Now that I’ve detailed two important ways of growing awareness of D&D as a brand that people will want to buy, let’s look at how I think the launch of the fifth edition should be handeled.

D&D needs an intro box AT LAUNCH

It’s no secret that I work in at a Friendly Local Gaming Store, and while that doesn’t give me insight into the inner workings of the RPG business it does give me some experience in how RPG books get bought and sold in a real world environment. Or more specifically, how they’re not.

At least once a month I have someone ask me where they should start with RPGs. I always point them to the Pathfinder Beginner Box and to the D&D Red Box. I personally feel that these are two very important products for their respective lines. RPGs can be daunting to get into. Without an intro product an employee has to explain that an RPG group will need 2-3 books, plus dice to start out with and pray that the customer doesn’t ask why there are all the extra books setting next to the ones that were just suggested. Almost everyone I’ve ever talked to about getting into RPGs looks at the shelf of books and says “I need all of those?” Explaining that you only need three $40 books plus a $6 set of dice at the bare minimum doesn’t exactly entice people. But the beginner box does.

The Pathfinder Beginner Box is a perfect example of an intro product. It has dice, it has the quick start rules right on the character sheets, it has an intro adventure, it has minis, it has a play mat, it has a solo adventure that guides you through how to play, and it has a rule book geared toward younger players that doesn’t condescend at you. It has all of that in a single box that I can point to and go “That’s all you need.”  This kind of thing needs to be a launch release. Yes, D&D needs to put out a core book and a campaign setting at the same time, but those products need to be an addition to the intro box, and as we discussed before, it needs to be tied into the cartoon that you’re releasing at the same time.

Speaking of the core book, D&D needs to stick to a single form factor, and I think the form factor should be the one they went with for essentials. They’re smaller and easier to transport if all you need is just the character stuff from that book, they’re easier to shelf in big box stores (an important consideration if you want D&D to become a core Hasbro brand) and they’re cheaper, leading to more sales. While I think you could sell both hard and softcover versions of the core books I personally believe that there is more of a market for a cheaper softcover and would only release the hardcovers later as a premium collector’s edition product. The core book should be everything a player needs to play: The rules, the character classes, the basic equipment. Leave magic items for a later book, they should be an addition th the system, not a core part of it.

So far we have a intro product for those who are just getting started and a core book for players who know what they’re doing and just want to play, now we need game mastering stuff, and there are three products that should exists. The first is a game mastering guide. The 4e guide and the Paizo Gamemastery guide both do an excellent job of filling this role and should be emulated. Don’t but game rules in this book, that’s what the core book is for. This book should be all about advice on running the game and dealing with players of all stripes.

The next thing that should exist at launch is a monster box. Yes, a box. It should have all the pawns or tokens that exist in the included monster book. It gives great value for the dollars spent and is difficult to pirate compared to just a regular monster manual.

The third thing (and honestly the least inportant) is the generic fantasy setting that you want to be the flagship of the line. I aassume it will be Forgotten Realms. Do not release this as a player book and a GM book, that just irritates everyone. Release it as one large book, and keep it as crunch free as possible. There’s no need for a thousand more “=2 to X because you’re from region Y” feats. Just include the good stuff from the setting.

I think that this setup would serve the D&D brand well as an introduction to a new edition.