Mearls says adventures are hard to sell [merged]

[Sammael]

I think you are confusing your preferences for actual quality.

That may well be the case. Please provide me with a way to measure actual quality.

 

[DaveMage]

IIRC - and I'm not sure where I saw it, perhaps people writing about the D&D experience - I believe the focus at WotC has somewhat shifted to DMs. There are already lots of things directed at players, but many products coming out now were going to be designed to make it easier to be a DM (hence, the MM IV stye, dungeon tiles, adventures, etc.).

 

[delericho]

While a lot of the FR hasn't been covered in 3.x, a good chunk of it has been covered in 2ed. Trust me, I would love to have all that information updated to 3.x, but from a business standpoint, WotC probably doesn't want to make the same mistake TSR did. Especially nowadays when one can buy a pdf copy of the 2ed stuff for $5 and yoink the material for their 3.x game [which I do all the time].

That suggests to me that maybe FR is done, and perhaps it's time for them to do as Deekin (jokingly) said:

(3)- Because they are trying to kill the FR line

Unless, of course, they're about to hit the setting with a major shakeup, and possibly reissue a whole new 'edition' of FR. That would rather surprise me, though, given that 4e appears to be quite some way off.

 

[Razz]

(3)- Because they are trying to kill the FR line

This I tend to agree with. I am disappointed in the FR 2007 line. Only Expedition to Undermountain is one I'd see myself grabbing, the others meh (I might grab Grand History of the Realms, but it's pure fluff and it's FREE online to download, so I might not grab it at all)

 

[Mean Eyed Cat]

Actually, that counts as "false advertising." I posed a question to one of the authors of Anauroch elsewhere, hoping that the book would be good as a sourcebook on the region, and he crushed my hopes saying that the book is strictly an adventure with just a little bit of setting info, and that the product description was wrong.

Ah man, that makes me sad

 

[Reynard]

That may well be the case. Please provide me with a way to measure actual quality.

I really hope you are just being snarky, because the idea that quality is subjective is just ridiculous. Quality is measured against a set of standard, depending on what we're talking about. In the case of an D&D adventure, quality can be measured on utilization of the game rules, balance, graphic esign and art, whether it achieves the goal for which it is intended, and other elements. "Liking" something is subjective, and has nothing to do with quality. i mean, I like Armageddon and Six String Samurai. That doesn't mean they are "quality" films.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

In the end, I really don't know who the target audience for WotC adventures is, other than obsessive collectors of all things D&D or people who only buy "official" products.

...and people who have neither the time nor the inclination to write / create adventures for players themselves, like say, ME.

Right now I'm stockpiling adventures, everything from Dungeon's Adventure Paths (I have the Shackled City HC, all of the Age Of Worms issues and all of the Savage Tide issues so far) to Necromancer Games stuff (Crucible of Freya, Tomb of Abysthor and The Vault of Larrin Karr) to Goodman Games adventures (DCC 1 - 29) to WOTC (Red Hand Of Doom, Sunless Citidel, Forge of Fury).

I know that I'll probably never get to run all of these adventures, but for me the prep time is easier as for me it's better to modify than it is to create from scratch. I've been playing and DMing for over 20 years. I used to build my adventures from scratch duing most of that time, now I have neither the time or the patience to do so now. So, yeah, if it's even slightly interesting I buy adventures to run later.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Industry people have been saying this for as long as I've been gaming. How is this news?

 

[PeterGirvan]

IIRC - and I'm not sure where I saw it, perhaps people writing about the D&D experience - I believe the focus at WotC has somewhat shifted to DMs. There are already lots of things directed at players, but many products coming out now were going to be designed to make it easier to be a DM (hence, the MM IV stye, dungeon tiles, adventures, etc.).

Bingo. The WotC staff definitely stressed that they are looking to increase the supply of DMs by offering helpful accessories.

For me, 2007 is the most exciting year of Wizards supplements. I love buying adventures, running them or even just reading them for ideas---but I don't enjoy writing them.

 

[Dykstrav]

Additionally, with the player base aging, the free time available to DMs decreases, which increases the attractiveness of having much of the prep done for you.

This is exactly why I buy published adventures. Working a full time job and running my own sole proprietorship takes up most of my day. Getting players to commit to meeting once every two weeks for four hours is enough of a hassle already. Fortunately, I have a store of adventure material I made in my earlier days. But still, new adventures are something that makes my gaming much easier.