YourSwordIsMine
First Post
I never said it wasn't silly... You know how conspiracy theories go...
Besides... Someone had to say it...
Gen Con: Slavicsek says core books will continue to be published, other tidbits
- Thread starter Rex Blunder
- Start date
I never said it wasn't silly... You know how conspiracy theories go...
Besides... Someone had to say it...
scylis
First Post
I went a made an account here just to post this, but...
How is saying that they'll print the PHB, MM, and DMG as needed "furious backpedaling" or "caving to demands" or anything of the sort? Do you know what that means? It means that even if they haven't printed a copy of any of those books in a day, a week, or even in months, they still have all the guides, layouts, masters, and/or blueprints they need to spend a day at most to start printing more when their current stock runs out.
If they're not printing any books as we speak (or type, as it were), at least during normal business hours for the printers they use, that means that they currently have enough printed and unsold copies to meet the current demand for purchasing them. Once that backstock gets to a low enough level, they'll spool up theFTL printers and print more.
There is the very real possibility that, during normal business hours, they could very well still be printing new copies of the books in question, of course.
I, personally, rather doubt that they've been continuously printing new copies of these books every business day for the past two years. That would make an insane amount of books. Anybody watch the show "How It's Made"? Modern manufacturing vomits forth utterly massive amounts of product in very little time. What usually goes on is that the company (WotC, in this case) orders a printing of a book, which is a set number of copies. The printer then makes the copies. Modern printers do this at an astounding rate. The printers then ship those copies to the company that ordered them, who then stores them in their warehouses. From there, retailers (or, more often, distributors) place orders for the books, which usually get sent to them and stored in their warehouses (even the local comic and gaming store here in Anchorage has a warehouse, FYI). From there they get transported to the actual retail stores that sell them.
Now, if LOCAL GAMING STORE #234 is running low, they pull more from their warehouse. If they don't have a warehouse, or if the warehouse is low enough, they'll order more from the distributor (or from the actual company. If you want to choose to order from the distributor, turn to the next sentence. If you want to choose to order from the company directly, turn to two sentences from now). The distributor then ships them their order out of their warehouses, and if their warehouses are low enough, they order more from the company. The company then sends them their order, and if the companies own warehouses are running low of a product that they aim to continue to bring to the market, they print more.
Since this are D&D books we're talking about here and not, say, McDonald's beef patties, WotC doesn't have to constantly print more books because people can reuse them until they fall apart (and the books are fairly sturdy, so that could take quite some time). They're also not, say, the Bible, so they also don't need to print in anywhere near the same quantities because they have a much smaller share of the "people who buy collections of paper with words and/or pictures (i.e. BOOKS)" market (and they'll also be stolen a lot less, but that's merely a tidbit for your next game of Trivial Pursuit). This means that their orders are either going to be smaller or that, if they're of similar quantity, each printing will last them longer.
What all this means is that there is a difference between being "In Print" and being actually printed as we speak/type. Thus they might not need to have new copies of the books printed for some time, if they have enough in their warehouse backstock. "In Print" just means that if they run low on backstock, they'll still be able to print more.
Well, that and it can't be "furious backpeddling" if they never actually said that they were not printing more at this time or that they were Out of Print. You can't backpeddle from a position you've never taken.
All we ever heard (to my knowledge) was some website claiming that they were taking them out of print and then a Facebook post by a retailer who talked to "their guy at WotC" who is claimed to have said that they're not currently having their printers churn out new copies because they've got a good amount of backstock for the time being (which, as you might have deduced from my WALL OF TEXT attack, doesn't mean that the books are Out of Print, even if what "their guy at WotC" said was true).
Sorry, but your conspiracy isn't real. Now, the Slender Man, on the other hand...
Also, long time listener, first time caller...
How is saying that they'll print the PHB, MM, and DMG as needed "furious backpedaling" or "caving to demands" or anything of the sort? Do you know what that means? It means that even if they haven't printed a copy of any of those books in a day, a week, or even in months, they still have all the guides, layouts, masters, and/or blueprints they need to spend a day at most to start printing more when their current stock runs out.
If they're not printing any books as we speak (or type, as it were), at least during normal business hours for the printers they use, that means that they currently have enough printed and unsold copies to meet the current demand for purchasing them. Once that backstock gets to a low enough level, they'll spool up the
There is the very real possibility that, during normal business hours, they could very well still be printing new copies of the books in question, of course.
I, personally, rather doubt that they've been continuously printing new copies of these books every business day for the past two years. That would make an insane amount of books. Anybody watch the show "How It's Made"? Modern manufacturing vomits forth utterly massive amounts of product in very little time. What usually goes on is that the company (WotC, in this case) orders a printing of a book, which is a set number of copies. The printer then makes the copies. Modern printers do this at an astounding rate. The printers then ship those copies to the company that ordered them, who then stores them in their warehouses. From there, retailers (or, more often, distributors) place orders for the books, which usually get sent to them and stored in their warehouses (even the local comic and gaming store here in Anchorage has a warehouse, FYI). From there they get transported to the actual retail stores that sell them.
Now, if LOCAL GAMING STORE #234 is running low, they pull more from their warehouse. If they don't have a warehouse, or if the warehouse is low enough, they'll order more from the distributor (or from the actual company. If you want to choose to order from the distributor, turn to the next sentence. If you want to choose to order from the company directly, turn to two sentences from now). The distributor then ships them their order out of their warehouses, and if their warehouses are low enough, they order more from the company. The company then sends them their order, and if the companies own warehouses are running low of a product that they aim to continue to bring to the market, they print more.
Since this are D&D books we're talking about here and not, say, McDonald's beef patties, WotC doesn't have to constantly print more books because people can reuse them until they fall apart (and the books are fairly sturdy, so that could take quite some time). They're also not, say, the Bible, so they also don't need to print in anywhere near the same quantities because they have a much smaller share of the "people who buy collections of paper with words and/or pictures (i.e. BOOKS)" market (and they'll also be stolen a lot less, but that's merely a tidbit for your next game of Trivial Pursuit). This means that their orders are either going to be smaller or that, if they're of similar quantity, each printing will last them longer.
What all this means is that there is a difference between being "In Print" and being actually printed as we speak/type. Thus they might not need to have new copies of the books printed for some time, if they have enough in their warehouse backstock. "In Print" just means that if they run low on backstock, they'll still be able to print more.
Well, that and it can't be "furious backpeddling" if they never actually said that they were not printing more at this time or that they were Out of Print. You can't backpeddle from a position you've never taken.
All we ever heard (to my knowledge) was some website claiming that they were taking them out of print and then a Facebook post by a retailer who talked to "their guy at WotC" who is claimed to have said that they're not currently having their printers churn out new copies because they've got a good amount of backstock for the time being (which, as you might have deduced from my WALL OF TEXT attack, doesn't mean that the books are Out of Print, even if what "their guy at WotC" said was true).
Sorry, but your conspiracy isn't real. Now, the Slender Man, on the other hand...
Also, long time listener, first time caller...
Nikosandros
Golden Procrastinator
All good news, except the part about the lack of update for MM1 monsters. Having a variety of monsters for the same basic type (e.g. orc, goblin, etc.) is good, but having "outdated" versions along with the "improved" ones seems a bit confusing and unnecessary. The again I can see how it would be a lot of work to do...
Why don't you just filter out the monsters from earlier supplements?
Thac0 the Barbarian
Explorer
Usefullness of broken monsters.
Another though is that the "brokenness" of given monsters is sometimes defined by the PC playstyle or level of "optimization". That is not to say that the update on the math provided in MM3 wasn't wonderful, but an individual DM might still find some use for the monsters as written. One thought is for new players for example, without a RPG or tactical background, weaker monsters may improve survivability while they are learning the ropes.
Another though is that the "brokenness" of given monsters is sometimes defined by the PC playstyle or level of "optimization". That is not to say that the update on the math provided in MM3 wasn't wonderful, but an individual DM might still find some use for the monsters as written. One thought is for new players for example, without a RPG or tactical background, weaker monsters may improve survivability while they are learning the ropes.
Scribble
First Post
You mean companies don't make it a regular practice of letting evil conglomerates of rich old men drinking 30 year old scotch make snap decisions in shadowy cigar smoke filled rooms?
Teemu
Hero
All orcs, goblins, and kobolds in MM1 are heroic tier monsters, so they're not that outdated really. They're pretty much fine as they are.
Nikosandros
Golden Procrastinator
Yes, that's actually pretty easy. I was unclear in what I wrote. I was stating that I can see how it isn't necessarily trivial for WotC to update all the MM1 monsters.
Nikosandros
Golden Procrastinator
That's a good point.
I guess that I would really have liked a sort of 4.5 taking advantage of two years of development and massive playtesting.
AbdulAlhazred
Legend
Yeah, you pretty much have that. I always predicted the MV monsters would be differently named variations. Whatever the possible reasons are for wanting to keep existing monsters around, there ARE reasons, so its simple enough to just add more new types.
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