows pretty dramatically when you're talking about anything beyond the Player's Handbook, and then can narrow even more depending on other factors. According to the sales figures for D&D books that leaked last year, we know that Spelljammer had only about 5% of the sales of the PHB. Some of those sales were to people who just buy everything in the D&D line and don't necessarily plan to use it. Some were to people who wanted access to the new races, classes, spells, magic items, and monsters. Some were to people with an interest in running or playing Spelljammer, but who haven't gotten around to it. Etc.