D&D 5E The Alternate covers

[Mercurius]

So I just bit the bullet and spent a few bucks over list price on the alternate cover of Ravenloft (Noble Knight is selling it for $53). I'm not a Ravenloft devotee, but I do love settings and figure I can use elements of it at some point, if and when I decide to incorporate horror into my new campaign. Plus, the alternate cover is quite attractive.

I don't have a dedicated game store in my hometown (of about 20k), but there are four stores that sell D&D books. Two of them don't qualify as game stores so don't carry the alternate covers (although one, Bullmoose, had the Candlekeep alt for some reason, which I purchased a couple weeks ago...hard to resist for only $40). The other two were shorted on their shipments, so I had to go to the internet.

All tolled, I have the limited versions of Mordenkainen (which is the one that got me into buying them - love that cover), Eberron (my favorite), Theros, Candlekeep, and soon Ravenloft.

I wasn't drawn to the Tasha's book, but absolutely love the cover - so much, that I was tempted to buy it. But it is now only available for $120+...Noble Knight was asking for $200-300! (I can't remember the exact cost; it has since sold). Unfortunately I missed out on Xanathar's and Volo's, both of which go for $400+ on Ebay. Crikey.

But more generally speaking, does anyone know how many of the limited versions they print? I'm surprised, quite frankly, at how expensive some of them they are - I thought they were going to be more like the special alternate covers of Marvel comics back in the early 90s, which ended up having no more value than the regular editions because they had such high print runs. But it seems that, in many cases at least, if you don't reserve one with your FLGS, you'll be left scouring the internet for an affordable copy and miss out if you don't get it soon after its released.

There also seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which ones become more scarce. There are still tons of copies of Theros, for example, that are still at list price, and I just saw a copy in a nearby game store. Candlekeep is also readily available, at least for now. So time might be a factor, as those are two of the most recent books. In some cases, I actually prefer the regular version to the alternate--e.g. Descent of Avernus, which I don't like at all, and I'm ambivalent on Icewind Dale and Saltmarsh.

Anyhow, just wondering if anyone knows how "limited" they are, and what your experience has been.

 

[darjr]

The first alt cover was very limited and WotC was raked over the coals for it. A couple books later they printed a ton of them, and WotC was raked over the coals for it. So they went back to a more limited but broader printing. Still demand soaks up the supply. That change in the print numbers, while they tried to dial it in, explains a lot of the variations in second hand costs, I think.

 

[darjr]

At first I didn’t like the idea, but I got a few. Then almost all, then my FLGS just orders one for me automatically, they’ll be able to sell it if I don’t want it.

Wish I had gotten the core set.

 

[Mercurius]

At first I didn’t like the idea, but I got a few. Then almost all, then my FLGS just orders one for me automatically, they’ll be able to sell it if I don’t want it.

Wish I had gotten the core set.

I'm not crazy about those. The Eberron one is truly magical - by far my favorite.

 

[darjr]

I'm not crazy about those. The Eberron one is truly magical - by far my favorite.

I get that, I still wish I’d gotten them.

 

[Weiley31]

I'm not sure how many they usually print, but it seems like Tyranny of Dragons 2019, with its epic looking cover, still has copies being sold for the normal retail price. So plenty of copies seem to be around for that one.

Other books seem to have their run and that's it. Tasha's, Mord, Volo and Xanathar being examples of that. I'm not sure about Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Regardless, I don't take chances when it comes to the Alternative Covers. Outside of a snafu with Tasha's and Covid's horrible timing ruining my attempts at getting it, I've gotten all the announced Alternative Covers starting from Tyranny of Dragons 2019 to Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. My favorite two being Tyranny of Dragons 2019 and Icewind Dale. Ravenloft is probably gonna be my third favorite.

If Xanathar, Volo, and Mord weren't stupidly scalped price wise, I'd get those too.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Speaking as the owner of a FLGS - we've only ever (on most of them) been able to get the alt covers with initial orders only - if we want any more, too bad, they're gone. So judging how many we need has been very tough. (For example, many people did not like the Saltmarsh one, so we still have it in stock, whereas most of them we've sold out in a week or two). Theros also lasted many months, for whatever reason. In the case of Tasha's, I think it was, much of the print run was damaged, but they did not fix the alt cover. They would only replace damages with the regular cover.

It's a juggling act of supply and demand. Demand is often hard to judge. (I only get about 10% of a book's sales in preorders. Most people assume that they can show up at a store and get stuff, without needing to warn us. It's part of the job, so I'm not really complaining, but it does make it difficult.)