D&D 5E (2014) Future format of books that mimic SCAG: Will you buy them?

[ZeshinX]

Big, fat nope from me.

I found the SCAG far too random and scattered. Sure, it accomplished it's goal of being an introduction to the Realms via the Sword Coast...but I'm looking for something far more meaty in both fluff and crunch. I've found all of 5e's tabletop offerings to be devoid of worth outside the Core Rulebooks thus far (worth to me that is).

I'll gladly keep playing 5e Core with my old material though. 5e is easy enough to create my own crunch for elements I find 5e presently lacks (Kara Tur races/classes for my group, as we play a lot of campaigns set there).

 

[JohnLynch]

Are they really curbing piracy?

No. I have had players turn up with pirated copiesof books pretty much as soon as the book has been released.

 

[CapnZapp]

Oh, and I certainly don't expect to see FR swallow Eberron, Greyhawk, Dark Sun, or anywhere else. Because there's just no need, and no good reason to weather that backlash.

I certainly don't believe WotC will ever say "from now on Greyhawk is a continent on Toril, and anyone playing it like a world of its own is doing it wrong." no.

But this does not mean I advise you to hold your breath regarding a campaign book for your favorite world, since what I did say was that it's possible Wotc will only explicitly support Forgotten Realms for the foreseeable future.

And that if your campaign world of choice is not FR you will have to make do with a combination of three kinds of support:
1) UA style Web support (such as those mariner minotaurs)
2) Choice bits and pieces from official supplements (such as perhaps reusing the Purple Knight as your world's Warlord)
3) Campaign guides and adventures set in your world from previous editions that you yourself update (or find on fan sites)

Point being: the time when WotC released supplements that explicitly excluded parts of the customer base (by virtue of being created for any given campaign world that isn't FR) is in the past.

And that I believe WotC thinks it gets more sales from supplements grounded in A world than generic supplements not tied to any particular world, which means:

All supplements will be tied to FR. No supplements will ever explicitly say "does not work with Greyhawk"

(replace Greyhawk with Dark Sun, or Birthright, or Kalamar etc per your preference)

 

[delericho]

But this does not mean I advise you to hold your breath regarding a campaign book for your favorite world, since what I did say was that it's possible Wotc will only explicitly support Forgotten Realms for the foreseeable future.

Yep, I agree. In fact, I think they may even have said that explicitly.

Point being: the time when WotC released supplements that explicitly excluded parts of the customer base (by virtue of being created for any given campaign world that isn't FR) is in the past.

True. Indeed, it's worth noting that even the SCAG doesn't have "Forgotten Realms" on the front cover (might be on the back, though - I haven't checked that).

 

[Mercule]

I certainly don't believe WotC will ever say "from now on Greyhawk is a continent on Toril, and anyone playing it like a world of its own is doing it wrong." no.

Greyhawk is a perfect example of how the Realms kills and eats a world. Granted, both kind of existed in the same "vanilla fantasy" area. Still, anything that was a Greyhawk selling point (Lolth, for example) has been "shared" with the Realms to the point where it can be supported for the Realms without even mentioning its origin.

It would not surprise me to see other settings' goodies float over to the Realms or just get slowly ignored. Shifters and Warforged seem obvious choices to pull in from Eberron, as do Dragonmarks (though, not with that name). Planescape has been half-canonized, already.

I think that'd be a real shame, too. One of the wonderful things about D&D is that it hasn't been synonymous with any particular setting. There's always been a bit of an implied setting, but it was about building your own world, first and foremost. The myriad of published settings provided ideas, but weren't anchors. You should be able to fit all you need to run a campaign in a setting into 128-160 pages. A 250+ source/guide/box should be considered a deluxe product, which would only be of use to truly hard-core fans.

 

[CapnZapp]

Yep, I agree. In fact, I think they may even have said that explicitly.



True. Indeed, it's worth noting that even the SCAG doesn't have "Forgotten Realms" on the front cover (might be on the back, though - I haven't checked that).

The SC in SCAG stands for Sword Coast. It's quite specifically for Forgotten Realms.

 

[CapnZapp]

One of the wonderful things about D&D is that it hasn't been synonymous with any particular setting. There's always been a bit of an implied setting, but it was about building your own world, first and foremost.

Now you're thinking like a role player.

But Hasbro/WotC is not content with being the biggest rpg.

They're after the toys and films market, and in that perspective "not tied to any particular story" is a liability, and a quite significant one at that.

Hasbro won't make any money by providing you with tools to create your own stories much like Jesus didn't make any money teaching people to fish.

They need to rein in D&D to be about *their* stories, so you'll rather pay them for films and toys than creating and playing in your own.

PS. If it isn't obvious by now, I'm not really a believer in this.

 

[delericho]

The SC in SCAG stands for Sword Coast. It's quite specifically for Forgotten Realms.

You and I know that, because of at least passing familiarity with the Realms. But branding is important, and the SCAG, despite the name, is branded as a D&D product rather than a Forgotten Realms one - quite possibly because the former casts a wider net than the latter.

 

[CapnZapp]

If you don't know of the Realms, you aren't hurt by buying a FR product.

What I meant was that I dont think WotC is hiding the fact SCAG is set in the Forgotten Realms.

If you care enough to not want FR supplements, you won't mistakenly buy this product. Is all I'm saying

 

[delericho]

What I meant was that I dont think WotC is hiding the fact SCAG is set in the Forgotten Realms.

Sure, but there's a gap between hiding something and highlighting it. I was actually agreeing with your point that they don't now do products that "explicitly exclude parts of the customer base".

Indeed, in addition to not having the FR logo on the front cover, the SCAG also has a conversion guide to other settings - again, furthering the non-exclusion approach.