D&D 5E (2014) Wanting more content doesn't always equate to wanting tons of splat options so please stop.

[Tony Vargas]

Y'know, it occurs to me that one of the benefits of the slow pace of release is that it keeps the Core 3 books as a solid identity for The Brand. "What is D&D, Mr Retailer? I want to buy some D&D!" "Why Those Three Books, right there on the shelf, Mr. Customer! Let me just ring that up for you." ::ch-ching::

And do we have a MMII, this time? No, it's the completely setting-specific-sounding, non-core-brand-muddying 'Volo's Guide...'

Yeah, I think they're onto something.

 

[delericho]

And I'm waiting for you to show how the glut of unprofitable splat was *not* a result of bad management.

Nitpick: we don't actually know that that glut of splat (taken as a whole) was unprofitable. There are, I think, two specific products that were sold at a loss (one of the Planescape boxed sets, and IIRC the Encyclopedia Magica set), but taken as a whole D&D seemed to be doing reasonably well. That Silver Anniversary boxed set I mentioned before indicated that '95 was actually something of a banner year for TSR. The asteroid hit in '96.

On the other hand, TSR was badly managed, almost from day one, and had already had at least one close escape. So, yeah, it's fair to question just about every decision they made. Of course, that's 'question', not 'condemn'!

On the other other hand, even had TSR not failed, I can't help but think some sort of 3rd Edition wasn't far away anyway. 2nd was pretty long in the tooth by '96, and they'd put out the first of the "Player's Option" books that I suspect were a testbed for some of their ideas for the next edition, so I'm not convinced the timetable actually changed all that much.

How long does an edition have to last before we call it a success?

 

[Eubani]

How long does an edition have to last before we call it a success?

Are you asking players or grognards? For one the answer varies from one individual to another, for the other group time machines not new editions are required.

 

[Maxperson]

Are you asking players or grognards? For one the answer varies from one individual to another, for the other group time machines not new editions are required.

I'm going to go with 7+ years. I consider 3e/3.5 to be one edition, not two, so 3e's 8 years qualifies.

 

[Parmandur]

Nitpick: we don't actually know that that glut of splat (taken as a whole) was unprofitable. There are, I think, two specific products that were sold at a loss (one of the Planescape boxed sets, and IIRC the Encyclopedia Magica set), but taken as a whole D&D seemed to be doing reasonably well. That Silver Anniversary boxed set I mentioned before indicated that '95 was actually something of a banner year for TSR. The asteroid hit in '96.



On the other hand, TSR was badly managed, almost from day one, and had already had at least one close escape. So, yeah, it's fair to question just about every decision they made. Of course, that's 'question', not 'condemn'!



On the other other hand, even had TSR not failed, I can't help but think some sort of 3rd Edition wasn't far away anyway. 2nd was pretty long in the tooth by '96, and they'd put out the first of the "Player's Option" books that I suspect were a testbed for some of their ideas for the next edition, so I'm not convinced the timetable actually changed all that much.



How long does an edition have to last before we call it a success?

Yeah, honestly we can say that, A. TSR was incompetently run for a long, long time, and B. At the apex/nadir of their general business incompetence, they were churning out D&D books like there was no tomorrow.

That correlation is a fact, but that B is a subset of A or not only really be conjecture, given how bad they were at record keeping or accounting.

However, it is equally unsupported to assert that B is totally unrelated to A: simply impossible to say.

And besides, nobody here is asking for 2E bloat, just questioning the happy medium we are experiencing.

 

[Tony Vargas]

How long does an edition have to last before we call it a success?

How long has 5e been out?

Less than that.


Seriously though I'd like to see every ed go about 10 years.

 

[Azzy]

Seriously though I'd like to see every ed go about 10 years.

Indeed. I'd also like the next edition to be an upgrade to the previous edition (like 1e to 2e) and not a whole new system (like 3e to 4e to 5e). Refine the game, don't replace it.

 

[Corpsetaker]

Y'know, it occurs to me that one of the benefits of the slow pace of release is that it keeps the Core 3 books as a solid identity for The Brand. "What is D&D, Mr Retailer? I want to buy some D&D!" "Why Those Three Books, right there on the shelf, Mr. Customer! Let me just ring that up for you." ::ch-ching::

And do we have a MMII, this time? No, it's the completely setting-specific-sounding, non-core-brand-muddying 'Volo's Guide...'

Yeah, I think they're onto something.

The downside to that is you won't be able to ride on the back of the corebooks for much longer because most people will have already purchased the core 3. It's actually not great for a lot of retailers because they generally run out of people who are going to buy them, except for that stray one here and there. People will also get tired of AP's the more they experiment with the new rules and become comfortable. They will want more tools to create their own stories.

 

[EthanSental]

The downside to that is you won't be able to ride on the back of the corebooks for much longer because most people will have already purchased the core 3. It's actually not great for a lot of retailers because they generally run out of people who are going to buy them, except for that stray one here and there. People will also get tired of AP's the more they experiment with the new rules and become comfortable. They will want more tools to create their own stories.

Does this logic and comment apply to pathfinder as well as they've been pumping out APs every month for 6 years. If we knew the sales drop off since the inception then we MIGHT have something to compare but I'd say it's rather just 1 persons view at this point.
I like the AP but would like the classic 32 or 64 page adventure. Granted Ive enjoyed the DMsguild AL stuff to fill that niche.

 

[Parmandur]

The downside to that is you won't be able to ride on the back of the corebooks for much longer because most people will have already purchased the core 3. It's actually not great for a lot of retailers because they generally run out of people who are going to buy them, except for that stray one here and there. People will also get tired of AP's the more they experiment with the new rules and become comfortable. They will want more tools to create their own stories.

Tools like the SCAG or Volos...? Don't see any sign of commercial slow-down yet.