D&D 5E Mike Mearls on D&D (New Interview with James Introcaso)

[Mercurius]

The thought has crossed my mind. I may just not be their target customer. I'll readily admit that there probably isn't a huge swatch of folks who share my view on the Realms.

I don't think there are a ton of folks who are outright offended by the Realms or deem WotC product to be so "tainted" by the Realms to be unusable. My guess is that the vast majority of 5E folks fall into two general categories:

1) Those that like and run the Realms, and
2) Those that run homebrew or something else, but don't find the Realms so objectionable as be a deal-breaker with regards to WotC product because they find that the product can be easily adapted to other settings, or even that they like the Realms but prefer to run something else.

But the point is, both groups will buy WotC product based on quality and content and aren't put-off by them being set in the Realms. My guess is that you are right, that WotC is not targeting folks who don't fit into those two broad categories because such folks are a small minority.

There is currently no evidence that the current release schedule is widely accepted and approved of. The only thing we see is that the rules are popular by the sales of the PHB.

Yes there is: the fact that WotC keeps doing what they're doing. The fact that they are staying the course for the foreseeable future means that they're pleased with what they're doing and the resulting sales figures, which are a direct result of how accepted and approved what they're doing is.

This doesn't mean that everyone's happy with what they're doing, but does indicate that plenty of folks are happy enough. I can speak for myself and say that while I'd prefer if they were coming out with a few books a year, I think what they're doing is just fine even if it isn't exactly what I want. And I can't fault them for continuing with a formula that is clearly working for them. My guess is that if and when the time comes that it is no longer working, they will adjust according. Maybe that will mean more product, or a new expansion line, or even a new edition. Whether that is 5 or 10 or 15 years down the line, who knows. But it probably isn't going to be within the next two or three, so you might as well buckle up.

 

[Eubani]

Yes there is: the fact that WotC keeps doing what they're doing. The fact that they are staying the course for the foreseeable future means that they're pleased with what they're doing and the resulting sales figures, which are a direct result of how accepted and approved what they're doing is.

Another reason behind WotC continuing the schedule as is would be that this is what they have the resources (staff & budget) to do. Limitations on that front would hinder any other outcome. Not saying it is the case but the D&D staff has shrunk greatly over time and till recent growth so had their audience.

 

[Willie the Duck]

Another reason behind WotC continuing the schedule as is would be that this is what they have the resources (staff & budget) to do. Limitations on that front would hinder any other outcome. Not saying it is the case but the D&D staff has shrunk greatly over time and till recent growth so had their audience.

That's true. But it's another reason to stay the course. Even if (and we have not established this in any way) people want something other than the small output model, what those people would really want (which would be more products, but also still good products) isn't really on the table.

 

[happyhermit]

Another reason behind WotC continuing the schedule as is would be that this is what they have the resources (staff & budget) to do. Limitations on that front would hinder any other outcome. Not saying it is the case but the D&D staff has shrunk greatly over time and till recent growth so had their audience.

It's obviously true that the staff is small and Mearls has said that's not something he really wants to change. The thing is though, when the team was truly pressed for time and staff while working on the core 3, they worked with several different publishing houses to put out their adventures and even the SCAG IIRC. The last two adventures seem to have been done largely by their team, though obviously there were some people "brought in", particularly for COS. While there is no reason to believe they couldn't grow their staff if they wanted to we can't really be sure, but we do know that they could be doing more work with outside publishers if staffing is an issue. I don't doubt that this will happen again while they are working on this rules book in the near future.

So, it seems to be pretty clear that they could be putting out more product even with current staffing levels, but they are choosing this level based on everything they know.

 

[Kramodlog]

3 products a year ain't necessarely bad. Its more problematc that 2 of the 3 are APs. Produce one AP a year and people will actually have time to play them. A source/setting book, a splatbook and an AP a year, all more or less related, would more interesting.

And no need to make the all 50$ books. Smaller and more affordable splat/sourcebooks are ok too.

 

[Corpsetaker]

When I say APs are good for people without much time, I'm talking about prep time. I only run homebrew adventures and agree, but I have lots of GMing experience over decades now...

Well I'm going to have to disagree with you here because the prep time of these AP's is just as long as someone running a homebrew. Prep time has been cut by loads do to the more simple rules and charts that are provided. I've been running and playing for 32+ years and I can prep a homebrew quicker than using these AP's.

These AP's are obviously not meant for beginners so those people who can run these AP's could more than not just create a homebrew quicker. Homebrew games have more a flow to them while these AP's are specific. Now if you like the stories then fair enough, but when it comes to quicker prep I disagree.

People will start to get burnt out on AP's and want to venture in more homebrew worlds, in fact, the surveys have already said that most people play homebrew over AP's and other adventures. New players will no longer be new for too much longer and will want to expand to other things instead of these straight road AP's.

Right now they are in a position with the release schedule that there really is no way to fail. It's not like they are investing huge amounts of money in product after product so while their release schedule is holding up, it's not doing as well as Mearls likes to pretend it is. It's a move that will not drive away customers, but keeps the potential from going anywhere. They don't know what new people want because a new force of players have come on board. It's like someone telling you they've never tried an apple before and you tell them they won't like it because you don't.

I bet you if they dropped back to 1 AP a year and gave us more variety such as sourcebooks and more world building tools we would see a bigger increase. They are keeping new players, and old, from getting something because they don't like it. All we hear about is how well the PHB is doing which shows people like the rules which was already a given. Nothing there that's proof about their release schedule and their AP releases.

 

[Parmandur]

Well I'm going to have to disagree with you here because the prep time of these AP's is just as long as someone running a homebrew. Prep time has been cut by loads do to the more simple rules and charts that are provided. I've been running and playing for 32+ years and I can prep a homebrew quicker than using these AP's.



These AP's are obviously not meant for beginners so those people who can run these AP's could more than not just create a homebrew quicker. Homebrew games have more a flow to them while these AP's are specific. Now if you like the stories then fair enough, but when it comes to quicker prep I disagree.



People will start to get burnt out on AP's and want to venture in more homebrew worlds, in fact, the surveys have already said that most people play homebrew over AP's and other adventures. New players will no longer be new for too much longer and will want to expand to other things instead of these straight road AP's.



Right now they are in a position with the release schedule that there really is no way to fail. It's not like they are investing huge amounts of money in product after product so while their release schedule is holding up, it's not doing as well as Mearls likes to pretend it is. It's a move that will not drive away customers, but keeps the potential from going anywhere. They don't know what new people want because a new force of players have come on board. It's like someone telling you they've never tried an apple before and you tell them they won't like it because you don't.



I bet you if they dropped back to 1 AP a year and gave us more variety such as sourcebooks and more world building tools we would see a bigger increase. They are keeping new players, and old, from getting something because they don't like it. All we hear about is how well the PHB is doing which shows people like the rules which was already a given. Nothing there that's proof about their release schedule and their AP releases.

There is no evidence [MENTION=697]mearls[/MENTION] is "pretending" things are going well with D&D, or that the release schedule isn't just fine. I think three products a year is a bit fast, can't quite keep up at that pace, but some people want that many books apparently. To claim that it is too few...the burden of proof ain't on WotC to us fans, but to their bosses who would fire them if they were making sub par decisions.

The surveys showed that people mainly home brew their setting; that is immaterial to the APs, as most of those home brewing slap those APs in their world and file off the FR serial codes.

 

[Jester David]

Another reason behind WotC continuing the schedule as is would be that this is what they have the resources (staff & budget) to do. Limitations on that front would hinder any other outcome. Not saying it is the case but the D&D staff has shrunk greatly over time and till recent growth so had their audience.

As [MENTION=6834463]happyhermit[/MENTION] says, if they wanted to pump out more material, they'd hire another studio or two, or bring in a bunch of freelancers like they have in the past.

3 products a year ain't necessarely bad. Its more problematc that 2 of the 3 are APs. Produce one AP a year and people will actually have time to play them. A source/setting book, a splatbook and an AP a year, all more or less related, would more interesting.

And no need to make the all 50$ books. Smaller and more affordable splat/sourcebooks are ok too.

The benefit of two APs each year is that you don't have to like both. If people didn't like Curse of Strahd they just had to keep playing or run an earlier one to tide them over for Storm King's Thunder. And it means in a few years, WotC can get more experimental and niche with their APs. They can do an Expedition to Barrier Peaks or something in the Planes that many fans won't want, since there are enough options already available.

Well I'm going to have to disagree with you here because the prep time of these AP's is just as long as someone running a homebrew. Prep time has been cut by loads do to the more simple rules and charts that are provided. I've been running and playing for 32+ years and I can prep a homebrew quicker than using these AP's.

This is mostly true. You will prep the same amount regardless of whether you're using a prepublished adventure or homebrew. You prep based on the amount of free time you have, and the more free time you have the more you will prep. To a point.
If you have almost no time to prep, a prepublished adventure will be faster. When you're short ideas and having a brain dead weak (busy at work or from family) a prepublished adventure does the work for you.

It's also not an either/or situation. You can pull bits of the adventures out for your homebrew (cities, NPCs, monsters, encounters, dungeons, etc). And you can run a prepublished adventure you like between homebrew campaigns. Once you buy a storyline, you're not stuck always buying storylines.

These AP's are obviously not meant for beginners so those people who can run these AP's could more than not just create a homebrew quicker. Homebrew games have more a flow to them while these AP's are specific. Now if you like the stories then fair enough, but when it comes to quicker prep I disagree.

But "prep" isn't the sole reason to publish adventures. There are lots of reasons the storyline adventures are advantageous. If you'd listen to the podcast, Mearls gives several examples.

People will start to get burnt out on AP's and want to venture in more homebrew worlds,

Paizo has been doing their APs since 2007 - a full decade - and they're still going strong with no signs of disinterest from the fans.

in fact, the surveys have already said that most people play homebrew over AP's and other adventures.

Yes, but there's few products you can release that support homebrewing.

And it takes almost no effort to move the adventure to a homebrew world, provided it's roughly the same level of generic fantasy as the Realms. People have been doing it as long as TSR/WotC has been publishing adventures. If it wasn't an issue during 1st Edition with Greyhawk, why is it an issue now?

New players will no longer be new for too much longer and will want to expand to other things instead of these straight road AP's.

Didn't you *just* say that these APs weren't for new players?

Right now they are in a position with the release schedule that there really is no way to fail. It's not like they are investing huge amounts of money in product after product so while their release schedule is holding up,

It could fail. If the new books don't sell then it fails. If people stop playing then it fails.

it's not doing as well as Mearls likes to pretend it is.

How?
Based on what evidence?

It's a move that will not drive away customers, but keeps the potential from going anywhere.

D&D is bigger than it's been in decades. Bigger than it was during either 3e or 4e.
Tell me again how it's not reaching its potential?

They don't know what new people want because a new force of players have come on board. It's like someone telling you they've never tried an apple before and you tell them they won't like it because you don't.

So, Mister "I've been playing for 32+ years"... what do new players want?
How much marketing research have you done on the buying and spending habits of youths? How often do you interact with 16yos?

I bet you if they dropped back to 1 AP a year and gave us more variety such as sourcebooks and more world building tools we would see a bigger increase. They are keeping new players, and old, from getting something because they don't like it. All we hear about is how well the PHB is doing which shows people like the rules which was already a given. Nothing there that's proof about their release schedule and their AP releases.

What kind of "world building tools" are necessary?
Put up or shut up
What would a "world building tool" look like? Describe the book. Or books since it's replacing a book that comes out each year.

 

[Parmandur]

That 2E world builders guide on the DMsGuild probably works just as well for 5E, so Wizards is in fact providing the product needed for that niche.

 

[darjr]

I forgot that was up on DMs guild!