How do you feel about the future of D&D after the official announcements?

r0gershrubber · Jan 12, 2012

Neutral. I was enthusiastic about 4E and closely followed the previews and release, but ultimately it wasn't fun to play. Pathfinder really hits the spot, so I have nothing to lose from 5E, but I'm skeptical they can achieve such ambitious goals. Still, they're saying the right things.

In my mind, one measure of ultimate success for 5E would be for Paizo to retire Pathfinder and return to making content for 5E. That would really say something about 5E.

Dedekind · Jan 12, 2012

Positive.

In hindsight, I've always liked edition N+1 more than edition N when they come out. So, bring it on!

Stormtower · Jan 12, 2012

Negative.

Skeptical of WotC's ability to fulfill their current design goals.

Pathfinder feels like home, and me & my group are delighted with it.

D&D as a brand was severely devalued to me by WotC's antics around 4E and ESPECIALLY Essentials. It was Essentials and the CB online-only relaunch that killed it for me at last.

This feels like Hasbro pushing from above due to 4E's sales lagging and the community being split. I doubt that many of the folks who were alienated by the 4E launch will come back and give WotC their trust again.

enrious · Jan 12, 2012

Stormtower said:
This feels like Hasbro pushing from above due to 4E's sales lagging and the community being split. I doubt that many of the folks who were alienated by the 4E launch will come back and give WotC their trust again.

Taking the above as a sample of the same repeated expression...

I wonder if at some point, someone at WotC stood up and said, "Look, with 4e we let incompetent marketing people and business managers run things and look what happened. Give us a chance to fix things, gamers to gamers."

Ah well, just speculation.

The simple reality is that it's doubtful WotC could just keep on doing what they were doing - and still remain viable to whomever controls these things.

frankthedm · Jan 12, 2012

Henry said:
One POSITIVE result of all this is me hearing from people I haven't seen or just missed on ENWorld for years. Feels like 2003 all over again!

Except this time we know the financial reasons behind this, thanks to the escapist article. Sure, naysayers speculated Hasbro was threatening wotc employees with a +5 Job-Bane, Mighty Cleaving Great Axe, but now we know that was the case. And it is rarely a good thing for naysayer's speculations to be correct.

I'm A Banana · Jan 12, 2012

About the future of D&D in general?

Positive. I don't think 4e could've stood up for another 5 years, slowly loosing money and players the entire time. The ONLY way that D&D could have a bright future is by starting a new edition early, and the ONLY way that a new edition would be palatable is if it accepted a multitude of playstyles (including the 4e playstyle, which has its ardent fans). A multifaceted base also allows for a long, healthy 5e, taken in many different directions, and re-visited countless times. If they're smart, they can even get Paizo on board, and that'll bring the Pathfinder crowd somewhat back around.

They've got a tall order in front of them, but I trust the team -- they're smart, admirable people, with their names on products I've liked.

I am watching for a violation of that trust. But I alone am not the future of D&D.

Super Pony · Jan 12, 2012

As I have grown into my beard I have come to the conclusion that "I just love games."

Roleplaying games, board games, war games, strategy games, card games, video games, mind games, hunger games...you name it. I owe some of my current mode of thinking to the emergence of 4E. When it released I was in the lynch mob crowd booing and hissing with all the rediculous angst that permeated the interwebs...and it didn't make anything more fun for anyone. All we did at our 3E games was talk about 4E and all I did at the game store was go "psht" each time I saw another 4E book. Hate is baggage, even with something as banal as a game.

So I knuckled up and played 4E for a while! It still wasn't my favorite game, but the people I played with mattered more than the rules. And those folks were first rate. And we had fun. Every session. That group and I are currently playing Eclipse Phase and they're still the same class act group of armchair geniuses. I think next month we're cycling back into some WFRP 2nd or 3rd edition. Why? Because games are fun. If a game stops being fun...look inside yourself and at the humans you are playing with for solutions...not a rules system.

So whether or not the next itteration of D&D conforms to all my hopes and dreams as the All-Game or not? I am really not invested in the outcome this time. However, I am very interested in the more open design process 5th edition could be built with. So I'll be following WotC's actions closely until release day. Then I'll check out the rules.

If it isn't my cup of tea? I'll let someone else who IS excited about it buy the system and let them run it for me. And if it rocks my pants off? Well I'll have yet another game system loading down my shelves to be worked into my spastic rotation of roleplaying games.

So color me positive.

noffham · Jan 12, 2012

Positive, no question about it. D&D as a living, table-top, face-to-face game goes on.

The Bells & Whistles? Target audience? Hidden (or not) Agendas?

Who cares? No matter what is done some people will be thrilled and others will hate it. Some folk will adopt, others adapt and others ignore. The point is that Dungeons and Dragons goes on.

Play what you like how you like it, introduce it to friends and relatives, grow the hobby, HAVE FUN. That's what matters at the end of the day.

Ranting about "the Man", nursing old grudges, venting your spleen, while cathartic is not so much fun.

At least the Grand Dame of RPGs isn't being consigned to the IP vault and left to molder away; our hobby is getting attention not just in the "insider" media but the New York Times for heavens sake. And it isn't more "D&D is satanic and eats babies!" hogwash.

This is a breath of fresh air blowing the cobwebs out of what was the increasingly dusty and forgotten attic of our hobby. How can it be anything other than a positive?

Just one DM's point of view anyway.

jgbrowning · Jan 12, 2012

Neutral, but definitely hoping for the best.

joe b.

Ron · Jan 12, 2012

Cautionly positive, as I applaud the design goals but I am unsure they can pull it out. Hopefuly, they will design a system that will turn D&D again a suitable system to introduce new players to the hobby. Being the brand with most awaresome, it is definitely a task D&D should tackle but have been poorly equiped to do so since they folded the basic line in the early 90s (pathfinder's begginers box is a good product but still too complex to capture most newbies without proper fostering).

There is this talk about cattering lapsed players but I don't think this is a main goal. More likely they are trying to attract different kind of players than those who might get in love with 3rd or 4th edition. Those are currently out of the hobby and thus they may be the key to grow the business.

Finally, I am not a great fan of public betatests. It usually lacks the focus to scorrect the main issues and require too much resources to be managed. At least from the publisher side, I will enjoy to give an early look in what they are cooking. At least, I think it will work nicely as a publicity stunt.