What name would you like the next iteration of D&D to bear?

DangerAbe · Jan 16, 2012

They should call it Illithid Edition and name all future editions after iconic monsters. Starting with Illithid because they are going to take over our minds!!!

Mark CMG · Jan 16, 2012

D&D 5th Edition. It is what it is and naming it something else doesn't change that. They should be proud of that name. It's come a long way. Naming it 5E isn't going to confuse anyone or cause anyone to dislike the game for seeing the name as some sort of hype. Without an iteration signifier, it seems rather like claiming the work of those who came before is trumped by this edition and I don't think the designers want to be saying that.

The false naming makes me wonder if someone thinks they are being clever when they try and disguise the iteration of the game. I recall one employee trying to convince some customers that there wouldn't be a half edition of the game. Of course, there was but they named it something else. What that did was cause confusion in the market, make some customers wonder if that employee thought they were being clever (or worse, lying), and generate additional mistrust for the company (that was already beleaguered with problems).

Just make a D&D 5E RPG that everyone feels is D&D and also that everyone feels is an RPG, and it will bear the 5E part proudly. Now is not the time for clever naming conventions. And you know what? A few years in when there's been enough time to assess how things are going, pull the few core books still out in distributioin and announce in advance to retailers and the customer base that you plan to produce a 5.5E, all up front and open, without any of the tricks usually on display to avoid losing sales (which are lost in other ways by such trickery anyway). This is turning-over-a-new-leaf time. This is we-want-to-be-trusted-again time. Let's not see it blown with clever marketing tricks. Let's see it won through good design, hard work, and honest dealings.

Brom Blackforge · Jan 16, 2012

I think it's a mistake to get hung up on what the covers of the books will say. The 3rd and 4th edition core rulebooks didn't announce their edition numbers, but we all knew which edition they were and that's how we referred to them if we needed to be specific about which edition we meant. And way back when 2nd edition came out, the core rulebooks DID say "2nd edition," but if we didn't need to make a point about 2E versus 1E, we'd just say "D&D" or "Dungeons & Dragons." So yes, the bookcovers will probably just say "Dungeons & Dragons," without specifically referring to it as the 5th edition of the game, but that's not determinative and it never has been.

Roland55 · Jan 16, 2012

Given their vision and the goal they've stated, there's only one choice: Dungeons and Dragons.

And I'm quite happy with that.

tuxgeo · Jan 16, 2012

The name of the game doesn't change when new editions are published:
"Dungeons & Dragons" is right.

Other random comments:

"Truncheons & Flagons" (a game about town guards visiting a taproom).

"D&D -- Vote for Delve in Twenty-Twelve!" -- because it's based in the USA, and we vote about everything--even about what to call our fantasy game. (And I don't care that the game won't come out until 2013 - 2014.)

"D&D4U" -- because we can't be bothered to type out hol wrdz.

"D&D Modulo 5" -- because of the modular nature; but also including the 5-point design principles: 5-foot step and square size; 5-point Skill Training bonus; 5-points separating DC levels; 5-member parties; 5 main power sources (martial/divine/arcane/psionic/shadow, with the elements pervading all of them); and 5% increments between results on a d20.

Griego · Jan 16, 2012

"Dungeons and Dragons" on the cover, with a gigantic, translucent "5" overlaid on the table of contents of every book. Easy to tell if something is the right edition that way.

Brom Blackforge · Jan 16, 2012

tuxgeo said:
The name of the game doesn't change when new editions are published:
"Dungeons & Dragons" is right.

No, the name of the GAME doesn't change. But then, we're not talking about what to call the GAME. We're talking about what to call THE NEW EDITION of the game.

So, like the 3.0 and 4E rulebooks before it, the new edition rulebooks will say "Dungeons & Dragons," and that's what we'll continue to call the game. But when we need to refer to the new edition specifically, we need something specific to identify it.

Can you imagine trying to talk to someone who insisted on referring to Texas Hold 'Em only as "Poker" when your goal is to compare it to stud poker or draw poker?

exmci1996 · Jan 16, 2012

LurkAway said:
Names like "D&D Final" and "D&D Ultimate" are tricky. What happens, say, 10-15 years later, when "D&D Final" becomes all bloated and outdated and the core and supplements need be updated again with rules errata, consolidation, etc -- would that next iteration be called "D&D Final Ultimate This Time for Sure Re-Unified Compendium"?

10-15 years later? The 6th edition will be here sooner than that.

greywulf · Jan 16, 2012

I think it will be called "Dungeons and Dragons" - the ampersand will be dropped and replaced with a full "and". This will visually separate it from 3rd and 4th Editions D&D and help emphasize the brand itself. It's Dungeons AND Dragons.

It's also much easier for use online - those &'s are a pain in URLs

I would also quite like them to follow tech brands (Apple, Android & Ubuntu) by having codewords for different updates to the rules rather than the current (nigglingly wrong) way we call them 3rd Edition, 4th Edition, etc. They could go alphabetically, picking one monster from the Monster Manual for each letter.

For example, the initial release could by Dungeons and Dragons, Aasimar followed by Bugbear, Catoblepas, etc. The community could vote for the name of the next release. I'd like that.