Exalted vs D&D. The battlelines are drawn!

[Olgar Shiverstone]

So what if WotC countered with giving away a free 4E PHB in return for Exalted 2E ... 5000 swaps total?

Or if WotC gave away a free 4E PHB in trade for a 3.5 PHB? (Assume in either case they subsequently sold the acquired books in the used market)

 

[moritheil]

Good for WW! Upside, they get some new folks to look at Exalted. Downside, they write off some Exalted books at cents on the dollar as marketing expense.

Unfortunately, I have less interest in Exalted than in 4e. Say what you want about Wotc but they know how to write a readable and immediately reference-able game book. WW does not. Even the chapter heads of WW books are often of little guidance.

Good for WW but no thanks, not until they learn that a game book is not a novel or stream-of-consciousness.

So, you predict a failure of the scheme based on the fact that actual content matters?

Personally, I don't really see why people treat this like some sort of huge deal. An informed choice gives WW better odds, true, but it doesn't change the fact that for most the choice has already been made. And once that choice has been made, sheer inertia will result in ultimate victory.

 

[Vocenoctum]

That's 2500 potential new players directly, and another huge amount of potential players that are rounded up by all the ruckuss. It's a relative cheap marketing campaign, Exalted is 'large' enough to allow for a huge print run, making individual books relatively cheap.

It'd be interesting to see what a print run is of Exalted, but no one will ever release numbers, so ah well. My book I got a month back from Buy.com doesn't say "first printing" or anything.

They now get 2500 folks to hold their book in hand, read it and actual like it. The willingness to give up your 3.5E book(s) for it might mean that folks are actually open to move on to something else...

Again, if they were saying "give us your 3.5 books" 6 months after 3.5 released, they'd be banking on people not having liked the system. Saying "send us your book" just before it is replaced anyway? I dunno.

I thought that the whole business with stripping books from their cover was banned, atleast by WW, something to do with the environment...

I guess they're not dictating that the pages be recycled, so there ya go!

 

[Vocenoctum]

So, you predict a failure of the scheme based on the fact that actual content matters?

I think White Wolf has underestimated the binding on a real book. The pHB might be tough to yank. Not like my Exalted book where the cover feels like it's already coming off...

Personally, I don't really see why people treat this like some sort of huge deal. An informed choice gives WW better odds, true, but it doesn't change the fact that for most the choice has already been made. And once that choice has been made, sheer inertia will result in ultimate victory.

Because it's the internet, and if this wasn't a topic of discussion, it'd be something else, so why the heck not!

 

[moritheil]

Because it's the internet, and if this wasn't a topic of discussion, it'd be something else, so why the heck not!

True. Cue drama.

 

[BSF]

Given that the #1 competitor to 4e is almost certainly going to be 3.5e, I suspect this move won't hurt WotC too much.

Personally, while I like Exalted, I wouldn't swap my 3.5e PHB for it. For a start, I'm probably going to continue using 3.5e in some fashion. Secondly, I don't hugely care for dice-pool systems, so am highly unlikely to make one such my primary system. And finally, while I like alternatives, that's because I, well, like alternatives. So, if I want Exalted, I'll pick up a copy of the rulebook... and will pay cover price for it.

Heh, I wouldn't mind checking out the promotion. I have Exalted and it would be a nice way to get more resources to bring buy-in for my gaming groups. But trading in my 3.5 PHB? Nah. Maybe, just maybe, I will hit the used bookstores and see if I can find a cheap 3.5 PHB though.

 

[Testament]

I reckon I could rope a few of my group into it if they were offering up Scion books (ONE FREAKING SESSION and they're hooked!). I'd be on it a split second anyway, since I loved Exalted 1E's crazy-business over the top cosmic planet shatteringness, and 2E uses far neater rules that then got ported into Scion.

Except for the fact that I don't live in North America and thus can't take part.

Bleah.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

My guess is that this is a long-term ploy to make inroads in the D&D gamers community. After all, if (say) a thousand people take up that offer and end up running and enjoying Exalted, they might not only invest into the Exalted game line but also become interested in the other White Wolf lines - the New World of Darkness, Scion, the upcoming EVE RPG, and so on.

And those people will likely still hang around with other D&D gamers - both online and offline - and tell others about these games. Which could be useful - there are still plenty of D&D players who won't even look at other games.

 

[Truth Seeker]

Let the walls crumble...and the minds become open to other worldly adventures.

 

[eyebeams]

My guess is that this is a long-term ploy to make inroads in the D&D gamers community. After all, if (say) a thousand people take up that offer and end up running and enjoying Exalted, they might not only invest into the Exalted game line but also become interested in the other White Wolf lines - the New World of Darkness, Scion, the upcoming EVE RPG, and so on.

And those people will likely still hang around with other D&D gamers - both online and offline - and tell others about these games. Which could be useful - there are still plenty of D&D players who won't even look at other games.

I think this is aimed at a younger section of the RPG demographic than is typically served in many online communities. Everybody knows you can make gobs of money on fantasy-themed anime, but there's a pretty big gap between people who consume it and anybody who's played D&D since before 3.0. I strongly suspect that this is for people who watch Bleach and have been playing D&D for five years or less. The issue with cracking this group is promotion. Generally, once they hook up with an IP they spend lots and lots of money on it.