D&D 5E Light release schedule: More harm than good?

[Sailor Moon]

The thing about a light release schedule is not everyone will like that one book that just came out and will have to wait a long time for the next one.

 

[Zaran]

The thing about a light release schedule is not everyone will like that one book that just came out and will have to wait a long time for the next one.

It doesn't really matter. For every one of us that wants more 5e stuff to buy, there are 10 others who support WotC's skeleton RPG production with fanatic praise. Apparently a RPGers are cheap and won't buy enough product to support anything but the bare bones necessities. It's a real shame.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

It doesn't really matter. For every one of us that wants more 5e stuff to buy, there are 10 others who support WotC's skeleton RPG production with fanatic praise. Apparently a RPGers are cheap and won't buy enough product to support anything but the bare bones necessities. It's a real shame.

I'll gladly support good RPG materials. I just don't care to see 5e becomes 3e all over again with endless waves of splats. I can just ignore them sure, but I'm fine with a new book every year or two. All the extra books in 3e didn't make may game any more fun really. And then the optional stuff starts to become more mandatory with later products and published adventures referencing it. I look at the PF shelf at the store and I'm glad 5e is keeping it more to the point.

To be honest I'm having trouble understanding the angst over a game that has just finished releasing its 3 core books 2 months ago not having a load of extra books already announced, scheduled, and with cover art up for viewing.

 

[Zaran]

I'll gladly support good RPG materials. I just don't care to see 5e becomes 3e all over again with endless waves of splats. I can just ignore them sure, but I'm fine with a new book every year or two. All the extra books in 3e didn't make may game any more fun really. And then the optional stuff starts to become more mandatory with later products and published adventures referencing it. I look at the PF shelf at the store and I'm glad 5e is keeping it more to the point.

To be honest I'm having trouble understanding the angst over a game that has just finished releasing its 3 core books 2 months ago not having a load of extra books already announced, scheduled, and with cover art up for viewing.

Nobody wants endless splats. You know what I want? Adventure modules that don't span the entire PCs' lives and Setting books that let me not have to take old settings and rework them for 5e. I want stuff for GMs. Not books targeting the players. WotC has heard our cries about 8000 feats and 90 Characters classes and somehow translated that to GMs don't get anything either. And I will get 3 quotes saying "GMs don't need anything! We get everything we need from the excellent DMG" Apparently there are only 4 people who bought any of the modules from the other editions or the grey box Forgotten Realms set.

 

[Sunseeker]

It doesn't really matter. For every one of us that wants more 5e stuff to buy, there are 10 others who support WotC's skeleton RPG production with fanatic praise. Apparently a RPGers are cheap and won't buy enough product to support anything but the bare bones necessities. It's a real shame.

I certainly have a limited budget for fun. Several hundred dollars worth of books every month is well beyond my ability to purchase by any reasonable level. One book release per month is honestly pretty ideal for me, especially with book prices in the $40-50 range. If I set aside $100 for gaming a month, a single D&D book along with possibly minis, spell cards, pizza for the table or other supplementary gaming needs works out really well for me. I'm certainly not going to buy EVERYTHING WOTC releases simply because it's got the D&D brand name on it, and even with what they do release I'm going to be picky about it.

What 5th is really lacking is regularity. Maybe they need more prunes. But so far my biggest gripe has simply been that I want to buy things but I'll be darned if I have any idea when they're going to come out. My FLGS can't help me because he doesn't know either, because WOTC doesn't know! If WOTC could say: hey guys, we're releasing a book this month, some minis next month, and some tiles the month after and just stick to that I think I'd be really happy because I'd have a heads up and if I needed to budget more for something or pre-order something I could do it.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Nobody wants endless splats. You know what I want? Adventure modules that don't span the entire PCs' lives and Setting books that let me not have to take old settings and rework them for 5e. I want stuff for GMs. Not books targeting the players. WotC has heard our cries about 8000 feats and 90 Characters classes and somehow translated that to GMs don't get anything either. And I will get 3 quotes saying "GMs don't need anything! We get everything we need from the excellent DMG" Apparently there are only 4 people who bought any of the modules from the other editions or the grey box Forgotten Realms set.

I would love modules as well. Not AP style either. And I do think it was a bad idea to not have a few ready to go, the AP they put out blows IMO.

 

[Sailor Moon]

What 5th is really lacking is regularity. Maybe they need more prunes. But so far my biggest gripe has simply been that I want to buy things but I'll be darned if I have any idea when they're going to come out. My FLGS can't help me because he doesn't know either, because WOTC doesn't know! If WOTC could say: hey guys, we're releasing a book this month, some minis next month, and some tiles the month after and just stick to that I think I'd be really happy because I'd have a heads up and if I needed to budget more for something or pre-order something I could do it.

Who says you need to buy them all in one go? I'm not hurting for money to be honest, but let's say they came out with three books in the month and I couldn't afford but one. Why not just pick up the others later? Also, I've said this before and I want to repeat it again, I don't buy all the books either. I pick and choose what I want. Someone may like one book while I don't and vice versa.

Nobody here has ever said they want endless splat, but I want more than what they are putting out. I have money to spend and it's burning a hole in my pocket.

 

[Trickster Spirit]

What 5th is really lacking is regularity. Maybe they need more prunes. But so far my biggest gripe has simply been that I want to buy things but I'll be darned if I have any idea when they're going to come out. My FLGS can't help me because he doesn't know either, because WOTC doesn't know! If WOTC could say: hey guys, we're releasing a book this month, some minis next month, and some tiles the month after and just stick to that I think I'd be really happy because I'd have a heads up and if I needed to budget more for something or pre-order something I could do it.

It's less that 5E is lacking in regularity and more that the regularity is on a longer timescale than you'd prefer, though. WotC isn't going to spontaneously announce "Oh, by the way, we've got some minis and a new book out at your FLGS right now, go and buy them already!" - everything on Morrus' 5E Release Schedule page was announced months and months before the release date, they're not going to spring something on you without advance notice.

We know they're working on a second big campaign for late 2015 - no formal announcement yet, but there probably wouldn't be, with Princes of the Apocalypse not even out yet. The fact that there's no other major products announced right now just means that we're at least a few months out from those products coming out.

 

[Sunseeker]

It's less that 5E is lacking in regularity and more that the regularity is on a longer timescale than you'd prefer, though. WotC isn't going to spontaneously announce "Oh, by the way, we've got some minis and a new book out at your FLGS right now, go and buy them already!" - everything on Morrus' 5E Release Schedule page was announced months and months before the release date, they're not going to spring something on you without advance notice.

Except delay after delay and one cancellation after another.

Though I do agree a release schedule of more than 2 books a year is what I'm interested in. I think a minimum of something significant every other month is my ideal. With one of those being a book at least every 3-4 months.

 

[Nellisir]

Except delay after delay and one cancellation after another.

Though I do agree a release schedule of more than 2 books a year is what I'm interested in. I think a minimum of something significant every other month is my ideal. With one of those being a book at least every 3-4 months.

I've been thinking recently about how much I miss the Dragon and Dungeon magazines. :/ My rpg budget is about $0, and even I feel like the schedule is a bit sparse. I'd like to be able to look forward to something, but since I'm not buying Princess of the Apocalypse, there's apparently nothing. Even the online schedule is lackadaisical at best. Unearthed Arcane once a month? Has that even come out yet? <sigh>