D&D 5E Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle

[Trickster Spirit]

Isn't that what the Standard game is supposed to be, though?

 

[Jester David]

I am wondering if this could be a hint at a new product format for the "basic" game whenever it arrives.

Provide a softcover rulebook, with tons of adventure material as the basic game. Imagine if you will something along the lines of the moldvay book and B1/ B2 in one hefty softcover. Maybe provide a few different versions with the same rules but different adventures..FR themed, Ravenloft themed, Dark Sun themed..Eberron themed, etc. . Then follow up with hardcover "standard/advanced" rulebooks for the hardcore, sans adventure material.

This way, the prospective new gamer sees an emphasis on a Adventure Game with all the rules needed. As opposed to a set of rules with introductory adventure.



IOW, it would be like the old Steve Jackson Sorcery/ Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks on steroids.

I'm hoping for a Rules Compendium style book for Basic. Full rules, four races & classes, monsters, and minor DM advice.
Followed by a larger book (aka PHB) with everything else (other races and classes, more builds, feats, backgrounds, etc).

 

[Jester David]

Yeah, I'm bummed this is a GenCon exclusive. I like buying adventures.

Ditto.
I'm okay with collective con exclusives but prefer them to be things like dice, alternate covers, promo cards, reprinted minis, and the like. Actual content is frustrating. Such a minority of gamers has access.

 

[thewok]

You know it's late when you look at the first picture there and think, "How in the hell did he roll a 9 on a d6?"

I'm okay with collective con exclusives but prefer them to be things like dice, alternate covers, promo cards, reprinted minis, and the like. Actual content is frustrating. Such a minority of gamers has access.

Yeah. I lack the funds to go to Gencon, though I'd really love to do that some year. I do not, however, lack the funds to buy, say, this module (which I like to mine for ideas for my own campaigns). I can totally accept people who go to Gencon getting early access to products, like the Shadowrun 5th edition rulebook or some new FFG game or whatever. I just wish that, at some point, I also could get that stuff. I hate that, because I can't afford to fly across the nation, get a hotel room and pay admission to a convention that I am disallowed from buying a product.

Oh well. I'll figure out some way to get a hold of it.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I'm far more interested in the information on Daggerford, the place where my first D&D campaign was set back in 2e.

There's only 11 pages on it. Hrm...

 

[JeffB]

I'm hoping for a Rules Compendium style book for Basic. Full rules, four races & classes, monsters, and minor DM advice.
Followed by a larger book (aka PHB) with everything else (other races and classes, more builds, feats, backgrounds, etc).

I would personally be fine with this too,.as it is the type of game I like to run. I am usually running either a Moldvay/Cook/Marsh S&W/LBB mash up, or the current 4e game, where we use only HoTFL on the player side of things...which is essentially (no pun intended) the same thing.

But I do think the product I previously described would be a better intro product for people new to the game.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Ditto.
I'm okay with collective con exclusives but prefer them to be things like dice, alternate covers, promo cards, reprinted minis, and the like. Actual content is frustrating. Such a minority of gamers has access.

Yeah I think this was a very dumb and dickish move by WotC to make this a GenCon exclusive when there is a clear appetite in the market for new content. And you don't do a con-exclusive product that is 288 pages long. That's a major release.

I wonder if we will see this on DND Classics in short order? As it stands, my guess is that it's going to be one of the most pirated D&D products of all time.

 

[Jester David]

I would personally be fine with this too,.as it is the type of game I like to run. I am usually running either a Moldvay/Cook/Marsh S&W/LBB mash up, or the current 4e game, where we use only HoTFL on the player side of things...which is essentially (no pun intended) the same thing.

But I do think the product I previously described would be a better intro product for people new to the game.

It's a neat idea but it doesn't work as well with publishing where you want to sell as many copies of a book as possible to offset production costs. Mutiple variant copies mean fewer single sales.
Plus people who want to play in multiple worlds have to buy the rules twice.

 

[Iosue]

I keep getting an "Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator" notice when I try to look at the pics.

 

[thewok]

Yeah I think this was a very dumb and dickish move by WotC to make this a GenCon exclusive when there is a clear appetite in the market for new content. And you don't do a con-exclusive product that is 288 pages long. That's a major release.

To be fair, most of that 288 pages is available for free as the playtest packet. I'm not sure how much space the actual adventure takes up.