Forgotten Realms Books to Have Several Digital DLCs, Including One Featuring Asterion

Wizards of the Coast plans to release several "digital DLCs" alongside the upcoming Forgotten Realms rulebooks. This week, Game Informer released a pair of articles about the upcoming Forgotten Realms rulebooks. Tucked away in the article is the announcement that the upcoming releases will include several "digital DLCs" that expand on the new setting. One example was Asterion's Book of Hungers, which focuses on urban vampire adventures featuring the character from Baldur's Gate 3.

No other details were made available about the upcoming releases, such as whether the new supplements will be paid DLC or free to D&D Beyond subscribers. Wizards has released several digital-only supplements alongside their various books, ranging from mini-bestiaries to supplementary adventures, but all were free to D&D Beyond subscribers or available as pre-order bonuses.

Since the Forgotten Realms books aren't currently available for pre-order, it's hard to say whether this is a new strategy or simply a continuation of current works. The fact that Wizards commissioned art specifically for Asterion's Book of Hungers and the usage of the phrase "digital DLC" suggests that this might be a new monetization scheme for the company, albeit one that makes sense given the growing use of D&D Beyond's marketplace.

 

[Amphytrion]

Varric writes original erotica, not fan fiction.

His characters are actually all his old friends and acquaintances from prior adventures with names changed, or at least that’s my understanding. I think that qualifies as fanfiction (though of “real” people to him).

 

[doctorhook]

How are you going to spell Astarion's name wrong in the title, but get it right 3 paragraphs later?

How many Ss are in Asstarion?

 

[Benji]

Please.

First, we don't know the digital format yet . . . WotC has released this kind of content both in PDF format and in web format before. It's likely it will be web format, but we'll have to see. But even so . . .

WotC has offered digital extras going back to the days of 3E. In various formats, of varying quality and size . . . if the existence of digital extras is killing D&D 2024 for you . . . shrug.

I have no problems with pdfs. Or things I can download and print out. But if its like a lot of the fifth Ed stuff they did post dragonlance where it is just on beyond on a Web page and it does everything it can to make me gabe to have beyond open and running while I am at the table, it's just not for me. This wasn't a hissy fit I just mean, I think I am done with wotcs direction and its what finally made me decide I am kind done with it. No shade on anyone who makes a different decision though.

 

[Scribe]

Don't depend on WOTC for your happiness with D&D and RPGs.

Absolutely.

D&D is, for lack of a better term than I have used previously, a culture. Serving that culture is such an honor. Does such a culture survive, truly survive, lodged within a pair of digital, aggressively monetized parentheses?

It does not. Its out there already, we do not need Wizards, and certainly not Hasbro.

 

[Charlaquin]

I applaud the principled stand that if you can't get Astarion's Guide in print, you'd rather not have it. I assume you also avoid all streaming services and only buy physical discs for movies, music and video games.

I will reiterate that I don’t believe that dichotomy exists beyond your imagination, but since you insist on me answering that specific hypothetical, yeah, I’d rather it not get released. As for other forms of media, I used to subscribe to streaming services. Don’t any more, because I got tired of things being available on one service, then taken down from it, put back up on another, etc. My experience with that is part of what made me realize paying to license access to digital media was a sucker’s deal. Video games I get on physical disks whenever I can. Some smaller independent devs can’t afford physical distribution and I’ll still support them.

Also, vaguely gesturing at imagined hypocrisy is what people do when they don’t have an actual substantive argument to make.

 

[Charlaquin]

His characters are actually all his old friends and acquaintances from prior adventures with names changed, or at least that’s my understanding. I think that qualifies as fanfiction (though of “real” people to him).

Some of his original characters are partly inspired by people he knows in real life. In this way, he is just like every author ever.

 

[Amphytrion]

Some of his original characters are partly inspired by people he knows in real life. In this way, he is just like every author ever.

This is a mischaracterization. Yes, all original characters are inspired by either other characters or real individuals, but that’s not the point.

It is a recurring gag that Varric’s aren’t original at all, in any sense of the word — they are just his friends and enemies from past adventures. The erotica series referenced by the companion sidequest is about Avelline, someone he knows in his real life. She is even depicted in the book. Hard in Hardtown, his other noir series found via codex, is similarly about people he knows, just with changed names. It’s just a humorous bit.

Anyhow, Varric’s writing is wildly off-topic for this thread and should not clog it.

On the topic at hand, I’ll say that I’m much more forgiving of streaming, since I usually watch movies only once, than of D&D Beyond, as I reference my RPG products all the time. I also pay a streaming service for access to their catalogue, while DDB charges per item (to my knowledge).

 

[Remathilis]

I will reiterate that I don’t believe that dichotomy exists beyond your imagination, but since you insist on me answering that specific hypothetical, yeah, I’d rather it not get released. As for other forms of media, I used to subscribe to streaming services. Don’t any more, because I got tired of things being available on one service, then taken down from it, put back up on another, etc. My experience with that is part of what made me realize paying to license access to digital media was a sucker’s deal. Video games I get on physical disks whenever I can. Some smaller independent devs can’t afford physical distribution and I’ll still support them.

Also, vaguely gesturing at imagined hypocrisy is what people do when they don’t have an actual substantive argument to make.

I will state that having a principled stance against non-physical/non-ownership of media is not a fault. I have a friend who will not use self-checkouts out of principle because that's what they believe in. So, no shame if that is your stance.

But my issue is you keep gesturing at some magical third way. Let's take a concrete example and extrapolate. I've previously linked to the Mortuary from Planescape; a bunch of cut info from the Planescape box set focusing on the Hearld's of Dust headquarters and originally creatred due to the module starting you in it. Its roughly 40 pages, It features a detailed description of the place and features a half-dozen monsters (including Factol Skall). What would it take to get this to print?

Well, we could wait for WotC to make a follow-up for Planescape and put that info in that. It was released in 2023, so as of this moment, we would still be waiting for it to be put in another book. Considering the info in useful for the module in the box set, I wager getting added info years later would be too-little, too late.

Maybe they could bundle it and publish it as a 40 page softcover. I have no idea what the going rate for that is. Paizo seems to sell AP chapters for $24.00 per part, but that was for old Starfinder stuff. So lets say that's the going rate. 40 pages: $24. (Nevermind that Forge of the Artificer is a 112 page hardback for $30). Do you think the Mortuary would sell as a stand-alone product next to the Adventures of the Multiverse (already a $84 product)?

What about POD? Well, checking DMs Guild, I found a 16 page module (The Haunt, a best seller) has a softcover premium edition thats $14.00. 16 pages. 100 pages books were going for $30, 200 page books up to $74.00 POD is expensive. Its got a long lead time. WotC has a quite a few PODs there, but I can't imagine they get a lot of sales on them.

If I'm missing some fourth way to get the Mortuary in print, please enlighten me. But I don't think it's worth much more than the $10 I spent on it for Beyond. I'd easily have passed on it if I had to buy it for $20 or more.

 

[Dire Bare]

I will state that having a principled stance against non-physical/non-ownership of media is not a fault. I have a friend who will not use self-checkouts out of principle because that's what they believe in. So, no shame if that is your stance.

But my issue is you keep gesturing at some magical third way. Let's take a concrete example and extrapolate. I've previously linked to the Mortuary from Planescape; a bunch of cut info from the Planescape box set focusing on the Hearld's of Dust headquarters and originally creatred due to the module starting you in it. Its roughly 40 pages, It features a detailed description of the place and features a half-dozen monsters (including Factol Skall). What would it take to get this to print?

Well, we could wait for WotC to make a follow-up for Planescape and put that info in that. It was released in 2023, so as of this moment, we would still be waiting for it to be put in another book. Considering the info in useful for the module in the box set, I wager getting added info years later would be too-little, too late.

Maybe they could bundle it and publish it as a 40 page softcover. I have no idea what the going rate for that is. Paizo seems to sell AP chapters for $24.00 per part, but that was for old Starfinder stuff. So lets say that's the going rate. 40 pages: $24. (Nevermind that Forge of the Artificer is a 112 page hardback for $30). Do you think the Mortuary would sell as a stand-alone product next to the Adventures of the Multiverse (already a $84 product)?

What about POD? Well, checking DMs Guild, I found a 16 page module (The Haunt, a best seller) has a softcover premium edition thats $14.00. 16 pages. 100 pages books were going for $30, 200 page books up to $74.00 POD is expensive. Its got a long lead time. WotC has a quite a few PODs there, but I can't imagine they get a lot of sales on them.

If I'm missing some fourth way to get the Mortuary in print, please enlighten me. But I don't think it's worth much more than the $10 I spent on it for Beyond. I'd easily have passed on it if I had to buy it for $20 or more.

It doesn't bother me that this DLC (and earlier ones) are not (likely) getting a print option . . . but making it available for POD would be very easy on WotC's part and make a print version available for those who want it. A rather expensive print option, to be sure . . . and folks would certainly complain that there isn't a cheaper print option . . . but it would be there for those who can't leave print behind and feel a need for the "extras" like this.

 

[Charlaquin]

Well, we could wait for WotC to make a follow-up for Planescape and put that info in that. It was released in 2023, so as of this moment, we would still be waiting for it to be put in another book. Considering the info in useful for the module in the box set, I wager getting added info years later would be too-little, too late.

This is not it never getting printed, which is the only alternative to digital-only you were willing to accept in your hypothetical. You may consider such a wait an unacceptable alternative to digital-only, but I do not, hence my objection to your insistence on such a dichotomy.

Maybe they could bundle it and publish it as a 40 page softcover. I have no idea what the going rate for that is. Paizo seems to sell AP chapters for $24.00 per part, but that was for old Starfinder stuff. So lets say that's the going rate. 40 pages: $24. (Nevermind that Forge of the Artificer is a 112 page hardback for $30). Do you think the Mortuary would sell as a stand-alone product next to the Adventures of the Multiverse (already a $84 product)?

I don’t know, but I would prefer it to be an option. WotC probably has a better idea of if it would be a feasible option, and if it wouldn’t be, fine. These other options still exist.

What about POD? Well, checking DMs Guild, I found a 16 page module (The Haunt, a best seller) has a softcover premium edition thats $14.00. 16 pages. 100 pages books were going for $30, 200 page books up to $74.00 POD is expensive. It’s got a long lead time. WotC has a quite a few PODs there, but I can't imagine they get a lot of sales on them.

Maybe a PoD option wouldn’t get a lot of sales - I might not even necessarily buy it. But, it would be an option, which is grearly preferable either there being no physical option, or to the content never being released. So, again, the dichotomy you wanted me to pick one or the other option from doesn’t hold up.

If I'm missing some fourth way to get the Mortuary in print, please enlighten me. But I don't think it's worth much more than the $10 I spent on it for Beyond. I'd easily have passed on it if I had to buy it for $20 or more.

Ok. I didn’t ask you how much you’d be willing to pay for a physical copy. You asked me if it came down to digital only or never releasing the content, which I would prefer, and I told you I don’t think those are the only options. Here are three other options I would prefer, one of which I’ll concede probably isn’t economically viable. So call it two other options. Between the four, “make it available in PoD format” would be my first choice, followed by “release it as part of a future supplement - potentially years later if need be,” followed by “just leave it on the cutting room floor.”