[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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[Iosue]

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?

And it's not like the GotG script is any great shakes. GotG was a case of a movie knowing exactly what it was and being comfortable with (read: well-executed), backed by marketing that knew how to present it so that audiences knew what they were getting into, and saw the kind of movie they expected to see. It's very easy to imagine the same movie not having that, and ending up as a cult classic like Big Trouble in Little China or the Princess Bride.

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.

I disagree, in a way. Every year there's a surprise performer, a movie without a whole lotta buzz or branding that makes lots of money. GotG is exceptional only in degree, not kind.

There's a tendency to bring up particularly successful examples (Iron Man, GotG, LotR) because they readily come to mind, but those movies aren't necessarily the bar for success. Consider "Stargate" or "Highlander". A somewhat successful movie later turned into a long-running fairly popular TV series. Now imagine they were based off an RPG, and a lot of ancillary merchandise and tie-ins were available. If D&D can reach that, great! Iron Man, GotG levels of penetration is gravy.

Also, I hesitate to mention it, but Transformers. Old, niche, nostalgic toy line reinvigorated by relentlessly crappy movies. That's also a possible outcome.

 

[Queer Venger]

Morrus, belive me, Im super calm
Maybe my tone was a bit harsh, but I was merely trying to be the voice of reason. Im reading comments that are practically accusatory towards the good folks of D&D. They are doing a bang up job of delivery super quality as best they can with a 4-5 staffer team.

I just see 5e in its infancy, and being accused of "cancelling" things that have not been officially announced really does not help these guys.

So Im calm, Im happy, Im A-OK, but forgive me if I try to get some folks to tone-down the aggro towards WotC.

 

[MoonSong]

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.

Well, there are reasons. One is because we care and we want new shiny. Another reason is because we want to support the game we love, but we can only do so if we get a product we can get plenty of use, as much fun as it could be, a hardcover adventure path is of limited use, instead a splat has more uses and a broader appeal. I was so ready to shill $40 and a bunch of time in hunting down the book, but somehow I don't feel like spending ten more dollars on something I will only use once (at best).

As for wanting to know in advance when a book will come out, it isn't just out of bratty entitlement, it is because money doesn't grow on trees, unless you are very rich it takes time and planning to separate a budget for gaming. If I would like to know what launches will happen this fall, is because very likely I need to start saving right now for it.

 

[aramis erak]

I'm not really a fan of "Someone pressed the wrong button. Twice." theories. Where did the art cover leak started?

Amazon.

If you don't want the illos leaked, don't let amazon see them.

 

[guachi]

Small consolation for anyone who paid good money for the first printing.

It does not speak well of a company's ability to deliver quality product when errors as big as these have to be caught by the customer.

Should I therefore wait until the second printing of everything gf9 produces?

Well, you can write on the cards. Just mark the few spells that have "up to..." as a duration and AREN'T concentration. It's really not that many.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Hrmm....perhaps this is why the Realms hasn't seen more than some adventures of late.

I am curious to see what's next for my favorite campaign setting.

 

[Hussar]

/snip
Also, I hesitate to mention it, but Transformers. Old, niche, nostalgic toy line reinvigorated by relentlessly crappy movies. That's also a possible outcome.

Hate the movies all you like, Hasbro and Michael Bay are laughing all the way to the bank. I mean, we're getting a Monopoly movie because Battleship did pretty darn well over all. Absolutely horrible movie, but, it made a crap ton of money in the end. Heck, even the Hercules movie made a profit. I just checked the Wiki site for it and it doubled its money. That's certainly respectable for a pretty C grade movie.

Get the right names in there, some passable writing and lots of action and the D&D movie will make enough money to earn the rights to a second and maybe a third. Which is what Hasbro is aiming for.

 

[bmfrosty]

I actually bought (well... Christmas gift) a comb binder to bind all the dndclassics material I bought. But it's generally cheaper (after enough pdfs, $70 for a binder is amortized nicely) and easier to just buy something.

I imagine a conversation like this:
Executive 1: You aren't going to make and sell a companion players book for the upcoming adventure?
Executive 2: No, we are giving it away for free!
Executive 1: How do you plan to make any money?
Executive 2: Volume!!!
Executive 1: ?????

Yes, I can do it myself. In fact it's easier for me than most people. But I don't want to. Convenience! Give me convenience!!!

I really hope the new adventure sells well, even if I have no interest in getting one. I just think they'd sell a ton of books for players if it was small enough and reasonably priced (because it was small). A nice, easy to reference document for players who picked one of the new races/classes.

I can guarantee that most of the players at the games I play will not print it up themselves.

Maybe a combined approach? Release them free online at first, and then take multiple online releases and combine them into a single book?

Let's say that in 2015 and 2016 we get adventures covering:

Elementals
Planescape
Dragonlance
Ebboron

Each Adventure gets an accompanying free online release that includes the players/adventurers/planewalkers handbook bits for that particular adventure, and then when there are 4 adventures worth of new player handbook material ready, they put out a $40-$50 book containing it for those who like to collect?

I'm just trying to think of ways that WotC could refactor the way they do the D&D business, especially if - as has been suggested elsewhere in the thread - they're trying to move into more media - TV, Movies, Video Games, Comic Books, Whatever - again.

 

[bmfrosty]

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.

This is exactly the wrong idea. This is the death spiral. This is where businesses go to die.

There are 7 billion people on this earth. Let's says 100,000 are already inclined to play 5E. The company should be trying to keep them relatively happy, and also bring in those other 6,999,900,000 people. Possibly starting with the 450,423,953 English speakers who aren't playing. Maybe out of those start with those that have played other editions before. Add to that people who might have played computer versions of earlier editions. Then people who have played other CRPGs. People who have played JRPGs. People that read fantasy novels. People that have heard about this RPG thing, but think it's for horrible nerds.

 

[Celtavian]

Interesting. The chassis for the game seems very able to handle additional books. I think they have a lot of room to run. They do have to find a schedule that grows the game at a pace that won't overwhelm DMs as new options open for players.

Not sure the release schedule for 3E hurt that edition. 3E lasted a long time and in its Pathfinder form is still going. It's WotC's fault that 3E failed for them, not the game system itself or the release schedule. They switched to a new edition too soon and messed up themselves up shortening the life of a quality edition like 3E. It's obvious at this point that WotC could have extended 3E another five or more years by modifying 3E and improving it. They botched the new edition badly causing a major schism in the community.

Now they're on 5E. They definitely need to cultivate it so that it continues to bring the player base back together and provide quality growth that will last. I can understand the caution since the goal of this edition is to repair the schism that split D&D. Any mistakes can hurt that goal.