Interesting Tweet

[Maggan]

Let's say they did that, does that remove concerns about a 5e or similar?

Good lord, no! They'd still be viewed as not paying enough respect to the prior editions, in some quarters. Or being true to the D&D legacy, or brand, or something else.

I'd be happy if they did it a way I liked, and others would consider that the wrong way to go. There are so many gamers out there, that there are bound to be people not happy with anything WotC does with D&D.

Basically, it's a lose-lose situation for WotC. Except for the PR value of making older editions available. I'd prefer it as POD myself.

/M

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I suspect what they mean is something like, "We are looking at ways to keep making money off all edition of dnd."

Remember when they had old edition .pdfs available on RPGNow?

I'll take that. I'd rather not drop $60 on the 3E Magic Item Compendium when WotC could sell it for $20 in a clean PDF.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

From my observations it's a very common phenomenon among fans to call a game which has been "replaced" by a new edition a "dead game", and I'm not reading this as a proclamation from WotC that "all other editions are D.E.A.D", but rather "were concerned about all editions, even those not in print (which sometimes are called "dead")".

People keep trying to bury White Wolf for that reason, even as they continue to spit out PDFs and are moving (at long last) into Print on Demand.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Unless one plays 4E, there are much better alternatives available.

Yeah, but that means nothing. People want to play 'D&D' (in whatever form or edition it is). That's why there's still all this clamoring for WotC to go back to support previous editions. If people were fine with not playing 'D&D'... no one would care that they weren't, they'd play all these alternative virtual tables, and we wouldn't hear anything about the hope that the VTT eventually would support the other editions.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I suspect they are looking at ways of boosting DDI membership by incorporating older edition materials through that medium and perhaps considering some limited new release support also, and exclusively, through that medium. Why else be so coy?

My experience with the corporate world says it's because there's a fight going on in-house about it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I wish I could find ANY tweet to be interesting, but twitter befuddles me. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what purpose it serves, assuming one blogs, has Facebook, etc.

It's a public version of Facebook. (Intentionally public, unlike the yo-yos who talk smack about their bosses on Facebook without realizing they never changed their privacy options until they're fired ...)

 

[Sonny]

My experience with the corporate world says it's because there's a fight going on in-house about it.

I've seen it plenty of times when a company doesn't have all the details hammered out and saying anything more concrete now, may result in them getting crap from customers when they finalize plans that turn out to be somewhat different.

Also, they simply may be trying to drop hints and get people excited about an announcement at GenCon.

If there's a fight in-house it seems unlikely the social media people at wizards were told to post something.

At least, my current company wouldn't consider posting anything through twitter without knowing one way or another, it's definitely going to happen.

But who knows what Wizards is really like inside at this point? So you may very well be correct. In the end. I'm just happy it's at least being looked at.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've seen it plenty of times when a company doesn't have all the details hammered out and saying anything more concrete now, may result in them getting crap from customers when they finalize plans that turn out to be somewhat different.

True. I've been in corporate environments like that, too, and it's a sensible way to go. I just don't think the company that gave us the 4E transition is really that good with PR.

 

[GreyLord]

My experience with the corporate world says it's because there's a fight going on in-house about it.

Maybe.

Then again, maybe there's been an underground movement towards Older editions that's been below the surface since 3.5e...just only now the hidden older edition crowd is getting a little stronger...or not.

Maybe they'll have 5th edition right around the corner and it will keep ALL the editions alive....or not.

Maybe they'll just throw in the towel and print the original game and that's it...or not.

It was a tweet people. Maybe someone is reading into it more than is there...or not.

I suppose everyone would find out a little more in a few weeks...

Or not.

 

[delericho]

This, I'm not surprised with. And is something they should have done long ago. This makes me very happy.

The fact that the retro clones' success was mentioned a few times during the Wizards podcasts last year showed they were very well aware there was a profit to be made in that area.

Whether or not you think Pathfinder is outselling D&D 4e when you add in D&D Insiders subscriptions, doesn't change the fact that once you add the retro-clones, and the actual 1st-3rd edition D&D products being played by groups, you soon realize it's very, very, likely that there are simply more (maybe a lot more) people playing the older editions (combined) then the current one.

It would be a huge mistake to ignore a market that size. So good on Wizards for (hopefully) heading in this direction.

The problem is that all those people who are playing older editions are doing just fine without support from WotC. What does WotC really have to offer them?

Reprints of the rulebooks? Well, a few people would buy to replace worn copies. A few people would buy new copies out of interest. But lots? (Personally, I'd pick up the BECM "Rules Cyclopedia" and a couple of 3.5e PHB, but that's it.)

New adventures? WotC don't exactly have a good reputation for adventures, the OSR provide plenty for pre-3e editions, and Paizo would seem to have the 3.x/PF market covered.

New rules/settings? I can't imagine those having more than minor appeal.

So, really, what do WotC have to offer?