D&D 5E What would be your ideal 5E yearly product output?

[Celtavian]

I wanted to answer the poll but couldn't find an "Other" option. I don't want story arcs, but I enjoy campaign settings and I wouldn't mind conversion guides for older editions. I enjoyed Frog God's Fifth Edition Foes and would like to see more monsters; I wouldn't mind alternative rulebooks a la Complete Psionicist's Handbook or The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, or GURPS: Martial Arts. Not character-oriented splatbooks but actual option rule systems, like the 10 pages in the DMG but expanded. Just as I can today say "I play 5E with a Speed Factor Variant" I would like to be able to say "I play 5E with Psionics" or "I play 5E with High Tech" and have people know what that implies, i.e. without having to explain my house rules.

My ideal product output is therefore "campaign settings and occasional rulebooks: over the course of five years I'd like two or three that I'd like enough to buy, so WotC would probably need to make five to ten, or about one to two per year."

Pathfinder did the best version of Martial Arts I've seen in a D&D game. Not as good as GURPS Martial Arts, but not bad for a simple D&D game. They would have a hard time accomplishing that in 5E given that feats are optional and you only get a small number.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Pathfinder did the best version of Martial Arts I've seen in a D&D game. Not as good as GURPS Martial Arts, but not bad for a simple D&D game. They would have a hard time accomplishing that in 5E given that feats are optional and you only get a small number.

The nice thing about the Martial Arts way is that it wouldn't rely on feats at all. It's all about game-time tradeoffs a la called shots, not design-time tradeoffs a la feats.

E.g. G:MA 4.0 introduced the Committed attack, which wasn't quite All Out but was not standard either: you retained some defense, at a penalty. An equivalent 5E idea would be "Defensive attack: give up all movement and one attack this turn. In return you get the benefits of Dodge against a single creature of your choice, if you spend your other attacks against it." No feats involved.

Persistent wounds, slow healing rules, critical hit tables, called shots on vital locations per creature type, etc. would also belong in this book.

 

[Talmek]

For me, I'd like to see more in the way of campaign settings. I almost feel ashamed to admit that I enjoy reading and rely heavily upon them in my games, but there it is. Bring on a fresh Forgotten Realms, an Eberron, Dark Sun and all the others! But make them BIG. I wouldn't mind paying 50 dollars (or more) for a full-scale, standalone campaign setting that was 400+ pages vs. Eberron 3.5e. Now don't get me wrong, I bought a LOT of the Eberron material that was created by WotC in the 3.5 era, but I wouldn't do so again.

Outside of campaign settings I'm pretty indifferent to what is published. I wouldn't mind an OGL so 3rd parties could begin creating content for the game, but at the same time I don't want the glut that came along with 3.5. I do like the adventure paths that have been created so far (yes, even HotDQ and all the additional work that goes into trying to run the AP) and look forward to purchasing more as they are released. However, I would like to see a psionics ruleset come out alongside the Eberron releases.

 

[Queer Venger]

Don't think this poll is entirely accurate, I voted 3-5, which is not "more" but actually what we are getting.

 

[Mercurius]

Don't think this poll is entirely accurate, I voted 3-5, which is not "more" but actually what we are getting.

How so? Last year was the beginning of the cycle, so we saw the starter set and core three, and then the two Tyranny of Dragons books (which could have been one) - so six products in all. But regardless, as the first year of the edition it isn't representative of what we're likely to see.

So far this year we are seeing only two products--Princes of the Apocalypse and Out of the Abyss. If we want to count the DM screen, that's three. But really it is a two book year, at least unless we get a surprise. But the point is, what we've been told so far is that we're going to see two story arcs a year. Other than that, who knows.

 

[Jester David]

Regular campaign settings are something that looks great on paper but doesn't work well in practice.

The first setting sells well because everyone needs it. The second sells to anyone unhappy with the first (i.e. people who hate the Realms). By the time you get to the third and fourth you're scraping the barrel in sales, selling to competitions, newcomers who missed the last two, and fans of that setting. Selling more than a single setting is arguably unneeded. (Arguably as seen in 4e when they changed up how Dark Sun was presented and then changed Neverwinter even more.)

Some people might buy two or three settings to read. Setting fans (like me). But unlike accessories or monster books there's no reason to buy more than one since you cannot use more than one at a time. And campaign settings are large enough that you can use the same setting for two or three campaigns. Heck, I've run six or so campaigns in Ravenloft alone and would like to do a couple more. And diverse settings like the Realms or Eberron can house numerous very different campaigns.

It gets tricky since you're also banking on many players buying the exact same content twice, since what makes a campaign setting is effectively system neutral: the nations, timeline, tone, etc.
Eberron is the best example since the timeline hasn't changed or advanced; a 5e Eberron campaign setting is just the 3e or 4e one with a handful of tweaked pages of crunch. You can update the setting using the Unearthed Arcana article, possibly with a follow-up on magic items and dragonshards. You don't need anything else since the nations, history, maps, and lore have not changed.
Fans of the setting might buy a new book because they like the setting... or not. Since, as fans, they already have the material they need. You're literally asking them to pay for content they do not need.

The best argument for multiple campaign settings seems to be "that's how they did it 20 years ago." I'm not sure that's enough.

 

[Queer Venger]

How so? Last year was the beginning of the cycle, so we saw the starter set and core three, and then the two Tyranny of Dragons books (which could have been one) - so six products in all. But regardless, as the first year of the edition it isn't representative of what we're likely to see.

So far this year we are seeing only two products--Princes of the Apocalypse and Out of the Abyss. If we want to count the DM screen, that's three. But really it is a two book year, at least unless we get a surprise. But the point is, what we've been told so far is that we're going to see two story arcs a year. Other than that, who knows.

Again, I disagree. I also count an entire 2 new lines of Wizkids mini's, DM Screens, and Spellcards, which are all for the table-top brand, (and very much heavily used at my table, and the tables of many of my fellow AL-DMs). So Yeah, Wizards is delivering alot more products that this poll suggests. And series 3 of the mini's for Rage of Dragons is about to launch.

The poll clearly states "products" not books. So yeah, we are actually getting more products than it suggests.

Once more, I think Wizards is release the right amount of products for the TT brand, not more, not less. If I had one type of product on my wishlist, it would be campaign settings. From the latest survey, it looks like the Wizards team is getting ready to produce these soon.

 

[Ristamar]

Don't think this poll is entirely accurate, I voted 3-5, which is not "more" but actually what we are getting.

I voted 3-5, as well, and I agree that it reflects their current output. I also wouldn't mind seeing a collection of tested and refined UA content being published at some point.

 

[delericho]

Regular campaign settings are something that looks great on paper but doesn't work well in practice.

The first setting sells well because everyone needs it.

It's worse even than that - the biggest single chunk of the market are those that don't use any setting at all. So you're already taking a big hit even with setting #1. That's why the 3e FR books were deliberately sold at a higher markup than 'vanilla' 3e books, and also why they deliberately pitched these as deluxe items.

(I tried to hunt up a reference for that last - I'm sure it's something Ryan Dancey has said in one of his columns here. Alas, my Google-fu has let me down.)

 

[Mercurius]

Again, I disagree. I also count an entire 2 new lines of Wizkids mini's, DM Screens, and Spellcards, which are all for the table-top brand, (and very much heavily used at my table, and the tables of many of my fellow AL-DMs). So Yeah, Wizards is delivering alot more products that this poll suggests. And series 3 of the mini's for Rage of Dragons is about to launch.

The poll clearly states "products" not books. So yeah, we are actually getting more products than it suggests.

Once more, I think Wizards is release the right amount of products for the TT brand, not more, not less. If I had one type of product on my wishlist, it would be campaign settings. From the latest survey, it looks like the Wizards team is getting ready to produce these soon.

I guess I should have specified books and adjusted the numbers accordingly. Either way, the descriptions in the poll options shouldn't be too confusing for people to vote appropriately.