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D&D 5E WotC to increase releases per year?
- Thread starter darjr
- Start date
Bacon Bits
Hero
"That's not going to change much."
I mean, if someone told me my work was increasing 25-33%, I'd probably notice. Is WotC hiring more staff for the RPG team?
I mean, if someone told me my work was increasing 25-33%, I'd probably notice. Is WotC hiring more staff for the RPG team?
TheAlkaizer
Game Designer
I've been a bit disappointed with their rate of releases. There's plenty of books coming out, but with the different types of content, it sometimes meant having only one book with player options coming once once in a while because the other books were adventures, etc.
The best example is what I felt was a loooong drought between Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes in May 2018 and Tasha's Cauldron in November 2020. That's a whole two years with no rulebooks with player options and material.
In between these two books, there was plenty of other type of books released: five campaign settings books (if you count Acquisitions Incorporated) and five adventures! That's ten books! But I had little interest in these books. I didn't want Eberron, Ravnica or Wildemount specific options or adventures. What I wanted was more monsters, character options and such that I could use in my or most settings.
TheAlkaizer
Game Designer
I fully agree. We need another book full of monsters, not half a book. Monsters are by far my biggest need when I go towards third-party products.
Bacon Bits
Hero
There's a back catalog of 1974 to 2014, none of which is in print and only a fraction of which has been updated. And that's just reusing old ideas. They can print a lot.
What should they print? That makes things much more complicated. I'd like to see different styles of campaign modules. I'm very interested in Candlekeep Mysteries, for example. They've printed two MTG settings and done zero modules for them. I would like better monsters and more and better organized NPCs. A monster compendium of the existing modules would be nice.
Planescape is about the most important thing they could possibly print.
1. The most cosmopolitan setting possible.
2. The most diversity and subversion of expection.
3. Sigil.
4. Alignment matters!
5. Outer Planes!
jgsugden
Legend
Planescape Setting
Dark Sun Setting
Psionics Handbook
Dragonlance Setting
Greyhawk Setting
Spelljammer
Draconomican
Nerconomicon / Book of Vile Darkness
50 or so MtG Planes Options
Myth Drannor
Thay
The 9 Hells in Detail
Critical Role Book 3 (For Campaign 3 which should start by 2022)
Any number of Adventure Paths
I could pump out 6 book ideas a year, every year, for a decade and not be treading water.
Dark Sun Setting
Psionics Handbook
Dragonlance Setting
Greyhawk Setting
Spelljammer
Draconomican
Nerconomicon / Book of Vile Darkness
50 or so MtG Planes Options
Myth Drannor
Thay
The 9 Hells in Detail
Critical Role Book 3 (For Campaign 3 which should start by 2022)
Any number of Adventure Paths
I could pump out 6 book ideas a year, every year, for a decade and not be treading water.
LuisCarlos17f
Hero
Usually a player buys 4 books, but or he hasn't got enough money because he is a young student, or he is mature with a job and enough money but too busy. The sales strategy has to adjusted to that purchasing power level, trying to atract more new customers, and to use the brand to sell other merchandising products, toys, for example.
I actually want more settings books about different areas of the forgotten realms. It gets a lot of flack for being generic, but pretty much everything released has centred on the sword coast, with a deviation to chult etc.
Other than that, monsters. But monsters with cool legendary actions, lair actions, a new action that comes when they hit half hp, whatever.
Other than that, monsters. But monsters with cool legendary actions, lair actions, a new action that comes when they hit half hp, whatever.
Ruin Explorer
Legend
Yup and that's just working with existing material. An actually-new D&D setting could be amazing if done with modern production standards and so on. We can go forwards as well as backwards.
I'm definitely for "increasing the cadence" of releases myself. I mean, first off, we're at that late point in an edition where it always happens, and second off, the slow cadence seemed to be mostly a thing designed to keep people from freaking out that there were "too many books" and to help convince people to shift back to D&D. We're already past the "too many books" point for the people who would get upset by that, so more books would be good.
I'm not really in their target market, since I mostly play other systems, but I do buy the occasional 5th edition book when the subject interests me. So, from my point of view, the more books they bring out the more chance there'll be one I like the sound of.
If I had been playing D&D regularly from the start I'd be eager for more player-facing content, but it seems like most people were happy with a slower release schedule.
What I'd really like would be a big book full of optional rules, that could be used to update settings like Dark Sun and Spelljammer without WotC needing to bring out an official setting of their own.
If I had been playing D&D regularly from the start I'd be eager for more player-facing content, but it seems like most people were happy with a slower release schedule.
What I'd really like would be a big book full of optional rules, that could be used to update settings like Dark Sun and Spelljammer without WotC needing to bring out an official setting of their own.
dave2008
Legend
I find this interesting. I love monsters books and can always use more monsters. But I definitely don't need more monsters. WotC has already released more monsters (over 700) than any RPG that isn't D&D or pathfinder. And there are thousands more from other 3PP and homebrew sources.
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