[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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[Mark CMG]

What screw up?

Word was out and they didn't get in front of it as not being a definite product in the pipeline. Now, they are parsing language to shrug off the confusion as their responsibility. That seems like a screw up followed by double speak but I think most people understand that.

 

[Ace]

If WOTC decides to focus on adventures for pay and the splat content for free, while its a benefit to my budget ,doesn't seem like a smart business decision. They can't really bury it in the book either and hope it spurs sales if that was a plan. Its pretty easy to scan and format a few bits from a page or five and while I sure as heck don't advocate piracy, you can be pretty sure crunch will show up in the Internet within days and that people who wouldn't pirate say the whole book, might just grab the crunch.

Even those who won't may well decide to wait till the eventual "best of the adventures unearthed arcane secrets" comes out

From a money posture at most each group will buy and play an adventure once but several people will but say an Elemental Heroes Handbook or whatever. Its far more profitable and even limiting splats to one or two a year is still good churn. TSR back in the day stopped focusing on modules as well called them it when they realized that they'd sell several splat books for every adventure and that the customer will get much more use from them anyway. Almost anyone can use new options but lots of people, myself included don't use canned adventures at all. As such, they've essentially lost a lot of people like me as a sale completely. Another thing, splats build excitement for the line as whole , oh I can't wait till the power up handbook 32 comes out whereas adventures are, meh doesn't fit my homebrew so people take it take it or leave it.

However it really is wait and see so we will wait and see,

 

[chriton227]

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.

Say I planned on getting my kids a Wii U for Christmas but didn't tell them, and then due to unexpected financial situations couldn't afford to do it. One of the kids went snooping on my computer and found a document where I was making notes about what I was planning on getting everyone and saw the Wii U on the list, then told the other kids and they all got excited. Come Christmas morning, there is no Wii U under the tree and the kids are disappointed. Whose fault is that? Regardless of what I planned at any point in time (even if I got so far as to put it on layaway that I later had to cancel), I never announced to the kids that it was coming, so how can I be faulted for their disappointment for not delivering something I never told them I was going to deliver?

The D&D team has limited manpower available. I'd rather they use that manpower developing cool new things to go along with 5e rather than searching for and addressing all the 5e rumors on the internet. Given that the release dates are still months away, it's possible that they make an announcement as soon after the final go/no-go decision on the project as was feasible, especially if legal had to be involved to review things before making the announcement. We don't know how far into the product development they got before the decision was made, for all we know the book may have been nearing completion. I've been involved in IT projects that were cancelled after all of the development was completed but before the product was rolled out due to higher-ups deciding that we were "changing direction", it sucks but it happens. On the plus side, it sounds like whatever work they had completed will see the light of day either as part of the adventure or on the web, which is a lot better than it being sent to the circular file.

 

[Mark CMG]

Come Christmas morning (. . .)

Nope. Come Thanksgiving, word gets around among your kids about the gift and instead of getting in front of it you wait until cornered closer to Christmas and then squirm and say, but I only planned to get you the gift, I never told you you were getting it. Bad parent! Bad!

 

[Sword of Spirit]

A *few* more sub-classes, specifically cleric domains and another option each for sorcerers and monks, would fill out thin bits.

Of all the PHB classes, monk seems the least likely to get a new elemental subclass, because they already have an elemental subclass.

 

[steeldragons]

Ya know, if it is cancelled/doesn't exist at all, then I will be disappointed.

What I am not disappointed about is, now, if we do get it, it won't be tied to ToEE.

I very much want an "Unearthed Arcana" style book...and "Adventurer's Handbook" seems like a nice way/title to do that. I don't really think/want something entitled "Adventurer's Handbook" should be all about elemental-related stuff.

 

[TDarien]

Word was out and they didn't get in front of it as not being a definite product in the pipeline. Now, they are parsing language to shrug off the confusion as their responsibility. That seems like a screw up followed by double speak but I think most people understand that.

Not really. It more sounds to me that they just ignored the fact that there was leaked information, like most companies who choose not to comment on product rumors, instead choosing to wait until they make an official announcement. The issue here is people took the leaked information as fact, when it wasn't yet.

I don't know what you expected WotC to do. Word leaked out of two books. They could have confirmed the rumor, but then when they changed their mind and decide to scrap one book, what then? They get lots of flack for announcing a book and pulling it from the schedule. Or, they could have denied it. That looks worse, because they would then release a book they outright denied was in publication. Neither of those options are attractive.

So instead, they do what every company does when faced with a product leak. They declined to comment (neither confirming nor denying).

Production schedules change all the time. Products get planned and scheduled internally and later canceled. Some even further in the development process. The fact that this one was leaked doesn't really change anything.

 

[Vael]

For me, ditching the Adventurer's Handbook and giving away most of its material for free actually makes me more likely to buy Princes of the Apocalypse--and I don't even buy adventures.

I kinda agree. I wasn't super stoked with the idea in the first place. If the player material was too focused on the adventure, I was probably going to pass on both. And I'm already a little leery of another adventure in the Realms. I was probably only going to get the adventure if I get back into organized play, since I'd be guaranteed to at least be running part of it.

But now ... now that I'm going to get the player material regardless, I could see myself buying and running the adventure, if there's demand for it. Or at least I could see someone in my gaming group buying it and running it. So, ultimately, my willingness to buy has somewhat increased.

 

[Mark CMG]

It more sounds to me that they just ignored the fact that there was leaked information

And if you read my posts again, you'll see that is exactly what I am saying seems to be the initial screw up (ignore your own posts and the misinterpretation therein as to what I was saying). The ham-handed response to Morrus's query with doublespeak being the follow up problem.

instead choosing to wait until they make an official announcement.

There is no official announcement. I repeat, there is no official announcement, just a planned product, whatever that now means.

I don't know what you expected WotC to do.

I don't "expect" them to do anything. I am discussing what they did do. which is ignore a leak and allow expectations in the market place to apparently be incorrect and then when asked directly parse language in such a way that seems ill-advised at best.


I really think you fully understand what I am saying here but have decided to keep adding language of your own with which to argue. You keep asking questions beyond the scope of what I post, then acting as if I answered them in a way in which you can easily debate the pretend answer. I've posted precisely what I meant to say several times and yet somehow you find a way to quote me, and then go beyond what I have said off on some tangent.

It's pretty simple. I think it was a mistake to let the rumor circulate and then to respond to direct query in the manner in which they did. It seems to show poor judgement and clearly has some fans very upset. That can't be good.

 

[rjfTrebor]

WotC is all about pushed back dates and "we'll let you know"