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<blockquote data-quote="Nellisir" data-source="post: 9250159" data-attributes="member: 70"><p>I don't at all disagree with what you're saying, and honestly I agree that's likely a large component of WotC's motivation, but...it's baffling. </p><p>They could, with VERY little effort, put out a single hardback "Basic D&D" book that was functional as a largely complete game; be a gateway to 5e; and be largely compatible with most of the OSR crowd. They're 9/10ths of the way there already. Basic 5e (which exists online) is probably the most OSR game system TSR/WotC has done since the mid-80's. So they COULD move into the OSR market AND channel people to "Complete" 5e...but they don't.</p><p></p><p>Actually, I lied. It's not baffling.</p><p></p><p>WotC no longer supports/has interest in supporting "free-form" D&D. They don't publish "toolkit" books. They don't support (and haven't for at several years) anything that encourages you to create and run your own campaign. Ravenloft was the last gasp there. What WotC is selling is adventures, with the idea that once you play (or quit) one, you buy another. It's the same idea as a board game expansion, or even an escape room. It's a curated experience.</p><p></p><p>Obviously there's a lot of wiggle room there; WotC can't make anyone forget how to homebrew and I think there are still people working for WotC (or were) that aren't wholly onboard, but that's clearly the way it's being sold now, and it doesn't jive with what I outlined above.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nellisir, post: 9250159, member: 70"] I don't at all disagree with what you're saying, and honestly I agree that's likely a large component of WotC's motivation, but...it's baffling. They could, with VERY little effort, put out a single hardback "Basic D&D" book that was functional as a largely complete game; be a gateway to 5e; and be largely compatible with most of the OSR crowd. They're 9/10ths of the way there already. Basic 5e (which exists online) is probably the most OSR game system TSR/WotC has done since the mid-80's. So they COULD move into the OSR market AND channel people to "Complete" 5e...but they don't. Actually, I lied. It's not baffling. WotC no longer supports/has interest in supporting "free-form" D&D. They don't publish "toolkit" books. They don't support (and haven't for at several years) anything that encourages you to create and run your own campaign. Ravenloft was the last gasp there. What WotC is selling is adventures, with the idea that once you play (or quit) one, you buy another. It's the same idea as a board game expansion, or even an escape room. It's a curated experience. Obviously there's a lot of wiggle room there; WotC can't make anyone forget how to homebrew and I think there are still people working for WotC (or were) that aren't wholly onboard, but that's clearly the way it's being sold now, and it doesn't jive with what I outlined above. [/QUOTE]
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