D&D 5E Are you ready for a new edition of D&D?

[Ahnehnois]

However 3e/PF is indeed the best at a certain type of game and playstyle, therefore it will always have an audience.

To the thread topic, I hope not. I hope something comes along that is a true upgrade, not a rehash or a diversion into some different territory. As you say, 3e is not necessarily great so much as it is the best of limited options.

 

[Wulfgar76]

Only if it's a zero-sum game. Which it's pretty clear that it isn't. More support for a game = bigger and more active community = bigger total market size = more profit "pie" to go for.

The OGL, if handled well, makes hugely good business sense, growing the D&D market pie in exchange for letting others have slices of it. The huge mistake with 4E was removing the OGL, removing, at a stroke, a mass of support and enthusiasm for the game while, at the same time, leaving the old version to go its own way in competition (and then not even continuing to sell it, so missing out on free moey).

I don't know enough about it to argue differently. You could be right, but it seems to run counter to the whole idea of protecting the value of your investment and intellectual property. Some have said the OGL was bad for WotC in the long term. Others (like you) say it's a win-win.

I still say it's naive to give your competitors carte blanche to rip off your intellectual property, and expect that to benefit you somehow. It may work if you are the undisputed leader in the industry, as D&D once was. But right now the TTRPG audience is pretty fragmented - is D&D robust enough as a brand to risk another wide-open OGL? I doubt it.

Perhaps the answer lies, as you suggested, in a strictly-regulated OGL.

 

[Warunsun]

I feel like this is possible, but it depends to a huge degree on OGL or licensing stuff -- stuff that WotC has been dead silent on.

Ladies and Gentlemen: There's more than one way to skin a cat.

If Paizo and Wizards wanted to work together they can without an OGL or GSL. Wizards makes business arrangements all the time with companies and has had previous arrangements with Paizo. So even if the OGL is not used for 5E that doesn't prevent the possibility of good things happening. We just have to be patient and hopeful. Because one way or the other they will not tell us yet.

I think the OGL will be usable in some fashion because 5E is very similar to a lot of retro-clones you can download for free or buy cheaply. It is too similar to the SRD already to totally stop it without striking the OGL. So my bet is on the OGL being usable but still not required for an established publisher.

 

[Balesir]

I don't know enough about it to argue differently. You could be right, but it seems to run counter to the whole idea of protecting the value of your investment and intellectual property. Some have said the OGL was bad for WotC in the long term. Others (like you) say it's a win-win.

I don't think the OGL was perfect, but to think of it in terms of competitors "ripping off your IP" doesn't really stand up. Think of it like the Windows operating system. Microsoft actually started off behind the curve relative to Apple, but they became the dominant OS because they kept their system open (at least to begin with). They encouraged all hardware manufacturers to use their OS, and they encouraged software creators to write for their OS without imposing limitations, hurdles or mandatory QA. They didn't allow others to sell Windows itself, unlicensed, but they allowed compatible software and hardware freely. The result was that Apple suffered. Apple don't seem to have learned the lesson - they still restrict software and content sales for iOS and OSx and don't allow their use on third party hardware makers. Which is why I think they'll peter out unless they change, now that their style guru has gone.

Perhaps the answer lies, as you suggested, in a strictly-regulated OGL.

It's not really a case of strict regulation - it's a case of being careful what exactly you allow others to use freely. What you do allow them to use, though, should be usable as freely as possible.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Absolutely ready. I really need something new to get out of the current rut. The excitement of the new will get me to look at playing an rpg for the first time in about two years.

 

[Hussar]

Ladies and Gentlemen: There's more than one way to skin a cat.

If Paizo and Wizards wanted to work together they can without an OGL or GSL. Wizards makes business arrangements all the time with companies and has had previous arrangements with Paizo. So even if the OGL is not used for 5E that doesn't prevent the possibility of good things happening. We just have to be patient and hopeful. Because one way or the other they will not tell us yet.

I think the OGL will be usable in some fashion because 5E is very similar to a lot of retro-clones you can download for free or buy cheaply. It is too similar to the SRD already to totally stop it without striking the OGL. So my bet is on the OGL being usable but still not required for an established publisher.

This is a good point to remember. Dragon and Dungeon, under Paizo, were never OGL. Not a single line of it was OGL. Paizo produced nothing but closed content because of a separate licensing deal with WOTC.

Now, I think Eric Mona has been on record as saying they would never do it again, and I think he has a point. If you license yourself to another company you are always hostage to that company. Exactly as we saw - WOTC took back the license and Paizo was left holding the bag. They recovered magnificently and that was 100% due to the OGL.

But, Paizo got to where it was - a large second tier RPG publisher - through publishing closed content. The OGL did not benefit them at all until WOTC pulled the license. One wonders how licensing would work in the future. Once bitten and twice shy and all that.

 

[tsadkiel]

Things I am ready for: a new edition of D&D, to rumble, this.

I am not yet ready for some football.

 

[Warunsun]

One wonders how licensing would work in the future.

Yes sir. I have no idea how it will work for the masses but it could work really nicely for select companies if they both parties really wanted it to. No need for the OGL if you have a different agreement.

I wouldn't want to see Paizo or any other game company give up on their current things. They do have happy customers. But I would love to see them (meaning companies like Paizo, Goodman Games, etc.) also support D&D 5E. These companies make great adventures and it would be awesome for us if they could also support 5E and their own systems. Everyone would win.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Definitely. I have not played 4E. I have been running a fortnightly 3.5E D&D game since 2006 and in the last couple of years the flaws of the system have definitely started to show more and more. I'm at the point now where running a game at level 12+ really isn't a lot of fun for me.

So I'm totally ready for a new edition of D&D.

 

[skotothalamos]

We're still getting a lot of play out of 4e. We played through one campaign to 30th level, took 9 months off and now we're working our way through the 4e version of Zeitgeist. When that's done, there are a few 4e ideas i'd like to play around with before I think about 5e. So... in about 3 years I'll probably start a Next game just in time for WotC to start work on 6th.