Took Enemy Fire in Edition Wars

[varden]

I’ll tell ya what, I’ve read about ‘edition wars’ here plenty, but it’s a for-real thing. I wasn’t at Origins a whole hour before somebody said something to me.

6 or 8 of us were in line to play test D&D Next. This one guy’s friend stopped by and made some knucklehead joke to him. The guy said something like “Get out of here demon spawn… (heh) like Fourth Edition.”

OK, my game group and I have been playing 4E since it came out. I even got my nephew and his friends into gaming with 4E and now they play more than I do.

So there we are, my nephew, his two buddies, my friend and me and we all heard it. I decided to use Diplomacy instead of Intimidate and basically paraphrased the previous paragraph.

He backed down - basically said he tried 4E and it wasn’t for him, and we played D&D Next and everything worked out OK. The guy turned out to be real cool, and I’d be glad to game with him again anytime.

Less than 12 hours later in the Exhibit Hall, we’re talking to two D20 Girls and one of them takes a swipe at 4E. Now, I’m not gonna get into it with some girl half my age, wearing a miniskirt and cat ears, so I just told her we had a fun time with 4E, and if you’re having fun you’re doing it right, right?

No. She just kept comin’ at 4E. I don’t really remember what her problems were with it, but I asked about her modeling career and she forgot all about how bad 4E was.

So now I get why WOTC is scrambling to reunite the two camps, and I wish ‘em a lotta luck.

 

[keterys]

It's pretty impressive sometimes how some folks get offended that other folks think in a different way than they do.

Pretty much true, no matter the topic. Good job dodging the fire.

 

[howandwhy99]

Nice post. Positive behavior and earnest attempts at reconciling from all sides would really help the gaming community. And, you know, the world at large. Good for you on playing it cool.

 

[Abstruse]

The new edition is horrible! How can anyone play that crap? They just added a bunch of crap from that other crappy game that's gotten popular recently. I don't know why anyone's going to waste their money. Anyone who plays the new edition must be stupid if they don't see how crappy it is! My group is going to stick with the previous edition because it's the only time that the company's ever gotten it right!

The preceding has been said in 1983, 1989, 1991, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2010, and now in 2012. Replace edition names, company names, and expletives as necessary.

 

[AngryMojo]

I've had this type of experience more than once at my FLGS. I'm typically there picking up a book for WFRP, Savage Worlds, Mutants and Masterminds or some other game and an edition warrior begins criticizing my purchase out of the blue, assuming I'm making a purchase for an edition of D&D that's not their preferred. I'm cordial to them, but it's rather unsettling when it happens.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

The worst I've seen in person was a guy at a FLGS that was such an edition warrior for whatever his preferred edition of any system (D&D, Hero/GURPS, etc.) that you didn't want to get him started. But if you didn't keep him on games, he'd start in on politics, and his stances were extremely radical, pushy, and loud. Once you'd been through that a few times, you were happy to shrug off his gaming foibles, until you could get loose.

 

[Yora]

Wait... didn't varden say he started talking to people listening to them talking in privately that they don't like 4th edition?
How is that avoiding? That's starting.

 

[varden]

Wait... didn't varden say he started talking to people listening to them talking in privately that they don't like 4th edition?
How is that avoiding? That's starting.

I see what you're saying.

The knucklehead friend was passing by on his way somewhere else, so the exchange between them was short, and loud enough for the whole group of us to hear. The friend was leaving when the guy said "like Fourth Edition."

I was actually hoping he wasn't talking to us, but the eye contact was there. That's why I felt like I had to say something.

EDIT: Just to be clear, the D20 girl was wearing the miniskirt and cat ears, not me.

 

[Jack99]

I wish that WotC would use their ninjas (you know, those that come to your house at night and burn your books if you are not playing the current edition) and deal with those editions warriors instead.

 

[FireLance]

Frankly, I think we've had it too good lately. We need some good old-fashioned persecution of role-playing to remind us that the real war is not between editions, but between gamers and non-gamers.