[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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[Blue]

YMMV on this one, overall 5e feels somewhat complete to me in comparison with the core 4e, but not exactly the most complete version ever.

At the least I'm jonesing for enough spells to make a elementalist besides fire. More interesting non-combat spells as well. A *few* more sub-classes, specifically cleric domains and another option each for sorcerers and monks, would fill out thin bits.

And lots of optional rule systems with supporting bits. Say a book to run a navel campaign with equipment, pirates, officers, vehicle combat, oversea and undersea exploration, sea monsters.

I don't want the bloat of 4e or 3.x even though I enjoyed those system. But I'm still a target to sell more player and more DM options at this point.

 

[aramis erak]

Because if you were giving away free money ($100) someone would complain that you didn't give it to them in their preferred denomination ("why does it have to be a single $100 bill?")

It's more like seeing discussion of being given a hundred dollar bill, not mentioning that it's a reproduction of the Confederate $100 bill... worthless as currency, valueless as collectible, and of curiosity/educational value slightly higher than the paper it's on...

I'll note that Amazon puts up a page for any item solicited for. Some times companies solicit for a product, specify that it's not finalized, judge the sales potential by the early order responses, and either go or no-go based upon that judgement. And solicitations predating public announcements are VERY common.

Amazon often winds up listing as cancelled things that were never firmly on schedule anyway. Some of which wind up merely late.

 

[Loki-lie-Smith]

Are the Elemental Evil books even listed at Amazon? They are at some gaming sites but I haven't seen them at Amazon.

 

[Mark CMG]

It's more like seeing discussion of being given a hundred dollar bill, not mentioning that it's a reproduction of the Confederate $100 bill... worthless as currency, valueless as collectible, and of curiosity/educational value slightly higher than the paper it's on...

I'll note that Amazon puts up a page for any item solicited for. Some times companies solicit for a product, specify that it's not finalized, judge the sales potential by the early order responses, and either go or no-go based upon that judgement. And solicitations predating public announcements are VERY common.

Amazon often winds up listing as cancelled things that were never firmly on schedule anyway. Some of which wind up merely late.

Are you suggesting they use Amazon as a way to gauge the market for a potential book?

 

[TDarien]

I
And that info wasn't conjured prophetically out of the ether. It originated with WotC.

It originated from WotC in that they were planning a book. There's no indication is was ever intended for public consumption. As I understand it, the info came from a distributor document, not directly from WotC.

Or it was leaked on purposed to create a buzz. It is a common marketing strategy.

This is pure speculation, you have no evidence of this.

I'm just saying we aren't being respected with the line "we didn't announced anything so nothing is cancelled". We knew there was a splat book coming out. Expectations were created. The book is cancelled. People are disappointed. Now were told this disappointement is our fault cause nothing was announced. Please.

But WotC did not create those expectations. You did not know there was book. You saw a leaked document about a planned book. You essentially heard a rumor about a book, nothing more Any expectations you had were based on information from a non-official source that was subject to changed at any moment, without notice. Nothing was ever confirmed, yet you took the information as gospel. Your disappointment is absolutely your fault.

The same goes for the change in release date. WotC cannot be held responsible for not communicating the change of a date they never announced. Projected release dates change all the time internally. I would bet money that the projected release date for the PHB change at least once in its two-year development.

 

[Morrus]

You're disappointment is absolutely your fault.

"Fault"? This conversation went weird quickly. It's some fans talking about some games they like. There's no "fault". Not from the fans who like talking about the games they like, or the publisher who is producing the games they like.

It's just people talking about stuff.

 

[Mark CMG]

But WotC did not create those expectations. You did not know there was book. You saw a leaked document about a planned book.

(. . .)

You're disappointment is absolutely your fault.

I call shenanigans! "Planned" has a precise meaning. It is past tense. It is not synonymous with "kicking around the idea" or "thinking about it as possible." Making a distinction between "planned" and "announced" so long after word going around online was that it was in the pipeline seems a bit like doublespeak. This probably could have been cleared up sooner if they weren't utilizing the time to gauge whether to produce the book in earnest. Sorry, but this seems like a screw up followed by a ham-handed correction.

 

[Mistwell]

Or it was leaked on purposed to create a buzz. It is a common marketing strategy.

I'm not saying they have an obligation. That is just a strawman. I'm just saying we aren't being respected with the line "we didn't announced anything so nothing is cancelled". We knew there was a splat book coming out. Expectations were created. The book is cancelled. People are disappointed. Now were told this disappointement is our fault cause nothing was announced. Please.

This tells us how communications from WotC haven't imprived that much. It also tells us other stuff.

This cancellation, the push back of the release date of the adventure (from mach 17 to april the 7th), the push back of the DMG and the cancellation of Morningstar are indicaters of how things are going with the management of the D&D brand.

My next question to Mike Mearls, after he said "we do a lot of stuff that may or may not end up as a released product," was going to be (before the Twitter thread got sidetracked), "Since "a lot" of stuff doesn't end up as a released product, can you tell us how many other potential 5e products (aside from this one) have seen adcopy and cover art commissioned, but never ended up as that released product?"

 

[TDarien]

I call shenanigans! "Planned" has a precise meaning. It is past tense. It is not synonymous with "kicking around the idea" or "thinking about it as possible." Making a distinction between "planned" and "announced" so long after word going around online was that it was in the pipeline seems a bit like doublespeak. This probably could have been cleared up sooner if they weren't utilizing the time to gauge whether to produce the book in earnest. Sorry, but this seems like a screw up followed by a ham-handed correction.

What screw up? You don't think companies have all sorts of internal plans that get cancelled before seeing the light of day? I'm sure that distributors see all kinds of release dates for products that get cancelled before being Yes, they planned to release a book. Then at some point in the development they changed their minds. Companies do that all the time. The only screw up is somebody got information that wasn't intended to be public.

 

[Mistwell]

This cancellation, the push back of the release date of the adventure (from mach 17 to april the 7th), the push back of the DMG and the cancellation of Morningstar are indicaters of how things are going with the management of the D&D brand.

And I knew that would be some of the buzz from this...and tried to ask Mike proactively, with a softball question, to head that issue off at the pass.