D&D 5E Initial D&D Next Releases Showing Up on Barnes & Noble Website

[amerigoV]

As far as I know, that was him purely guessing about what could be in it - not an actual declaration of what was known to be in it. Certainly the now-dead links to Barnes and Noble did not have of those things mentioned (it was just a name and a date and a price).

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[hbarsquared]

Things I'm keeping in mind:

BnN, and Amazon, are not the most accurate when it comes to pre-announcement info. They could have been placeholders, the price could have been inaccurate, even the titles! Who knows? Without a page count or description, I'm hesitant to determine the accuracy.

A $50 PHB is only for those that already know they want it as a resource - not for those "trying out the game." Not for the newbies who've never heard of D&D. Not for the long-time D&D veterans who are on the fence about 5e. This is what the Starter/Basic Game is for! And priced at $20, I have no problem imagining that this would be the loss leader. If it's a good product (if!), then (I imagine) a large percentage of people who enjoy the game will move onto the PHB with more complex options.

$50 makes sense to me for a really good core rulebook. Whether it will be really good remains to be seen. But high quality, good rules, dense text, and good art are all factors.

I could see the PHB priced at $50, with the DMG and MM at $40 each. $130 sounds better than $150.

Hell, I could even see a $50 PHB and a $50 DMG only, with the DMG having a monster section, with folios of monsters/NPCs released in the future. Why not?

The speculation is, of course, interesting. I would, of course, much rather pay $40 for a great PHB than $50. But I don't see anything to be up in arms about.

I just want it to be good.

 

[Ichneumon]

Same. I regularly read software development manuals, so I get my fill of dry textbooks. D&D is my entertainment, so I want some beautiful art, even if I pay a bit more.

 

[pemerton]

Well, I can. It requires a lot of dungeon mastery, but it is possible -- the content in the D&D4 DMG isn't, strictly speaking, mandatory.

I'm not sure how you can GM 4e without skill challenge rules and the p 42/trap/monster charts - none of which is in the PHB or MM.

 

[Morrus]

I find a few things interesting here in this thread.

1. The B&N announcement only spoiled it for those that frequent the news sites like EN World. Shockingly, us geeks here are not the only target audience for D&D.
So there is a huge HUGE section of people that have not been spoiled and will be surprised and excited when the official announcement is made. And there is probably a HUGE group that will just as surprised when they walk in to their FLGS and find a new version of D&D in July.

It's been many years since that was true. These days, a quarter of a million monthly readers, half of which have a gaming group of 4 or more people -- that's a hell of a distribution. That's *just* EN World. Twitter, Facebook, G+ - those megaliths aren't exactly unknown for their information distribution capabilities.

I got a text today from someone who hasn't played in a decade, and doesn't frequent news sites. He was asking about this specific piece of news.

 

[darjr]

The 4e Red Box had an RRP of $20. I think it's reasonably safe to assume they didn't rip us off with that product (actually, given the price-point, it's pretty generous, IMO), so that suggests that's what $20 buys you. I'd expect the 5e box to be much the same in terms of the amount of content, though I'm sure it will be arranged at least somewhat differently.

I hope not. I hope that without the need for tokens and maps that they can at least put a full 3 or 5 levels of play into the the product.

Anyway, with the items being taken down now, it's almost all speculation. The price or the timing or anything could have been wrong with the B&N and Amazon posting. Or could be changed now.

 

[seregil]

The 50$ price tag is a bit steep, particularly here in Canada where, even if our dollar is at par with the US dollar, we will STILL pay 15-20% more.

That being said, the real question is not if 50$ is worth it but is 5E worth paying 50$ for in addition to abandoning your current game. What I mean is that I currently have a game that I enjoy, so 5E needs to have so much added value compared to my current game of choice that it justifies investing 150$ or more. 2E was "broken" and needed fixing, so 3E was greeted with open arms. Pathfinder certainly isn'T perfect, but I feel no pressing "need" for a new version.

Gone are the days where I (and many others) will buy the new version of Dnd automatically. 4E saw to that.

With the new and varied RPG ecosystem now in existence (Pathfinder, 13th age etc) and getting stronger due to Dnd being essentially off the market for a year, Dnd will need to recapture a large part of their old audience and, when I compare the current pre-release marketing to the 3E pre-release marketing, WOTC is so far gone I don't think it will work.

Brand loyalty will ensure sales for a while, as it did for 4e in the beginning, but it can only go so far. This time around, people will be a lot warier and it will probably affect sales.

I wish them well and I certainly hope that 5E will be a revolutionary RPG as 3E was but, this time, I will check it out THEN buy it if it passes muster.

 

[dm4hire]

It's been many years since that was true. These days, a quarter of a million monthly readers, half of which have a gaming group of 4 or more people -- that's a hell of a distribution. That's *just* EN World. Twitter, Facebook, G+ - those megaliths aren't exactly unknown for their information distribution capabilities.

I got a text today from someone who hasn't played in a decade, and doesn't frequent news sites. He was asking about this specific piece of news.

I agree with you Morrus. I for one have posted the news on at least one Facebook group page in addition to those I've told offline. This news spread pretty fast.


One thing to think about is that it is getting very close to when FLGS will start being asked to pre-order. Most distributors list products in their catalogs at least three months in advance. That would place the July release for the starter showing up in pre-order books in April. Sometimes those books ship half a month early as well. WotC needs to get the word out soon if they are going to do it or someone else will. This little slip by B&N, whether accident or not, has already lessened any announcement they might have planned to make. They can only capitalize in being the first to announce the specific details of the products now, for good or bad.

 

[Agamon]

The 4e Red Box had an RRP of $20. I think it's reasonably safe to assume they didn't rip us off with that product (actually, given the price-point, it's pretty generous, IMO), so that suggests that's what $20 buys you. I'd expect the 5e box to be much the same in terms of the amount of content, though I'm sure it will be arranged at least somewhat differently.

Exactly. PFBB is $35, EotE is $30, 4e RB was $20. I'd be happy to pick up the new D&D Starter Set if it's like one of the two former, but not the latter.

 

[Warunsun]

The Barnes & Noble website still has the information in their computer for these two products with the prices, SKU's, and release dates. They have simply made it invisible to searches and page fingering. Someone obviously decided to hide them but orders are still being honored along with the sale prices. If you have an order for one or both of these products you can see the details in your account settings. But other than the sticker price it was pretty commonly known or expected to have the game released at GenCon. Many people also suspected that a starter or red box would come out a little earlier. So nothing earth shattering was actually learned. For years all the D&D product releases have been scooped from Amazon.com and B&N. Heck, these dates used to be reported right here on EnWorld and oftentimes before they were announced at wizards.com. This is nothing new.