How can WoTC get new players buying Essentials?

[S'mon]

Re the Red Box, I remember the buzz, I remember being convinced it was going to herald something of a renascence for D&D - because people DO come into my LGS looking for 'D&D,that game I used to play' - and more often than not leaving without a purchase after seeing the scary, confusing array of hardbacks. AFAICS the market was crying out for a new version of the Mentzer Red Box; around 5 levels of play would have been ideal. 4 PC classes, 4 races, 5 levels, a scattering of magic items up to 9th level (around 36 items would cover the needs of 1 level 1-5 campaign, counting +2 as different from +1, so maybe only 18 items really), a selection of monsters 1st-5th level with the EL 7 Young Red Dragon as capstone. Could have been great.

Instead the Red Box turned out to be little more than a preview, in some ways less substantial than the free Keep on the Shadowfell download. I think WoTC really shot themselves in the foot there, they threw away a great opportunity and won't get one like it again for a long time.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Re the Red Box, I remember the buzz, I remember being convinced it was going to herald something of a renascence for D&D - because people DO come into my LGS looking for 'D&D,that game I used to play' - and more often than not leaving without a purchase after seeing the scary, confusing array of hardbacks. AFAICS the market was crying out for a new version of the Mentzer Red Box; around 5 levels of play would have been ideal. 4 PC classes, 4 races, 5 levels, a scattering of magic items up to 9th level (around 36 items would cover the needs of 1 level 1-5 campaign, counting +2 as different from +1, so maybe only 18 items really), a selection of monsters 1st-5th level with the EL 7 Young Red Dragon as capstone. Could have been great.

Instead the Red Box turned out to be little more than a preview, in some ways less substantial than the free Keep on the Shadowfell download. I think WoTC really shot themselves in the foot there, they threw away a great opportunity and won't get one like it again for a long time.

Ah, I never actually saw an open box, so never had a chance to look through it.

So they did the same thing as those horrible preview books leading up to 4e again? An advert that cost money to buy? If so, what the heck were they thinking?

It would explain why the one kid in my teens an' tweens game who got the set was so disappointed with it - thirteen years old, and he is louder about not liking 4e than I am.

The Auld Grump

 

[Fifth Element]

It's all about the advertising.

"WoW! You'll wonder if you EverQuested before when you play D&D Essentials!"

That sort of thing.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

It's all about the advertising.

"WoW! You'll wonder if you EverQuested before when you play D&D Essentials!"

That sort of thing.

Ick.
Just... ick.

The Auld Grump, who does not MUSH, MOO, nor doth he MORPG.

 

[falcarrion]

Ok, so first off - you know all those awesome things you mention in Dragon magazine? You realize that also required being a subscriber of the magazine, right? That content in the pages of the print magazine and content behind the subscription wall on the website is virtually the same thing, right?


And as for seeing that sort of thing on the website, I think you are really off base as well. Every single product that comes out has a ton of free previews devoted to it, usually twice a week in the month leading up to it. Every month they post a previews column with excerpts from material coming out over the next several months. More previews tend to show up in the monthly Ampersand.

And they have just recently added a seris of free feature articles. Rule of Three, which answers 3 questions from gamers every week. Legends and Lore, which looks back over fundamental elements of the game. The Dungeon Master Experience, which provides free advice about DMing. We also regularly see D&D Alumni that provides the background on iconic elements of the game. Design and Development, which explains how certain game elements were created.

And they often highlight D&D elements in the community. D&D Kids which talks about experiences teaching young gamers. Interviews with writers, features about D&D related books, spotlights on D&D showing up in magazine articles, tv shows, etc.

Right now, they are having some serious issues with the magazines, and providing the proper amount of content to subscribers. But as for what you get for free? There is an abundance of content. Not in the pages of Dragon magazine, not behind the subscription wall, but freely available for everyone to read.

I never needed to subscribe to Dragon Magazine to look at a copy and decide if I wanted to buy that issue. The Magazine also had columns such as Sage Advice that answered questions from readers. Basicly most of the stuff you mentioned could be found in issues of the Magazine. They also did reviews of other company's products. They sometimes had modules that could be played. This came so popular that Dungeon magazine was created. Alot of the articles, modules, fiction, etc was created and written by gamers. Big difference in my book.

 

[Fifth Element]

Big difference in my book.

Different for sure. Necessarily worse? Arguable.

Edit: In your book, of course, implies personal preference, which is inarguable. Just figure if you bring it up on a discussion board it must be discussable.

 

[falcarrion]

When Essentials came out I was convinced that WotC would have a big seller, in particular of the Red Box.

Going by my local Borders I was not only wrong, I was dead wrong.

Aside from a quip along the lines of 'give a copy out with every box of Cracker Jack' I have no real advice - at this time, at the local Borders neither 4e nor 4e Essentials is selling all that well. Pathfinder is selling better than anything except the boxed sets of tiles (?!).

While I do not like 4e I do think that continued visibility of the D&D brand is essential for the health of RPGs in general.

Putting adverts in a $40 box is not going to do much good - the purchaser is almost certainly already a customer, so it promotes nothing.

The only thing that I can think of is promotional fliers, which is an expense with no direct income.

A $7 magazine is a different story, but at this point I think that the ship has sailed - there are no gaming magazines left to speak of. Starting up a new one is unlikely to happen. The ability to pick up a mag and flip through its pages while the 'zine was sitting on the shelf was a lot more casual. Maybe adverts in SF magazines? Though circulation of those is way down as well.

The Auld Grump

There still is Kobold magazine. The latest issue has a mini adventure by Willie Walsh. You may remember some of his adventures that were printed in Dungeon magazine. There are columns by Monte Cook, Skip Williams, and Wolfgang Baur, just to name a few. It comes in paper format as well as pdf.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

There still is Kobold magazine. The latest issue has a mini adventure by Willie Walsh. You may remember some of his adventures that were printed in Dungeon magazine. There are columns by Monte Cook, Skip Williams, and Wolfgang Baur, just to name a few. It comes in paper format as well as pdf.

Yes, I had forgotten about Kobold Quarterly.

Though I must be honest and admit that I have never seen a print copy in any store. How wide a circulation is it getting, or is by subscription only?

The magazine is quite good, but I have been thinking of it as PDF only (which means I am wrong). I am glad that it is seeing print as well.

The Auld Grump

 

[Beginning of the End]

So they did the same thing as those horrible preview books leading up to 4e again? An advert that cost money to buy? If so, what the heck were they thinking?

Pretty much.

Over the years, there have been three paths into D&D:

(1) A set of three hardbacks. (PHB/DMG/MM)

(2) A boxed set containing all the basic rules necessary for play. (OD&D, Holmes, Moldvay, BECMI)

(3) A boxed set or book that's pay-to-preview and tells you to go buy something else. (FirstQuest, FastPlay, every Basic Set and Basic Game since 1991.)

The first seems to work OK, but is extremely expensive and expects the new player to digest hundreds of pages of text before they can start to play.

During the time period where the second sort of product was available, D&D enjoyed massive popularity and mainstream success. According to multiple sources, the top two (or possibly three) versions of D&D ever published were published in this format.

The third sort of product has never sold well. We are now looking at two decades worth of failed products in this vein with something like a dozen different variations.

It's certainly possible that the success of Product Type #2 was entirely coincidental and just happened to correspond to the period of D&D's mainstream success (which I'm not saying wasn't also dependent on a lot of other factors, too). But those products were successful for the better part of two decades before they stopped making them.

But I don't think it takes a genius to give it a shot... just to see what happens, ya know?

And I wouldn't waste any more time on pay-to-preview boxed sets.

 

[falcarrion]

Yes, I had forgotten about Kobold Quarterly.

Though I must be honest and admit that I have never seen a print copy in any store. How wide a circulation is it getting, or is by subscription only?

The magazine is quite good, but I have been thinking of it as PDF only (which means I am wrong). I am glad that it is seeing print as well.

The Auld Grump

I know that my local game store gets it in paper format. You can get 4 issues ( quarterly) for $15.99 or print and pdf for $27.99.

Kobold-in-Chief: Wolfgang Baur
Circulation Director: Pierce Watters
Cover Design: Richard Clark
Assistant Editor: Scott Gable
Editorial Assistant: Christopher Bodan
Consulting Editor: Jeff Grubb
Graphic Designer: Crystal Frasier
Ad Manager: Shelly Baur
Gearforged Copywriter/Marketer: Wade Rockett
Contributing Authors: David Adams, Wolfgang Baur, Jesse Benner, Henry
Brooks, Benjamin Bruck, Monte Cook, Raymond G. Falgui, Matthew J.
Hanson, R.C. Higgins, Brian T. Hoffman, Richard A. Hunt, Jeremy L.C.
Jones, Russell Jones, Michael Kortes, Ben McFarland, Jonathan McAnulty,
Matthew C. Morris, Chris Mortika, Scott A. Murray, Nic Quimby, Jason
Sonia, Christina Stiles, Stefen Styrsky, Andy Sun, Willie Walsh, Seth White,
and Skip Williams
Cover Artist: Kieran Yanner
Contributing Artists: John Dickson Batten, Louis-Leopold Boilly,
Darren M. Calvert, Alvim Correa, C.l. Dahlstrom, Pearson Scott Foresman,
Rick Hershey, Joseph Jacobs, Olaus Magnus, Aaron Miller, Mark Smylie
Cartographers: Crystal Frasier and Jonathan Roberts
Court Calligrapher: Shelly Baur