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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 6990484" data-attributes="member: 59082">Yes, I agree. It is hard to be experimental with such a limited schedule, but I don't see why they can't do one Realms story arc and one other per year. It may even be that they're already wanting to diversify, first with the anthology coming out and then I could see later this year either a sylvan/feywild story arc or something that highlights psionics to go along with the rules expansion (assuming that is coming out in the fall). I know they're distancing the Far Realms connection, but maybe they do something with that. Also, one would think a planar story arc is within the next couple years.Yes, me too - and browsing/reading enjoyment.I understand. But again, they've gone from excess to minimalism; there are stages in-between. Even just in terms of numbers, they've gone from about 15-20 major book releases a year in 3E/4E, to just 3 for 5E. There are a lot of numbers between "15" and "3". A 4-5 book per year release schedule is still very minimalist and shouldn't negatively impact sales of prior books, but allows for more product diversity.It isn't either/or: either you glut the market with 15-20 books a year (or in 2E days, as many as seventy in one year, 1995), or you have just a few. Secondly, what you say here seems to assume that there is a strict limit to how many books can be sold. I'm guessing that many folks are buying the three books and then using the rest of their RPG fund on other games. Nothing wrong with that, of course! Again, I'm not complaining about the light release schedule, especially as I prefer it to the old days of gluttony, but I'm just pointing out that it doesn't have to be one extreme or the other, and it still can be minimalist but include more book releases. What I see WotC doing is playing it very cautious. Maybe at some point they'll say, "Hey, I think we can add another book or two per year with an overall positive result."Yes, understood. And I think you point to the core of the matter: The D&D book schedule is largely about fanning the flames of the brand, keeping the spark alive so that they can explore other avenues of revenue. I also think their strategy is very much a corporate one. I'm guessing if WotC was its own company with the same people involved, they would--for better or worse--run it like gamers, and probably produce more books than they are now. Purely speculative, of course.Yeah, it is quite impressive! That would imply that the game is actually growing, that the D&D fan base is actually expanding.</blockquote>

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