D&D 5E (2014) GAMA Trade Show and Game Developer Conference start Monday - announcement Tomorrow?

[Echohawk]

Personally I don;t care either way, to make money they have to sell more books and more classes is a sure way to do it, look at PF as an example.

It seems pretty clear to me that WotC's plan to monetize D&D is no longer simply to "sell more books". For some time, they have been much more focused on the broader D&D brand.

We can currently buy:

• D&D novels
• D&D board games (Lords of Waterdeep and others)
• D&D comics (IDW licence)
• D&D miniatures (Gale Force Nine, with WizKids pre-painted line coming soon)
• D&D electronic content (DND Classics)
• D&D computer games (Baldur's Gate Enhanced, Lords of Waterdeep on iOS)
• D&D online subscription services (DDI)
• D&D toys (Hasbro's Kre-O line)
• D&D clothing (DND Merch)
• D&D wallets, belts and cuffs (Red Monkey licence)
• D&D phone covers (Incipio licence)
• D&D mugs and gift items (Zazzle licence)

None of which involves selling books. (Okay, I guess comics are technically books.) By my count, there haven't been this many active D&D licences since the TSR days. The current legal battle for the D&D movie rights is another indication of the importance of the overall D&D brand, and another potential money-spinner.

I'm thinking WotC are not planning on selling more books to make money. I wouldn't be surprised if there is an extremely light line of printed RPG books supporting D&D Next.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Yeah, I had wondered about the Monster Manual. James Wyatt had been really covering the bases in the articles, and it's good to know that everything (except stuff they might not have made the cut) will be there from the start.

I'm still concerned about insufficient cleric domains to cover a standard pantheon after a Mike Mearls tweet I read yesterday...hopefully I'm concerned for nothing.

I'd hate to see them take such a comprehensive view and then make you wait for a cleric splatbook to get a domain that would work with Olidammara or Nerull for example.

 

[Agamon]

To me, it's option three: WOTC requested an ISBN number, B&N automatically picked up on it as coming from one of the publishers they always resell, and they put a space-holder date and price on it based on similar industry releases.

Sure, I can see that. Point is, though, these isn't really any evidence that the B&N posting were wrong. There is a Starter Set (and it's called that) and a Player's Handbook (and that's its name), Starter is coming out first in the summer with the PHB sometime after it.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I'm thinking WotC are not planning on selling more books to make money. I wouldn't be surprised if there is an extremely light line of printed RPG books supporting D&D Next.

I could see that. I'd much rather have a smaller number of more comprehensive books than a bloat of unnecessary books that look more appealing than their content actually is. For instance, they really only need one book per campaign setting, and those of us who want more can probably just make use of previous edition materials. I'll probably buy the 5e Forgotten Realms campaign book, but that's probably the only FR material I'll buy. I've got more than enough with 2e pdfs and the 3e campaign setting to cover everything I'd need about Faerun (I'd consider buying a Waterdeep supplement, because I don't have one, but it wouldn't have to be a 5e one).

I get the feeling that they are trying to get the main rules out there and as reasonably comprehensive as they can early on, and then go "crunch-lite" for the rest of the edition, perhaps even focusing on edition neutral supplements.

All of that sounds really good to me.

 

[lkj]

Does is strike anyone else that PAX East might be a reasonable time to give up some release dates? It's a public convention. The timing is nicely placed a couple months out from the speculated release of the Starter set. They are making a push for their lead in campaign there (Tyranny of Dragons. Be the first to see the art!). Mearls, Perkins and others will be there. They have that Penny Arcade game.

Anyway, just speculating. But beyond a press release and big announcement on the website, I'm not sure what the other venue would be. (But that might be because I'm ignorant).

AD

 

[Erik Mona]

To me, it's option three: WOTC requested an ISBN number, B&N automatically picked up on it as coming from one of the publishers they always resell, and they put a space-holder date and price on it based on similar industry releases.

That is 100% for sure what happened, although the "placeholder" date was almost certainly input by someone on the publisher side of things. Whether it was the _right_ date, or whether that person should have done so is, of course, an open question that there is no way of knowing. But the listing definitely came from the ISBN.

Avoiding stuff like this is why we generally post our product solicits within a couple of days of ordering the ISBN. B&N, Amazon, etc. constantly scrape databases for this information, so you've got to be careful, especially when dealing with an important release.

 

[mach1.9pants]

None of which involves selling books. (Okay, I guess comics are technically books.) By my count, there haven't been this many active D&D licences since the TSR days. The current legal battle for the D&D movie rights is another indication of the importance of the overall D&D brand, and another potential money-spinner.

I'm thinking WotC are not planning on selling more books to make money. I wouldn't be surprised if there is an extremely light line of printed RPG books supporting D&D Next.

Very good point

 

[Tyranthraxus]

I must admit, the sound of a new living campaign sounds far more interesting to me at least, although in the same regard, those style of campaigns live on the knife edge of expanding gameplay options.

 

[Li Shenron]

My feelings about this partial announcement:

- we still don't know if the Starter Set is required or if you have everything you need in the core 3

- "there is only one PHB" and "all iconic monsters in the MM" might sound trivial informations but IMHO they are quite important for those who do not plan to necessarily buy a lot of books; the "everything is core" philosophy in the 4e days really sounded like "you need to keep buying books or subscribe digitally for years to come to keep up with the hobby". For those who already plan to do that it's irrelevant, but for others it's a suggestion to stay away.

 

[Li Shenron]

I'm still concerned about insufficient cleric domains to cover a standard pantheon after a Mike Mearls tweet I read yesterday...hopefully I'm concerned for nothing.

Same concern here... what did he tweet?