November, 2018 appears to be a very busy month for new releases related to Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Ravnica, etc.  Books, Dice Sets, Map Packs, etc.  Sounds a little bit like the 3.5 or 4E days of old....

Maybe 5E is reaching its Peak in the product release cycle?

It looks more to me there's more Accessories for DnD than books.
I've noticed in my local games store, like you say,  Lots of map sets, dungeon tiles, miniatures, GM screens, mugs, cards and all sorts of dross like that.

Of actual DnD books, not so much. Maybe a little faster release schedule for books, but not by a lot.

Aren't the accessories outsourced to Gale Force 9?
And the map pack looks like a reprint from the 4E scenarios.

I don't see anything really new for D&D in 2019. (Except maybe the WIP sourcebook for Eberron 5e )

Quote from: Razor 007;1066341November, 2018 appears to be a very busy month for new releases related to Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Ravnica, etc.  Books, Dice Sets, Map Packs, etc.  Sounds a little bit like the 3.5 or 4E days of old....

Maybe 5E is reaching its Peak in the product release cycle?

Keep in mind that alot of that is by 3rd party companies. Curse of Strahd had the Tarokka decks produced by someone else. Same with Tomb of Annhialation. And wizKids is doing the minis/wargame. Even some of the modules are outsourced now.

So WOTC just produces the books. Not sure if they handled anything else so far. so far its been something like 2 modules (or 1 module and one two parter) and 2 supplements per year. And occasionally a setting book. And someone else producing any accessories.

2014 had the core 3 books and Starter boxed set come out and the 2-parter Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat.
2015 had Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, and Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
2016 had Curse of Strahd, Storm Kings Thunder, and Volo's Guide to Monsters
2017 had Tales of the Yawning Portal, Tomb of Annihilation, and Xanithars Guide.
2018 has Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage which is a 2-parter, and Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica.

They put out the gift sets this year too, but they're not really 'new' products.

Are the gift sets really from them or another sideline? It is somethimes hard to tell. I looked at one of the D&D dice sets and it was an outsourced product as well. Not sure though on the special packs though.

The increase in accessories is part of the marketing of D&D as a Lifestyle Brand.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1066924The increase in accessories is part of the marketing of D&D as a Lifestyle Brand.

Sorry. Wrong.

Least so far.

97% of the accessories are actual game material. Dice. Minis. Play Aids, and so on.

There is a colouring book. But guess what TSR put one out early on too. For fun.

Lets have a look then.
2018. ABCs and 123s books for kids. A Colouring book in the Erol Otus style by Tod James seems.
2017-2014: nada.

And I would not count a pair of schoolastic books for numbers and the alphabet as "lifestyle".

So save the snidery for when they actually start doing something stupid instead of wasting it. Yeesh kids these days frivolously spending their snidery on nothing. :rolleyes:

Oddly enough turns out those plush dice bags are for Paizo and not WOTC? Not lifestle either but one would have though things like an owlbear and mimic chest were WOTC side.

Just you wait. Of course, the plushy toys and T-shirts and such aren't being directly made by them, just licensed by them to other companies skilled in making that sort of thing.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1067824Just you wait. Of course, the plushy toys and T-shirts and such aren't being directly made by them, just licensed by them to other companies skilled in making that sort of thing.

You are right about out sourcing this production. WotC will not do it directly. The proliferation in D&D tee shirts I have seen would seem to be the best anecdotal evidence in your favor. And the library is full of Larry Elmore cover art dragon tee shirts at times. My tee shirt is Erol Otus Blue Box Basic.

Anyhow... The question is, will the "lifestyle" stuff be so bad if it slows down or delays the edition tread mill?

D&D as a lifestyle brand is one of the stupidest things i have heard of in a long time.

It really just PR double speak really. I used to work in a bookstore who had the same logo. All because they sold more than books. Most customers don't really give shit about it. As long as they get their product everything else for the most cases is irrelevant.

Quote from: MonsterSlayer;1067856You are right about out sourcing this production. WotC will not do it directly. The proliferation in D&D tee shirts I have seen would seem to be the best anecdotal evidence in your favor.

Are those official though? There seems to be alot of stuff that WOTC is not listing as official. Like those plush dice bags. Which youd have to be mentally stunted to deem "lifestyle".

As for T-shirts. Same question. The only ones I have seen are the charity T-shirts and hoodies WOTC puts out.

In fact, so far, WOTC has not yet put out anything you could actually term lifestyle.

After Kree-o D&D bombed I think WOTC has been wary of going in too heavy.

Which isnt to say they wont later. But for now they seem to be mostly doing functional accessories. Anything by third parties may well not be an actual WOTC agenda. Hard to say. Some just look like the usual "for fun!" projects. And god forbit anyone have fun with D&D.

Quote from: Omega;1067913Are those official though? There seems to be alot of stuff that WOTC is not listing as official. Like those plush dice bags. Which youd have to be mentally stunted to deem "lifestyle".

As for T-shirts. Same question. The only ones I have seen are the charity T-shirts and hoodies WOTC puts out.

In fact, so far, WOTC has not yet put out anything you could actually term lifestyle.

After Kree-o D&D bombed I think WOTC has been wary of going in too heavy.

Which isnt to say they wont later. But for now they seem to be mostly doing functional accessories. Anything by third parties may well not be an actual WOTC agenda. Hard to say. Some just look like the usual "for fun!" projects. And god forbit anyone have fun with D&D.

The one I have and the tee shirts I have seen are being advertised all over Facebook and I have seen them on Amazon, etc. If this is going on without Hasbro's permission and slice of the pie, Hasbro is not doing very good at protecting their IP.


http://https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Fantasy-Roleplaying-T-Shirt/dp/B077W87BKW/ref=pd_sbs_193_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B077W87BKW&pd_rd_r=91bc4eb7-fa8d-11e8-a194-953ab857cee9&pd_rd_w=vaUwM&pd_rd_wg=noC4O&pf_rd_p=763ccc93-bfa2-47be-85ae-0cdd7e00b3da&pf_rd_r=Q4X1TEK9A7MWQ0D4DXXZ&refRID=Q4X1TEK9A7MWQ0D4DXXZ


Mine from ThinkGeek:

http://https://www.thinkgeek.com/product/kjnk/

For sure, Hasbro is probably licensing this stuff. But they are going to leverage the brand into clothes at the very least.

Quote from: Omega;1067913The only ones I have seen are the charity T-shirts and hoodies WOTC puts out.

Pundit showed this site in one of his videos:

http://dnd.wizards.com/products/merchandise

Down at the bottom is a redirect to t-shirts and other apparel.

That site

Quote from: Omega;1067913The only ones I have seen are the charity T-shirts and hoodies WOTC puts out.

Pundit showed this site in one of his videos:

http://dnd.wizards.com/products/merchandise

Down at the bottom is a redirect to t-shirts and other apparel.

Besides apparel, that site is selling branded stuff such as:

Messenger Bags (actually, appears to be messenger bag flaps for messenger bags sold elsewhere on the same site)
Wallets
Pint Glasses
Mouse Pads

Additionally, a Google search for "D&D brand merchandise" found this on the first page:

https://www.zazzle.com/dungeonsanddragons/products

Beyond clothing, this site is selling:

Postcards
Coffee Mugs
3-Ring Binders
Phone Cases
Tablet Sleeves
Laptop Sleeves
Calendars

I'm sure I've seen stickers from a number of places relatively recently, as well.

It's safe to say that there's already a fair amount of non-gaming specific branded merchandise out there.

I don't really disagree with the idea that they're looking to expand into lifestyle branding, but at the same time, I don't think it's anything new.  TSR was doing some of this back in the day (D&D Lunchmeat?)

Additionally, I have no doubt that if Hasbro found more profit in the merchandising and branding, and found the development of the tabletop game to negatively impact that, they'd shelve the game - Much like I have no doubt that if Disney found the print comics to be detrimental to their ongoing movie production and merchandising of the Marvel brand, they'd do something similar.

Others are also looking to get a cut of the action.

Joe Manganiello has apparently launched a line of tabletop gaming-related clothing and accessories under his "Death Saves" brand.