D&D 5E What is WotC actually working on?

[delericho]

We'll hope that's the case, but it's still problematic. D&D is a major brand; for them not to be even able to make basic announcements of the types of things coming immediately after what promises to be a successful launch indicates there are problems somewhere.

A few months ago, I was one of those complaining about the lack of information about release dates, especially in the window between the B&N leak and the official announcement. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is some issue that makes it difficult for WotC to communicate things as soon as they'd like.

However, everything WotC have done since the official announcements, be it the announcement and then roll-out of Basic, the new Starter Set, or the PHB (which, alas, I haven't seen yet, but am told is excellent), has convinced me that they have the best team in charge over there since the days of Dancey and Adkison. Based on the last few months, I think they've earned a little trust.

I guess I'm just a bit puzzled considering two relatively recent news developments: One, that there is not Forgotten Realms campaign book in the works

Mearls popped into the thread on that topic and clarified: basically, the Tweet looked bad without context, but what he really meant was that they weren't working on an FRCS right now. They're all still really busy with the DMG roll-out; after that, I'm sure there will be something.

As long as there's no Incarnum, prestige classes, or warlocks, I'll be happy.

I thought Warlocks were in the PHB?

 

[Dausuul]

We'll hope that's the case, but it's still problematic. D&D is a major brand; for them not to be even able to make basic announcements of the types of things coming immediately after what promises to be a successful launch indicates there are problems somewhere.

Again: It's not a question of being able to make announcements but of choosing to make announcements. Wizards is right in the middle of the big publicity push for the rollout of 5E. They're flogging the Player's Handbook, the Monster Manual, the DMG, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Tyranny of Dragons... not to mention Basic D&D, Dungeonscape, and so forth. The Internet is buzzing with discussion, debate, and flamewars. The information space around D&D is already saturated.

WotC has said their model for 5E involves fewer releases and a bigger splash around each one. Announcing a new product right now would make almost no splash at all. Furthermore, coordinating a big announcement is a lot of work! It's not like Mike Mearls is just going to tweet, "Oh, by the way, guys, next year we're going to be releasing The Complete Kender in six volumes."

I expect they'll wait until all three of the core books are out, people have had a little time to digest them and get into the game, and the folks at WotC have had time to rest up and recuperate. We're all information junkies here, but our dealer isn't about to sell us his whole stash at once.

As long as there's no Incarnum, prestige classes, or warlocks, I'll be happy.

Got your PHB yet? Prepare for unhappiness.

 

[Thaumaturge]

It's not like Mike Mearls is just going to tweet, "Oh, by the way, guys, next year we're going to be releasing The Complete Kender in six volumes."

Vol 1: Kore Kender, a volume outlining the standard kender races in all of the Multiverse. Includes a chapter on Dark Sun that's three words long. Here's the preview: "They're all dead."

Vol 2: Kinder Kender, a volume for those kender who are on a picnic. Full of feats, backgrounds, and subclasses for players who want their kender to never contribute anything to the party except laughs and sandwiches.

Vol 3: Korrupt Kender, a volume for the darker side of kender. Some kender are mean and vicious, and this is the rulebook for them. Find ways to steal actually useful items just before party members use them. New feats and subclasses allow characters to play against type emo-spawn kender. Now we can all be different together!

Vol 4: Krass Kender, a volume mostly full of foul language and poop jokes.

Vol 5: Kender Kollective, a volume that shows a new side of kender: the kender hivemind. New lore is revealed that all kender are given orders from the Beyond. They may not be entirely in control of their own actions. Others have been controlling them and making them steal all along.

Vol 6: Kollected Kender, a volume that collects the best of the previous 5 volumes all in one place. People complain about how similar Vol 5 & 6's titles are. And that they already own everything in Vol 6, but they all still purchase it anyway. They feel compelled as if by an Outside source.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Jer]

The last Gamma World got two expansions. Seems unlikely they would have done that for a product that flopped.

The Gamma World run was planned to have three boxed sets from the start and at least the second boxed set had to have been mostly finished by the time the core box was on the shelves since it came out about a month later. There were no expansions beyond the initial 2 expansions announced for the game. There were two novels in the line and there was supposed to be a video-game from Atari that never went anywhere and eventually got cancelled IIRC.

The game itself may not have been a flop - though right now I could walk into the local Half Price Books and pick up about six unopened copies of the core box for $20 each - but as a line launch it flopped. If the plan is to try to make money off of multimedia tie ins, novels, non-RPG games and licensing, Gamma World is probably going to be left on the shelf for another decade before they try it again.

(I love the hell out of that game and will probably play it until I die. Post-apocalyptic superhero a la Thundarr the Barbarian has been one of my favorite genres since I was 5 years old, but I know it isn't for everyone. And it was in my groups opinion the best expression of the 4e rules in print - so much so that I've houseruled our 4e game to make it more like the Gamma World rules.)

 

[Jester David]

Right now they're likely focused on the DMG, which is still a month or so away from printers. Lots of last minute editing and revising to do.
After that, I imagine a break and evaluation is in order.

Beyond that, I believe they'll let people absorb what is out there and play the adventures, although they might oft for a smaller release prior to the 3PP offerings in March. Or that might be it, as they opt for Paizo's 3-4 Hardcovers a year approach.

I imagine the next books are the common books: Manual of the Planes, Deities & Demigiods, Psionics. But they might spread those out a little.
Personally, I'd love to see a Deities & Demigods treated like the Monster Manual with lots of lore and fluff.

 

[Dungeoneer]

The Gamma World run was planned to have three boxed sets from the start and at least the second boxed set had to have been mostly finished by the time the core box was on the shelves since it came out about a month later. There were no expansions beyond the initial 2 expansions announced for the game. There were two novels in the line and there was supposed to be a video-game from Atari that never went anywhere and eventually got cancelled IIRC.

The game itself may not have been a flop - though right now I could walk into the local Half Price Books and pick up about six unopened copies of the core box for $20 each - but as a line launch it flopped. If the plan is to try to make money off of multimedia tie ins, novels, non-RPG games and licensing, Gamma World is probably going to be left on the shelf for another decade before they try it again.

*shrug*

I'm not privy to WotC's internal business discussions, but given that the first boxed set was announced as 'a complete, stand-alone roleplaying game' the implication was very much that it was a one-and-done. It was never intended to be a "launch line" with massive mutli-media tie ins. Here's someone's notes from the 2010 D&DXP seminar where GW was discussed that backs this up.

This was all four years ago. OF COURSE the box is sitting in discount bins. And let's face it, this is a game with talking pigs and badgers and little green men. It was always going to be a bit of a niche product.

To get back to the discussion at hand, I would be surprised if there was a 5e take on Gamma World, at least in the near future. The gonzo style of the game seemed to be a natural fit for 4e in a way it might not be for 5e. Also since GW has had its recent revival, it is probably better that they surprise us with revivals of some other old game or setting.

5e Boot Hill???

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

It does sound slightly counterintuitive that we may get more additional material for Numenera than for Dungeons & Dragons.

 

[GameDoc]

I'd just really like an updated gazetteer for the Forgotten Realms. Many of us are starting with Lost Mines of Phandelver or Horde of the Dragon Queen and it'd would be nice to have a resource to help branch out afterwards.

 

[TheSwartz]

I hope:

1. They keep to a schedule that allows me to fully digest each product before feeling rushed to buy the next one.
2. They re-release Dungeon and Dragon magazines; would prefer in a print/pdf combo form, but just continuing the D&D Insider and release pdf versions would be acceptable to me.
3. They release the source books for the major campaign settings (FR, DL, Eberron, Dark Sun) NEXT before much of anything else that hasn't been announced yet.
4. They get Dungeonscape out ASAP in a version usable to ALL (not just on iOS).

 

[TerraDave]

The DMG, apparently.