D&D 5E What happens if 5E fails to unite the base?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Would this be a good time to mention that I have Blue Oysters in my undersea game?

You, sir, are a man of Cultivated tastes...

 

[Nagol]

IMHO this has already happened. YMMV as usual...

I'd say the leadership is currently being contested rather than been overtaken.

 

[trancejeremy]

They seem to be going pretty deeply to the well to generate the hype they are for this new marketing push and are not likely to get a similar amount of general press combined with their own efforts for some time if 5E isn't as successful as we all hope.

I have to say, so far they don't seem to have stirred up much interest - after the announcement it pretty much died quickly. This place is really, really dead compared to the days when 3e was announced.

Beyond that, the feeling seems to be that of dread at what is being included, rather than enthusiasm.

Maybe it's a mistake trying to simply have one system? Instead of trying to recreate all the types of D&D in one system, why not support 2-3 systems?

I think in a way, WOTC overreacted from what killed TSR. I'm not sure it was too many systems and too many product lines, so much as ones that just didn't make any sense (like the Buck Rogers adventure game or Amazing Engine) as well as a lot of really awful products (it's like they rushed them out as fast as possible).

 

[Argyle King]

How exactly would you envision a VTT that could handle 3d environments?

Ever see Final Fantasy Tactics?

http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/a/a1/FFT_Battle.jpg

 

[Charleois]

I do not have great hopes for the reunification of D&D. Korea never will, but Germany did so.

 

[M.L. Martin]

I have to say, so far they don't seem to have stirred up much interest - after the announcement it pretty much died quickly. This place is really, really dead compared to the days when 3e was announced.

Well, not only is the environment different, but the state of information is different as well--a few playtesters took the announcement as meaning (at least for a while) that the NDA was lifted, so we were getting a lot of hints in those early days. The information flow is much more controlled now than it was 13 years ago.

 

[William Ronald]

I suspect if WotC doesn't see a decent uptick in numbers from the most recent edition they will shelve the property for some time, as far as RPGs are concerned, focus on licensing (video games and maybe settings), maybe keep the DDI going if it continues to bring in revenue for little continued investment, and perhaps do a few print runs of some previous products as a way to keep some core RPG books in stock at stores. They would likely have to wait five or ten years before revamping with a new edition. They seem to be going pretty deeply to the well to generate the hype they are for this new marketing push and are not likely to get a similar amount of general press combined with their own efforts for some time if 5E isn't as successful as we all hope.

I suspect that this would be a very likely scenario. One question would be is what Hasbro and WotC would consider to be a success as well as how long a new iteration has to prove itself to be a success. If the initial books sell well but subsequent sales tank, I think that this would be a big problem for the new iteration of Dungeons and Dragons. Or if the sales do not meet the goals that have been set for s new iteration of D&D, we could see very little done with the game for a long time.

The marketing of the new edition seems to be much better than last time, but I see some challenges ahead for WotC. One is that I see the base as having become very fragmented and I am not sure that it can be reunified. It would take a lot to get players of such games as Pathfinder, Dragon Age, Castles and Crusades to abandon their games and go to a new edition of Dungeons and Dragons. So, while I am interested in learning more about the new iteration of the game, I do not have the same feeling of excitement that I had with the start of Third Edition. (Also, it seems that what is wonderful to some players seems to be hideous to some others. Just reading some of the threads here makes me realize how large of a task the designers at WotC have ahead of them.)

I think that the RPG market would be better off if a new edition is successful. It would also be great if we could attract more people into our hobby, regardless of the game. (That is why I am big on introductory products, organized play, and other efforts to expand our hobby.) At times, I worry that we are focusing too much on the differences between rules rather than how we can make sure that table top role playing games have more life than the model railroad hobby.

While I am trying to be optimistic about a new iteration, even as I am not certain it is for me, I think that failure would hit the Dungeons and Dragon game hard. I would hope that it would not hurt the gaming hobby as well.

 

[William Ronald]

So, are there any new thoughts now that we have passed D&DXP?