This kinda annoys me. It's quite anti-consumer in my opinion. There have been record sales in previous years and money could easily be pulled from the top. But no, us consumers have to pay extra now. This is just kind of my opinion. Any respectful thoughts?
I'm not surprised. Big picture, this is basically an inflationary(?) consequence reflecting rises in shipping costs; and frankly my game spending is a luxury/vanity in my budget and there are other things going up we should all be more concerned about.
Small picture, I'm curious. I happened to be at a game story today picking up a book for a different system, but did some browsing and saw Goodman's Game adaptaion/homage to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, it had a price tag on it comparable to a D&D hardback so I was surprised at the heft of the book when I picked it up for a look. It's easily twice as long, seems a good quality work. It got me wondering the logic of price points in the industry. I mean 3rd party press books seem to provide more bang for the buck than official WotC works as of late, and it's sort of a head scratcher. I would have figured the smaller presses would be more expensive because of a more "boutique" production run, but it looks like both 5e supplements as well as indy games are generally competitively priced. I'm speaking of store retail not Amazon which tends to be a race to the bottom with prices among the large publishers. It seems like the third party publishers (and even some of the bigger presses like Steve Jackson) don't mind waiting in line for their containers to arrive, D&D I think feels it needs to work on a more strict schedule so are likely paying more to get prioritized in the shipping system. So D&D may go up but the rest of the hobby at least for the time being seems to be set where they're at.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I'm not surprised. Big picture, this is basically an inflationary(?) consequence reflecting rises in shipping costs; and frankly my game spending is a luxury/vanity in my budget and there are other things going up we should all be more concerned about.
Small picture, I'm curious. I happened to be at a game story today picking up a book for a different system, but did some browsing and saw Goodman's Game adaptaion/homage to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, it had a price tag on it comparable to a D&D hardback so I was surprised at the heft of the book when I picked it up for a look. It's easily twice as long, seems a good quality work. It got me wondering the logic of price points in the industry. I mean 3rd party press books seem to provide more bang for the buck than official WotC works as of late, and it's sort of a head scratcher. I would have figured the smaller presses would be more expensive because of a more "boutique" production run, but it looks like both 5e supplements as well as indy games are generally competitively priced. I'm speaking of store retail not Amazon which tends to be a race to the bottom with prices among the large publishers. It seems like the third party publishers (and even some of the bigger presses like Steve Jackson) don't mind waiting in line for their containers to arrive, D&D I think feels it needs to work on a more strict schedule so are likely paying more to get prioritized in the shipping system. So D&D may go up but the rest of the hobby at least for the time being seems to be set where they're at.
There's a lot of factors that could influence the prices: artwork, color printing, quality of ink, paper, and binding, differing pay rates between writers at the two companies...
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I'm not surprised. Big picture, this is basically an inflationary(?) consequence reflecting rises in shipping costs; and frankly my game spending is a luxury/vanity in my budget and there are other things going up we should all be more concerned about.
Small picture, I'm curious. I happened to be at a game story today picking up a book for a different system, but did some browsing and saw Goodman's Game adaptaion/homage to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, it had a price tag on it comparable to a D&D hardback so I was surprised at the heft of the book when I picked it up for a look. It's easily twice as long, seems a good quality work. It got me wondering the logic of price points in the industry. I mean 3rd party press books seem to provide more bang for the buck than official WotC works as of late, and it's sort of a head scratcher. I would have figured the smaller presses would be more expensive because of a more "boutique" production run, but it looks like both 5e supplements as well as indy games are generally competitively priced. I'm speaking of store retail not Amazon which tends to be a race to the bottom with prices among the large publishers. It seems like the third party publishers (and even some of the bigger presses like Steve Jackson) don't mind waiting in line for their containers to arrive, D&D I think feels it needs to work on a more strict schedule so are likely paying more to get prioritized in the shipping system. So D&D may go up but the rest of the hobby at least for the time being seems to be set where they're at.
There's a lot of factors that could influence the prices: artwork, color printing, quality of ink, paper, and binding, differing pay rates between writers at the two companies...
You hit the nail on the head 6th. The recent uproar from people over a little competition on this very site should show just such when it comes to things like artwork and how much something is worth in time.
However the cost for printing hard copies of books is also going up. Mostly because the world on a whole is becoming recycling conscientious so anything that is made from paper is going to be going up in cost. Most so when you have high quality items such as ink and such. Those items alone arent exactly good to the environment so expect such to go up.
The other thing that people need to factor in is this virus has thrown EVERYTHING through the loop a few times and its been a major headache. More so when you have issues with distribution. China being one, not just talking political either which I hope people will keep out of this topic want to spout off on such, go over and do it on Reddit. Just recently people may have heard of the issues shipping things out of China. That is because one of their major port areas which is much like the Suez Canal of Asia has been getting hit by major storms, think its being hit by one again just now with that storm that passed over Japan heading in their direction, this causes delays getting any container ships out, and puts the demand up, which throw the costs up eventually on the consumer end.
Considering that we have weathered no price increased on anything over the past 18 months, it isnt surprised its happening now.
PS: Also, add that to the recent news of aviation fuel also being in short demand, and shipping costs are expected to also go up even more.
When selling a product, the seller's goal is to keep the price as high as possible without losing, not sales, but profit. If they can make more money selling to 25% less people for 50% higher price, why shouldn't they do it?
Hasbro's goal, as a company, is to make money. Yes, they do that by pleasing customers, but if they can get you to spend more money for the same product, as a company, not only is there no reason not to, but there is every reason *to* do it.
I'm not gonna blame them for raising prices, if their market research has told them that we fools in the hobby are going to be stupid enough to pay for it. Look what comic-book companies have done and the ridiculous prices of their product, but they still make money. As long as they make a profit, they're doing it right, financially.
Now, maybe I'm not going to be stupid enough to keep buying D&D products (but honestly, after Tasha's Cauldron, that would have happened anyway), but that's up to me. Hasbro doesn't care about me, or even the 10% or however many customers they lose from raising prices. They only have to care about if raising prices raises profits, and my guess is, it will.
Ultimately, they came to this decision because they judge, as a company, that the market can sustain the price increase. You can't blame them for the fact that we hobbyists are dumb enough to pay, say, $40 for a book instead of $30. That's on us.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
As much as it sucks that D&D prices have increased and all that i like to see it as an opportunity. Some creators make monster manuals that are fairly priced so maybe with the D&D inflation happening we'll be able to help the community on a much wider scope such as those who pour their hearts and souls into making their own monsters, race, class, subclasses, and everything else that makes this community so amazing to see.
I don't disagree with the logic regarding increases in shipping costs and making price adjustments on hard copy. Volume doesn't necessarily mean margin is good, and operational expenses are a variable in pricing. Although if shipping costs were suddenly dramatically reduced, I don't see them likely reducing costs to distributors, direct sales or MSRP. Also, if the shipping cost increases are anticipated to be temporary, then permanent price increases may not be as reasonable a solution.
Whether it's fair or not is a matter of numbers. I'm not down with the 'charge what the market will bear' mindset, but that's going to slide me into an anti-capitalism rant that I'll spend four hours typing only to realize it's incoherent, off topic, and not something I have the emotional energy to defend. What's the portmanteau of 'capitalism' and 'apathy'? Capathy? Apathitalism? Nah, neither of those work. Screw it. I need a nap.
Whatever you call it, I've got a bad case of it myself. Burnout, maybe. Intellectual burnout.
It'll be a temporary change, unless it results in equivalent or greater profits. In short: if you don't like it, don't buy, and maybe it will go back.
Personally, I am tired of people asking for free stuff or lowering prices. Businesses got their own people to feed and bills to pay, just like everyone else. Plus, D&D is not even a necessity and you can even play it completely for free, so Hasbro has no reason to lower their prices for their products for any reason or moral obligation. If a person really cannot pay the full price of D&D books, if they do not mind getting a digital copy, Beyond itself got sales going on from time to time, and it is up to the consumer to take advantage of it.
I'm not surprised. Big picture, this is basically an inflationary(?) consequence reflecting rises in shipping costs; and frankly my game spending is a luxury/vanity in my budget and there are other things going up we should all be more concerned about.
Small picture, I'm curious. I happened to be at a game story today picking up a book for a different system, but did some browsing and saw Goodman's Game adaptaion/homage to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, it had a price tag on it comparable to a D&D hardback so I was surprised at the heft of the book when I picked it up for a look. It's easily twice as long, seems a good quality work. It got me wondering the logic of price points in the industry. I mean 3rd party press books seem to provide more bang for the buck than official WotC works as of late, and it's sort of a head scratcher. I would have figured the smaller presses would be more expensive because of a more "boutique" production run, but it looks like both 5e supplements as well as indy games are generally competitively priced. I'm speaking of store retail not Amazon which tends to be a race to the bottom with prices among the large publishers. It seems like the third party publishers (and even some of the bigger presses like Steve Jackson) don't mind waiting in line for their containers to arrive, D&D I think feels it needs to work on a more strict schedule so are likely paying more to get prioritized in the shipping system. So D&D may go up but the rest of the hobby at least for the time being seems to be set where they're at.
There's a lot of factors that could influence the prices: artwork, color printing, quality of ink, paper, and binding, differing pay rates between writers at the two companies...
In this instance Hasbro during an earnings call specifically said they were raising D&D and MtG prices due to increased costs to maintaining shipping on schedule, I thought one of the articles was linked in the OP, but my comments were based on reading those. Here's one:
No one's getting paid more except the shipping industry.
Meanwhile my $35 copy (inclusive of shipping) of AAW's Survivalist Guide to Spelunking showed up yesterday (later than the publisher initially planned on the Kickstarter, but actually earlier than I had expected based on last update). It's a solid book, could use more art, but it feels sturdier and higher quality paper than most D&D books, cover construction feels more solid too, and has one of those cool red tassel bookmarks in the binding. I just don't understand pricing in this space. I'm still waiting for some books for another game system, because one of the books is experiencing shipping to publisher/distributor delays. D&D wants to have things available when they want them to be available, and I imagine their market position makes them feel sort of obligated to do so (since they're events to promote their product line I guessing have the highest production costs in the industry).
I'm not surprised. Big picture, this is basically an inflationary(?) consequence reflecting rises in shipping costs; and frankly my game spending is a luxury/vanity in my budget and there are other things going up we should all be more concerned about.
Small picture, I'm curious. I happened to be at a game story today picking up a book for a different system, but did some browsing and saw Goodman's Game adaptaion/homage to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, it had a price tag on it comparable to a D&D hardback so I was surprised at the heft of the book when I picked it up for a look. It's easily twice as long, seems a good quality work. It got me wondering the logic of price points in the industry. I mean 3rd party press books seem to provide more bang for the buck than official WotC works as of late, and it's sort of a head scratcher. I would have figured the smaller presses would be more expensive because of a more "boutique" production run, but it looks like both 5e supplements as well as indy games are generally competitively priced. I'm speaking of store retail not Amazon which tends to be a race to the bottom with prices among the large publishers. It seems like the third party publishers (and even some of the bigger presses like Steve Jackson) don't mind waiting in line for their containers to arrive, D&D I think feels it needs to work on a more strict schedule so are likely paying more to get prioritized in the shipping system. So D&D may go up but the rest of the hobby at least for the time being seems to be set where they're at.
There's a lot of factors that could influence the prices: artwork, color printing, quality of ink, paper, and binding, differing pay rates between writers at the two companies...
In this instance Hasbro during an earnings call specifically said they were raising D&D and MtG prices due to increased costs to maintaining shipping on schedule, I thought one of the articles was linked in the OP, but my comments were based on reading those. Here's one:
No one's getting paid more except the shipping industry.
Meanwhile my $35 copy (inclusive of shipping) of AAW's Survivalist Guide to Spelunking showed up yesterday (later than the publisher initially planned on the Kickstarter, but actually earlier than I had expected based on last update). It's a solid book, could use more art, but it feels sturdier and higher quality paper than most D&D books, cover construction feels more solid too, and has one of those cool red tassel bookmarks in the binding. I just don't understand pricing in this space. I'm still waiting for some books for another game system, because one of the books is experiencing shipping to publisher/distributor delays. D&D wants to have things available when they want them to be available, and I imagine their market position makes them feel sort of obligated to do so (since they're events to promote their product line I guessing have the highest production costs in the industry).
I don't want to derail this thread, but is the Survivalist Guide to Spelunking any good?
Just one more excellent reason to switch from print to digital.
Ya know, on top of the deforestation issues. And the increased carbon emissions from all of these delivery trucks, compounding with the added carbon from the rest of traffic sitting at idle behind stop delivery trucks. And the fact that Mother Nature invented the greatest and most efficient carbon capture system of all time when she invented trees. Oh, and the toxic byproducts from inc and gloss paper. Plus the microplastics in the atmosphere from the tire particulates from the delivery trucks. And… well, you get the idea.
This kinda annoys me. It's quite anti-consumer in my opinion. There have been record sales in previous years and money could easily be pulled from the top. But no, us consumers have to pay extra now. This is just kind of my opinion. Any respectful thoughts?
If cost of shipping and distribution is increasing why shouldn’t that be passed on, if Wizards stops making money on DnD then it stops making it and stops selling it. Simple economics mean that a company needs to operate at a profit. And needs to ensure those further down the chain, such as independent retailers, also can make a profit. If Wizards didn’t put up RRP but increased wholesale price then the shops would still put up prices.
Just one more excellent reason to switch from print to digital.
Ya know, on top of the deforestation issues. And the increased carbon emissions from all of these delivery trucks, compounding with the added carbon from the rest of traffic sitting at idle behind stop delivery trucks. And the fact that Mother Nature invented the greatest and most efficient carbon capture system of all time when she invented trees. Oh, and the toxic byproducts from inc and gloss paper. Plus the microplastics in the atmosphere from the tire particulates from the delivery trucks. And… well, you get the idea.
Whereas going fully digital means increased power consumption, which in many areas still means burning coal or methane, as well as increased need for rare earth elements that are mined in every environmentally unfriendly ways.
And, since there are no PDFs for 5E books, it means that you have to be online to access your material. DDB is not compatible with gaming somewhere you don't have a wifi signal.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Just one more excellent reason to switch from print to digital.
Ya know, on top of the deforestation issues. And the increased carbon emissions from all of these delivery trucks, compounding with the added carbon from the rest of traffic sitting at idle behind stop delivery trucks. And the fact that Mother Nature invented the greatest and most efficient carbon capture system of all time when she invented trees. Oh, and the toxic byproducts from inc and gloss paper. Plus the microplastics in the atmosphere from the tire particulates from the delivery trucks. And… well, you get the idea.
Whereas going fully digital means increased power consumption, which in many areas still means burning coal or methane, as well as increased need for rare earth elements that are mined in every environmentally unfriendly ways.
And, since there are no PDFs for 5E books, it means that you have to be online to access your material. DDB is not compatible with gaming somewhere you don't have a wifi signal.
I would be shocked if the net difference in environmental impact from using digital copies outstripped the the carbon footprint and waste product of hardcopy. I've never bought a computing device to read DnD content. That relationship is the other way around—content was put online because that's where many people access content these days generally.
Overall, the difference is not actually significant.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Just one more excellent reason to switch from print to digital.
Ya know, on top of the deforestation issues. And the increased carbon emissions from all of these delivery trucks, compounding with the added carbon from the rest of traffic sitting at idle behind stop delivery trucks. And the fact that Mother Nature invented the greatest and most efficient carbon capture system of all time when she invented trees. Oh, and the toxic byproducts from inc and gloss paper. Plus the microplastics in the atmosphere from the tire particulates from the delivery trucks. And… well, you get the idea.
Whereas going fully digital means increased power consumption, which in many areas still means burning coal or methane, as well as increased need for rare earth elements that are mined in every environmentally unfriendly ways.
And, since there are no PDFs for 5E books, it means that you have to be online to access your material. DDB is not compatible with gaming somewhere you don't have a wifi signal.
Uhh, that’s what the app is for, gaming sans WiFi.
And if we would just, gee, I dunno, retrofit our power grid to not waste 70% of all generated electricty before it ever gets to a building, let alone an outlet…. Or perhaps rig every building that gets enough sun with solar panels and install batteries on sight it would reduce reliance on our crappy grid by storing the energy locally and taking advantage of mother nature’s clean energy source. Also tidal generators and wind power are things. We could almost eliminate humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels within a decade if the deep pockets who own the industry weren’t buying politicians wholesale to protect their fat, bloated interests.
And don’t forget, the shift not only reduces the footprint to print the books, but the footprint of the delivery network, the increased footprint of everyone else on those roads stuck in traffic behind stopped delivery vehicles, the plastics industry for all the math rocks, the water pollution caused by the print industry which affects ocean temps, ocean PH which is killing the coral reefs, and accelerating climate change because of the water retaining too much heat…. If digital is not a significant reduction overall because of the other stuff all getting affected, I’d be shocked.
I love books, but if I'm not willing to sacrifice something as admittedly superficial as book vs. PDF then I have no right expecting anything more from anyone else. You can dismiss it as insignificant, but without all these little things you never achieve wider, systematic change. Denying the impact of any single action is a great way to discourage any action by anyone at all. Kill that mindset, for the sake of all of us.
https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2021/07/hasbro-announces-price-increase-for-dd-and-magic-the-gathering-to-offset-shipping.html
This kinda annoys me. It's quite anti-consumer in my opinion. There have been record sales in previous years and money could easily be pulled from the top. But no, us consumers have to pay extra now. This is just kind of my opinion. Any respectful thoughts?
I'm not surprised. Big picture, this is basically an inflationary(?) consequence reflecting rises in shipping costs; and frankly my game spending is a luxury/vanity in my budget and there are other things going up we should all be more concerned about.
Small picture, I'm curious. I happened to be at a game story today picking up a book for a different system, but did some browsing and saw Goodman's Game adaptaion/homage to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, it had a price tag on it comparable to a D&D hardback so I was surprised at the heft of the book when I picked it up for a look. It's easily twice as long, seems a good quality work. It got me wondering the logic of price points in the industry. I mean 3rd party press books seem to provide more bang for the buck than official WotC works as of late, and it's sort of a head scratcher. I would have figured the smaller presses would be more expensive because of a more "boutique" production run, but it looks like both 5e supplements as well as indy games are generally competitively priced. I'm speaking of store retail not Amazon which tends to be a race to the bottom with prices among the large publishers. It seems like the third party publishers (and even some of the bigger presses like Steve Jackson) don't mind waiting in line for their containers to arrive, D&D I think feels it needs to work on a more strict schedule so are likely paying more to get prioritized in the shipping system. So D&D may go up but the rest of the hobby at least for the time being seems to be set where they're at.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I'm not sure it's worth the energy of getting upset until we know how much these price increases will be.
Ten bucks US would be my default assumption.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
There's a lot of factors that could influence the prices: artwork, color printing, quality of ink, paper, and binding, differing pay rates between writers at the two companies...
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
You hit the nail on the head 6th. The recent uproar from people over a little competition on this very site should show just such when it comes to things like artwork and how much something is worth in time.
However the cost for printing hard copies of books is also going up. Mostly because the world on a whole is becoming recycling conscientious so anything that is made from paper is going to be going up in cost. Most so when you have high quality items such as ink and such. Those items alone arent exactly good to the environment so expect such to go up.
The other thing that people need to factor in is this virus has thrown EVERYTHING through the loop a few times and its been a major headache. More so when you have issues with distribution. China being one, not just talking political either which I hope people will keep out of this topic want to spout off on such, go over and do it on Reddit. Just recently people may have heard of the issues shipping things out of China. That is because one of their major port areas which is much like the Suez Canal of Asia has been getting hit by major storms, think its being hit by one again just now with that storm that passed over Japan heading in their direction, this causes delays getting any container ships out, and puts the demand up, which throw the costs up eventually on the consumer end.
Considering that we have weathered no price increased on anything over the past 18 months, it isnt surprised its happening now.
PS: Also, add that to the recent news of aviation fuel also being in short demand, and shipping costs are expected to also go up even more.
I wish I didn’t agree with you.
Professional computer geek
Why shouldn't they increase their prices?
When selling a product, the seller's goal is to keep the price as high as possible without losing, not sales, but profit. If they can make more money selling to 25% less people for 50% higher price, why shouldn't they do it?
Hasbro's goal, as a company, is to make money. Yes, they do that by pleasing customers, but if they can get you to spend more money for the same product, as a company, not only is there no reason not to, but there is every reason *to* do it.
I'm not gonna blame them for raising prices, if their market research has told them that we fools in the hobby are going to be stupid enough to pay for it. Look what comic-book companies have done and the ridiculous prices of their product, but they still make money. As long as they make a profit, they're doing it right, financially.
Now, maybe I'm not going to be stupid enough to keep buying D&D products (but honestly, after Tasha's Cauldron, that would have happened anyway), but that's up to me. Hasbro doesn't care about me, or even the 10% or however many customers they lose from raising prices. They only have to care about if raising prices raises profits, and my guess is, it will.
Ultimately, they came to this decision because they judge, as a company, that the market can sustain the price increase. You can't blame them for the fact that we hobbyists are dumb enough to pay, say, $40 for a book instead of $30. That's on us.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
As much as it sucks that D&D prices have increased and all that i like to see it as an opportunity. Some creators make monster manuals that are fairly priced so maybe with the D&D inflation happening we'll be able to help the community on a much wider scope such as those who pour their hearts and souls into making their own monsters, race, class, subclasses, and everything else that makes this community so amazing to see.
Whatever you call it, I've got a bad case of it myself. Burnout, maybe. Intellectual burnout.
It'll be a temporary change, unless it results in equivalent or greater profits. In short: if you don't like it, don't buy, and maybe it will go back.
Digital copies don't ship.
Personally, I am tired of people asking for free stuff or lowering prices. Businesses got their own people to feed and bills to pay, just like everyone else. Plus, D&D is not even a necessity and you can even play it completely for free, so Hasbro has no reason to lower their prices for their products for any reason or moral obligation. If a person really cannot pay the full price of D&D books, if they do not mind getting a digital copy, Beyond itself got sales going on from time to time, and it is up to the consumer to take advantage of it.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
In this instance Hasbro during an earnings call specifically said they were raising D&D and MtG prices due to increased costs to maintaining shipping on schedule, I thought one of the articles was linked in the OP, but my comments were based on reading those. Here's one:
https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2021/07/hasbro-announces-price-increase-for-dd-and-magic-the-gathering-to-offset-shipping.html
No one's getting paid more except the shipping industry.
Meanwhile my $35 copy (inclusive of shipping) of AAW's Survivalist Guide to Spelunking showed up yesterday (later than the publisher initially planned on the Kickstarter, but actually earlier than I had expected based on last update). It's a solid book, could use more art, but it feels sturdier and higher quality paper than most D&D books, cover construction feels more solid too, and has one of those cool red tassel bookmarks in the binding. I just don't understand pricing in this space. I'm still waiting for some books for another game system, because one of the books is experiencing shipping to publisher/distributor delays. D&D wants to have things available when they want them to be available, and I imagine their market position makes them feel sort of obligated to do so (since they're events to promote their product line I guessing have the highest production costs in the industry).
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I don't want to derail this thread, but is the Survivalist Guide to Spelunking any good?
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I'll PM. For thread economy.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Just one more excellent reason to switch from print to digital.
Ya know, on top of the deforestation issues. And the increased carbon emissions from all of these delivery trucks, compounding with the added carbon from the rest of traffic sitting at idle behind stop delivery trucks. And the fact that Mother Nature invented the greatest and most efficient carbon capture system of all time when she invented trees. Oh, and the toxic byproducts from inc and gloss paper. Plus the microplastics in the atmosphere from the tire particulates from the delivery trucks. And… well, you get the idea.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
If cost of shipping and distribution is increasing why shouldn’t that be passed on, if Wizards stops making money on DnD then it stops making it and stops selling it. Simple economics mean that a company needs to operate at a profit. And needs to ensure those further down the chain, such as independent retailers, also can make a profit. If Wizards didn’t put up RRP but increased wholesale price then the shops would still put up prices.
Whereas going fully digital means increased power consumption, which in many areas still means burning coal or methane, as well as increased need for rare earth elements that are mined in every environmentally unfriendly ways.
And, since there are no PDFs for 5E books, it means that you have to be online to access your material. DDB is not compatible with gaming somewhere you don't have a wifi signal.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Overall, the difference is not actually significant.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Uhh, that’s what the app is for, gaming sans WiFi.
And if we would just, gee, I dunno, retrofit our power grid to not waste 70% of all generated electricty before it ever gets to a building, let alone an outlet…. Or perhaps rig every building that gets enough sun with solar panels and install batteries on sight it would reduce reliance on our crappy grid by storing the energy locally and taking advantage of mother nature’s clean energy source. Also tidal generators and wind power are things. We could almost eliminate humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels within a decade if the deep pockets who own the industry weren’t buying politicians wholesale to protect their fat, bloated interests.
And don’t forget, the shift not only reduces the footprint to print the books, but the footprint of the delivery network, the increased footprint of everyone else on those roads stuck in traffic behind stopped delivery vehicles, the plastics industry for all the math rocks, the water pollution caused by the print industry which affects ocean temps, ocean PH which is killing the coral reefs, and accelerating climate change because of the water retaining too much heat…. If digital is not a significant reduction overall because of the other stuff all getting affected, I’d be shocked.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
+1 for digital.
I love books, but if I'm not willing to sacrifice something as admittedly superficial as book vs. PDF then I have no right expecting anything more from anyone else. You can dismiss it as insignificant, but without all these little things you never achieve wider, systematic change. Denying the impact of any single action is a great way to discourage any action by anyone at all. Kill that mindset, for the sake of all of us.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm