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

[Remathilis]

Some people make bad products. If you use that as an excuse to ignore and/or judge all products from a non-official source negatively that's on you.

And a lot of people do because they got burned by bad products. For a lot of DMs, it's easier to blanket ban than it is to be selective and review what is allowed.

 

[Micah Sweet]

And a lot of people do because they got burned by bad products. For a lot of DMs, it's easier to blanket ban than it is to be selective and review what is allowed.

And that's a choice they're welcome to make, but I will never agree with it.

 

[Zardnaar]

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.

I wouldn't worry about sales of Spelljammer vs PHB.

Comparing it to the other settings sales would be fairer. I assume SJ numbers are lower but I don't recall what they were on bookscan.

 

[The Scythian]

I wouldn't worry about sales of Spelljammer vs PHB.

Comparing it to the other settings sales would be fairer. I assume SJ numbers are lower but I don't recall what they were on bookscan.

I'm not worried about the sales difference at all, and I'm not making an argument that Spelljammer sold poorly or well. All I'm saying is that there's a funnel effect. If someone's making a supplement for a supplement, then that's going to limit sales. You're not selling to 5e D&D players; you're selling to a fraction of them. (And you're not even selling to that whole fraction, because there are people who buy a given supplement because they're completionists, or to mine for classes, races, magic items, spells, and monsters, etc.)

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I suspect WotC worries more about the money made in DMGuild when the setting was unlocked. Spelljammer is the first D&D novel not set in FR or Dragonlance in a lot of time. Hasbro dreams Spelljammer to become a cash-cow multimedia franchise in the future. We shouldn't be totally surprised if later we see a LEGO Spelljammer.

 

[mamba]

Nothing says multimedia like a Lego set

They might want SJ as a franchise, but imo it will need to be brought into an already successful franchise, maybe FR, as an extension, not as a way to start it. Just like the MCU had Iron Man etc. before they had the Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

[ECMO3]

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

Have you looked at Saltmarsh? They basically reprinted a bunch of old maps from the 1980s.

The adventure is good storywise and those maps were ok 40 years ago, but are really unacceptable today.

 

[Zardnaar]

Have you looked at Saltmarsh? They basically reprinted a bunch of old maps from the 1980s.

The adventure is good storywise and those maps were ok 40 years ago, but are really unacceptable today.

I have. My copy is alt art. I don't mind old school maps in appropriate products eg anthologies.

Not every product smashes it out of the park more overall trend.

I've got whole 5E books with black and white maps.

And GoS is better than most of their AP hardcovers with prettier maps. Push comes to shove I'll take quality over pretty art.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I personally—-just me! Have struggled a bit with skills. I would like some official guidance.

I also keep finding there is more to the DMg than I previously gave it credit for. The layout does not agree with me.

For these reasons alone a new dmg might really elevate my game! If however the new skill guidance is in the phb I might buy it instead.

I categorically did not enjoy mordenkainens guide…(time was good for me). If that is how alignment and lore is headed I actually might not want the MM at all.

Early prediction: I will end up buying all of it if the art is cool because I am a chump, but have no desire to see powercreep or learn new subclasses/combos.

My friends will be either partial or total no adopters. None are all in and neither am I

 

[GrimCo]

When i buy products, i judge the product on it's own merits. As in, do i like/need/want it and how well it does what it's supposed to do. If it ticks necessary boxes, i buy it. What shenanigans company that produces it does, i honestly don't care. If Hasbro sold D&D to Mattel tomorrow, i couldn't care less and it would have zero impact on my decision to buy or not to buy new book. What has impact is quality and usefulness of product itself.

I care about company shenanigans only if i own or plan to buy company stocks. And then i care only in so far as to how those shenanigans affect my personal bottom line.