D&D 5E Discussion

[rusty_shackleford]

Splatbooks are responsible for most of the fun in the baldur's gate games. And they're generally fun to read.

 

[J1M]

What does it say about 5e that it is the most successful edition in terms of sales (snip...)

If that is true, how come it didn't get one tenth of the attention third edition got? By this time in 3rd edition lifetime we had all manner of sourcebooks, 3rd party materials and even settings (though it never did so well in that regard). For 5th edition we have... nothing much. Heck, even GURPS 4e probably got more material 5 years in than D&D 5e did...

Personally, I would measure success by the number of computer games using the system. I was referring to sales numbers posted by others.

 

[Melan]

OSR personality Zak got #MeToo'd but the hatred for Mearls came before that when he was hired as a consultant on 5E. Zak was accused of inappropriate conduct by several people and they were supposed to be anonymously sending their accusations to Mearls, but Mearls made his big brain move of forwarding the identities of all his accusers to Zak himself, who promptly used the information as a weapon. The fallout from this is why you don't see Mearls doing much public relations any more

I have seen that story repeated numerous times (now including charming additions like "rapist ally", "abuser", and "human garbage"), but haven't actually seen even circumstantial evidence or a reputable source for it. Everything that comes up is from places which had ab ovo hated him, and were already known for a willingness to engage in character assassinations of "people we don't like" (Something Awful, parts of RPGNet, Twitter SJWs).

 

[Spectacle]

What does it say about 5e that it is the most successful edition in terms of sales (snip...)

If that is true, how come it didn't get one tenth of the attention third edition got? By this time in 3rd edition lifetime we had all manner of sourcebooks, 3rd party materials and even settings (though it never did so well in that regard). For 5th edition we have... nothing much. Heck, even GURPS 4e probably got more material 5 years in than D&D 5e did...

Apparently all that material for 3rd edition didn't make all that much money. The current meta for a high RoI on RPG products seems to be to put out a limited number of products so that much of the content starved playerbase will buy every single product.

 

[TigerKnee]

I have seen that story repeated numerous times (now including charming additions like "rapist ally", "abuser", and "human garbage"), but haven't actually seen even circumstantial evidence or a reputable source for it. Everything that comes up is from places which had ab ovo hated him, and were already known for a willingness to engage in character assassinations of "people we don't like" (Something Awful, parts of RPGNet, Twitter SJWs).

We should hate him anyway for this wonderful tweet he made. You won't need a reputable source for this one, since he still has it up on his Twitter account.

 

[Mortmal]

What does it say about 5e that it is the most successful edition in terms of sales (snip...)

If that is true, how come it didn't get one tenth of the attention third edition got? By this time in 3rd edition lifetime we had all manner of sourcebooks, 3rd party materials and even settings (though it never did so well in that regard). For 5th edition we have... nothing much. Heck, even GURPS 4e probably got more material 5 years in than D&D 5e did...

Big books sell more than small splat books and adventures, thats why you dont see any. Yeah i know its an era of pdf and it shouldnt matter , but yet it seems there's less piracy on them, dont ask me why.

Streamer culture really kicked off at around this time - they're "trained professionals" so they make it look much better than it really is.

He's right critical role is part of the huge success. Draw back is the "matt mercer effect" modern players expect they will encounter the same style of dming and professional voice acting . Anything they do could have been done with older editions or other systems, 5E is good but everything you do with it could be done earlier.

 

[Alex]

What does it say about 5e that it is the most successful edition in terms of sales (snip...)

If that is true, how come it didn't get one tenth of the attention third edition got? By this time in 3rd edition lifetime we had all manner of sourcebooks, 3rd party materials and even settings (though it never did so well in that regard). For 5th edition we have... nothing much. Heck, even GURPS 4e probably got more material 5 years in than D&D 5e did...

Personally, I would measure success by the number of computer games using the system. I was referring to sales numbers posted by others.

I know, I didn't mean to say you were trying to mislead anyone. I've heard people say that 5e sold better than 3e or 2e before. I just find it very unlikely. I suspect they are measuring sales numbers in a weird way, or maybe I am really wrong and it sold well despite the lacklustre books, who knows?

 

[J1M]

What does it say about 5e that it is the most successful edition in terms of sales (snip...)

If that is true, how come it didn't get one tenth of the attention third edition got? By this time in 3rd edition lifetime we had all manner of sourcebooks, 3rd party materials and even settings (though it never did so well in that regard). For 5th edition we have... nothing much. Heck, even GURPS 4e probably got more material 5 years in than D&D 5e did...

Personally, I would measure success by the number of computer games using the system. I was referring to sales numbers posted by others.

I know, I didn't mean to say you were trying to mislead anyone. I've heard people say that 5e sold better than 3e or 2e before. I just find it very unlikely. I suspect they are measuring sales numbers in a weird way, or maybe I am really wrong and it sold well despite the lacklustre books, who knows?

I think what you are seeing a increase in the number of "shallow" consumers. Lonely people who saw some actors having fun in a popular youtube video that then bought the books thinking it would lead to them having friends. Wouldn't be surprised if this previously untapped market has a much higher percentage of women, as they are more susceptible to asperational marketing. Also wouldn't be surprised if that metric alone is used internally at wizards as proof that they have shifted in the right direction.

But the problem with that type of consumer is that after they have purchased the player's handbook or a bundle including it they are done buying. Sixth edition is on the way. Probably just soon enough to halt development of new 5th edition computer games.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I have seen that story repeated numerous times (now including charming additions like "rapist ally", "abuser", and "human garbage"), but haven't actually seen even circumstantial evidence or a reputable source for it. Everything that comes up is from places which had ab ovo hated him, and were already known for a willingness to engage in character assassinations of "people we don't like" (Something Awful, parts of RPGNet, Twitter SJWs).

We should hate him anyway for this wonderful tweet he made. You won't need a reputable source for this one, since he still has it up on his Twitter account.

Reminder that gatekeeping is important and keeps undesirables out.

 

[Poseidon00]

there purposely isn't more splatbooks because modern D&D players are retards and need WotC to hold their hand for them. The concept of picking and choosing what to use from splatbooks is too difficult for their smooth brains.

Pretty much describes all of 5th edition. Just about everything was possible and more in previous editions but that required a minimum amount of creativity and thinking and that was too much for the modern day video game kiddies.

 

[Poseidon00]

Why they should make above 20 content if only the 1% reach that level?

Because people will simply create characters of that level to try it, because people will never stop asking about it if it doesn't exist, and high level DnD is the best Vidya game DnD in my opinion. Mask of the Betrayer, Hordes of the Underdark, and Wake of the Ravager all stand out to me as better than their previous installments.

 

[Gyor]

Also apparently Mearls didn't get the boot. And I now see some people posting #FireMikeMearls online.

Another one I haven't kept up with but whats he done to earn their ire?

OSR personality Zak got #MeToo'd but the hatred for Mearls came before that when he was hired as a consultant on 5E. Zak was accused of inappropriate conduct by several people and they were supposed to be anonymously sending their accusations to Mearls, but Mearls made his big brain move of forwarding the identities of all his accusers to Zak himself, who promptly used the information as a weapon. The fallout from this is why you don't see Mearls doing much public relations any more

No one has ever provided actual proof he did that.

 

[Gyor]

I still think the setting coming in Q4 is going to be Planescape, everything points to it. The AP will be Icewind Dale sadly, everything points to it, so it can tie into another shitty ARPG. I'd rather they focus on announcing Planescape, and make Icewind Dale the after thought.

I mean look at all the UA stuff, most of it screams Planescape, Planar Themed Spells, Magic Tattoos, Planar Themed Subclasses. The only thing didn't scream planescape was Variant Class Features and even that they could make work.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Also apparently Mearls didn't get the boot. And I now see some people posting #FireMikeMearls online.

Another one I haven't kept up with but whats he done to earn their ire?

OSR personality Zak got #MeToo'd but the hatred for Mearls came before that when he was hired as a consultant on 5E. Zak was accused of inappropriate conduct by several people and they were supposed to be anonymously sending their accusations to Mearls, but Mearls made his big brain move of forwarding the identities of all his accusers to Zak himself, who promptly used the information as a weapon. The fallout from this is why you don't see Mearls doing much public relations any more

No one has ever provided actual proof he did that.

Who needs proof when you have feelings?

 

[Morblot]

Mask of the Betrayer

Ask yourself this: is MotB good because it was an epic level adventure or because it had an interesting story and well-written companions?

IMO being level 20+ added nothing to that adventure, on the contrary. Imagine finding thousands of gold pieces in a random rain barrel.

 

[Spectacle]

Mask of the Betrayer

Ask yourself this: is MotB good because it was an epic level adventure or because it had an interesting story and well-written companions?

IMO being level 20+ added nothing to that adventure, on the contrary. Imagine finding thousands of gold pieces in a random rain barrel.

The story and companions directly tie in to the main character being an epic hero. There's no way a 5th level character would have gods and angels as henchmen and attempt to conquer the afterlife.

 

[Morblot]

The story and companions directly tie in to the main character being an epic hero. There's no way a 5th level character would have gods and angels as henchmen and attempt to conquer the afterlife.

I admit I may have forgotten some details about the story and companions myself... :D

(And I didn't take the angel chick. I just remember Okku and Gann.)

 

[Elex]

What does it say about 5e that it is the most successful edition in terms of sales (snip...)

If that is true, how come it didn't get one tenth of the attention third edition got? By this time in 3rd edition lifetime we had all manner of sourcebooks, 3rd party materials and even settings (though it never did so well in that regard). For 5th edition we have... nothing much. Heck, even GURPS 4e probably got more material 5 years in than D&D 5e did...

there purposely isn't more splatbooks because modern D&D players are retards and need WotC to hold their hand for them. The concept of picking and choosing what to use from splatbooks is too difficult for their smooth brains.

they also try to avoid to force people to buy books...
it's counterintuitive i know... but it work.

for example: we all know ranger have issue: still they will not replace the ranger with a new PHB ranger.
Of course books get errata and other small fix to spells, but small stuff.
so a 5year old Player handbook is still valid with few annotation.


Now they try to go in the direction of "alternative rules books" so the PHB stuff is still valid but people that want can use alternate version of something.


in short people don't like feel forced to buy a new book each month because contain the updated stuff they need for play. But they are happy of boy a big fat 60-70$ book each year o two.

 

[Bara]

So the directors of "Game Night" & "Spiderman Homecoming" talk about about the new D&D movie here among other things. Not all that much in there though.https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/h...stein-john-francis-daley-share-vision-1296137

We want it to be fun. It's not an out and out comedy, but it is an action-fantasy movie with a lot of comedic elements and characters we hope people will really get into and enjoy watching their adventures.

So we never wanted to spoof the genre of fantasy or take the piss out of it. But we did want to find another way into it that we hadn't necessarily seen before. Just the format of Dungeons & Dragons is so interesting and fun and all about critical thinking and thinking on your feet and figuring out ways to make things work after they fall flat. There's a lot of the spirit of that that we're trying to inject into the movie itself.

we are working with the Wizards of the Coast, the brand holders of D&D. They are the experts. We have people there that we work with and it's pretty helpful, because as much as we know about D&D, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the 45 years of lore that's out there, so these guys are such a resource. If we need a particular spell that a [high]-level wizard could do, they could give us a list. It's a lot of fun.

I'm so ready for another one of these

Spoiler

 

[Morblot]

Remember the "dungeon" in that movie? :D

Fuck, that shit is just horrible beyond words in every way possible. I should really get it on DVD or blu-ray.

 

[Mortmal]

So the directors of "Game Night" & "Spiderman Homecoming" talk about about the new D&D movie here among other things. Not all that much in there though.

We want it to be fun. It's not an out and out comedy, but it is an action-fantasy movie with a lot of comedic elements and characters we hope people will really get into and enjoy watching their adventures.

So we never wanted to spoof the genre of fantasy or take the piss out of it. But we did want to find another way into it that we hadn't necessarily seen before. Just the format of Dungeons & Dragons is so interesting and fun and all about critical thinking and thinking on your feet and figuring out ways to make things work after they fall flat. There's a lot of the spirit of that that we're trying to inject into the movie itself.

we are working with the Wizards of the Coast, the brand holders of D&D. They are the experts. We have people there that we work with and it's pretty helpful, because as much as we know about D&D, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the 45 years of lore that's out there, so these guys are such a resource. If we need a particular spell that a [high]-level wizard could do, they could give us a list. It's a lot of fun.

I'm so ready for another one of these

Spoiler

Second one wasnt so bad, they even removed the blue lipstick. Seen worst Z movies.

 

[Gyor]

Remember the "dungeon" in that movie? :D

Fuck, that shit is just horrible beyond words in every way possible. I should really get it on DVD or blu-ray.

The mage actress was so hot. I liked her in her brief appearance on Voyager as well

 

[Bara]

Welp apparently D&D beyond leaked the next product via youtube but then quickly took down the video.

It's Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden

I'm totally betting they're going to say "this adventures story ties in directly to the new Dark Alliance game" just like they did with Decent to Avenrus & Baldurs Gate 3.

Still not Planescape or Spelljammer but I think we're better off that way. I doubt WoTC has the ability to give those settings the justice they deserve.

 

[Akratus]

Well as long as we get new subclasses I'm pretty happy.

 

[Gyor]

Welp apparently D&D beyond leaked the next product via youtube but then quickly took down the video.

It's Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden

I'm totally betting they're going to say "this adventures story ties in directly to the new Dark Alliance game" just like they did with Decent to Avenrus & Baldurs Gate 3.

Still not Planescape or Spelljammer but I think we're better off that way. I doubt WoTC has the ability to give those settings the justice they deserve.

Planescape is coming in some form, look at all the Planar themed UAs. Planescape is one of the most popular settings in D&D, only FR is more popular. Plus it has practical value because it connected to every other setting, so it's useful to almost all of them. It's important to After lives and crossovers.

So yeah Planescape is coming.