Elemental Evil


4th Edition

Scarab Sages

ENWorld reports that another 3rd-party has been brought onboard to produce some 5e material - Sasquatch Studios. If this is going to be their approach, concentrating on rules and supplements and outsourcing the adventure products, it will only help 5e. Adventures by Wizards generally seemed to be surpassed by third parties, so this is the best of both worlds.


This was reported back in August, and news since then seems to back up this release model. Overall, I like it - the Adventurer's Handbook hardcover gives us a reasonable amount of new options that are thematically tied to the adventure (Elemental Evil in this case), and Masters of the Apocalypse is the hardcover adventure. If reports are correct, both are coming out in mid-March 2015.

There is a discussion in another thread of whether new 5E campaign setting books are needed. With this model, I'm not so sure they are. With each 6-month story arc, they can re-introduce each of the classic settings with a fresh adventure, and the new 5E rules for each adventure expands out the player options and can also help with conversion of the old material. Tons of the old material and adventures are already available in PDF on dndclassics, so 5E versions of the setting-specific rules and a conversion guide is all you really need to run these settings. If they're smart, each new Adventurer's Handbook will have a listing of PDFs for the setting that are available on dndclassics.com.


Now if only I can find a way to contact the relatives of Pete and Judy Kerestan and buy the rights to the Palace of the Vampire Queen - I'd get to work on releasing that as soon as I could.

Shadow Lodge

Pacesetter Games has been publishing Palace of the Vampire Queen. So they either hold the rights, or they have some kind of arrangement. Couldn't hurt to contact them.


whoo hooo I'm on it


Hmmmmm, official announcement doesn't mention anything about the Adventurers Handbook. Looks like there will be a free PDF with adventure-specific player options, instead. The Princes of the Apocalypse HC will include "new elemental spells and the element-touched genasi as a new playable race," and the free download will include "more new races plus the player content available in Princes of the Apocalypse."

http://dnd.wizards.com/elemental-evil

Not bad.


I created the core of my campaign setting in 1975/1976 and in it, Elemental Gods were good, so this whole "Temple of Elemental Evil" thing was never something I got into.


So what is WotC doing with their time? The only table top products I've seen announced are the stuff for Elemental Evil (and the Dungeon Master Screen), and they are farming that out. They've got video game content coming out (also farmed out), miniatures (farmed out). As far as I can tell the only thing they are doing in house is the Temple of Elemental Evil board game. I guess everyone is taking the year off after all that work rolling out the core books.

As for the Temple of Elemental Evil, it doesn't look particularly interesting- go smash four different element themed temples. I think I'll pass.

I like the new system, but I'd sure like to see some better support content on the horizon.


Quote:
So what is WotC doing with their time?

I think the answer is "farming stuff out". It seems to me that they've taken a real shift with this edition - significant support for the tabletop RPG doesnt seem to me to be terribly important to them.

They seem more interested in creating a 'storyline' and then providing lots of different ways to experience the same story - MMORPG, computer game, miniatures, comics, TTRPS modules.... No doubt that's due to the revenue/profit calculations on board games/computer games/TTRPGs/accessories.

The Exchange

Southeast Jerome wrote:

Hmmmmm, official announcement doesn't mention anything about the Adventurers Handbook. Looks like there will be a free PDF with adventure-specific player options, instead. The Princes of the Apocalypse HC will include "new elemental spells and the element-touched genasi as a new playable race," and the free download will include "more new races plus the player content available in Princes of the Apocalypse."

http://dnd.wizards.com/elemental-evil

Not bad.

Adventurers Handbook is scrapped. Mike Mearls made several statements about how Wizards sometimes make plans that change and that mock-ups and proposed covers are not necessarily a guarantee that a product is getting made.

People on the Wizards forums are guessing that the stuff that was to become the Adventurer's Handbook was either too little to warrant a book or some of it was subpar and Wizards decided to merge parts into the Elemental Evil product. There is also going to be a free download of the player content for EE out in March that includes new stuff like possibly race(s), Class(es), spells, and other such.


Here is the info from the product page for Princes of the Apocalypse from Wizards' site:

Synopsis

Abolish an ancient evil threatening devastation in this adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game!

Called by the Elder Elemental Eye to serve, four corrupt prophets have risen from the depths of anonymity to claim mighty weapons with direct links to the power of the elemental princes. Each of these prophets has assembled a cadre of cultists and creatures to serve them in the construction of four elemental temples of lethal design. It is up to adventurers from heroic factions such as the Emerald Enclave and the Order of the Gauntlet to discover where the true power of each prophet lay, and dismantle it before it comes boiling up to obliterate the Realms.
Item details

Price: $49.95 C$58.00
Release Date: 07 April, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-78696-5786


Do wish they wouldn't make it all so same 'factiony', would still be playing PF if I wanted such stuff
Guess AL is one of the things they wish to push though.....


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Enevhar Aldarion wrote:
Each of these prophets has assembled a cadre of cultists and creatures to serve them in the construction of four elemental temples of lethal design

At least it looks very elementary evil.


thenovalord wrote:

Do wish they wouldn't make it all so same 'factiony', would still be playing PF if I wanted such stuff

Guess AL is one of the things they wish to push though.....

Factions are optional in Adventurer's League play. You are never required to choose one, unlike Pathfinder Society.

Dark Archive

If the adventure is as good as the cover art we're in for something special. Guess we'll see.

I'm glad they're not releasing a half-ass Adventurer's Guide. I don't play a lot of D&D though I did buy the three core rulebook and the two-volume Tiamat AP. I see that PotA is a single volume. Again, good deal. I'd far rather there be fewer, high quality, products than a mish-mash of good and bad.

I'm liking what I'm seeing out of 5e so far, but Wizards is still on probation in my mind.

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