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

[JEB]

I'll concede $20 is a good price for the Starter Set, if it's actually equivalent to the Basic Sets of the 1E era and not a glorified introductory first-level adventure module.

$50 is a terrible price point for a PHB if it's supposed to the gateway for new people to enter the game. Sure, it'll do well with people who already like D&D or RPGs, and are curious about the new edition, of course. And it may be a fair price if you look at inflation figures (though I'm not convinced, personally).

But at $50, all a new person will see is an intimidating and expensive rulebook. Why should they spend $50 to try this unfamiliar D&D game when they can get a board game or video game - possibly even a few board games or video games - with much more obvious value for the same price? Sure, those of us on the inside know it's worth it - but D&D Next isn't just for us.

 

[RevTurkey]

Perhaps the DMG might be an optional later book anyway containing all those 'modules' to change the way you play...tactical, edition conversions etc?

They might well go with a PHB that has all you need to play except monsters?

A two book core would be great in my opinion. I don't see the PHB having to be the size of say Pathfinder as 5e seems more streamlined and less detailed in rulings.

Well, I am all set to dive in and give it a go later in the year. Should be good.

C'mon Mearls and co...I'm rooting for you to deliver. Can't wait to see the physical design and hopefully lots of jaw dropping art. Get that proof-reading correct!

 

[Lord Vangarel]

$50 or probably around £30 here in the UK is about what I'd expect it to cost so isn't too much of a problem as I see it and if the game is good represents very good value for money. Where I do see problems is I've felt burned with recent releases of D&D and therefore this isn't an automatic buy, which it has been in the past.

I want solid previews of what my cash is going to get me. I want to see classes, (not all of the class, but enough to be able to tell), details of the rules, images of the interior artwork and how the wording is laid out. Yes I know we've got the playtest but that's a million miles from the finished product (hopefully) in terms of the look and presentation. I'd also like a 2 book core with the rules in one and monsters in another. The DMG should be optional as putting the genie back in the bottle of AD&D isn't going to happen.

As for the starter set it needs to be a full game. Limited levels are fine but it needs to present a playable game that can be used without having to purchase additional material. It needs to be fully compatible with the core book, and allow players to take characters seamlessly from the starter onwards. It would ideally also present sample options from the core book to show what sort of things can be done, i.e. limited feat selection, optional skill system, etc. $20 sounds about right to me as an introduction for kids. Oh, and the quality needs to be great on the artwork as well, at least on the cover to draw people in.

In the past I've bought every edition of D&D and would have described myself as a fanatical buyer willing to part with oodles of cash because it's D&D. Unfortunately I no longer class myself in that category.

 

[JeffB]

For me, it all comes down to quality adventure support. If WOTC can provide that, then I can do the big 3 at Amazon pricing. But $120- $150 for another new system (which I happen to like) and still have to do plenty of work converting, then I will not bother. I already have every older edition, ton sof materials, and several OSR and D&D variants (Pathfinder, DCC). My play groups are not edition loyalists either.

So the value of D&D Next is not so cut and dried as book pricing for me.

An open rules system, or at least one more open than 4e was, so that the really talented adventure writers out there can support 5th, is my hope, as WOTC proper is mediocre at best when it comes to adventures, and has been since 1997,AFAIC.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I'd call US$ 50 for a book I use for 4-5 years of gaming still a good deal. But still, if WotC wants to sell me a copy, they'd better make a good Basic Game first. Without any need for 5e I'll just drop US$ 20 to chack it out.

 

[JeffB]

And FWIW, I believe my hope is apipe dream, with the way Wizards has been trying to put a stranglehold on the elements that make up " The D&D Experience" tm.


Blech...

 

[DaveMage]

If this is correct then it does look a bit pricey.

My biggest worry for such a potentially expensive book is that they rush the proof reading and it is full of errors.

Yeah, RPG rule #1: Wait until the 2nd printing (with errata corrected) to buy the core book.

(And at $50, even more so!)

 

[Bedrockgames]

How cheap do they have to be in order to be "affordable"? Just looking a bit, the 2e PHB was 25 dollars MSRP and would be $51 in today's dollars. So, adjusted for inflation, the books haven't changed in price at all.

The original 2E PHB was just twenty bucks, and the dmg was 18. Adjusted for inflation that would be like 37.73 today.

To me fifty bucks seems like a big jump from what wotc used to charge. The problem isnt the fifty bucks on its own, like i said smaller companies that use pod or make smaller print runs have to charge about fifty for a book like this (i didnt mind dropping fifty on numenera). But WOTC's advantage over the smaller companies has been they do massive print runs and their prices have tended to be lower, at least in the past. So i am just not clear why there is the price jump here. Add to that, you have to buy three core books if you want to run a game (and i usually GM), it could get prohibitive for me (because I am not the only one in the household and while most gamers wont bat an eye at paying 150 for a complete set of game books, my wife would. I understand they have to make their money back, and they may have a good reason for the price increase....i am just genuinely surprised by it from wotc, becuase i expected it would be cheaper given the size of their print runs. I am not blaming them. Maybe they are taking a different approach this time. Again, fifty bucks for a single core book, wouldnt be an issue for me. 75-85 bucks for a complete set also wouldnt be an issue. But once you reach 150, it gets harder for me to justify the expense.

 

[Jer]

$50 is a terrible price point for a PHB if it's supposed to the gateway for new people to enter the game. Sure, it'll do well with people who already like D&D or RPGs, and are curious about the new edition, of course. And it may be a fair price if you look at inflation figures (though I'm not convinced, personally).

What's to be convinced of as far as inflation goes? $50 in 2014 has the buying power of what roughly $18 could buy in 1980. RPGs have remained amazingly stable in price point when adjusted for inflation over the past few decades. There's an argument that they should cut their prices to be more competitive given the wealth of other leisure activities available these days in comparison to 1980, but that's a different story.

But at $50, all a new person will see is an intimidating and expensive rulebook. Why should they spend $50 to try this unfamiliar D&D game when they can get a board game or video game - possibly even a few board games or video games - with much more obvious value for the same price? Sure, those of us on the inside know it's worth it - but D&D Next isn't just for us.

You're deluding yourself if you think that Wizards is hoping that the $50 PHB is for anyone but people already playing. They're trying to recapture the market lost over the past 5 years by holding up a new edition.

The $20 boxed set, if they do it right, could be a gateway to bring in new people. But they haven't put out a decent standalone entry product in years, and a Basic set should be a standalone product that gives you enough of the game that you don't realize that you're hooked until the characters all hit 3rd or 4th level and you realize that you need more for them to do. The Moldvay Basic Set in 1981 and the Metzner Basic set in 1983 were really good at this, and that's why they were gateways for so many people. A $20-$25 boxed set that gives you enough to run a campaign for 3-4 levels (a few classes, sample adventure - including explicit instructions/advice on expanding it beyond what's given, a handful of monster stats, how to build a dungeon advice, etc.) is what worked in the past. But Wizards has been focused on building boxed sets that are "tutorials" to teach people how to play the game and are useless after that because they wanted people to buy the hardcovers. The Metzner Basic Set did an awesome job of keeping about the first 1/3 of each book - Player's and DM's - as explicit tutorial, leaving the remaining 2/3 as reference and tutorial-that-you-don't-realize-is-tutorial (like the "how to build an adventure" guidelines).

 

[darjr]

I have no problem with them releasing more board games, I'm both a big RPGer and board gamer. But they need to keep the two lines separate. RPGs are not board games, nor vice versa.

Lords of Waterdeep is a great game, but it's as much D&D as a D&D coloring book.

Oh man, I must disagree. I wish they would do many more D&D board games. RPG like board games included. I think that would be the smartest thing they could do. And Lords of Waterdeep is absolutely like some of the high level games we'd play, where session after session was us players maneuvering and scheming 'behind the scenes'. Sometimes at cross purposes.

They need to do a deck building game where the deck is a dungeon against characters.

I also think that this could work with that price point for the phb. Other d&d experiences could be a seller to folks that might not invest in a big rpg release