D&D 5E (2024) No 5.5 AP Yet?

[Marandahir]

I'm used to 3rd edition and Pathfinder 1st, which had loads of books every year. I miss monster books, adventure paths/campaigns, sourcebooks...etc. I feel 2026 is going to be so quiet.

My wallet is not upset about it.

I do think just one or two official adventure products (whether full path or anthology form) per year is about my limit on this front. I'd rather see them get the work together to bring the 2014 mechanics that don't mesh well with the 2024 classes forward. And even then I'm not expecting a big book of options every single year.

We were getting to a point where there were too many D&D books a year again, imho.

But we also live in an environment with endless supply of readily available and mostly if not fully compatible 3rd party material. What we have to remember is that Dragon Magazine and the adventure modules were outsourced to Paizo in 3.X specifically so that WotC could focus on other books that are more universally useful.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I do miss a good adventure path. I'm not particularly interested in adventure anthologies - I can write short adventures myself, and they play better than purchased adventures since mine will be tailored for our campaign and characters.

But adventure paths provide a different style of game where the players get to follow a coherent story from start to finish. That's far too much work to prepare in advance for a hobby game, so it's nice to be able to get a product that's ready to play.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

Well my own hope would be that it means the days of the WotC "big dumb campaign book" are just over, because they're frankly poor products.

I kinda think this is what is going on. They're probably realizing they can make more money with far far less effort by letting Third Party Publishers write campaigns, identify which ones are popular, then partner with those publishers to sell the product on DnD Beyond.

 

[jayoungr]

Hoard of the Dragon Queen is fine. It doesn't deserve the hate it gets.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm used to 3rd edition and Pathfinder 1st, which had loads of books every year. I miss monster books, adventure paths/campaigns, sourcebooks...etc. I feel 2026 is going to be so quiet.

I miss DM type books with fluff.

I do miss a good adventure path. I'm not particularly interested in adventure anthologies - I can write short adventures myself, and they play better than purchased adventures since mine will be tailored for our campaign and characters.

But adventure paths provide a different style of game where the players get to follow a coherent story from start to finish. That's far too much work to prepare in advance for a hobby game, so it's nice to be able to get a product that's ready to play.

I bought the Shackled City hardcover. Tempted to tun it but s lot of conversion work for higher lvls

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That's far too much work to prepare in advance for a hobby game

I find it better to not have too much prepped in advance, beyond a vague and disposable outline. The problem with adventure paths is they don't react to player choices.

Short adventures - whist I can write them better myself, I find I can't write them fast enough to keep up with the pace of the game. And besides, it's nice to loot other people ideas. My players know me too well. Also, disposable. If I haven't written it myself I don't care if the players make choices that mean they miss it.

 

[Zardnaar]

I find it better to not have too much prepped in advance, beyond a vague and disposable outline. The problem with adventure paths is they don't react to player choices.

Short adventures - whist I can write them better myself, I find I can't write them fast enough to keep up with the pace of the game. And besides, it's nice to loot other people ideas. My players know me too well. Also, disposable. If I haven't written it myself I don't care if the players make choices that mean they miss it.

I brainstorm a rough plot line and modular it.

Ive used things like Candlekeep and prepared 3 or 4 adventures and what one the apps pick exploring i run that.

Key information to advance plot is location in room 3 dungeon of doom, the town statue, the caverns of Bob and the chambers of Kate.

Complete in whatever order 2-4 level up if they're short.

I prefer the sandbox APs.

 

[mamba]

I kinda think this is what is going on. They're probably realizing they can make more money with far far less effort by letting Third Party Publishers write campaigns, identify which ones are popular, then partner with those publishers to sell the product on DnD Beyond.

and they realized this now, right after hiring a bunch of people?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

and they realized this now, right after hiring a bunch of people?

Yeah, the recent hires suggest they are aiming for lore-rich adventures/settings.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

and they realized this now, right after hiring a bunch of people?

Were they all hired to write "big dumb campaign" books? But yeah, I doubt WotC is actually retiring the format entirely, but I wouldn't be surprised if its getting a serious rethink.

I assume a lot of the value to WotC is less the campaign books being directly profitable and more that campaign books inspire groups to play and buy other products, that they provide a focus for marketing pushes several times a year, and that a larger product line generally makes all their products more valuable. I wouldn't be shocked if they think they get get most of this additional value on fewer of this type of product supplemented with other types of products, which are either cheaper to make or easier to sell directly to players who don't want to DM.