D&D General Why does WotC/Wizkids wait 6 months for tie in minis?

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Based on your extensive knowledge of the process?

I have met a lot of incompetent managers over the course of my career, yes.

 

[Clint_L]

I have met a lot of incompetent managers over the course of my career, yes.

Yes, but on what basis are you determining that the supposed issue raised by the OP is in fact an issue that has anything to do with incompetence? The OP, by their own admission, has little knowledge of the processes involved in putting out a line of miniatures. For your response, I gather you don't either.

It's easy to assume incompetence in a field we know little about.

 

[LordEntrails]

I have met a lot of incompetent managers over the course of my career, yes.

But that is no justification for assuming the incompetence of someone you don't even know and can only assume exists because such a product typically has such a person.

 

[see]

I mean, it would be interesting if WotC revised its book development process to an "art notes first" model. It would at least theoretically be possible, though it would constrain the writers rather more than the current system (used not just by WotC, but pretty much everyone else, where you actually have people write a book first and then order art to fit it). But I don't think "get the licensed minis out closer to the book release" would involve enough money to motivate such a change.

 

[Nebulous]

Not everyone interested in Planescape is going to run in the first 6 months it is released. People will still be running it in 6 years, long after the set is out.

 

[Stormonu]

I mean, it would be interesting if WotC revised its book development process to an "art notes first" model. It would at least theoretically be possible, though it would constrain the writers rather more than the current system (used not just by WotC, but pretty much everyone else, where you actually have people write a book first and then order art to fit it). But I don't think "get the licensed minis out closer to the book release" would involve enough money to motivate such a change.

GW tends to do this, or at least, they used to - create a model/miniature and then develop the story and stats around it. I'd rather not WotC follow their direction in any manner.

 

[Clint_L]

GW tends to do this, or at least, they used to - create a model/miniature and then develop the story and stats around it. I'd rather not WotC follow their direction in any manner.

And GW have their own private ecosystem that allows them to do this - they are building their games around their miniatures. Wizkids licenses the miniatures out, so it would be much more difficult, if not impossible, for them to follow that process.

 

[SteveC]

Project management among different teams, and even different companies is difficult. That said, it can be done, you just have to have the right person herding the cats. In the last year I was involved with a project that involved 8 different government agencies, and several of them were actively hostile to what was being done. The PM for that project was fantastic. And they aren't paid nearly enough for the headache.

I guess it's tough but possible to coordinate things. And if this was the intended outcome, okay then. The option to order the books and get the minis as an add-on at the same time might have driven more sales.

 

[Distracted DM]

One thing I'll point out are things observed from the Spelljammer release:

Wizkids released a ton of cool ship-scale miniature sets seemingly to use with some ship rules from SJ's books. There were no such rules in the SJ release.

Wizkids' Showdown scene set included a third named astral elf royal, a prince, who even had wotc+commissioned art for them which was never used.

I don't know what kind of communication goes on between WotC and Wizkids, but to have so many minis made, only to then be unsupported by the core product... that seems like either Spelljammer was gross exception, or a dramatic example of how poorly things are handled.

 

[Staffan]

I mean, it would be interesting if WotC revised its book development process to an "art notes first" model. It would at least theoretically be possible, though it would constrain the writers rather more than the current system (used not just by WotC, but pretty much everyone else, where you actually have people write a book first and then order art to fit it). But I don't think "get the licensed minis out closer to the book release" would involve enough money to motivate such a change.

GW tends to do this, or at least, they used to - create a model/miniature and then develop the story and stats around it. I'd rather not WotC follow their direction in any manner.

I think there's some good creative juice in a bit of back-and-forth here. Something like having the lead designers come up with an overall concept and some things that belong with that concept, and then tossing those things to concept artists to see what sort of related things they come up with and then further develop the ones that seem cool.

As an example, let's say Wizards decide to make a sourcebook about the Demon Wastes and the surrounding Labyrinth in Eberron. The Labyrinth is inhabited by a number of (predominantly) orc tribes, dedicated to preventing things from escaping the Demon Wastes and calling upon what the rest of the continent knows as the Silver Flame in order to keep the nasties from getting out. I think having concept artists generate some cool visuals of these tribes, ideally with a few distinct identities, could be an awesome way of kickstarting the creative process for detailing individual tribes beyond "orc paladins".