D&D 5E The implications of Basic 5E: An adventure-based approach?

[Echohawk]

Yup, Rygar has it. They were talking about their own store a year ago.

Technically, there are already at least three "dnd" web sites where you can buy D&D stuff:

• PDFs: http://www.dndclassics.com/
• T-Shirts: http://www.dndmerch.com/
• Minis: http://www.gf9-dnd.com/

None of these is operated directly by WotC. So if WotC does intends to promote 3rd party 5e publications, my guess would be that they'd partner with someone to do that, rather than actually run their own store.

 

[Blackwarder]

[MENTION=6756765]Rygar[/MENTION] is completely right, and a smart guy to boot since I've been saying the same thing for a year now and the mark of a smart person is someone who agree with me

With the last week and a half of excitement the prospect of a WotC sponsored store is more viable , the question is how they are going to do this, if it were only a digital store than it's an easy answer, but what about physical products?

Warder

 

[Morrus]

I think the analogy used was Apple's App Store. WotC taking a cut of 3PP sales would go a long way to making third parties more palatable to them. I wish I could remember the source of that. Maybe I imagined it!

 

[Li Shenron]

Of particular note in Mike’s announcement is that the PDF will be updated with monsters, rules and magic items so that players are able to play any of the new adventure releases from Wizards of the Coast.

Might mean that 5e published adventures will be nearly edition-independent.

 

[Blackwarder]

I think the analogy used was Apple's App Store. WotC taking a cut of 3PP sales would go a long way to making third parties more palatable to them. I wish I could remember the source of that. Maybe I imagined it!

I've been saying it for over a year, and I'm sure that if they have said somthing like that in a public place I would have remembered it... Maybe it's just wishful thinking.

Warder

 

[dd.stevenson]

I think the analogy used was Apple's App Store. WotC taking a cut of 3PP sales would go a long way to making third parties more palatable to them. I wish I could remember the source of that. Maybe I imagined it!

I definitely would like to see the source on this if/when you're able to recall it. Personally I would be willing to bet cold, hard cash against the possibility of wotc attempting any kind of serious IT development this time around. (Not that I think it's a poor idea by any stretch.)

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I think the analogy used was Apple's App Store. WotC taking a cut of 3PP sales would go a long way to making third parties more palatable to them. I wish I could remember the source of that. Maybe I imagined it!

I think something like this would potentially work. The 2 big question marks for me are:

1. Given WotC's success rate with digital ventures in the past, do they have the expertise to pull something like that off (or, at the very least, contract to someone that can pull it off)?
2. How much vetting, if any, would WotC do of said products?

In regards to question 2, WotC definitely want to avoid a repeat of OGL products like the Book of Erotic Fantasy. At the same time, if they micromanage what's in and out too much then it will either cost WotC too much to run to be profitable or they will be charging potential 3rd parties too much to make it profitable for them. Either way, it would result in the venture failing due to lack of profitability (either WotC pull the plug on it or 3rd parties don't bother with it because costs are too high).

 

[Jan van Leyden]

This gives a new take on how to get into D&D, which draws somewhat from the Paizo experience: Buying a full campaign adventure and having the (basic) rules thrown in. The D&D Encounters program becomes a teaser for the full adventure which is easily accessible for new players. D&D Expeditions provides an alternative way of finding players for these campaign adventures, whilst also giving access to shorter adventures.

I do not know how many of the traditional “short” adventures (32 pages) would be published by Wizards in this form. It should be noted that these adventures tend to be the least profitable – the overhead costs are quite high. The longer adventures have done very well for Paizo; one can only assume that, if they’re written well, they’ll also do well for Wizards.

Now that the elation about this news has diminished a bit, I can't help but think about the long-term implications.

All of a sudden a type of product which had a limited appeal (DMs only) gets the spotlight. Would WotC willingly limit itself to prodcts sellable to a smaller market? Probably not. To make ends meet they would have to generate more sales, i.e. more roleplaying groups using published adventures. Disregarding old roleplayer which up to now avoided canned scenarios because of reasons of quality, they would have to spread the game to new players, who in turn use the adventures as point of entry.

This approach of cause limits what one can present in such an adventure product. Would complex things (Red Hand of Doom, Madness at Gardmore Abbey) work in this role? I doubt it. Therefore I expect these adventures to be more newby friendly, but probably less satisfying for experienced gamers.

Maybe differently labelled adventures will be published, clearly advertising whether a particular one is intended for newbies ("Play the Tyranny of Dragons Storyline!"). People making their first foray into the world of roleplaying could later on graduate to more complex stuff.

This whole line of reasoning places adventures in the context of the storyline. Perhaps one will be marketed as one of many "Tyranny of Dragons" items. The minitaure series called D&D Icons of the Realms: Tyranny of Dragons also goes in this direction, a focused product supporting the storyline. Add iOS/Android/Facebook games and whatever else the product managers might cook up.

A customer might be a Tyranny of Dragons customer first and foremost, enticed to buy each and everything offered under this label. It doesn't matter what he buys as long as he does buy. Making him a roleplayer isn't necessary; it suffices if he repeats the pattern for the next storyline.

Adventures run the risk of becoming ancillary products in this strategy judged by the return of investment they provide the company with. And if they don't generate sufficient numbers, it might be better to let this branch wither.

On a completeley different note, WotC isn't exactly known to stick to an announced strategy. Look at 4e. "One set of corebooks each year" didn't survive until 2010. "XYZ Power" ended with Martial Power 2, iirc. DDI Tools? Better not to talk about it. Can we really expect this strategy (adventures are all you need to buy) to survive the end of the next fiscal year?

Reading through my message it comes over as negative and gloomy, but that's what you get after a hard day of working, a very demanding roleplaying session and a scant 4 hours of sleep. Still I fail to see the new way of marketing D&D being as good and golden as it sounded yesterday.

And this is likely not all the news that will be coming from Wizards in the coming weeks

Interesting times, indeed.

 

[Jack99]

I think the analogy used was Apple's App Store. WotC taking a cut of 3PP sales would go a long way to making third parties more palatable to them. I wish I could remember the source of that. Maybe I imagined it!

It was on Twitter, maybe Trevor or a free-lancer close to WotC? In either case, as I recall it, he was very clear that it was something he would love, but there was no such thing in the works. At least, that's how I recall it.

 

[Remathilis]

Now that the elation about this news has diminished a bit, I can't help but think about the long-term implications.

All of a sudden a type of product which had a limited appeal (DMs only) gets the spotlight. Would WotC willingly limit itself to prodcts sellable to a smaller market? Probably not. To make ends meet they would have to generate more sales, i.e. more roleplaying groups using published adventures. Disregarding old roleplayer which up to now avoided canned scenarios because of reasons of quality, they would have to spread the game to new players, who in turn use the adventures as point of entry.

This approach of cause limits what one can present in such an adventure product. Would complex things (Red Hand of Doom, Madness at Gardmore Abbey) work in this role? I doubt it. Therefore I expect these adventures to be more newby friendly, but probably less satisfying for experienced gamers.

Maybe differently labelled adventures will be published, clearly advertising whether a particular one is intended for newbies ("Play the Tyranny of Dragons Storyline!"). People making their first foray into the world of roleplaying could later on graduate to more complex stuff.

This whole line of reasoning places adventures in the context of the storyline. Perhaps one will be marketed as one of many "Tyranny of Dragons" items. The minitaure series called D&D Icons of the Realms: Tyranny of Dragons also goes in this direction, a focused product supporting the storyline. Add iOS/Android/Facebook games and whatever else the product managers might cook up.

A customer might be a Tyranny of Dragons customer first and foremost, enticed to buy each and everything offered under this label. It doesn't matter what he buys as long as he does buy. Making him a roleplayer isn't necessary; it suffices if he repeats the pattern for the next storyline.

Adventures run the risk of becoming ancillary products in this strategy judged by the return of investment they provide the company with. And if they don't generate sufficient numbers, it might be better to let this branch wither.

On a completeley different note, WotC isn't exactly known to stick to an announced strategy. Look at 4e. "One set of corebooks each year" didn't survive until 2010. "XYZ Power" ended with Martial Power 2, iirc. DDI Tools? Better not to talk about it. Can we really expect this strategy (adventures are all you need to buy) to survive the end of the next fiscal year?

Reading through my message it comes over as negative and gloomy, but that's what you get after a hard day of working, a very demanding roleplaying session and a scant 4 hours of sleep. Still I fail to see the new way of marketing D&D being as good and golden as it sounded yesterday.

Interesting times, indeed.

I fully suspect in 2015, we will see some form of splat-book (My guess is that it might look like Paizo's Advanced Player's Guide rather than WotC's Sword & Fist/Complete Warrior/Martial Power types). I could see a yearly "splat" compilation book that gives us new spells, archetypes, feats, races/subraces, magic items, rules-modules, etc. Again, one need only look at the APG to see a one-shot mega-splat is entirely more useful (and easier to balance) than 4-6 [X] Power books.

Likewise, I fully expect settings, both implicit and explicit, to be a fashion. There will be an Eberron book, a Realms book, etc. Along with that there will be a Ravenloft-ish/Horror book, a Kara-Tur/Oriental book, a Planes/Planescape book, etc. I can also see them getting back into Gazetteers and such for settings to occasionally expand one of its key settings. There will be plenty of "Player" crunch there too.

Then there is the rules expansions: the Psionics Handbook is a given, but I can also see other complex rules modules (Epic) getting their own book.

Of course, Dragon will return with things like new Bazaar of the Bizarre, Spell Book, Class Options, the Secret Life of X race, etc. A DDi will be a valuable player exploit.

However, I suspect even WotC realizes the era 30 dollar splat books per month is unsustainable.