D&D 5E GenCon Loot

[graves3141]

I'm getting withdrawal symptoms; I need more D&D resources/adventures/something in the product catalogue, and all year I've been telling myself, "They'll announce new stuff at GenCon, they'll announce new stuff at GenCon...."

If they don't announce any new stuff in the pipeline this weekend, frankly I'm gonna become pretty disappointed in the degree of support PnP D&D is receiving.

I know what you mean but I think this is something we have to learn to get used to (unfortunately). At this point, I think we should just be thankful that Out of the Abyss and the SCAG book is on the horizon. I was thinking for awhile that there would be no setting material published at all.

 

[Henry]

If they don't announce any new stuff in the pipeline this weekend, frankly I'm gonna become pretty disappointed in the degree of support PnP D&D is receiving.

Welcome to the club, here's your stickers...

Fortunately there is a good bit of (very) unofficial 3rd party content out there that helps some, and the rest is available through D&Dclassics.com with a little bit of extra work.

At least we have two more products coming this year, which is 100% more than two weeks ago!

 

[Vael]

I'm getting withdrawal symptoms; I need more D&D resources/adventures/something in the product catalogue, and all year I've been telling myself, "They'll announce new stuff at GenCon, they'll announce new stuff at GenCon...."

If they don't announce any new stuff in the pipeline this weekend, frankly I'm gonna become pretty disappointed in the degree of support PnP D&D is receiving.

While I agree, I can say with some confidence that there aren't going to be any announcements, considering that WoTC has no major seminars on the schedule. The era of big Gen Con news has pretty much past.

I understand that they don't want to overload us with splatbooks and there are fewer developers on the team, but this does seem to be the problem, now there's a dearth of support.

I don't think the big storyline model is really working, at least from the perspective of PnP support. One of the big things that I remember Mearls talking about is how tabletop RPGs have to be leaner and lighter, because conflicting entertainment options. So why are the adventures and products focused on epic campaigns? I'd sooner buy a book of short adventures that can be run in a session or three.

While I can sympathize with the transmedia brand approach ... I don't think it's good for the tabletop game.

 

[Staffan]

If they don't announce any new stuff in the pipeline this weekend, frankly I'm gonna become pretty disappointed in the degree of support PnP D&D is receiving.

 

[Mirtek]

Ah well. I was hoping for a surprise. I wonder why they didn't save the SCAG announcement for GenCon.

in light of WotC's Website management, I would not be surprised if that was tgeir plan until the SCAG sites were released accidentally too early to their website

 

[graves3141]

in light of WotC's Website management, I would not be surprised if that was tgeir plan until the SCAG sites were released accidentally too early to their website

Interesting, that's not something I even considered. Seems unlikely but still possible.

 

[Henry]

While I agree, I can say with some confidence that there aren't going to be any announcements, considering that WoTC has no major seminars on the schedule. The era of big Gen Con news has pretty much past.

Plus Mike's Gen Con interview where he says any really big product announcements they're saving for events like PAX now, rather than gaming conventions. Disappointing from a nostalgia point of view, but I can understand why they would shoot for a big popular non-gaming convention than a moderate-sized gaming convention -- we tabletop geeks will get the news no matter where it's announced anyway.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

To answer the OP question, the All Access event provided nothing. We paid $150 for about $50 worth of events. There were minor advantages (6 players instead of some tables playing with 7, consistent table and teams, a few unique but mostly useless certs), but there was a fair amount of disappointment with the lack of value.

I did not talk with anyoneone who was planning to do it again next year.

It seems petty to get up from enjoyable games and say "hey, but where are my goodies?", but given the price (3x what the events would cost bought individually) and the rewards given last year (signed books) I think the reaction is understandable.

For me, though, I wonder. My group - all professional, middle aged guys, the all access gave us something else - a way to throw money at the problem of the land rush for tickets we always have to deal with. We could throw an extra hundred into the kitty -- like a tip to a restaurant hostess -- to make sure we get a table even though we don't have a reservation.

I don't know what I think yet. We played a lot of D&d and had a good time playing. We paid a lot more than people that had practically the same experience and the same rewards. Would I pay the price again if it was the only way to get a seat in the epics? I don't know. Maybe not.

-rg

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I want to be clear -- I'm not happy that we were in a position to grease a palm and get a table for high demand events. I am glad to have played the events, I would have been disappointed to miss the opportunity to play them, but the egalitarian open source programmer in my heart hates the idea. Does D&D really need to be like everything else? Do we welcome new players by creating layers of access?

 

[doctorhook]

Welcome to the club, here's your stickers...

Fortunately there is a good bit of (very) unofficial 3rd party content out there that helps some, and the rest is available through D&Dclassics.com with a little bit of extra work.

At least we have two more products coming this year, which is 100% more than two weeks ago!

I have to admit, I've definitely been throwing more of my money at 3PPs lately. Was that WotC's desired outcome?

...Wait, two more products coming out? I know about Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, but what's the other one?

While I agree, I can say with some confidence that there aren't going to be any announcements, considering that WoTC has no major seminars on the schedule. The era of big Gen Con news has pretty much past.

I understand that they don't want to overload us with splatbooks and there are fewer developers on the team, but this does seem to be the problem, now there's a dearth of support.

I don't think the big storyline model is really working, at least from the perspective of PnP support. One of the big things that I remember Mearls talking about is how tabletop RPGs have to be leaner and lighter, because conflicting entertainment options. So why are the adventures and products focused on epic campaigns? I'd sooner buy a book of short adventures that can be run in a session or three.

While I can sympathize with the transmedia brand approach ... I don't think it's good for the tabletop game.

I agree with you completely, especially (x1000) your final sentence.

That interview with Mearls this past weekend gave me some hope though, although I'm still not real happy about the emphasis being put on a single video game. Also, Mike's talking about mucking around with the fighter class now? What's wrong with it?