D&D 5E [Merged] D&D Next/5E Release Schedule Threads

[Mistwell]

They're selling a boxed set for $20, in 2014. For comparison, the very first white box was $10.00 in 1974, which would be a shade over $48 today. They must have pinched every penny they could find to hit that price point, and the tens die is certainly not essential.

Anyway, percentile dice are typically used by DMs rolling for treasure or monster encounters, or high-level PCs casting spells like teleport. With a prefab adventure and characters that top out at level 5, there probably isn't any need for them.

My original d20 from the basic edition starter set from the late 70s works as both a 10 sided die and a 20 sided die. It either has a + next to the number, or not. so a +2 is 12, and a 2 is a 2, if you're using it for a 20 sider. Otherwise both are 2 for a 10 sider. It helped them cut costs way back then.

 

[DMZ2112]

I prefer that phrase be reserved for Taco Bell.

In the future all roleplaying games are Taco Bell.

 

[Iosue]

Why would they bother with a product code? That means setting up an infrastructure to handle those codes, a procedure for printing lots of unique codes ('cos otherwise the code goes online and everyone gets it) and a whole lot of hassle all around. Surely it's better just to put the material online as a free "web enhancement". Or, if they really can't bear to make it freely available, stick it in DDI, perhaps as the first article in the revived Dragon.

(There is one scenario I can see where they might go that route - if they decide to allow people who buy the physical books to also get free PDF versions, that would also necessitate doing something with codes, and probably tying it into the D&D classics webstore. If they're doing that anyway then perhaps a code in the Starter Set makes sense. Though even then, it seems like a lot of hassle for very little gain.)

It's certainly possible they might put up a "chargen preview" free on the website. The reason I'm thinking product code is because that's what they did with the 4e Red Box. You entered in your product code and got a free solo adventure PDF.

Sticking it in DDI strikes me as a losing strategy. I mean, it's fine for hard-core gamers. But if they're trying to bring in new blood, they'll probably get more people hooked by giving them the free chargen rules so that they can naturally expand their game. Force them to make a big investment right off the bat (buying $50 PHB, or getting a DDI sub) will probably create a similar problem as they had with the 4e starter/Red Box. Lots of people buying the starter set, but not so many people moving onto the main game.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I think the design and development was all done before anything was finalized but it sounds like the layout and editing wasn't all done together. So I don't thing this will be an issue.

My guess is they wanted at least the PH by Gencon and releasing all three together would make it a November release. Those that want all three at the same time can just wait until November to pick them up.

If you are right, and all design/development for the three books are done before they start with layout/editing for the PHB, I do agree with your conclusion. I will probably wait until November before buying the books. A nice three-book rule set with a hefty discount wouldn't hurt either.

Btw, Is there any high-resolution versions of the covers anywhere? It's hard to say what kind of style they are with the small images.

 

[Mistwell]

3E was all on the same day at $20 a pop. I remember leaving work at lunch and running to the book store in the mall and going nuts because I wanted to go home and immerse myself in them.

You definitely remember wrong. I think you must mean 3.5e. 3e was a staggered release - so staggered they had emergency monsters and magic items in the back appendix of the PHB to hold people over. And, the 3e DMG and MM were not $20, it was just the PHB.

 

[Callahan09]

I am a collector of D&D products and I'm interested in playing the new game, so I'm definitely buying all of these core books (already pre-ordered them in fact). But, I have to question their strategy in pricing the core books at $50 each. Compare to Pathfinder, still their strongest competition by far and I don't see them just blowing them out of the water, especially not with this pricing strategy...

The Bestiaries / Advanced Player's Guide / GameMastery Guide are all comparable products in a way to the core 3 from D&D, and in this case each and every one of them is the same size and format, a 320pp full-color Hardcover. When the MSRP is $40 on the Pathfinder options, why does Wizards feel the need to go to $50 on their offerings? It's the same in terms of physical production (printing, binding, page count, and most likely quality & quantity of art), so that price increase really hurts.

It may not hold up, but Amazon's discount is also between 30-40% on the Pathfinder books, vs closer to 20% on the new D&D books.

Pathfinder's $50 product is a 576pp core rulebook. That single $50 book includes basically the content you'd expect from both a Player's Handbook and a Dungeon Master's Guide, and it contains 90% of the 640 pages that those two books encapsulate. For Wizards to charge that same price for just one of their 320pp books really feels like it's over-priced.

If they don't have a licensing system in place that can help generate tons of third party content for the game the way Pathfinder continues to get, then I think the combination of higher prices, split up content, and a lack of third party content, are all going to make this edition have just as hard of a time as the 4th edition, and it's astonishing to me that Wizards would allow themselves to falter in comparison to Pathfinder with two editions in a row. So perhaps they'll get the licensing right? They need to do SOMETHING to offset the negative impact of being the worst cost-value proposition of the two major systems.

Am I totally off-base, or what does everybody else think?

 

[Mistwell]

For the 5e PHB/DMG/MM from amazon you will now have to pay 3x40$ = 120$, while the 4e Core rulebook set for 4e PHB/DMG/MM cost 67$. That's quite a jump in price if you ask me. Earlier I haven't really been too worried about the 5e pricing, because it's the discounted price I will end up paying, but a 80% price hike between editions is a lot. It might be worth it if the quality is good.

Don't assume the Amazon prices won't change prior to release. They usually do. Nobody is quite sure how their forumla works, but usually for items which pre-sell heavily, the price changes a lot prior to the actual release date.

 

[Iosue]

Man, where do you get that from? How is that a more logical conclusion from @mearls ' tweet than simply assuming the character generation information will just be in the box?

Because if it was included in the box, I suspect he would have said, "Lots of questions about character creation and the starter set - they will definitely be included."

Instead, he went for the longer, more oblique "you will definitely be able to make characters when it comes out."

That suggests to me, that they will not be included, but people will be able to make characters when the starter set is released. Ergo, online rules.

 

[Mistwell]

Pre-ordered everything... except the minis, which i need to see more of. It's spread out over several months so not much of a sting. And amazon has nice discounts on some of it already.

I am very excited for the new edition but I'm bummed that WotC is so mum about everything. i am expecting them to do something more formal today but still, it feels unprofessional to have all these products go on sale before they announced anything.

They did announce, simultaneously, on the WOTC website. I think people just missed it in the initial post to the thread.

 

[Hutchimus Prime]

In the future all roleplaying games are Taco Bell.

Taco Bell was the only restaurant to survive the Franchise Wars.