D&D 5E Ebay: Ghosts of Dragonspear

[Jester David]

Erm, could you give me a source saying that these adventures were ever "Convention Exclusives". Were used as tournament adventures? Absolutely. Were marketed as being "This is the only place you'll ever get it/be able to play it?" I'm not seeing that.

There's a huge difference between the two.

I don't *like* that Ghosts was only available at GenCon, and I really hope the PDF is released (at least), but I think it's marketed very, very differently than the original tournament modules which, as far as I'm aware, were never said to be "exclusive to GenCon".

They weren't convention exclusives. That's the point. TSR used to take the content created for the minority of gamers who could attend a convention, and republish it for everyone.
WotC should never have marketed this as "something you can only get at the Con" in the first place.


I wonder if WotC realizes exactly how small a percentage of their audience attends GenCon. Especially with the short notice of the product's availability.They really seem to rely on panels to get the word out and as an opportunity to talk to their fans.

 

[Morrus]

I wonder if WotC realizes exactly how small a percentage of their audience attends GenCon

I'm 100% sure that they know that percentage far, far more accurately than you or I.

 

[Jester David]

I'm 100% sure that they know that percentage far, far more accurately than you or I.

I'm sure they "know" or have ideas. They have statistics of how many books are sold and know attendance. They had to so they knew how many copies to print. Which I've heard reported as 3000 copies.
But I wonder if they actually acknowledge how small an audience, if they stopped to think about how small a minority they're reaching with GenCon.

GenCon had 50,000 attendees and they printed 3000 copies, which gives you an idea of the proportion of GenCon attendees that care about D&D.
Ad assuming half a million D&D players who buy the books, 3000 would be 0.5% of the audience.
And that's where they go to talk with the audience, announce products, and give out rare product. 0.5%.

I just don't get their reasoning. Geeks can be obsessive and are collectors. A move like this is guaranteed to upset people when they're otherwise focusing on building bridges. It's such an odd decision...

 

[Echohawk]

TSR used to take the content created for the minority of gamers who could attend a convention, and republish it for everyone. WotC should never have marketed this as "something you can only get at the Con" in the first place.

Technically, I think that WotC has just stated that the printed Ghosts of Dragonspear product is a Gencon exclusive. I strongly suspect that we'll see an electronic version of the adventure released, either as part of the final playtest packet, or as D&D Insider content.

It's true that TSR re-released some early tournament adventures for general consumption, but I suspect that TSR's decision-making process was more "our product has been an unexpected success and we desperately need more stuff to sell -- can we maybe reuse those handy tournament adventures over there?" than "we need to republish these tournament adventures to make sure they are available to the general public and not just to a limited audience".

Also I'd like to point out that lately, WotC has a pretty good track record of making convention and other limited release material more widely available. Three of the adventures in the D&D Next playtest packet were first run as convention events: Caves of Chaos at DDXP in January 2012, Reclaiming Blingdenstone at GenCon 2012, and Mines of Madness at PAX East in March 2013.

There have also been many adventure re-released as DDI content. Siege of Gardmore Abbey in Dungeon 210 was first run as a Penny Arcade Expo 2011 convention exclusive. The Sun Never Rises in Dungeon 216 was originally run at Winter Fantasy 2012. The DM rewards adventures The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and The Village of Hommlet were republished in Dungeon 209 and 212 respectively. Beyond the Crystal Cave in Dungeon 211 and The Elder Elemental Eye in Dungeon 214 were both originally seasons of D&D Encounters.

Of course, the decision-making process for DDI content might also be more "we're desperate for content, what can we recycle" than "we need to make sure these gems reach a wider audience".

 

[D'karr]

Of course, the decision-making process for DDI content might also be more "we're desperate for content, what can we recycle" than "we need to make sure these gems reach a wider audience".

Which would mirror exactly the decision-making process of old TSR looking for content to release quickly for sale, and publishing their convention content because of it. Well said.

 

[Jester David]

There have also been many adventure re-released as DDI content. Siege of Gardmore Abbey in Dungeon 210 was first run as a Penny Arcade Expo 2011 convention exclusive. The Sun Never Rises in Dungeon 216 was originally run at Winter Fantasy 2012. The DM rewards adventures The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and The Village of Hommlet were republished in Dungeon 209 and 212 respectively. Beyond the Crystal Cave in Dungeon 211 and The Elder Elemental Eye in Dungeon 214 were both originally seasons of D&D Encounters.

Of course, the decision-making process for DDI content might also be more "we're desperate for content, what can we recycle" than "we need to make sure these gems reach a wider audience".

Your point on other recent convention games is well made, but I agree that the reprinting in Dungeon is likely being done more for cheap content to pad the magazine, especially since it all seems to have been in the last year. A way to keep the page count high without having to spend money on editors and writers.

 

[SoulsFury]

I just got Murder in Baldur's Gate in a couple of days ago. I'd like to compare it, since the price point was so different for someone who was eager to get the two. I am writing this not knowing how I will end up rating them. I'm doing each of the 5 stats as I go. Before writing this, I don't know which one is gonna rate better. They are both very good products. Each stat can get up to a 2.0 rating for a total of 10. I will use Murder and Castle for short.

Here is a quick break down between the two (the numbers are in direct correlation to the other adventure):

Hours of fun:
Castle: I can easily get this to levels 1-11. Honestly, I have ideas that would further the adventures in here, thanks to Murder. This is more of classic dungeon craw, and the roleplay should follow with a decent story line that has spurred some great ideas for my homebrew setting.
Murder: Seems to come off as a high level game but you really can only get levels 1-3. I don't want to spoil anything, but level wise it doesn't make sense.
Castle: 2.0
Murder: 0.5

Ability to modify into my homebrew world:
Castle: Most of the npcs are easily dropped in. Couple of small villages, evil groups, etc, definitely nothing that has to be Forgotten Realms specific campaigns. I can easily place this in one of the regions in my home brew world.
Murder: This would force me to create certain things about my homebrew world. This isn't a bad thing, but it does make me add more than I want.
Castle: 2.0
Murder: 1.25

Price Point:
Castle: GenCon Exclusive, pay the premium, hassle to get.
Murder: Order from Amazon. However I have to print out the ruleset.
Castle: .75
Murder: 1.75

Presentation:
Castle: Soft cover, not to flimsy, good cover art. Kinda reminded me of flipping through one of my biology textbooks I bought off Ebay in college. Some color, some art, nothing fancy
Murder: Well, the outside piece of paper, I hope lasts without me having to tap it back together. They could have at least gave us a cardboard cover. The DM screen is very nicely put together with some mostly useless tables. I like it, but don't need it. I don't care for the flimsy small, books, but the art is very nice.
Castle: 1.25
Murder: .75

Originality:
Castle: Kinda generic adventures. Super fast leveling, imho. Spurred a lot of good ideas, that may or may not be used.
Murder: Made me think on a different level. One of those good, refreshing adventures that takes place in a city. A sandbox that is hard to not get interested in. Much more of an original product.
Castle: .5
Murder: 2.0

Totals:
Castle: 6.5
Murder: 6.25

Nice and close if you ask me, and now I feel better about paying the extra ebay money. Both are fun products and when I do a review like this, if they are both above 5, that is good.

 

[Jester David]

I've also heard Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle contains an Easter Egg relating to the WotC Community.
Now, I haven't checked this for myself because my fenangled copy has yet to arrive. But credible sources have told me of this:

There was a poster over on the WotC boards known as "Wrecan" who was, hands down, the best person still posting in the WotC community. His avatar was the lizard man from the 1e Monster Manual.
And a few months back, he died. Suddenly.

And in Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle there's a friendly lizardman that can offer advice and aid. Named Wrecan. Nice.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Thanks for sharing this. That's a cool little tribute.