Murloc Figure

 to move more World of Warcraft D&D merchandise to the customer, stores ordering at least one of each SKU of the assorted D&D World of Warcraft products, which means at least one of each of the covers,  the DM Screen,  Icecrown Citadel Adventure Map Pack, Miniatures Horde Pack and  Miniatures Alliance Pack, will receive an assortment of unpainted Murloc miniatures to give away with the purchase of D&D World of Warcraft products.  Although the promotion does not dictate how the miniatures are to be given away, it recommends giving one to each customer buying both a book and one other related D&D World of Warcraft product. I hope WotC puts some effort and additional promotional dollars into not only the World of Warcraft promotion but also letting people know about it, making the Murloc figure a rare and hard to find item.  Too often, and this is not only Wizards but most other game (and comic) publishers, companies come up with promotions and then rely on social media or word of mouth to get the word out about them.  In the case of most recent promotions, the customer comes in, makes a purchase or qualifies for the promotion but has no idea about it and is surprised when we give them the item for which they qualified. We and other stores make in-store signage but if a company decides to go to the effort to design a promotion, also go to the effort to let the target market know about it.

D&D World of Warcraft

 

Wizards of the Coast is making a big push to make sure its first Gameplay Expansion for Dungeons and Dragons sell successfully (See “Wizards of the Coast Reveals Product Line Details for Dungeons and Dragons:  World of Warcraft”) offering stores incentives tied to the quantity of books purchased. For the first time, a D&D book will release with three covers:  Standard cover, Alternate/WPN Store cover and a Collector Edition cover with an MSRP of $99.99.  Ordering 6 copies of any cover gets a store a metal display rack similar to the one given out with the release of the 2024 updates for the Dungeons and Dragons core rulebooks. Order 12 copies of any cover in any combination and the store receives the metal display rack and a free copy of the Standard cover book.  To encourage stores to really push their orders, a store ordering 24 copies of any combination of covers will receive a large display holding 12 to 15 books and a free copy of the Collector’s Edition cover.

World of Warcraft for D&D

 

Wizards of the Coast finally announced the third hardback release for Dungeons and Dragons this fall.  For Realm of Champions, WotC will release the first in what the company calls D&D Gameplay Expansions:  Dungeons & Dragons World of Warcraft. Following it up in 2027 with a revised for 2024 D&D Dark Sun, Greyhawk and most surprisingly, at least to me, Star Wars.

I do not play video games so I have no idea how much popularity World of Warcraft still has but, according to my much younger and video game playing staff, currently the game is playing on the nostalgia of players from 15 to 20 years ago by rereleasing classing WoW adventures targeted at those older player but updated to take advantage of the technology available today.  This, of course, is not the first time a tabletop RPG version of Warcraft or World of Warcraft has released.  Sword & Sorcery Studios, an imprint of White Wolf Publishing, released 3.5 edition versions of both under WotC’s OGL, which sold well but not enough for Sword and Sorcery to keep them in print for more than a few years but prices on them now range from cover price to well over $100 a book so there is demand. However, the store will order far fewer copies than it will the Arcana Unleashed books. Unverses Beyond works as a collectible card product for Magic the Gathering and pulls in a lot more collectors for the sets than they do players. With a book, you can get the most important item with one purchase and it does not generate any subsequent sales like TCGs do.

Eberron: Forge of the Artificer

 If you purchased a copy of the #Dnd2024 Forge of the Artificer handbook from us, stop by and pick up a free copy of Fated Flight of the Recluse. WotC send these out as an apology for the delay in the release of the handbook.

If you remember, Artificer was scheduled for release late last summer but the entire print run had warped covers, so the company scrapped the print run and ordered another one.

Release Dates

 Good grief!  Not sure who is handling the release schedule at WotC but good lord.  Innistrad Remastered releases on January 24, the D&D 2024 Monster Manual releases through WPN stores on Feb. 4th and Aetherdrift pre-releases start on Feb. 7th. That is a lot of product to pump into the channel within a two week period. WotC may view Magic and D&D players as two different market segments but appears not to remember that most of them get their product from the same source.

Scenario Kits

 We have started making scenario kits for RPGs starting with D&D 5e. each Kit comes with a short scenario, goo9 for 1-3 hours of play and miniatures to set up the encounter,  Our first one is on the shelf and only costs $29.99

Cookbooks

 We have been surprised at how well themed cookbooks have sold in the store, well except for the Manga Cookbook, which has sat on the shelf for years. We restock the D&D and Critical Role cookbooks regularly and have had to restock the Stardew Valley cookbook 3 times in the past month.

D&D 2024

 Here is a look at what to expect from Dungeons and Dragons for the rest of the year. The article does exclude the Infinite Staircase book, which should ship in early July

Early Release for D&D

 Wotc Announced this week that it would restart early release for D&D books, beginning with Vecna:  Eve of Ruin. Vecna releases officially on May 21 but WPN stores, such as us, will have the book on sale on May 7th.

Deck of Many Things

 Due to some reason or another, the Deck of Many Things, as well as the Collector Boosters for Lost Caverns of Ixalan have been delayed. No indication from WotC as to what the new release dates are, although I expect Collector Boosters to arrive a week later or so. 

Learn to Play sessions

 We are going to start offering learn to play sessions of Magic and Pokemon, to complement our Monday night Learn to Play D&D.  Thursday night from 5 to 6, we will have a Learn to Play session of Magic from 5 to 6 p.m. and Saturday we will teach people how to play Pokemon from 11 a.m. to Noon.

Fall D&D Releases

 Below is the list of D&D releases for this fall, as of right now. Please let us know if you want any of them held for you:

August 15^th Bigby Presents Glory of the Giants

September 19^th Phandelver And Below:  The Shattered Obelisk

October 17^th Planescape Adventures in the Multiverse

November 14^th Deck of Many Things

Monsters Of the Multiverse

 the next monster book for D&D 5th edition arrives on May 17, Monsters of the Multiverse. There is only one cover for the book as WOTC decided to release the alternate cover last January as part of the rules set that included alternative covers of Tasha's Cauldron and Xanathar's Guide to Everything. We still have a couple of copies of the rules gift set so if you want  all of the covers, that is the only way to get the complete set.

Mosnters of the Multiverse

 WOTC managed to take a great idea like Monsters of the Multiverse and distribute it in a horrible fashion. The alternative cover will ONLY be available in the Rule Extension Gift Sets with matching covers for Tasha's Cauldron and Xanathar's Guide. There will not be an separate alternative cover, unless WOTC changes its mind releasing in May when the book releases by itself. This means that people who collect the alternative covers are out of luck. We would normally order about 30 of the alternate art cover to make sure that everyone who wanted one would get it. There is no way we have the capital to order 30 of the $169 gift sets and I doubt that we would have sold enough of the gift sets to justify the order.

Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

 Fizban's Treasury of Dragons arrived today. We have both the regular cover, for those of you that want a matched set, and the alternative cover, for those of  you that like the shiney cover. instock.

This is the most anticpated book we have seen this year as we had 7 people pre-order it and have sold a couple of copies to walkins. No copies of the alternate cover sold yet though.

Fall D&D Book Prepayment

 Just a reminder that if you prepay for the D&D books coming out this fall, you get a  D&D notebook with graph paper pages and pockets for spell cards. Limited quantities of books so while they last, get one notebook for each of the D&D books you prepay.

D&D Gift Sets

 D&D Gift sets containing Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and the Multiverse Guide to Monsters, all with limited edition foil covers, releases Jan. 25 2022. WOTC planned this as a gift set releasing for the holdiays but shipping problems due to COVID have caused them to push the release back. No word yet on when the Multiverse Guide to Mosnters will release on its own, save for a non-committal later in "2022".

New D&D

 Just caught on D&D Celebration that we will see two classic D&D settings updated for 5th edition in 2022 and a third setting in 2023. In 2024, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the game, WOTC will release the 6th edition of D&D.

Also just heard that in 2022 we will see Mordenkainen Presents:  Monsters of the Multiverse with 30 playable races This are playable races that have been released outside the core books and are world agnostic, that is, not tied to any particular world. Much as with Alternity, for those of you who remember that far back. this book will include concepts that will get incorporated into 6th edition.

Also in 2022, we will see a book with an alternate art cover featuring Boo the Miniature Giant Space Hampster so make of that what you will.

Most Popular D&D Class

 Showing just how popular D&D has become, the career website Zippia jsut posted a column on the states that play the most and least D&D as well as the most popular character classes. The state tha tplays the most D&D per capita is Utah, the least is New York. Given their relative population sizes that makes sense. 

Based on internet searchs, the most popular characer class is monk, followed by ranger and druid in a dead heat. Given that the rankings are based on internet seraches, it might just be that those are the classes most people have questions about and, ergo, they launched a search for info about them.

Witchlight Dice Sets

 Apparently WOTC has a set of dice to go along with the Wild Beyond the Witchlight book which have not shipped yet. We have a dozen sets coming when they do ship so if you are interested in snagging one, please let us know.