D&D (2024) Do you plan to adopt D&D5.5One2024Redux?

[Clint_L]

If money is an issue, you can always have the group chip in. Beyond that only whales spend thousands of dollars on D&D. I haven't spent "thousands" of dollars on D&D even spread over the past decade, even including a 3D printer my wife bought me. A DM having PHBs to loan out? I've never seen that and it's entirely unnecessary if you have DDB which is around $50 per year.

You don't need sapphire dice and every piece of dwarven forge kit available to play the game. I got a really nice dry erase mat for $18, buy a pound of dice for $20 and have enough dice for a lifetime and give everyone at the table their own set. If cost is an issue, it's easy to find cheap minis, use other indicators, print monsters or just play TotM. For that matter, you don't even have to buy a single book, you could easily run the game using the free PDFs.

Even though I could afford it, outside of peripheral things I don't need for the game and things like terrain, I simply don't see how you could spend thousands of dollars year after year playing D&D.

Am I a "whale? I'm a guy with a small fortune invested in miniatures and terrain, including Dwarven Forge. But I think of whales as folks who are kind of suckered into making bad bets or investments. I don't think hardcore hobbyists are necessarily the same thing, though there can be overlap, for sure.

 

[Maxperson]

Which is why there's that link to Basic Rules on D&D Beyond...

Sure, but how many kids doing sit down games do you think will run the basic 2024 rules over the 2014 books? I wouldn't. The books are far superior to the free basic versions that I've seen released.

 

[Parmandur]

Sure, but how many kids doing sit down games do you think will run the basic 2024 rules over the 2014 books? I wouldn't. The books are far superior to the free basic versions that I've seen released.

Probably almost all who haven't bought the 2014 books, because they are just entering 8th grade.

 

[Oofta]

Am I a "whale? I'm a guy with a small fortune invested in miniatures and terrain, including Dwarven Forge. But I think of whales as folks who are kind of suckered into making bad bets or investments. I don't think hardcore hobbyists are necessarily the same thing, though there can be overlap, for sure.

Maybe whale isn't the correct word. I would say though that most people in no way spend thousands of dollars a year on D&D.

If you enjoy it and you can afford it I don't see anything wrong; I just think you're the exception to the rule. I don't know if I'd consider myself a hardcore hobbyist but I am DMing 3 different games and I'm playing in another. I just recently organized all the minis I've painted over the years and I have and at a guess have something around 300 or more. But I'd rather paint a mini (and print it nowadays) or create my own terrain out of styrofoam made from leftover insulation and packaging or epoxy.

But the average DM in my experience buys a handful of books over years and the occasional module here and there. If they're spending thousands of dollars a year they're a collector and can afford it

 

[Parmandur]

Am I a "whale? I'm a guy with a small fortune invested in miniatures and terrain, including Dwarven Forge. But I think of whales as folks who are kind of suckered into making bad bets or investments. I don't think hardcore hobbyists are necessarily the same thing, though there can be overlap, for sure.

In business terms, that sort of investment would be a "whale." That isn't about scummy behavior or pejorative, it just means a company like Dwarven Forge goes primarily after a small number if customers who spend a lot each, as opposed to the "minnow" strategy of servicing a lot of customers who spend just a little bit each.

 

[Maxperson]

Probably almost all who haven't bought the 2014 books, because they are just entering 8th grade.

This line of discussion is about those kids who already have the 2014 hardcover books.

I agree that there will be people who do use the free basic PDF, and that new players would be foremost among them. Try out the game that way and look to buy the books later if you like the game.

 

[Parmandur]

This line of discussion is about those kids who already have the 2014 hardcover books.

I agree that there will be people who do use the free basic PDF, and that new players would be foremost among them. Try out the game that way and look to buy the books later if you like the game.

I mean, new players are the primary target, I would imagine?

 

[Maxperson]

I mean, new players are the primary target, I would imagine?

They want to make money. There are far and away more existing 2014 players(in the young demographic even) than new players coming into the game. They badly want people to switch over.

Not that they don't also badly want new players.

 

[Parmandur]

They want to make money. There are far and away more existing 2014 players(in the young demographic even) than new players coming into the game. They badly want people to switch over.

Not that they don't also badly want new players.

Right, but what's more important is people co tinuing to play: having rhe new rules on Beyond will ease adoption over the near and long term, even for people who don't rush out to buy the books.

 

[Maxperson]

Right, but what's more important is people co tinuing to play: having rhe new rules on Beyond will ease adoption over the near and long term, even for people who don't rush out to buy the books.

Unless the basic set is all of what you can get in the core 2024 books, people aren't likely to ease into play using it when they have the full 2014 version on hand that works perfectly well.