D&D 5E I think the era of 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons had it right. (not talking about the rules).

[Mistwell]

What exactly are you having a hard time keeping up with? This is probably the edition that has the "least" content and yet you claim you can't keep up. There isn't much there to keep up with. That's like saying you can't keep up with a turtle.

UA and DMsGuild don't count because they are barely, if at all playtested and not official.

I do not care what your standards are for official or unofficial, and have no idea why you'd think you can set the standard for what "counts" for my experiences. It's really completely unrelated to the topic of whether I can personally keep up with the amount of 5e material I am acquiring. I already explained some of it isn't even from WOTC (Priemeval Thule Campaign Setting, Tome of Beasts, Fifth Edition Foes, Monster-A-Day, EN5inder). If you want to constrain the topic to "Just official WOTC stuff, and only if that stuff is in a hardbound book" for things you talk about, that's fine. But, I was talking about my experiences with the 5e material I've gotten. And there is a ton of it. WAY more than I got for 4e. And I explained why so much of it is harder to keep up with. I find "new class option which is a minor tweak on some other classes option" (which is what I found a lot of the 4e material to be) to be far easier to digest than "Setting story material for this region" or "Here is an optional rule to fundamentally change how all healing works in the game". The quantity of words for the minor class tweak might be far greater than the quantity of words for the other two, but the time to actually digest their meaning for the games I run is vastly different despite the quantity of words.

 

[The_Gneech]

Just put together a new character for our 4th campaign with 4e using the character builder and the old handbooks/guides. I must say that the builder has been a solid pillar for our group. Just browsing character options, making new builds and getting to know how to calculate all the different scores is just easier with the builder.

I would like something like that for 5e. And I would gladly pay for it.

Hero Lab works and is fairly complete with the community data set. 5E is simple enough to not really need it, but it can be fun to noodle around with if you want to try different things.

-TG

 

[Parmandur]

I love the arguments about how "This is 2016 in a world of social media! WoTC hasn't done ANYTHING to market their game well in this era!".



So I'd ask, "What tabletop RPGs have done well? And what are their sales compared to D&Ds? Well, there you go. Maybe your assumptions aren't correct, and maybe there's a reason why you're just an armchair marketer and not a professional."



Personally, between youtube, twitch streams (Acquisitions Inc in a theater anyone?), and having at least one app, it tells me they are more than aware of social media.

Honestly, WotC is on top of their social media game.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

To continue on the topic of WotC and social media for a moment:

Anyone else getting a chuckle out complaints that WotC isn't doing things the way they could in the era of social media existing alongside complaints that WotC is overly reliant on social media in regards to communicating to the D&D fan-base?

Because I'm having a pretty solid chuckle about it.

 

[Parmandur]

LOL!!!

I'm sorry but I find this is like trying to swallow a basketball so it's obvious I find it hard to swallow. What about the less than on two hands of products can't you keep up with? Now play speed has nothing to do with it.

I am highly curious how you can actually post a comment like this.

In just two years, I have bought the Starter Set and 7 books, 2 DM Screens and a mess load of Spell Cards from GaleForce9.

There are still three books I haven't fit into my entertainment budget yet, and one more coming out this year. And that's just WotC material, not counting the huge third party support going on right now.

I have more things in my life than D&D, that is a huge investment of my time and money; for previous editions, I only bought the PHB! There was so much to get, that I invested nothing, too many choices on the menu.

They are releasing more than enough, more than I can handle, but slow enough that I buy more than nothing. Hence they meet the 100,000 a book numbers.

 

[Parmandur]

To continue on the topic of WotC and social media for a moment:

Anyone else getting a chuckle out complaints that WotC isn't doing things the way they could in the era of social media existing alongside complaints that WotC is overly reliant on social media in regards to communicating to the D&D fan-base?

Because I'm having a pretty solid chuckle about it.

Exactly! They are extremely active on Twitter and other modern means of communication.

 

[Corpsetaker]

In just two years, I have bought the Starter Set and 7 books, 2 DM Screens and a mess load of Spell Cards from GaleForce9. There are still three books I haven't fit into my entertainment budget yet, and one more coming out this year. And that's just WotC material, not counting the huge third party support going on right now. I have more things in my life than D&D, that is a huge investment of my time and money; for previous editions, I only bought the PHB! There was so much to get, that I invested nothing, too many choices on the menu. They are releasing more than enough, more than I can handle, but slow enough that I buy more than nothing. Hence they meet the 100,000 a book numbers.

You still haven't answered the question. What is it about the skeletal release schedule you can't seem to keep up with. Pretend money isn't a factor because that's not part of the discussion. Now if you are the kind of person who begins an AP and will not touch anything else until it's finished then I guess I could see your point. The main point going on is that Wizards is not putting out a variety of content and assuming that everyone likes their AP's and will not move on to "B" until they have done "A".

 

[Corpsetaker]

Exactly! They are extremely active on Twitter and other modern means of communication.

I'm sorry but being active on Twitter makes you equal to lot's of other people in the world. Twitter it also very limited in what it can do and the information that it can put across.

Being a part of social media that really is worth mentioning would have been doing something like having the sub based model during 4th edition and have that linked to an APP that would allow you to bring up your character stuff via your mobile phone and or tablet. Just being on Twitter and Facebook doesn't make you a major player in the world of social media if you don't actually use those tools, and other methods, to actually do something. Their website should be a hub for discussion and many other things, but sadly it's not.

 

[Corpsetaker]

And that's just WotC material, not counting the huge third party support going on right now.

What "HUGE" third party support are you talking about? I see "some" third party support but I'm not seeing anything "HUGE". Now this is coming from the person who can't keep up with a bare bones release schedule.

 

[Sacrosanct]

What "HUGE" third party support are you talking about? I see "some" third party support but I'm not seeing anything "HUGE". Now this is coming from the person who can't keep up with a bare bones release schedule.

Wizards put out an updated license for 5e, including "Use (almost) anything that's ever been done in D&D before to create your own stuff." By the very nature of an OGL, they are indirectly supporting a ton of stuff. And now, with the DM's Guild? That is direct support for a plethora of material. Not to mention the 3rd party companies they've partnered with like Kobold Press.

I know you have literally done nothing but complain about how horrible 5e is since you joined. That's your right I guess even though for the life of me I can't understand why someone would do that. But it's not your right to be factually wrong and attack other people.

*edit*
As of this moment, there are 850 5e OGL items at DTRPG, and 2690 5e items on the DM's guild. Yeah, some of those are art (particularly on the DM's Guild), but that's still what I'd call a huge amount by gaming standards.

**edit II* And yes, DMs Guild DOES count, because it's 5e specific material. Products that wouldn't be allowed without WoTC's approval, so in that regard they are no different than any other 3rd party item that was licensed from WoTC. And just because WoTC made the decision to not spend the time or resources to churn out items doesn't mean those items aren't supported by WoTC. By having a DM's Guild in the first place, that is explicit support.