ExploderWizard
Hero
That would be really nice, but WOTC's track record with these boxes has not been good. Dragon Age and Pathfinder both have great intro box sets. I hope WOTC learned something from them.
D&D 5E (2014) Initial D&D Next Releases Showing Up on Barnes & Noble Website
- Thread starter M.L. Martin
- Start date
That would be really nice, but WOTC's track record with these boxes has not been good. Dragon Age and Pathfinder both have great intro box sets. I hope WOTC learned something from them.
Plaguescarred
Hero
To summarize Basic D&D on this article;
[h=3]The Basic Rules[/h]The basic rules represent the starting point for the game.
Skills aren't part of the game
Each class has a default specialty
deity for a cleric, tradition for wizard, and so on—won't appear.
race and class as choices, though without multiclassing
Quick to start play, whether creating characters, reading an adventure, or rolling up a dungeon.
covers levels 1 to 10 and includes an adventure.
[h=3]The Basic Rules[/h]The basic rules represent the starting point for the game.
Skills aren't part of the game
Each class has a default specialty
deity for a cleric, tradition for wizard, and so on—won't appear.
race and class as choices, though without multiclassing
Quick to start play, whether creating characters, reading an adventure, or rolling up a dungeon.
covers levels 1 to 10 and includes an adventure.
Obryn
Hero
The $20 price point is giving me flashbacks to how WotC pooped the bed with the 3e and 4e box sets, both of which were pretty terrible. If it's good, I'll gladly eat my words.
I'm also hoping the $50 book is a complete game, instead of just one piece of a $150 game.
To be fair, preorder drops them to $17.99 and $37.96, respectively. Seems like less margin in the Starter Set (consistent with it being designed for mass marketing) and much more for the PHB (consistent with the traditional niche market game store markups).
Someone mentioned 3e at $19,95 and 4e at $34.95. 5e at $49.95 is the same increase between editions.
Price Point
Hate to break it you, but the original $35 Player's Handbook for third edition, adjusted for inflation, is now around $48. That's reflected in the reprint pricing as well. $50 is your new $35 and don't expect an enormous Pathfinder style combo book. That's just economics.
Hate to break it you, but the original $35 Player's Handbook for third edition, adjusted for inflation, is now around $48. That's reflected in the reprint pricing as well. $50 is your new $35 and don't expect an enormous Pathfinder style combo book. That's just economics.
gweinel
Explorer
Original 3rd edition PH had $20 not $35.
M.L. Martin
Hero
Well, the 3E PH and 3.5 PH were $30, not $35.
The $20 price doesn't count, really--that was explicitly a bargain or loss leader price for early adopters to convince them to buy the books. The 4E PH was $35; using the government inflation calculator, that would be $38 in 2014 dollars. (And the $30 for the 3.0 PH list price would be $40.) Now, book prices do appear to have risen more sharply than inflation, so maybe $50 is the proper base price.
But, there's another factor at well. Next is being met with more indifference and skepticism than any prior WotC edition, from my observations. If they're hoping for broad adoption, maybe cutting the margins a bit thinner would have been a good idea? I'm skeptical/curious at this point, but a $50 price point is too high for me to buy sight unseen, even if Amazon takes it down to $33 or so.
Blackwarder
Adventurer
That's the dead tree version price, we don't know what kind of pricing the electronic versions will be...
but it I agree that 150$ for is a lot.
Warder
but it I agree that 150$ for is a lot.
Warder
From a retailer perspective, here's how it usually works: Edition is met with skepticism. On release, player's from every edition come out of the woodwork to buy the new edition, to see what it's all about. Sales, by the way, are epic for us, as even 4E was delivered to my store on a pallet. For a few months, retailers get really excited about RPGs again. If the edition is good, a strong subset of customers return for more. But so we're clear, ridiculous numbers of people will buy the core book out of the gate, *especially* those who claim skepticism. We have opaque bags for them, so nobody has to know.
As an aside, not releasing this edition as a complete box set helps brick and mortar game stores tremendously, since as you may recall, Amazon sold it practically as a loss leader. And as a store owner, may I suggest you take this opportunity to pay a few dollars more at your local FLGS as an indication you would like to see RPGs not die there? As a player myself, I feel we're headed towards the chit and counter wargamer model if we can't get new blood into the game (what good stores do).
And sorry about the math, I should have used the $30 pice point instead of $35. That would put the book at $4, adjusted for inflation. The rest, publishers can tell you, is likely related to the increased cost of printing. $50 is the new gaming entry price point though, for board games, miniature games (per player), and RPGs (because Pathfinder).
