[UPDATED] Has ADVENTURER'S HANDBOOK Been Cancelled?

Today's official announcement about the Elemental Evil storyline mentioned Princes of the Apocalypse, a new DM screen, miniatures, video games... but not the Adventurer's Handbook! This could mean nothing, of course. The book was first announced last year, back in August; but the below screenshot from Edelweiss shows it as cancelled. The mystery deepens!

UPDATE: WotC's Mike Mearls answers "We can't cancel a book we never announced!" So that sounds like the Adventurer's Handbook will definitely not be appearing. WotC certainly wrote ad copy and designed a cover for the book (see below). Mike added "we've played things close to the vest is that it's a huge, open question on what support for the RPG should look like... we do a lot of stuff that may or may not end up as a released product. For instance, we now know that the high volume release schedule for 3e and 4e turned out to be bad for D&D. It wasn't too many settings that hurt TSR, but too many D&D books of any kind. lots of experiments ahead..."

Here's the cancellation screenshot. Now, that could mean a number of things - maybe it's been pushed back, maybe it's been renamed, or maybe it's just an admin error. Princes of the Apolocaypse has been pushed back from March 17 to April 7.

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What do we know about the book? We have a description from August 2014 and a more recent cover image. Right now, anything could be true; I haven't heard anything about a cancellation or a pushed back release date. If I do, I'll be sure to report it.

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Adventurer's Handbook (March 17, 2015; hardcover; $39.95) -- A Dungeons & Dragons Accessory. Create Heroic Characters to Conquer the Elements in this Accessory for the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game​ Not inherently evil, elemental power can be mastered by those with both malevolent and benign intentions. The Elemental Evil Adventurer’s Handbook provides everything that players need to build a character that is tied directly into the Elemental Evil story arc, with skills, abilities, and spells meant to augment their play experience throughout the campaign. Additionally, valuable background and story information provides greater depth and immersion. An accessory that expands the number of options available for character creation for the Elemental Evil story arc, providing expanded backgrounds, class builds, and races meant specifically for this campaign. Provides background and setting information critical to having the greatest chance of success. Accessory design and development by Sasquatch Game Studio LLC.​ ​

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[Trickster Spirit]

I honestly don't think a Wizards needs to worry about growing the brand and just focus on creating material to use with the new rules. D&D has been around for 40 years now and is only going to played by certain people so trying to focus on a brand that has been around for donkey's years is just wasting time.

Wasn't a popular meme going around EnWorld and other boards a couple of years ago that the hobby was dying because the only dedicated players were the aging grognards and that young people just weren't getting into it because they'd been raised on video games?

(I'm legitimately asking that - I know that was a common sentiment on more than one board at one point, but can't recall if EnWorld was one of them!)

It's not true, mind you, but a few years ago people were bemoaning the fact that there wasn't enough of a focus on getting new players into the game.

That existing 40 year audience is exactly the reason why D&D is such a great contender for a huge movie / TV / video game / all of the above franchise, but growing your brand is never pointless. The more people stoked about D&D, the better the odds of that franchise taking off. The huger the movies / TV series / game series work out to be, the more people will be introduced to the pen and paper game.

Sure, a lot of people have heard about D&D, but most of those folks discount it as nerds rolling dice. Hostility towards nerdy things has mostly faded but D&D is still the arch-nerdom - have a huge, popular movie franchise take it mainstream and you'll reap an incredible number of curious newcomers looking for their first game.

 

[Sailor Moon]

Wasn't a popular meme going around EnWorld and other boards a couple of years ago that the hobby was dying because the only dedicated players were the aging grognards and that young people just weren't getting into it because they'd been raised on video games?

(I'm legitimately asking that - I know that was a common sentiment on more than one board at one point, but can't recall if EnWorld was one of them!)

It's not true, mind you, but a few years ago people were bemoaning the fact that there wasn't enough of a focus on getting new players into the game.

That existing 40 year audience is exactly the reason why D&D is such a great contender for a huge movie / TV / video game / all of the above franchise, but growing your brand is never pointless. The more people stoked about D&D, the better the odds of that franchise taking off. The huger the movies / TV series / game series work out to be, the more people will be introduced to the pen and paper game.

Sure, a lot of people have heard about D&D, but most of those folks discount it as nerds rolling dice. Hostility towards nerdy things has mostly faded but D&D is still the arch-nerdom - have a huge, popular movie franchise take it mainstream and you'll reap an incredible number of curious newcomers looking for their first game.

If you remember an interview that had Bill Slavicsek in it when introducing 4th edition, their motivation for the design was to compete with video games by trying to attract people who played video games. Well look how that turned out.

D&D will never ever pull enough people away from video games to make a blip on the radar. Being a good business person is knowing the limits of your product. The best thing for D&D is to keep their table top game and any video games separate. Let software companies handle the video games and let your table top designers focus on putting out product for the current rules.

 

[Halivar]

What makes my claim questionable?

Well, for one, your advice is to keep churning the same mill we've been on since the 90's. That dog won't hunt anymore.

Give us your business expertise then?

Morrus? What that that guy know about the gaming industry, anyway?

 

[Kramodlog]

Well then you are already wrong. Sasquatch games is making PotA. Not Wizards.

You miss the part where I say WotC ordered the adventure and the splatbook.

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

That's great, but do you have any data as to how many people came to D&D through a video game?

At least two on this forum if you include me.

 

[Halivar]

At least two on this forum if you include me.

Oh yeah? Prove you're not just my sock puppet account!

 

[Kramodlog]

You missed the important question.

Is it "announced"?

Nope. I just corrected someone who was saying we heard literally nothing about the OGL. We heard literally something about it. After that if you wanna nitpic, meh, whatever rocks your boat.

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

Oh yeah? Prove you're not just my sock puppet account!

Are you an Eliza program hooked up to a psychological warfare computer?

If not, I'm pretty certain we're not the same

 

[Trickster Spirit]

That's great, but do you have any data as to how many people came to D&D through a video game?

D&D will always be a niche area. It will never be a global phenomena that is going to attract millions upon millions of people. If you spend the most time creating quality products for your table top game, you will do fine.

D&D is not as valuable as they think it is.

Agree to disagree. There's nothing that Star Wars or The Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy or Peter Jackson's LotR and Hobbit movies have that Dungeons and Dragons doesn't have in spades.

If you remember an interview that had Bill Slavicsek in it when introducing 4th edition, their motivation for the design was to compete with video games by trying to attract people who played video games. Well look how that turned out.

D&D will never ever pull enough people away from video games to make a blip on the radar. Being a good business person is knowing the limits of your product. The best thing for D&D is to keep their table top game and any video games separate. Let software companies handle the video games and let your table top designers focus on putting out product for the current rules.

Right, which is why this edition of the game has doubled down on all the things that differentiates D&D from video games. I agree the video game and tabletop division should remain clear, but hey video games need good stories and we know the D&D team is working on story bibles right now anyway, no reason they can't cross-promote each other.

 

[Morrus]

What makes my claim questionable?

Give us your business expertise then?

I'm not the one offering expert business advice.

 

[Morrus]

Nope. I just corrected someone who was saying we heard literally nothing about the OGL. We heard literally something about it. After that if you wanna nitpic, meh, whatever rocks your boat.

Dude. For the first time since you joined this board, I agreed with you and made a joke supporting your position.

One step forward, two steps back, eh?

 

[Morrus]

Agree to disagree. There's nothing that Star Wars or The Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy or Peter Jackson's LotR and Hobbit movies have that Dungeons and Dragons doesn't have in spades.
.

GotG I'll give you. It was a masterful bit of marketing unlikely to be repeated.

Star Wars and LotR? They have branding power several orders of magnitude higher than D&D. There's no comparison.

 

[Sailor Moon]

Well, for one, your advice is to keep churning the same mill we've been on since the 90's. That dog won't hunt anymore.

Morrus? What that that guy know about the gaming industry, anyway?

Ever hear of product control?

It doesn't have to be all bloat or nothing.

You can put out a significant amount of material without going overboard.

 

[Zaran]

If they gave us the same page counts as Dairy Queen and Laundry Mat. That would give us 64 pages for Elemental Magic. I would be much happier about this if there was also Magazine content to back up their seasonal themes as well.

 

[Trickster Spirit]

GotG I'll give you. It was a masterful bit of marketing unlikely to be repeated.

Star Wars and LotR? They have branding power several orders of magnitude higher than D&D. There's no comparison.

Was referring more to the actual content then the brand sizes in that instance, fully agree on the sizes of the existing audiences. That said, I don't think Guardians' success was as much of an unlikely-to-be-duplicated fluke as you think - certainly no more so than the original Star Wars film, which nobody expected to take off like it did.

I think GotG proves that with clever marketing, the right casting and (most importantly of all) a script actually worth filming, any property can strike it huge - in Guardian's case, even those with an intricate and obscure decades long history and gonzo source material known only to arch-nerds.

Sound familiar?

 

[Halivar]

Are you an Eliza program hooked up to a psychological warfare computer?

If not, I'm pretty certain we're not the same

WHAT ABOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE COMPUTERS WOULD YOU LIKE TO TALK ABOUT?
>_

 

[Morrus]

the original Star Wars film, which nobody expected to take off like it did.

You k ow how often that doesn't happen? Pretty much all the time, ever. The producers were he first to admit how surprised they were.

I think GotG proves that with clever marketing, the right casting and (most importantly of all) a script actually worth filming, any property can strike it huge - in Guardian's case, even those with an intricate and obscure decades long history and gonzo source material known only to arch-nerds.

Like I said, the clever (read: genius) marketing doesn't happen all the time. If it were that easy to replicate, every movie would make a billion dollars like GotG did. As it happens, only a dozen or so movies in the history of ever have done that.

Not likely to replicate.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

The movie rights for D&D are even being fought over right now. The game is selling very well and we have a new adventure coming out. I think stuff is going pretty well.

The fact D&D has a brand name makes it more likely to do well.

 

[chibi graz'zt]

Wow, sorry, but are you guys listening to yourselves?? I would love this Adventurer's Handbook, but why bitch? Whether it was officially announced or not, and now this reaction from fans. Really guys/gals, lets excercise patience instead of labelling things as 'cancelled' which is a bit unfair (now the release schedule has a big X on it, really not fair).

Come on, these guys are delivering a quality product, not when *you* want it, when its ready. WotC is not going to churn out an endless supply of books ala 2e or even PF, so if what you need is a regular consumerist fix of books, probably best to look to PF (they got you covered).

So lets just settle back, play with the books we have and wait patiently for a quality product that is not going to be rushed.

 

[Morrus]

Wow, sorry, but are you guys listening to yourselves?? I would love this Adventurer's Handbook, but why bitch? Whether it was officially announced or not, and now this reaction from fans. Really guys/gals, lets excercise patience instead of labelling things as 'cancelled' which is a bit unfair (now the release schedule has a big X on it, really not fair).

Calm down. We're just some gamers discussing a game we like. No need to get upset; I'm sure WotC is OK.