[UPDATED] Has ADVENTURER'S HANDBOOK Been Cancelled?

Today's official announcement about the Elemental Evil storyline mentioned Princes of the Apocalypse, a new DM screen, miniatures, video games... but not the Adventurer's Handbook! This could mean nothing, of course. The book was first announced last year, back in August; but the below screenshot from Edelweiss shows it as cancelled. The mystery deepens!

UPDATE: WotC's Mike Mearls answers "We can't cancel a book we never announced!" So that sounds like the Adventurer's Handbook will definitely not be appearing. WotC certainly wrote ad copy and designed a cover for the book (see below). Mike added "we've played things close to the vest is that it's a huge, open question on what support for the RPG should look like... we do a lot of stuff that may or may not end up as a released product. For instance, we now know that the high volume release schedule for 3e and 4e turned out to be bad for D&D. It wasn't too many settings that hurt TSR, but too many D&D books of any kind. lots of experiments ahead..."

Here's the cancellation screenshot. Now, that could mean a number of things - maybe it's been pushed back, maybe it's been renamed, or maybe it's just an admin error. Princes of the Apolocaypse has been pushed back from March 17 to April 7.

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What do we know about the book? We have a description from August 2014 and a more recent cover image. Right now, anything could be true; I haven't heard anything about a cancellation or a pushed back release date. If I do, I'll be sure to report it.

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Adventurer's Handbook (March 17, 2015; hardcover; $39.95) -- A Dungeons & Dragons Accessory. Create Heroic Characters to Conquer the Elements in this Accessory for the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game​ Not inherently evil, elemental power can be mastered by those with both malevolent and benign intentions. The Elemental Evil Adventurer’s Handbook provides everything that players need to build a character that is tied directly into the Elemental Evil story arc, with skills, abilities, and spells meant to augment their play experience throughout the campaign. Additionally, valuable background and story information provides greater depth and immersion. An accessory that expands the number of options available for character creation for the Elemental Evil story arc, providing expanded backgrounds, class builds, and races meant specifically for this campaign. Provides background and setting information critical to having the greatest chance of success. Accessory design and development by Sasquatch Game Studio LLC.​ ​

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[Sailor Moon]

I'm coming in with very little pen and paper RPG background, but a lot of CRPG and JRPG behind me. I've looked at DnD multiple times, but before, it's always come with so much cruft, that it seemed impenetrable enough that I couldn't know everything I needed to know before starting, and with that, I couldn't really start. I didn't know where to begin.

I'm massively impressed with the change that's come with 5e. Instead of be a bunch of books for everyone to buy, it seems like one book for the player to buy (be they casual or hardcore), and a multitude of books for the DM to buy.

Not that they have everything set perfectly for a new player, but it didn't take me long to work out that I just needed the Player's Handbook to get started. I also picked up the beginners box, and realized that the mini player's handbook within was redundant to the Player's Handbook, and that the PDF of the Basic Rules was a middleground.

With what appears to be another change with the Elementals storyline, with a hefty DM's guide for the adventure, and the player stuff (the meaty bits hopefully) all being dropped onto a website or PDF, it's starting to look even better, and the barrier for entry is even lower. If the pattern holds, all I'll need as a player will be the Handbook, and a collection of online resources!

I can not applaud WotC and Hasbro enough. They've taken what has for a long time been to me a long time opaque game with an apparent high cost of entry, and made it cheap. $20 for a starter set ($12 on Amazon), $50 ($30-36 on Amazon) for a Player's Handbook, or just the basic rules for free on the website. It's almost obvious how little investment is needed to start. The only thing I'd do more would be to put up a banner that says "New to D&D?", and run into a small faq about how little investment it takes to get started, and links a youtube video or two of a play session.

Thanks to WotC and Hasbro for making it all the more beginner friendly. Hopefully they'll be able to keep it that way.

I don't buy this.

All you have ever needed to buy was the core three and nothing else. There was nothing you needed to penetrate through. Once you had the PHB, DMG, and MM you were set.

That's kind of like going to a buffet style restaurant and giving out because there is so much food to choose from. Pick what you want and leave the rest for those who want it.

 

[Halivar]

All you have ever needed to buy was the core three and nothing else. There was nothing you needed to penetrate through. Once you had the PHB, DMG, and MM you were set.

Nevertheless, splat-bloat has a deleterious effect on whatever edition it's a apart of. If WotC (as it has in the past) banks its revenue stream on splat, then splat becomes a cancerous growth; it gets bigger and bigger because it must. PF did a good job staving this off longer than WotC ever did, but you can see it even now with all the "Ultimate" books. I don't want WotC to produce rules bloat not because it's bad for MY game, but because it's bad for THE game. It keeps us on the treadmill. It also distracts from material that is more supportive of long-term interest in the edition, such as adventures and settings.

 

[Trickster Spirit]

I don't buy this.

All you have ever needed to buy was the core three and nothing else. There was nothing you needed to penetrate through. Once you had the PHB, DMG, and MM you were set.

That's kind of like going to a buffet style resteraunt and giving out because there is so much food to choose from. Pick what you want and leave the rest for those who want it.

That's actually a perfect analogy. I'm going to make it into a Chinese buffet because it's nearly lunchtime here and I'm jonesing for some Chinese food.

Let's say there's a Chinese Buffet, with plenty of options - shrimp fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, egg drop soup, orange chicken, barbecue pork, Mongolian beef, moo goo gai pan, what have you.

When you walk down the buffet, the first three options are the three most popular, the ones everyone buys. Let's say, the shrimp fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, and egg drop soup - the core three entrees in any Chinese buffet experience. After those three, the amount served drops off dramatically - most people's plates are pretty full at this point so they're only going to get a few more items.

Sure, there are a few gluttons who REALLY love themselves some Chinese food and will go down the line and pile everything onto multiple plates, and as a small business owner you're grateful for their patronage, but putting out a lot of food that's likely going to just go to waste costs you money. Sure, some regular folks are going to pick the Mongolian beef for lunch this week, but if not enough of your customer base likes it you're better off not even offering it - fuel for keeping all those buffet stations warm is expensive, not to mention all the chefs you have to keep on the payroll to keep churning out all that food.

Rather than selling 30 less-popular Chinese food dishes, WotC is focusing on the 3 that everybody always orders, and adding other options very slowly.

 

[ExploderWizard]

That's actually a perfect analogy. I'm going to make it into a Chinese buffet because it's nearly lunchtime here and I'm jonesing for some Chinese food.

Let's say there's a Chinese Buffet, with plenty of options - shrimp fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, egg drop soup, orange chicken, barbecue pork, Mongolian beef, moo goo gai pan, what have you.

When you walk down the buffet, the first three options are the three most popular, the ones everyone buys. Let's say, the shrimp fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, and egg drop soup - the core three entrees in any Chinese buffet experience. After those three, the amount served drops off dramatically - most people's plates are pretty full at this point so they're only going to get a few more items.

Sure, there are a few gluttons who REALLY love themselves some Chinese food and will go down the line and pile everything onto multiple plates, and as a small business owner you're grateful for their patronage, but putting out a lot of food that's likely going to just go to waste costs you money. Sure, some regular folks are going to pick the Mongolian beef for lunch this week, but if not enough of your customer base likes it you're better off not even offering it - fuel for keeping all those buffet stations warm is expensive, not to mention all the chefs you have to keep on the payroll to keep churning out all that food.

Rather than selling 30 less-popular Chinese food dishes, WotC is focusing on the 3 that everybody always orders, and adding other options very slowly.

Thanks. Now I'm really hungry for some Chinese food.

 

[Halivar]

Thanks. Now I'm really hungry for some Chinese food.

Baha! I was reading my email and wondering why I had a sudden craving for it. This explains it. Ok, it's lunch time and I *AM* getting Chinese food.

 

[Mirtek]

and this time they've decided on a new strategy of much less bloat to make sure someone 25 years from now can walk into a Toys-R-Us and still buy the same core rulebook I've got on my bookshelf right now.

Which is an bad strategy. Just the sales from the 5 Fighter Handbooks they could have sold for the 5 editions they could have put out during these 25 years alone certainly make more revenue than the latecomer buying the 20-25 year old PHB during the last 5 years. Not even talking about all the other books they chose to not sell during that time. They're not making new books and after a few years they're not selling their old books anymore either.

Rather than selling 30 less-popular Chinese food dishes, WotC is focusing on the 3 that everybody always orders, and adding other options very slowly.

But they only serve it once to each customers, hoping that there will be still be coming new customers from somewhere after all fans of chinese food have eaten at their restaurance once only.

 

[Halivar]

Which is an bad strategy. Just the sales from the 5 Fighter Handbooks they could have sold for the 5 editions they could have put out during these 25 years alone certainly make more revenue than the latecomer buying the 20-25 year old PHB during the last 5 years. Not even talking about all the other books they chose to not sell during that time. They're not making new books and after a few years they're not selling their old books anymore either.

You're still in the mindset of selling books to make a profit big enough to sustain WotC. That is no longer an option for D&D. It never will be again. Sell one book; make it evergreen. Sell multimedia tie-in's. It's the Marvel method, and it is proven to work where putting out "Player's Guide 3" and "Complete Commoner" have utterly and spectacularly failed.

 

[dream66_]

You're still in the mindset of selling books to make a profit big enough to sustain WotC. That is no longer an option for D&D. It never will be again. Sell one book; make it evergreen. Sell multimedia tie-in's. It's the Marvel method, and it is proven to work where putting out "Player's Guide 3" and "Complete Commoner" have utterly and spectacularly failed.

Then why not just kill it all together, Why did they even bother making a 5e if they arn't going to give us 5e material? If the focus is on the video games and the fiction and the board games why spead all this time making a new edition.

I like splat books, I love to read them. I want about 1 a month. 1 a year or if they're only publishing adventures it feels like the edition is already dead, If they arn't going to publish more books than this for 5e how long till 6e?

 

[exile]

6th edition will be outsourced. Another game publisher will pay handsomely for rights to the "D&D" name. This is, of course, idle speculation... and three years away.

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

6th edition will be outsourced. Another game publisher will pay handsomely for rights to the "D&D" name. This is, of course, idle speculation... and three years away.

Seventh Edition will be diceless free-form roleplay where you write your own settings. WotC will sell blank books for people to use for this.