D&D 5E Well played WOTC (or Free RPG Day 2015)

[Mistwell]

There seems to be a lot of comparison to Free Comic Book day. It's not a very good comparison due to the differing scales of these events.

Free RPG day is virtually unknown outside hardcore RPG players - and even on this very site, the premiere news site for RPG news, Morrus forgot about it. Creators of RPGs don't generally go to stores for the event in large numbers (I am sure a few do), few are attending events to see those creators, and nobody outside the RPG industry is covering the event and even in the industry it doesn't get that much coverage. Stores do not expect tons of people to come out for the event and prepare sales weeks in advance to take advantage of that attendance or sponsor other events at their store to attract even more people. In sum, the day is pretty uneventful. It's likely a single Magic the Gathering event attracts more people who spend more money at your typical game store than the entire Free RPG Day does for most stores.

Free Comicbook Day on the other hand is very widely known and important for comic book retailers. It gets on television news coverage. Major Comic industry news sites pay reports to cover various stores (I've been one of those reporters several times). Many famous comic book artists and writers come out for the event to various stores for signings, and even many of the more minor creators do this. Stores work for weeks to prepare sales and other attractions like kids bounce houses and costumed superheros and costume contests (I've attended all of those) and even mini comic book conventions in association with the event. I even saw a local television ad for one stores Free Comicbook Day event.

Free Comicbook Day is a huge event, relative to Free RPG day. The scales are just nothing close.

 

[exile]

I agree. Everyone keeps acting like WOTC are giving us products because of PDFs and the AL. These are not products. They are not for sale to the public at large. I'm not complaining about what WOTC is doing (even if I don't agree with their methods at the moment), but to say WOTC is supporting 5e with AL and PDFs is just not correct. (With all due respect to Merric of course)

None of this factors into Free RPG Day though, since if someone doesn't have a local store for AL they wouldn't have a store for Free RPG Day either.

There is a bit of a difference. It is one thing to make a fairly long drive to a store every once and a while (like for Free RPG Day); and quite another to drive that distance every week.

 

[justinj3x3]

They don't need it for *general* advertising. They don't need the Marvel and DC names lifted.

Look at what they did for 2015:

Marvel had an intro to specific storylines/books - Secret Wars and the All New, All Different Avengers.

DC had a compilation of shorts supporting their new Batman, Superman, and Darkseid War stories.

Both companies have major changes they needed supported. Does D&D currently have that? If they did have that, would they be best served joining Free RPG Day (which is clearly an oft-forgotten day with perhaps minimal reach) when they have GenCon coming in a little over a month?



I'm not sure about that "no product" - Princes of the Apocalypse came out this year, and its player's companion was already free on their website, as I am sure others have already noted.

It may not be product you want, but that's a different issue.

Princes was outsourced. It wasn't a WOTC made product. A free PDF is not a product IMO, as I stated earlier. It would have been a product if the actual product wasn't 'non-cancelled'. As far as the Free RPG day stuff, again I really don't care I'm just discussing my point of view here, but as the company that pretty much created the industry... it isn't about if they need to advertise or any of the semantics that has or will be brought up, it's about supporting the industry and the fans. WOTC is not doing that. Truth be told though I don't even blame WOTC. I suspect Hasbro has WOTCs hands tied to an extent.

 

[darjr]

I do wish wotc would support free RPG day. However I they give a way a ton of great stuff. Encounters being just one example.

 

[justinj3x3]

There is a bit of a difference. It is one thing to make a fairly long drive to a store every once and a while (like for Free RPG Day); and quite another to drive that distance every week.

I know. See my post #41 and give me XP for predicting Merric's post a few postings down from there!

 

[Corpsetaker]

No store means no Free RPG Day either, so that really is a terrible argument in this thread.

Go back a few posts and read what I wrote.

 

[arjomanes]

I think WotC should support Free RPG day for goodwill, to support the industry, and to support their new adventure. They could have given out a print copy of the PotA Player's Guide for free, or an adventure that ties into the larger story (much like their free encounters content).

Obviously, they think Encounters is a better way to support their game, but I don't personally see it as an either-or proposition. I understand they have like 2 people working there now, but I wonder if there's some easy way to support Free RPG without derailing their timeline?

 

[Umbran]

I understand they have like 2 people working there now, but I wonder if there's some easy way to support Free RPG without derailing their timeline?

I don't think it is a question of timelines. I think it is a question of it being worth the effort for them. Really, that's all. If they were to gain enough from supporting it, I suspect they would. But I'm guessing that supporting it really won't have a measurable impact on them, overall.

 

[delericho]

Free RPG day is great for smaller products, or for games that have a hard time getting the word out about their existence. D&D isn't that kind of game.

This. Plus, Free RPG Day is an ideal way for those smaller products to offer a free teaser - "here, try our game for free, and if you like it then here's some stuff you can buy."

But D&D, of course, already has that covered by Basic. So, really, every day is Free D&D Day.

 

[delericho]

Princes was outsourced. It wasn't a WOTC made product.

WotC published it. And, yes, they got an outside company to write it... but then WotC have been using contractors to write their products for three editions now. Is there any real difference between getting Jason Bulmahn, James Jacobs, and Eric Mona to pen "Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk", versus getting Sasquatch Game Studio in to pen "Princes of the Apocalypse"?