D&D 5E The new Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set - and online tools?

[Thaumaturge]

Do we know the setting of the starter adventure? What campaign setting? Urban/wilderness? Name of town/region? Anything like that?

Know? No. But I think we can assume Forgotten Realms as the setting for all 5e stuff until further notice.

And from the escapist interview (posted in a different thread) it sounds like it will be over a region and the pre-gen characters will have ties to various people and places in it.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Nytmare]

Do we know the setting of the starter adventure? What campaign setting? Urban/wilderness? Name of town/region? Anything like that?

I THINK that it's following the Tyranny of Dragons storyline, and one of the releases is a fight against Tiamat. So that probably narrows it down to FR or Dragonlace, right? I guess maybe Eberron too, but I doubt they'd use that as their base.

 

[Morlock]

Guys... A Starter Set is not intended for experienced players of D&D. Especially those who have played multiple editions and other RPG games. This is not the red box of BECMI. I wish it was but at today's prices something like that would be closer to $40 probably and would require them a lot more development time. It is what it is.

I don't see why a couple of staple-bound pamphlets with a set of dice and a few handouts should have to cost $40.

Heck, it did a lot to make me the person I am today-- a person who spends a lot of money on gaming product. If I were in charge (and obviously I am not), I would have made a starter set that looked more like that starter set. Then instead of having it lead into other boxed sets, it could lead more seamlessly into the phb, dmg, and mm.

I hope this starter set turns out to be awesome in its own way, but I feel like an opportunity for long term awesome has been missed.

Agreed. Using cheap production values on the "5e Red Box" would play into this: players hungry for more would covet the hard covers and heavy paper in the core books.

 

[sidonunspa]

I don't see why a couple of staple-bound pamphlets with a set of dice and a few handouts should have to cost $40.

We at PCI have priced out box sets, it's not the books within but the packaging of the box and the box itself that increases the price.

Box sets are not cheap at all

 

[Thaumaturge]

Box sets are not cheap at all

And according to Trevor at WotC the Starter Set is in a higher end box.

@mpetruzz Yeah, it's a heavier cardboard stock, more like standard box sets.

Thaumaturge.

 

[sidonunspa]

And according to Trevor at WotC the Starter Set is in a higher end box.

For sure..

look at it this way, we (PCI) are friends with many of the people in Mayfair games, and even with their help we simply could not make the numbers work.

every item you put in the box increases the cost of the box, dice, books, maps, each item needs to be placed in the book individually.

larger companies can off set the price in bulk.. smaller companies, not so much.

 

[Morlock]

We at PCI have priced out box sets, it's not the books within but the packaging of the box and the box itself that increases the price.

Box sets are not cheap at all

I believe you. Meaning, adding 10 pages of chargen doesn't add $20 to the price (and adding it in the back, as an appendix, means the poor little (dim) tykes won't be confused, either).

Do you have any info on price per page, btw? I'd be surprised if adding 20 pages added more than a buck, but what do I know?

every item you put in the box increases the cost of the box, dice, books, maps, each item needs to be placed in the book individually.

Not to put too fine a point on things, or tell you your business, but there are lots of ways to reduce the number of individual things that have to be placed. E.g., the dice come in a tube from the manufacturer, the maps (assuming they're single-page) go into the books as perforated pages, the handouts go into the books, etc. So, really, 3 items; two booklets and a tube of dice.

 

[Nytmare]

Not to put too fine a point on things, or tell you your business, but there are lots of ways to reduce the number of individual things that have to be placed. E.g., the dice come in a tube from the manufacturer, the maps (assuming they're single-page) go into the books as perforated pages, the handouts go into the books, etc. So, really, 3 items; two booklets and a tube of dice.

Tubed, pre-packaged dice cost more than loose, bulk dice. Adding pages into a book isn't as simple as just adding an extra piece of paper, it affects your overall page counts. What do you remove from the book to make space? Are you ok with the print quality of those maps and handouts? Is your manufacturer able to perforate pages? Do those perforations end up breaking the binding of your book once the pages are removed? How much does perforation add to the overall cost? Do you have the time to crunch all these numbers and chase down people who can make things happen for a good price in time?

There are lots of decisions and behind the curtain maths going on that we're probably not privy to.

 

[PinkRose]

Also, consider that adding "just a buck" to anything changes how many people are interested. Not because of how much it costs, but the perceived cost.
$19.99 is much, much cheaper than $20.99 to a consumer.