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

[tetrasodium]

I disagree, but I don’t want to derail the thread. I will simply say that I’d rather advise people to no exaggerate and to take some care, than to tell people not to try at all.

No need, Aziz Ansari covers the whole problem with certain accents in Master of None tlking about the "indian dude" in short circuit2 & keeps getting asked about it in interviews like this. If your doing the accents you grew up with or picked up living somewhere in the language they were spoken fluently your probably fine. If your doing the accent of a respected cultural hero in a language that hero largely or exclusively spoke, maybe your fine. If your doing the accent of someone with a poor grip of the local language from a particular region that is used to mock a race of people, it's probably something you should avoid. On the Asian accent samurai/ninja, the fact that dubbed anime pretty much never uses it says a lot.

 

[Reynard]

Each of those "player facing" books are mostly DM material (including SCAG, probably the most generally targeted book outside the core three).

My copy of Xanathar's is about 100 pages total of player facing content, 60 pages of DM facing content, and 20 pages of random name generators that are probably more likely used by DMs but not exclusively so.

 

[Parmandur]

My copy of Xanathar's is about 100 pages total of player facing content, 60 pages of DM facing content, and 20 pages of random name generators that are probably more likely used by DMs but not exclusively so.

There are a couple of DM centric opening pages clarifying the rules, and

- Character options: 69 pages

- Strictly DM material: 73 pages

- DM options usable by players (spells, etc): 25 pages (I guess you could count these as player options, but they require DM buy-in)

- Name tables: 17 pages

I'd call that a primarily DM product, and I don't know any non-DM who has bought it.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

There are a couple of DM centric opening pages clarifying the rules, and

- Character options: 69 pages

- Strictly DM material: 73 pages

- DM options usable by players (spells, etc): 25 pages (I guess you could count these as player options, but they require DM buy-in)

- Name tables: 17 pages

I'd call that a primarily DM product, and I don't know any non-DM who has bought it.

I would definitely call spells, and even magic items, player material. Spells are what attract players to spellcasting classes, and even magic items are things that players want to get or craft. So I would not call Xanathar's primarily a DM product, though it obviously has a lot a DM would use.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Context and audience are important too.

I'll bust out my terrible fake-accents for just about any Western European country . . . terrible Scottish, terrible English, terrible French, terrible German . . . .

But I'd find doing a terrible Japanese accent for my samurai character super cringey, especially if any of my players were of any Asian descent, or ever met someone of Asian descent . . . . likewise I'll never do (again) a terrible African accent . . . . and I've got acting and accent-training in my (long-ago) background . . . .

Fair enough.
That seems like an awfully high standard to hold yourself to for playing D&D with your friends, to me.
If your accents are genuinely terrible, sure. It’s hard to do an accent both poorly and respectfully.
But I don’t think accents are off the table just because they can be disrespectful.

No need, Aziz Ansari covers the whole problem with certain accents in Master of None tlking about the "indian dude" in short circuit2 & keeps getting asked about it in interviews like this. If your doing the accents you grew up with or picked up living somewhere in the language they were spoken fluently your probably fine. If your doing the accent of a respected cultural hero in a language that hero largely or exclusively spoke, maybe your fine. If your doing the accent of someone with a poor grip of the local language from a particular region that is used to mock a race of people, it's probably something you should avoid. On the Asian accent samurai/ninja, the fact that dubbed anime pretty much never uses it says a lot.

I mean, I don’t think anyone is advocating doing an accent of someone with a poor grip of the local language or an accent commonly used to mock people.

And if everyone is from the same general region, then I generally ask players to just use a familiar accent for their character, just like how the American dub of nearly any anime just has the actors doing their own accent, since the characters aren’t speaking with an accent from a different language than the one they’re speaking in the narrative of the anime.

What I have seen in anime dubs, though, is a German character being done with a German accent in the American dub, because his accent stands out within the narrative.

But at a normal table, I don’t think it’s reasonable to ask people to just not do accents.

 

[Parmandur]

I would definitely call spells, and even magic items, player material. Spells are what attract players to spellcasting classes, and even magic items are things that players want to get or craft. So I would not call Xanathar's primarily a DM product, though it obviously has a lot a DM would use.

OK, I'll grant that, though that's not how I read it.

Still, 50-70% player material is pretty low for the most player focused book in the Edition...

 

[Urriak Uruk]

OK, I'll grant that, though that's not how I read it.

Still, 50-70% player material is pretty low for the most player focused book in the Edition...

I'll agree with that. It is after all why the PHB is the best selling book for 5E, because it is truly nearly 100% player focused. I think it is safe to say however that many players purchase Xanathar's who never intend to DM. Checking it now, it is still the best-selling non-core book (not including the ones to-be-released, and Tasha's), and even has more reviews it than even the Starter's Kit (14,000 vs. 12,000).

Tasha's is selling even more right now, and has 10,000 reviews, which is more than any non-core rulebook. So I assume the amount of player material puts these books a tier above in popularity compared to adventures and settings.

 

[Parmandur]

I'll agree with that. It is after all why the PHB is the best selling book for 5E, because it is truly nearly 100% player focused. I think it is safe to say however that many players purchase Xanathar's who never intend to DM. Checking it now, it is still the best-selling non-core book (not including the ones to-be-released, and Tasha's), and even has more reviews it than even the Starter's Kit (14,000 vs. 12,000).

Tasha's is selling even more right now, and has 10,000 reviews, which is more than any non-core rulebook. So I assume the amount of player material puts these books a tier above in popularity compared to adventures and settings.

I would posit more a model of "generally applicable" more than "player content" being the driving factor there. A book like Icewind Dale has a narrower audience than XGtE, more because it is covering a specific niche need rather than shotgunning a number of possibilities.

 

[dave2008]

I just wanted to add that I (the DM) have all of the books my groups use, the players don't have any (including the PHB)!

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

The only people I know who have bought anything more than the PHB and dice are DMs.

I have a player who does not DM, and she owns both Xanathar's and Tasha's. My other players also do but sometimes DM themselves.

 

[Remathilis]

Context and audience are important too.

I'll bust out my terrible fake-accents for just about any Western European country . . . terrible Scottish, terrible English, terrible French, terrible German . . . .

But I'd find doing a terrible Japanese accent for my samurai character super cringey, especially if any of my players were of any Asian descent, or ever met someone of Asian descent . . . . likewise I'll never do (again) a terrible African accent . . . . and I've got acting and accent-training in my (long-ago) background . . . .

I'm curious why you feel mocking European accents is acceptable but not other ethnicities. Keeping in mind that exaggerating accent was a huge component to stereotyping Irish, Italian and Scottish immigrants as stupid, dehumanizing Germans during the World Wars, and perpetuating the notion of smug British and French elitist stereotypes.

It would be one thing to say "don't do bad accents of any culture as a joke" or "when goofing with my friends any accent is funny since they know better." But having two sets of standards doesn't fix anything,

Sorry, rant over.