The imminent release of the latest
edition of D&D has
generated a lot of buzz, complete with cryptic social media
comments from team members and contentious controversies fueled by
fans. Wizards of the Coast’s strategies in revising and promoting
the new edition have mobilized its followers and critics to argue
about gameplay, book prices, release dates, the merits of various
editions (or the Old School Renaissance movement), whether certain
design and marketing choices are “right,” and the future survival
of the adventure gaming hobby. Many speculate on both Wizards’
motives and the actual contents of what different products may
contain. I’ve offered some commentary regarding the next edition of
D&D on this blog – my impressions of the price for the three main books and how those prices are part of a “new normal” in how gamers acquire new core rules – and so I’ll weigh in on
another related issue: Wizards releasing a free, 48-page PDF document
online, a kind of “Basic D&D” rules cyclopedia
purportedly containing the core rules for creating and running
characters from four central classes and several traditional fantasy
races. Here’s the announcement from Wizards of the Coast’s Mike Mearls on the Legends & Lore D&D blog:
Basic D&D is a PDF that covers the core of
the game. It’s the equivalent of the old D&D Rules
Cyclopedia, though it doesn’t have quite the same scope (for
example, it won’t go into detail on a setting). It runs from levels
1 to 20 and covers the cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard, presenting
what we view as the essential subclass for each. It also provides the
dwarf, elf, halfling, and human as race options.
But the best part? Basic D&D is a free PDF.
Anyone can download it from our website. We want to put D&D in
as many hands as possible, and a free, digital file is the best way
to do that.
Various interviews and press snippets
released since that statement have tried to shed light on what this
Basic D&D PDF can do; without seeing the actual
presentation and contents nobody can really say what it actually will
or won’t accomplish. But it seems Wizards is trying to address
several audiences with this marketing strategy:
New Gamers: With the release of
the D&D Starter Set in mid-July, at the same time as the
Basic D&D free PDF becomes available, the company is
giving those Starter Set players who want to continue their
adventures past fifth level the rules framework to do so, up to level
twenty. Some claim the PDF serves as a “bridge” from the Starter
Set to the full, three-tome game rules, for those who wish to
invest in the hobby and believe the “options” in those books
improve their game experience.
Old, Skeptical Gamers: The PDF
also serves as a free, playable preview of the game, enabling those
reluctant to buy into the new edition the chance to see and
experience the revised D&D rules in their own campaign
settings. (Yes, I’m making a generalization in labeling this
segment of the population “old, skeptical gamers.” I’m one of
them.) The bait works on several levels: a tempting view of the
revised mechanics; a means to play the current edition without
investing in a new set of hardcover manuals; a way to bring the older
gamer generation into the community of younger gamers.
Impatient D&D
Fans: While actively marketing to this most loyal segment of its
potential consumer base might seem like “preaching to the choir,”
Wizards is using the free PDF to sell subsequent game materials to
those gamers already fully supporting the new edition. Given the five
month-long release period between the Starter Set and all
three core rulebooks, diehard fans have little to sustain their
interest and actual play experiences without the Basic D&D
PDF enabling them to make characters and run games...plus two full
96-page adventures published between core rulebook releases.
Wizards of the Coast seems to intend
Basic D&D as a bare-bones rules set enabling gamers to
create characters and run adventures using the various bits of rules
the company is releasing piecemeal until everything reaches
publication: the Starter Set in mid-July, the Player’s
Handbook in mid-August, the Monster Manual in
mid-September, and finally the Dungeon Master’s Guide in
mid-November, as well as full 96-page adventures in mid-August and
mid-October. The release of two actual scenarios before the full
trilogy of traditional core rulebooks reach store shelves seems
counter-intuitive unless some framework exists in which players can
actually use all the rules. Can this Basic D&D cyclopedia
deliver on its promises that it’s both a “bridge” to allow
those playing the Starter Set to jump beyond fifth-level
characters and that it’s a rulebook to create and run characters
through the initial two adventures released? It seems ambitious yet
possible. One might also think it might undercut sales of the core
rulebook trilogy; but I think it touches on another issue beyond
providing a free rules framework.
Basic
D&D seems intended to enable players of whatever
background – beginner, veteran, and enthusiastic – to play the
game before all three rulebooks release. Statements seem to indicate
the basic edition remains the bare-bones yet functional mechanics
needed to play, with the core rulebook trilogy offering more
expansive options to character creation and advancement, adventure
and campaign creation, and, of course, monstrous adversaries. This
represents an interesting strategy of marketing/good-will: release
the basic rules for free, then let players decide how much to invest
in the rest of the game line. A free, functional preview game remains
integral when the initial buy-in to play normally consists of a
trilogy of rules tomes with a combined price-tag of $150.
While I’d like to believe the release
of this free “Basic D&D” PDF an act of genuine
generosity, it’s a rather clever marketing strategy to hook gamers
new and old with “the first one’s free” approach. In lieu of
evaluating the game based on three expensive rulebooks released over
the course of six months, the document allows gamers to review the
rules and dive right into playing. Experienced gamers can run
scenarios based on the bare-bones core rules – creating their own
adventure and using campaign settings as they’ve done for years –
and if they go on to buy the three main rulebooks, official
adventures, source and setting books, Wizards knows it can garner
some additional sales. The move also addresses those dismayed with
past editions of the game or discouraged with what they’ve seen for
revisions in the latest edition, a sensitive issue Wizards has
focused on throughout the new edition’s long development and
playtest history; “Here you go...have a look at what we’ve done
and give it a test drive for free.” Sure, some die-hard critics
won’t go on to purchase rulebooks, adventures, or source material
for the new addition, but every former nay-sayer who buys just one
new-edition book is a sale Wizards wouldn’t have otherwise made.
D&D remains perhaps one of
the few roleplaying game brands that can release a free rules set –
however streamlined – that gets hordes of fans playing the game
before publication of the actual revised rules and can boost sales of
core and secondary product throughout the initial releases under the
new edition. Are they “showing their hand” by revealing some of
the core revisions in the new edition? Certainly. Can imaginative
veteran gamers extrapolate an entire lifetime of play out of the
document with their own settings and adventures, without having to
purchase any new-edition D&D product from Wizards of the
Coast? Quite possibly.
Over the years core rules sets for
various other games have seen free PDF release – heck, I just saw
The Design Mechanism released the RuneQuest Essentials
introductory rules PDF (“much reduced” at 203 pages...) – but
many were for current editions popular with fans which did not
incorporate significant, controversial revisions. Roleplaying game
companies have frequently offered quick-start versions of existing
games, or even bare-bones core rules to help drive sales of secondary
products. Will a free copy always generate additional sales? I’m
sure studies exist citing wide-ranging percentages of sales inspired
by free product given away. The perception of a publisher’s
goodwill certainly has some effect in attracting and keeping new
customers.
Whatever the free Basic D&D
document contains it’s a step in the right direction, especially
for a company that relies on publishing massive support books (rules
options, class “splatbooks,” sourcebooks, adventures) to fuel
gameplay among fans. Is it goodwill to give away the core rules of a
new game or just clever marketing? The adventure gaming hobby will no
doubt contentiously debate the answers as the new edition of D&D
release dates approach, free PDFs and paid rulebooks reach gamers’
tables, and the intense marketing and loyal fan hype fades in the
face of a few months of actual play and sales.
Schweig’s Postscript
Over the course of three new edition
D&D-themed blog entries I’ve waged an inner debate
whether to remain involved in the online discussion (such that it is)
and speculation on the various issues related to the new release. I
think for now this is all I care to say until product starts hitting
shelves and making its way to the gaming table. Before all the
pre-release marketing hype and contentious online debate rose to a
fevered pitch I’d already resolved to limit my personal gaming
involvement in the new edition to the D&D Starter Set. I
have a particular interest in product intended to introduce new players to roleplaying games, so I’d like to check it out, see if
it accomplishes anything new or refines proven techniques, and hope
it might rekindle some of the nostalgic wonder I once felt immersing
myself in the old Moldvay-edition Basic D&D boxed set.
I’ve seen little to alter my planned
investment in the new edition. I applaud Wizards of the Coast for
making a Basic D&D PDF available for free, especially to
give everyone a chance to preview and even test drive the new system
before all the rules reach publication. I’ll certainly download it,
maybe even pick up a print copy if that’s ever made available. But
of all the new edition product, the Starter Set remains the
only one I expect to purchase. That’s not to say people shouldn’t
invest in the trilogy of new-edition rulebooks, or that the new
edition is the worst. Everyone has different tastes in gaming (as in
most other aspects of their lives), and I encourage folks to do
what’s in their best interest and respect others enough to let them
do the same.
Comments....
Want to offer feedback? Start a
civilized discussion? Share a link to this blog entry on Google+ and
tag me (+Peter Schweighofer) to comment.
