D&D 5E WotC to increase releases per year?

[Reynard]

DAW's adventures just got cut in favor of other contributors

Dammit. She's my favorite "celebrity GM" and I was looking forward to seeing her written work.

 

[Parmandur]

Do players actually buy the adventures? "Only DMs will buy DM books" seems like a strange argument when half or more of all 5E books are DM only books i.e. adventures.

The case seems to be that most players do not buy "player books," and the Venn diagram between "people why but D&D books beyond the PHB" and "Dungeon Masters" is nearly a full circle. WotC only makes books aimed at Dungeon Masters or potential Dungeon Masters (even Xanathar and Tasha have more DM material than player material), and are doing record business.

 

[JEB]

WotC only makes books aimed at Dungeon Masters or potential Dungeon Masters (even Xanathar and Tasha have more DM material than player material), and are doing record business.

I think there has to be some expectation that players might buy books like Xanathar's, Tasha's, or even Volo's and the campaign setting books. Else they wouldn't bother mixing both types of material into the same book.

That said, if they're shifting to more campaign settings, the balance does seem likely to be shifting towards marketing to DMs, yes. Though the Ravenloft book, for example, still has some player options.

 

[Parmandur]

I think there has to be some expectation that players might buy books like Xanathar's, Tasha's, or even Volo's and the campaign setting books. Else they wouldn't bother mixing both types of material into the same book.

That said, if they're shifting to more campaign settings, the balance does seem likely to be shifting towards marketing to DMs, yes. Though the Ravenloft book, for example, still has some player options.

Hence why I included "potential DMs." Certainly some players will buy some of those books (not many,in my experience), but they'll find themselves with a lot of DM centric reading material (which is great since more people should DM). Bit there are no pure player products, aside from character ßherts and such.

 

[Faolyn]

The case seems to be that most players do not buy "player books," and the Venn diagram between "people why but D&D books beyond the PHB" and "Dungeon Masters" is nearly a full circle. WotC only makes books aimed at Dungeon Masters or potential Dungeon Masters (even Xanathar and Tasha have more DM material than player material), and are doing record business.

I dunno. Almost everyone in my group has Xannathar's, and I think many of them have Tasha's.

 

[Reynard]

The case seems to be that most players do not buy "player books," and the Venn diagram between "people why but D&D books beyond the PHB" and "Dungeon Masters" is nearly a full circle. WotC only makes books aimed at Dungeon Masters or potential Dungeon Masters (even Xanathar and Tasha have more DM material than player material), and are doing record business.

I don't have any data but this doesn't feel right.

 

[bedir than]

I don't have any data but this doesn't feel right.

If we look at Amazon Best Sellers, which is only a rough guide due to digital and FLGS purchases, we can see that the player facing books generally outsell the adventure paths, to include SCAG still selling better than newer adventure paths and settings.

Amazon Best Sellers: Best Fantasy Gaming

Discover the best books in Amazon Best Sellers. Find the top 100 most popular Amazon books.

smile.amazon.com

 

[darjr]

I bought and appreciate SCAG but I’m still surprised it’s sales are still so good.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Ideally SOMETHING has to fill that low-level cannon fodder role. You need stormtroopers of some type recognized on sight as evil. I can't imagine three levels of bandits and skeletons will be exciting.

I mean...Stormtroopers aren’t a race, species, etc.

They’re an organization.

 

[darjr]

edit: sorry, off topic.