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Plumbing the Depths of Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage -- A Review
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<blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 7764751" data-attributes="member: 37579"><p>Here's the thing... they tried that in 4e. Every statblock for every monster was included. This meant that every room took one to three pages. </p><p></p><p>Look at the first level of the dungeon. In the book it's 14 pages. If they included the full statblock for each of the 22 monsters in this dungeon, the section would be 23 pages. That's over 50% longer! And statblocks for higher CR monsters just end up taking more and more space. </p><p>This space has to come from somewhere, and just means fewer dungeons overall. (If each chapter uses a similar amount of space, it'd be 15 levels rather than 23.)</p><p></p><p>Really, what would you rather pay for? A 320-page book that was mostly dungeon. Or a 320-page book that was half a reprint of a book you already owned? </p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes, yes there are. </p><p>But here's the thing, you can't just double the size of a book and double the price. Because the larger a book is, the fewer people that buy it. The smaller the sales, the more you need to charge to offset the production cost. And the more expensive the product is, and the harder it is to sell, the trickier it is to convince game store to stock the product. Because they have to pre-buy every book on the shelf, and lose money if it doesn't sell.</p><p></p><p>Also, <em>Rappan Athuk</em> is only 70 pages more than <em>Dungeon of the Mad Mage</em>. DotMM is already BIG.</p><p>Meanwhile, Ptolus was $120... in 2005. It'd be over $155 now. Likely more with increased shipping and printing costs. </p><p></p><p>There's certainly room for big fancy <a href="https://www.modiphius.net/collections/vampire-the-masquerade/products/vampire-the-masquerade-5-edition-limited-edition" target="_blank">collector's editions</a> that cost extra. Or <a href="https://www.montecookgames.com/store/product/invisible-sun-preorder/" target="_blank">Invisible Sun</a>. But that's not the thing WotC does. (So far, their collector's editions have cost the same.) They sell to the average gamer. The majority of their products are aimed at the majority of the audience.</p><p>(Although, they may do <a href="https://www.beadleandgrimms.com/" target="_blank">fancier products</a> with partners.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jester David, post: 7764751, member: 37579"] Here's the thing... they tried that in 4e. Every statblock for every monster was included. This meant that every room took one to three pages. Look at the first level of the dungeon. In the book it's 14 pages. If they included the full statblock for each of the 22 monsters in this dungeon, the section would be 23 pages. That's over 50% longer! And statblocks for higher CR monsters just end up taking more and more space. This space has to come from somewhere, and just means fewer dungeons overall. (If each chapter uses a similar amount of space, it'd be 15 levels rather than 23.) Really, what would you rather pay for? A 320-page book that was mostly dungeon. Or a 320-page book that was half a reprint of a book you already owned? Yes, yes there are. But here's the thing, you can't just double the size of a book and double the price. Because the larger a book is, the fewer people that buy it. The smaller the sales, the more you need to charge to offset the production cost. And the more expensive the product is, and the harder it is to sell, the trickier it is to convince game store to stock the product. Because they have to pre-buy every book on the shelf, and lose money if it doesn't sell. Also, [I]Rappan Athuk[/I] is only 70 pages more than [I]Dungeon of the Mad Mage[/I]. DotMM is already BIG. Meanwhile, Ptolus was $120... in 2005. It'd be over $155 now. Likely more with increased shipping and printing costs. There's certainly room for big fancy [URL="https://www.modiphius.net/collections/vampire-the-masquerade/products/vampire-the-masquerade-5-edition-limited-edition"]collector's editions[/URL] that cost extra. Or [URL="https://www.montecookgames.com/store/product/invisible-sun-preorder/"]Invisible Sun[/URL]. But that's not the thing WotC does. (So far, their collector's editions have cost the same.) They sell to the average gamer. The majority of their products are aimed at the majority of the audience. (Although, they may do [URL="https://www.beadleandgrimms.com/"]fancier products[/URL] with partners.) [/QUOTE]
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