Mearls says adventures are hard to sell [merged]

[Arnwyn]

Not that strange, given that years ago a WotC representative (Ryan Dancey? Charles Ryan? both gone now) said that WotC's main focus was only on the region from the sword coast to Thay, and only as far sound at Lurien or Mulhorand, because only stuff in these regions sold well, the rest (Maztica, Karatur, a lot of the lesser lands like Lantan, etc.) did not show well in sales in TSR's years with the line.

Well, there's a rather huge difference between Maztica and Kara-Tur vs. islands just off the Sword Coast... And actually, there were no "sales in TSR's years" with the regions I listed, because they are completely untouched regions of FR. I don't think lumping in regions that are technically right along the Sword Coast with completely different settings (which is what I remember the WotC rep talking about) is all that appropriate.

All these are likely considered by WotC to not be "Mainland" regions, and hence why I suggest they probably haven't been covered yet.

Unlikely, as I noted above.

The sales part may be right, but then again they did release the Shining South book... it's always been my opinion that it's "detail it and they will come".

I'm not complaining about FR adventures (I like adventures no matter how I get 'em), but I - personally - would rather WotC finish detailing the Realms (just Faerun is fine) before going to adventures... the places I listed in my previous post (3 locations, really) are all that's left. Ah well, what are messageboards for, if not for a pie-in-the-sky wishlist.

 

[TerraDave]

Why is WotC realising what they are?

Their clearing the deck for 4th edition.






(oh comeon, someone had to say it)

 

[rgard]

(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. 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.

Just an aside, I haven't purchased many if any 3.x modules, but I have a boatload of 1e an 2e modules/adventures. My focus in 3.x has been source/splat books. That said, I do remember what usually prompted me to buy an adventure way back when.

It was new spells, new magic items and new critters. I know that is why I bought "The Lost Caverns of the Unpronounceable Word" among others.

So to translate that into 3.5, it would be the inclusion of BBEGs using new PrCs, new spells, new critters to make via spells, and new magic items used by the BBEG.

I bet some would hate it, but it would get me buying modules again.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Drkfathr1]

I've been wondering lately how much it would help the market, or revitalize the market for adventure modules if WOTC would add some more material to the SRD?

There are a ton of base classes, monsters, spells, and prestige classes that I think alot of people would get lots of mileage out of, but they can't be used because they're not open content.

 

[Reynard]

I've been wondering lately how much it would help the market, or revitalize the market for adventure modules if WOTC would add some more material to the SRD?

There are a ton of base classes, monsters, spells, and prestige classes that I think alot of people would get lots of mileage out of, but they can't be used because they're not open content.

I think the ship has largely sailed on being able to use d20 publishers to drive core book sales. That is one of the reasons, I would guess, for the renewed interest in publishing adventures.

 

[rgard]

I've been wondering lately how much it would help the market, or revitalize the market for adventure modules if WOTC would add some more material to the SRD?

There are a ton of base classes, monsters, spells, and prestige classes that I think alot of people would get lots of mileage out of, but they can't be used because they're not open content.

I know it would prompt me to write some stuff. Lots of Ur-Priest ideas here and you would need the Complete Divine or Book of Vile Darkness to make full use of what I started to write.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[prosfilaes]

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.

What factors to include and what weight to put on them is subjective, and even most of the factors you mentioned are subjective measurements. It'd be nice if quality was objective, but even given long-dead authors and experts, there's still disagreements about who was the better author.

"Liking" something is subjective, and has nothing to do with quality.

I think that's silly; if nobody likes a movie, a book, or an adventure, how can it be a quality item?

 

[dcas]

(1) Adventures sell only to GMs (or players who buy them to their GMs to run, but that's pretty much the same). There goes 75% of the market.

Not necessarily, groups can rotate GMs. If adventures really aren't selling, then perhaps WOTC should ask itself what it can do to increase the pool of GMs (like, making D&D easier to DM!).

(2) A lot of GMs (myself included) do not run pre-made adventures. I'll be conservative and say that number is roughly 30%, although I have no proof for that. At any rate, there goes another part of the market.

Even those who do not run pre-made adventures still mine them for content.

(3) Adventures, unlike accessories, can be used pretty much only once by one group of people. Thus, a lot of people buy adventures and then re-sell them on the secondary market. Secondary market hurts the original publisher, and there are people who only buy second-hand adventures. There goes ANOTHER part of the market.

See above.

(4) There are several 3rd party companies with a very good track record when it comes to adventures. WotC, on the other hand, hasn't published a single well-recognized adventure since City of the Spider Queen (and it's arguable how recognizable that one is to non-FR fans). I read CotSQ, BTW, and it's one of the worst adventure designs I've ever seen. I'd like to think that at least some people don't buy stuff blindly but base their purchases on analysis of things like, yes, track record. Another slice of market share is gone.

That's WOTC's own fault for allowing other companies to publish adventures in the first place!

 

[delericho]

Not necessarily, groups can rotate GMs. If adventures really aren't selling, then perhaps WOTC should ask itself what it can do to increase the pool of GMs (like, making D&D easier to DM!).

Ah, but... in a group where everyone GMs, how many people are going to buy any given adventure module?

I would suggest that in most cases the answer will still be 1, since the rest will either borrow that one copy, or more likely not read the adventure at all in order to not be spoiled when playing through it. Either way, the other 4 are lost to the market.

 

[Dykstrav]

Just an aside, I haven't purchased many if any 3.x modules, but I have a boatload of 1e an 2e modules/adventures. My focus in 3.x has been source/splat books. That said, I do remember what usually prompted me to buy an adventure way back when.

It was new spells, new magic items and new critters. I know that is why I bought "The Lost Caverns of the Unpronounceable Word" among others.

So to translate that into 3.5, it would be the inclusion of BBEGs using new PrCs, new spells, new critters to make via spells, and new magic items used by the BBEG.

I actually dig the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde for this reason. It has new prestige classes and other new material germane to the adventure, and even those cutout illustration that were famous (or infamous) in those old 1E modules. I haven't had a chance to read the module in depth yet, but I purchased it on the strength of the format. It comes in a neat folder with the encounter charts printed on the inside and booklets that you can actually remove from the cover and use seperately. It's exactly the sort of thing that I've been wishing that WotC would publish for many years.