Reports and News from D&D XP

[mhacdebhandia]

Well, the point of the setting search was not strictly speaking to acquire a new D&D campaign setting. It was to acquire a new portfolio of intellectual property - D&D setting, novel setting, computer game setting, the characters and creatures, et cetera.

Wizards of the Coast still publishes Dragonlance novels by the truckload, despite the fact that they've only published one Dragonlance sourcebook (and left it to Margaret Weis Productions to support the line). If Eberron wasn't valuable as a roleplaying game line they wouldn't have to support it as such in order to exploit Eberron IP for books and computer games and miniature games and so on.

Relative success doesn't really enter into the equation. We can assume, for instance, that Eberron is probably only a little less successful than the Forgotten Realms, based purely on the number and pace of releases for each setting.

(I attribute the recent shift in the nature of Forgotten Realms supplements not to declining interest per se but instead simply to a desire to experiment with the brand beyond the "old faithful" wellspring of regional sourcebooks - to which they can always return in the future if their experimental formats (Mysteries of the Moonsea, for instance) prove unsuccessful.)

 

[Imaro]

Well, the point of the setting search was not strictly speaking to acquire a new D&D campaign setting. It was to acquire a new portfolio of intellectual property - D&D setting, novel setting, computer game setting, the characters and creatures, et cetera.

Wizards of the Coast still publishes Dragonlance novels by the truckload, despite the fact that they've only published one Dragonlance sourcebook (and left it to Margaret Weis Productions to support the line). If Eberron wasn't valuable as a roleplaying game line they wouldn't have to support it as such in order to exploit Eberron IP for books and computer games and miniature games and so on.

Relative success doesn't really enter into the equation. We can assume, for instance, that Eberron is probably only a little less successful than the Forgotten Realms, based purely on the number and pace of releases for each setting.

(I attribute the recent shift in the nature of Forgotten Realms supplements not to declining interest per se but instead simply to a desire to experiment with the brand beyond the "old faithful" wellspring of regional sourcebooks - to which they can always return in the future if their experimental formats (Mysteries of the Moonsea, for instance) prove unsuccessful.)

(Not exactly sure, but I think)Dragonlance is a singular case, in which the novels came before the actual setting. This was probably easier to do since Dragonlance is closer to mainstream fantasy fiction than any other setting produced for D&D.

Yes, they would have to support a brand new setting linked to D&D, to build a fanbase. There are those gamers who will buy only the Eberron CS and nothing else but will purchase every novel that comes out, as well as gamers who want a sample of the setting before paying $30 who will buy a novel. Just as there are DDM collectors who will purchase a particular mini, not because it's Eberron inspired but because it completes their collection or is good in play, or because it was what was in the pack. At this point it is actually the novel or mini that is being sold better than the supplements for the setting.

I'm not sure if pace of supplements is necessarily an indicator of success. WW puts out just as many if not more books than WotC annually, but their books don't sell nearly as well as WotC's.

 

[CharlesRyan]

In that case, what do you think was shouldering the 8% decline in games revenue reported in 2005? The report mentions Magic and Duel Masters declining, but if specific brand reportage isn't a big deal . . .

[. . .]

How much of a chunk of the publishing category is/was D&D rpg books?

[. . .]

How did publishing outside of D&D do that year? Given some of the people, it looks like that chunk was significantly affected.

Sorry I can't be more specific on points like these, but it would be inappropriate for me to go into those sorts of details--it's WotC's confidential information, and any decision to share it will have to come from them. I guess that amounts to me saying "trust me, D&D is doing well" while at the same time I've also said "I'm not really an insider anymore." That sounds a little hollow to me, so I can understand if it sounds a little hollow to you, too.

That said, here's what I can tell you: I know the people who are saying this stuff. I have a long context against which to interpret it. And I was at the WotC distributor conference this year, where I received a presentation very much like the D&D XP presentation, but with a little more meat. And given all that, I believe that when the D&D team at WotC says "best year ever," it's safe to interpret that in the most obvious way: That the D&D RPG is continuing to succeed and grow.

 

[Pbartender]

If you haven't checked out Canonfire!, Pbartender, you'd probably like variety of GH flavors available there: www.canonfire.com

Coolness.

I'll check it out.

 

[Ron]

Personally, I don't get why they wouldn't do a Greyhawk hardback. (Perhaps because the 3e softback one didn't fly?)

But then, I don't see why they can't do a one-shot deal hardback for a lot of their old settings. There seems to be enough guys that like Dark Sun, Known World, and Planescape.

Actually, according to Erik Mona and other insiders, the 3e softback was a good seller. Problem is, WotC is afraid of having more than two settings being supported at any time, especially because Forgotten Realms absorbed so much of Greyhawk to be in line with D&D that turned hard to sell the two settings as different lines. I guess that differentiation from the Realms was the main reason why 2ed Greyhawk (From the Ashes) was so much darker. As they current stands, it would be difficult to a new customer to understand why one setting is different from the other, as they are, in fact, quite similar.

However, I agree with Shadowslayer. Perhaps sales cannot support a full line, but WotC could still make some good money doing one campaign setting a year. I would do only the core book and a large adventure. Old fans will be pleased while other customers may find something to their taste in there.