D&D 5E The Printers Can't Handle WotC's One D&D Print Runs!

One of the reasons why the three new core rulebooks next year will not be released together is because D&D is such a juggernaut that the printers can't actually handle the size of the print runs!

Jeremy Crawford told Polygon "Our print runs are pretty darn big and printers are telling us you can’t give us these three books at the same time.” And Chris Perkins added that "The print runs we’re talking about are massive. That’s been not only true of the core books, but also Tasha’s Cauldron. It’s what we call a high-end problem."

 

[FitzTheRuke]

OK, let's say that WotC comes out with a new FRCS next year for the 2024 rules, Getz Ed Greenwood heavily involved, and it meets all your standards. How would a $70 USD or nigh $100 CAD price, similar to the 3E FRCS sit with you? Because that would just be keeping up with what they charged in 2001.

I can tell you that I'd sell a handful of that book, but probably only a handful.

 

[Parmandur]

I can tell you that I'd sell a handful of that book, but probably only a handful.

Whi h is why WotC doesn't sell books at that price eight now. What the market will bear.

Selling a book at $50 would have been absurd in 2000, but by 2014 it was pretty reasonable and is pretty cheap now.

 

[Hussar]

Deserves is subjective, I have higher standards.

No.

You have different standards.

To me the FRCS isn’t worth ten cents. I don’t ever buy setting guides. I have zero interest in setting guides.

Does that mean my standards are higher than yours? Of course not. We just buy different things.

So, to me, a pure setting guide like the FRCS represents a totally pointless product that isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. The worst 5e adventure path is still ten times more valuable to me.

The difference is, I don’t try to force my preference onto everyone else by pretending that my preferences are important to anyone other than myself.

If WotC starts banging out endless setting books? Great. You’re happy. Me? I’m just going to buy books from someone else who caters to my tastes.

Same as I’ve always done.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

No.

You have different standards.

To me the FRCS isn’t worth ten cents. I don’t ever buy setting guides. I have zero interest in setting guides.

Does that mean my standards are higher than yours? Of course not. We just buy different things.

So, to me, a pure setting guide like the FRCS represents a totally pointless product that isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. The worst 5e adventure path is still ten times more valuable to me.

The difference is, I don’t try to force my preference onto everyone else by pretending that my preferences are important to anyone other than myself.

If WotC starts banging out endless setting books? Great. You’re happy. Me? I’m just going to buy books from someone else who caters to my tastes.

Same as I’ve always done.

Never correcting for product type, the FRCG is a better Setting Guide then any 5e Adventure is an Adenture.

I'll also point out that 5e has massively bigger market then 3e, so there are massive cost saving 5e can get from buying in larger bulk then 3e.

The price increase is even more of a scam.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

No product can appeal to everyone. Expecting everything they produce to fit your needs and desires specifically is unrealistic and not representative of the quality of a product. For that matter, to a large degree, quality is in the eye of the beholder.

Never said every product is supposed to be for me, but I still stand by what I have said about the quality of lore in 5e.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Never correcting for product type, the FRCG is a better Setting Guide then any 5e Adventure is an Adenture.

In your opinion. I mean, I think it's really good too, but your point doesn't do anything to counter the point in what you've quoted.

I'll also point out that 5e has massively bigger market then 3e, so there are massive cost saving 5e can get from buying in larger bulk then 3e. The price increase is even more of a scam.

I'm no fan of the price increase. I don't agree one bit that they'd have to make the book $70+ to make it profitable for them. I also understand why WotC might decide that a book like the FRCG is not worth their resources to produce.

 

[Parmandur]

In your opinion. I mean, I think it's really good too, but your point doesn't do anything to counter the point in what you've quoted.

I'm no fan of the price increase. I don't agree one bit that they'd have to make the book $70+ to make it profitable for them. I also understand why WotC might decide that a book like the FRCG is not worth their resources to produce.

I don't think they would sell it for $68 right now, either...but they did in 2001, adjusting for inflation, and it was their biggest seller per Fyan Dancey (who has been posting supportive comments on the change on Twitter).

 

[Henadic Theologian]

In your opinion. I mean, I think it's really good too, but your point doesn't do anything to counter the point in what you've quoted.

I'm no fan of the price increase. I don't agree one bit that they'd have to make the book $70+ to make it profitable for them. I also understand why WotC might decide that a book like the FRCG is not worth their resources to produce.

FRCG 5e is seperate issue that someone else brought up, I'm mostly focused on WotC having an insanely high price increase,of over a third of the previous price, roughly.

 

[Parmandur]

FRCG 5e is seperate issue that someone else brought up, I'm mostly focused on WotC having an insanely high price increase,of over a third of the previous price, roughly.

No, it's a 20% increase. When inflation since their last price adjustment has been 28%. The 2014 Core books cost $63 in today's money, so $59.95 is a rational price increase.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I don't think they would sell it for $68 right now, either...but they did in 2001, adjusting for inflation, and it was their biggest seller per Fyan Dancey (who has been posting supportive comments on the change on Twitter).

Oh, I KNOW it was a good seller in its day!

It's not just how it might sell that they've decided not to make it, though. I think if their decision was just on potential sales, we'd have seen a FRCG by now. But we know that they've chosen not to do it, for whatever reason.

I think their reasoning is this: Unless they choose to reprint most of the 3e one unchanged, it's a LOT of time out of their writing staff to recreate the wheel. They'd want new art, too - of course - and their artists are working on other projects. They'd have to make it a luxury price-point (or at least close to), not because they'd need to do it to make it profitable, but because it would make their other books look thin by comparison.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think they should just do it, really. But then, I've ALWAYS wondered why WotC didn't do more spit-polish reprints. The closest they've ever come was Tales from the Yawning Portal, and it was a success.