Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
What WotC hasnt done yet: Old Settings
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5766543" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>Sure, it's one book. But when they're only putting out 6 or so books a year, the bar for entry is pretty damn high. And, unfortunately, a book on "Menzoberranzan" will sell many times more copies than "Spelljammer".</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Sadly, I think you're mistaken.</p><p></p><p>Firstly, I don't think they <em>can</em> do single-adventure hardbacks any longer. Last year's adventure (singular) was a boxed set designed to make heavy use of the card-mechanics they're currently pushing. Without that tie in, I doubt "Gardmore Abbey" would have been done. The previous adventures, "Revenge of the Giants" and "Tomb of Horrors" were both generic adventures, and both traded on the name recognition of classic adventures. In other words, they worked really hard to appeal as broadly as possible.</p><p></p><p>Honestly, I will be a little surprised if we see <em>any</em> print adventure from WotC this year. If we do, I'm pretty certain we'll see some sort of 'gimmick' that means it can't be a DDI product - card mechanics, or very specialised battlemats, or <em>something</em>.</p><p></p><p>By contrast, a setting like Spelljammer (or Birthright, or Al-Qadim, but probably exempting Ravenloft, Dragonlance and maybe Greyhawk) is an extremely niche product. Even at their height, they were only really of interest to a very small number of players. Of those, how many are <em>still</em> interested, are currently playing 4e, and are willing to pay WotC for an updated book? How many new players are really interested in "D&D Adventures in Space", and willing to pay $35 to find out?</p><p></p><p>Finally, you can always use more adventures, but how many settings can you use? After 4 years, most 4e players now have their setting - either it's Forgotten Realms, Eberron or Dark Sun, or it's Nentir Vale, or they've homebrewed. (Some few might be using a converted older setting as well, of course.) There is, of course, some market for people looking for new settings, because some people are always looking for something new, but how many, really?</p><p></p><p>(In fact, WotC would almost certainly be better served finding out which settings people currently use, if they don't already know, and providing an additional sourcebook for that setting. "Neverwinter" was a niche within the FR niche, but it almost certainly sold more than "Spelljammer" would - and if they were to do "Waterdeep" next, that would probably outsell it, too.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 5766543, member: 22424"] Sure, it's one book. But when they're only putting out 6 or so books a year, the bar for entry is pretty damn high. And, unfortunately, a book on "Menzoberranzan" will sell many times more copies than "Spelljammer". Sadly, I think you're mistaken. Firstly, I don't think they [i]can[/i] do single-adventure hardbacks any longer. Last year's adventure (singular) was a boxed set designed to make heavy use of the card-mechanics they're currently pushing. Without that tie in, I doubt "Gardmore Abbey" would have been done. The previous adventures, "Revenge of the Giants" and "Tomb of Horrors" were both generic adventures, and both traded on the name recognition of classic adventures. In other words, they worked really hard to appeal as broadly as possible. Honestly, I will be a little surprised if we see [i]any[/i] print adventure from WotC this year. If we do, I'm pretty certain we'll see some sort of 'gimmick' that means it can't be a DDI product - card mechanics, or very specialised battlemats, or [i]something[/i]. By contrast, a setting like Spelljammer (or Birthright, or Al-Qadim, but probably exempting Ravenloft, Dragonlance and maybe Greyhawk) is an extremely niche product. Even at their height, they were only really of interest to a very small number of players. Of those, how many are [i]still[/i] interested, are currently playing 4e, and are willing to pay WotC for an updated book? How many new players are really interested in "D&D Adventures in Space", and willing to pay $35 to find out? Finally, you can always use more adventures, but how many settings can you use? After 4 years, most 4e players now have their setting - either it's Forgotten Realms, Eberron or Dark Sun, or it's Nentir Vale, or they've homebrewed. (Some few might be using a converted older setting as well, of course.) There is, of course, some market for people looking for new settings, because some people are always looking for something new, but how many, really? (In fact, WotC would almost certainly be better served finding out which settings people currently use, if they don't already know, and providing an additional sourcebook for that setting. "Neverwinter" was a niche within the FR niche, but it almost certainly sold more than "Spelljammer" would - and if they were to do "Waterdeep" next, that would probably outsell it, too.) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
What WotC hasnt done yet: Old Settings
Top