Mearls says adventures are hard to sell [merged]

[Sammael]

Mearls says adventures are hard to sell

(snipped from the Will Wright thread)

I wonder if that's why adventures are notoriously hard sells.

If this is the case, something does not compute. WotC is not a charity, it's a business. I find it hard to believe they'd produce something that doesn't sell. This has nothing to do with my personal dislike of pretty much every single published adventure I've ever seen, but if they are hard to sell:

(1) Why is the WotC product schedule for 2007 filled with adventures?
(2) Why are a lot of those adventures event-driven, instead of locale-driven?
(3) Why are pretty much all FR books for 2007 adventures, instead of regional supplements, which people actually asked for, over and over again?

I'd appreciate it if somebody could clarify the above issues for me.

 

[Deekin]

(1)- 8 Adventures is not loaded.
(2)- Because they are easier to DM.
(3)- Because they are trying to kill the FR line

 

[Crothian]

Can you link to where you got the quote from? Many things like this change depending on the context.

 

[philreed]

If this is the case . . .

Absolutely the case (and it hasn't exactly been a secret). Digging into the early days of the OGL should reveal some posts in which you'll learn that the OGL came into existence so that WotC wouldn't need to create adventures.

 

[Henry]

This has nothing to do with my personal dislike of pretty much every single published adventure I've ever seen, but if they are hard to sell:

It might have more to do with it than you think. He might be speaking of the logic that said that after about 2002, game companies, WotC included, started putting modules on the back burner because they very sluggish compared to supplement books. Look in the 2003 to 2005 area, and adventures were back-burner to supplements to EVERYONE except Goodman Games and Necromancer, who were capitalizing on certain market segments as well as extra goodies in the adventures (special hand-outs, game content, etc.).

(1) Why is the WotC product schedule for 2007 filled with adventures?
(2) Why are a lot of those adventures event-driven, instead of locale-driven?
(3) Why are pretty much all FR books for 2007 adventures, instead of regional supplements, which people actually asked for, over and over again?

I'd appreciate it if somebody could clarify the above issues for me.

(1) WotC realized a year ago, and made an announcement to the effect, that NO ONE third-party was making adventures any more, and felt there was too small an adventure base compared to supplements.

(2) Locale-driven adventures don't seem to be considered good adventure design anymore, because I can't think of anything outside of Necromancer modules that really feature it.

(3) Given the loads of regional supplements to FR over the past 6 years (Underdark, Silver Marches, Unapproachable East, Lost Empires, Shining South, Serpent Kingdoms, City of Spendors, Power of Faerun, others I'm forgetting), I'm not sure there's very much of Mainland Faerun left to write about for 3E. That's just my perception of it, though.

 

[The_Universe]

WotC is selling adventures because, even if they tank, they drive sales of their other products. You can't use Expedition to Castle Ravenloft without a PHB, DMG, and MM...and any of those books that they sell are pure profit, since the development and printing costs were paid long ago.

It makes perfect business sense to me.

 

[Mean Eyed Cat]

As a big FR fan, I'll only address the last question. It's my belief that, as Henry stated, no one third-party was making adventures any more. And since there was an abundant amount of regional books for FR [both 2ed and 3ed], I believe WotC decided to combine the two types of books - Adventure & Accessory.

If you look at the next FR books coming out [Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave, Expedition to Undermountain, Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land, & Anauroch: The Sundering of the World] they are all labeled as Adventures. However, they are also hardbound, come in at between 160-224 pages, and are also addressed as "source material" in their product description.

 

[Reynard]

(snipped from the Will Wright thread)


If this is the case, something does not compute. WotC is not a charity, it's a business. I find it hard to believe they'd produce something that doesn't sell.

He didn't say they wouldn't sell. he said they were a hard sell -- hence the changes in format and the big push on them. One thing that adventures provide that other kinds of products don't is the "shared experience". How many times do you see people posting about/hear people talking about their times in the "iconic" modules of old. Chatter, especially in a small industry, has a significant effect on sales. note that most of the big adventures WotC is pushing are revisitations or reimaginings of those same classic, iconic modules.

 

[Arnwyn]

(3) Given the loads of regional supplements to FR over the past 6 years (Underdark, Silver Marches, Unapproachable East, Lost Empires, Shining South, Serpent Kingdoms, City of Spendors, Power of Faerun, others I'm forgetting), I'm not sure there's very much of Mainland Faerun left to write about for 3E. That's just my perception of it, though.

[Aside]
While you did include the (strange!) qualifier of "Mainland", your perception is still off. While much of FR is indeed detailed, good information is still missing on: Lantan, Nimbral (though WotC's website has a good start), the other island kingdoms (Mintarn, Orlumbor, etc), and Sossal. One could also include the Moonshaes, as FR2 was very deficient (other than the great map).

But yeah - after those, more FR adventures would then be appreciated.

As for adventures not selling... beats me - I don't have any company's sales numbers. OTOH, adventures are pretty much the only thing I buy these days...

 

[RangerWickett]

War of the Burning Sky is selling pretty dang well too. It might just be a turning in tastes. Perhaps gamers are almost full on the plump tenderloin of rules supplements, and are now looking for the sweet nectar of adventures for dessert.