So WOTC is announcing their fall adventure theme, which is yet another hardcover adventure path for levels 1-15. Apparently, the plan is to endlessly create 1st level characters and run them up in a closed adventure system every six months. Why can't they create these hardcovers as campaign settings like the old Greyhawk box, or leveled mini-adventures like Dungeon Delve? Let the expensive books explore the cute and clever areas of the universe, or pack them full of encounters and skip the fluff. Better yet, do both! They've obviously made some nice adventure arcs, but how many 1-15 runs do you need? Ooh, let's do dragons! Ooh, let's do elementals! Ooh, let's do hell!
You can't count on an endless supply of newbies to the game to keep jumping in at the ground level and working up. At some point, they're going to want to continue with those characters at a higher level. Far more likely, they'll try it for a third of the book, then want to use their 5th level characters in a different adventures. These arcs aren't set up for that kind of play. They're set up to be run through fairly sequentially. If you start it, you stick with it to the end, or quit playing.
I don't want to quit playing, and I don't really want to be stuck with their flavor of the month setting. Everything about WOTC seems to be geared toward sanctioned adventures sourced out through game play stores. They aren't concerned for the home groups, or the do-it-yourselfers. They want you to fit a mold, and they want you to come to them to get pigeon-holed.
I hate the way they run this company, but the product is still top-notch, and I'll keep sinking money into it. I just wish they'd reward the long years of loyalty with something of more substance.
Or opening up the licensing for third parties can provide options. The lack of modules at this point in the product's life cycle is very worrying - and the fact that the only supplemental materials are these adventure paths, rather than settings (5E versions of all the old settings - Eberon or Grayhawk or what have you - or new ones) or option books (I know they are resisting all the thousands of splat books the old editions spawned, but what can I say? I bought dozens of splat books), or whatever new ideas they could come up with. It's annoying - the only redeeming feature I can see is that from the little I've done, it does seem like the old material is not that hard to port into this one.
ReplyDeleteThough I wish they would provide more of the stuff like the "unearthed arcana" series they put on the web site. It's very thin - but it's useful. Things like that - new builds for fighters or thieves or wizards - are really what I like best.
The "unearthed" stuff is thin, but if they put it out every day or even every week, it would bulk up enough over time to have value. What worries me is the scattershot approach they seem to be taking with these adventure arcs. It seems to be their way of reincorporating the settings. They are all connected to specific game worlds or old modules. Forgotten Realms, Temple of Elemental Evil, and now the first edition Drow series. That is fine, but don't package it as something "new", just release pdfs of first edition modules updated to 5E! That is basically all they're doing. Meanwhile they add "classic" pdfs to their store and sell the original. I guess we're expected to just update old dungeons and settings to the new material. Maybe they should publish a set of conversion tools for monsters, spells, and magic items, then open the license and go away. Everyone would be better off in the long run.
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