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

Anselyn · Jan 16, 2012

Kamikaze Midget said:
"Dungeons and Dragons" should be on the cover.

People will call it 5e regardless, but first and foremost, the game is Dungeons and Dragons, and that's what we should call it.

Shall I search your posts to find how often you call it D&D rather than its proper name that you should call it?

If you use Google trends to look at references to "Dungeons & Dragons" compared to "D&D" there seems to be negligible difference in their use/popularity.

Now's the time for the player's name for the game to become it's real name: D&D

OnlineDM · Jan 16, 2012

I like Legacies. While straight-up D&D would be lovely, it will need a qualifier in conversation about different editions. If none is provided, it will end up as Fifth Edition. I'd like to see something other than 5e for a name, and Legacies appeals to me the most among these options.

unan oranis · Jan 16, 2012

I fell in love with dnd extreme at first sight.

LurkAway · Jan 16, 2012

Say previous editions are no longer published (and old stock collects dust on the shelves in the corner of the local gaming store) or sold only as PDFs or thru DDI online. In that case, for D&D newbies, a new "Dungeons & Dragons" doesn't need a qualifier (in fact a qualifier may just confuse, if the older stuff isn't prevalent). For old time fans, they already know to coin it 5E so they don't need the qualifier. And frankly if people need to frequently reference legacy editions of D&D, then from Hasbro/WoTC's perspective, 5E will be a failure anyway, because the entire goal of 5E is to get everyone on the new wave, so a qualifier could be an admittance of failure to achieve that goal.

Then from a practical point of view, each supplement will have a qualifier (D&D martial expansion, D&D exotic races, etc.) so two qualifiers becomes wordy and cumbersome.

MatthewJHanson · Jan 16, 2012

I voted 5th edition.

But I think it should just say Dungeons and Dragons on the cover, and when talking to my non-gaming friends I'll just call it Dungeons and Dragons. When speaking to my gaming friends I think it needs a descriptor to distinguish it from the past incarnations, and 5e seems the most obvious.

Steel_Wind · Jan 16, 2012

From their stated goals, It seemed like a unified Dungeons and Dragons is their goal from both a functional design and a marketing focus.

So yes, Dungeons and Dragons, Unlimited Edition and Dungeons and Dragons, Ultimate edition are fine; however, Dungeons and Dragons, Unified Ed. or Dungeons and Dragons, United Ed seems to speak to their more immediate design and marketing goal.

Either way, it will be DDU in shorthand.

Mark Hope · Jan 16, 2012

Put Dungeons & Dragons on the cover and call it that for branding purposes. It's 5th edition because it's the edition that came after 4th edition, and that's how it will probably be called for purposes of differentiating it from its predecessors - that's what I already think of it as now. D&D Next is silly - are they still going to want to call it that when we're playing it? Unlikely. As far as placeholders go, D&D Next is unecessary and smacks of the kind of marketing-speak that irritated me with the release of 4e. But then I'm irritable like that anyway so take that as you like

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Henry · Jan 16, 2012

D&D 5th Edition.

Just be honest.

fba827 · Jan 16, 2012

Dungeons & Dragons" (no qualifier)

While I like that intent, and think that branding should most likely be done that way (just as it has for prior editions), it does need a descriptor for practical reasons -- as others have mentioned, that name alone is larger than any edition and people will want a way to refer to the specific current ruleset in discussions.

I mean, you can't have a technical discussion about what's wrong with your computer's operating system by just identifying the operations system name. You need to mention what version it is if you want people to understand the baseline for your discussion. So market it as D&D but it needs a name and it's better that the company gives it that name rather than one evolving unofficially.

"D&D Next"

This just sounds uninspired and does not evoke any sort of excitement from me.

"D&D 5th Edition"

Even if this isn't the "official" name, if the new name is too clunky this will probably be the mainstream name.

"D&D 2013" (or 2014, or whenever)

From a business standpoint, branding a game with a date automatically puts it in the "kids who like the shiny new will not want it by 2015" I don't see this being a good name for that and other reasons.

"D&D Anniversary Edition"

Out of all the predefined choices on this poll, this is the one I like the most.

"D&D Final"

I have no idea what the game mechanics are like, but will it really be the ultimate final edition, ever? I suspect not...plus, it doesn't really roll off your tongue in conversation, "Yeah, i'm playing d&d, we're playing final".... wouldn't roll off my tongue anyway.

"D&D Ultimate Edition"

I dislike the word ultimate as way too many things are "ultimate" "extreme" and so on. and just seems like pandering to a lower audience.

"D&D Generations"

I see the word Generations like that and I start thinking of a certain Star Trek movie.

"D&D Extreme"

See my comment above about "ultimate"

"D&D Legacies"

I'm a maybe on this ...

Other

D&D Legends
D&D VE (as in roman numeral 5 edition)
D&D XLe (as in roman 40 edition) -- but "xl" is seen too much on clothing sizes that it might give the wrong meaning to someone who isn't familiar with the game, so maybe not so much
D&D LE (aka Limited Edition)
D&D Open Source Edition <-- based on the way I see it described so far

But alas, I think only tech geeks would get that reference
D&D Community Edition
D&D Freedom Edition <-- i keep seeing the term "you're free to pick your level of complexity ..."
D&D Nova edition
D&D Now
~~D&D: Satans Game~~
D&D The Heroic Edition <- only reason i don't like this one as much is that Heroic has just been added to the lexicon of the game for having a specific meaning already
D&D The One ~~Ring~~ Edition
D&D The Adventure Edition
D&D Titan edition

(( Yes, some of those are meant as a joke ))

But in truth, without having any idea what the game is supposed to be like... any title i vote for would be more of a current whim rather than what the edition feels like.

Lanefan · Jan 16, 2012

Let's face it, no matter what the official name is it'll be called D&D in general and 5e in specific by just about everyone involved. So I voted 5th Edition.