As per Mearls latest Legends & Lore column, they decided to just up the page count rather than trim story material, stat blocks or entire monster entries (including modrons, who were on the cut list)

So that's what?  330 pages at $50 MSRP?

Sounds fair to me.

Good on them.  That is really nice of them to do that.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;768795So that's what?  330 pages at $50 MSRP?

Sounds fair to me.

352 pages.

Can't have too many monsters.

I wonder which critters were "on the bubble."

At this stage of production, I'm not really sure I believe this. It looks like a bit of a cheap publicity stunt. Outside of stupid edge cases, I don't measure the value of my books by pagecount, so more stuff is... neat, I guess? I thought it was worth buying before; this won't change my mind.

I mean, I think it's a nice lie, so I'm not really going to complain too hard, but still a lie.

WoTC being owned by HASBRO means they have some serious financial people working for them. There is no way in hell they just woke up one morning and said, "Hey, why not add 32 pages because we're swell guys and we'll hope it doesn't damage our bottom line too much". They would have had this sussed out months ago. So I'm afraid I think Mearl's off the cuff announcement is 100% marketing.

Quote from: Stainless;768845WoTC being owned by HASBRO means they have some serious financial people working for them. There is no way in hell they just woke up one morning and said, "Hey, why not add 32 pages because we're swell guys and we'll hope it doesn't damage our bottom line too much". They would have had this sussed out months ago. So I'm afraid I think Mearl's off the cuff announcement is 100% marketing.

I think its more likely Mearls built some leeway into his cost to print. 32 pages should not drastically up the cost. At $50 the chance to overrun might have been built in.

It could also be the sales of the Starter Set were good enough that they could go with Plan B.

Quote from: CRKrueger;768855It could also be the sales of the Starter Set were good enough that they could go with Plan B.

This and they seem to be devoting more then a page to each monster.

Both 2e & 4e suffered from skimpy Monstrous Compendium/Manual at launch.  Nice to see 5e tending toward a hearty selection of critters.

Quote from: Saplatt;768807I wonder which critters were "on the bubble."

Modrons at least we know. Which I'm happy they are in. Makes Planscape gaming easier.

Cheese and rice people you KNOW in your heart of hearts that Mearls (I've come to know him now as Master Mearls, but I digress...) is sincerely giving you 32 more unplanned pages from the graces of his wonderful amazing beautiful heart. Because he loves you. Why can't you just take his love unconditionally?!?!?!?

Poopie Jerk Heads!

#MearlsIsPeopleToo #feelings #DnDHeartsYou

On a side note, more monsters IS better regardless of how we came about the extra pages. Of course it's a marketing ploy, but some of us like to forget there is no Santa Clause until AFTER CHRISTMAS YOU SPOILING HEARTLESS FREAKS. *ahem*

#SantaLovesYouToo #hugs

Quote from: CRKrueger;768855It could also be the sales of the Starter Set were good enough that they could go with Plan B.

Maybe? Considering that the starter only goes into general release tomorrow .........

My FLGS did sell out on July 3rd though. If I hadn't pre-ordered when I went in to pick it up after work it would have been sold out.

At least you can't go wrong marketing wise by over delivering. More monsters is a good thing.