There is a lot of stuff out for D&D right now, and sales are doing fine (Amazon)

[generic]

It's true! See here: https://www.amazon.com/author-rank/...ref=ntt_at_kar_B009KAKQIC/132-4242731-8774903

Proof that gaming is good for your health!

Not when your players bring cookies!

 

[dave2008]

They are not really common knowledge, no. Once we get to this many books in, I don't think saving a couple of letters typed for an acronym with diminishing numbers who can keep track of them all is wise. I mean, if you're getting the responses you want when using them, then cool. But, I suspect different.

PS: removed post

 

[dave2008]

By the way, what IS the "AA" on that book shelf?

Art & Arcana

 

[Parmandur]

I agree. We saw how well it worked out (market-wise, not personal preference-wise) when they went the other direction.* I'm not as sure that one works without the other. That is, if D&D didn't already have those externalities built-in, I'm not sure that the research/development would matter nearly as much. I can't think of an rpg example, but I would point to some of the early social media competitors as examples of the network not being enough. Some of the those products built up massive networks very quickly, but the weakness of the underlying engine was weak and that made the networks fragile. (I would say that Facebook is a middling example, and their current struggles are them rapidly trying to adjust their engine before their network becomes too fragile and disintegrates.)

*In particular, the development phase with the massive playtesting is/was a far better way of assessing how people actually use the game than whatever it was they did to develop either of the previous editions.

Basically the previous 2.5 Editions were designed to be the game the designers wanted to play. Which is not unreasonable really, but the game designers who got to play every day apparently had increasingly esoteric interests.

 

[Jester David]

This all applies to 4e.

4e came out after Pathfinder.

4e had the D&D brand.

3e wasn't being made anymore.

Why do people suddenly not have the problem of knowing what to play now? 3e, 4e, and Pathfinder all exist, so shouldn't that be even worse than with 4e?

You've assumed there are 'new entrants' then they pick out what RPG to play.

People recommend 5e to their friends. Then their friends try it and like it. Hobby gamers are a minority of RPG players now.

4e was chasing after a splintered player base. Non-hobby gamers had no interest and the ones that were around already had games they liked.

No one could have predicted that 5e would be able to gain this sort of momentum. Yes, when a bunch of geeky people getting together and trying to figure out what to play that usually falls on the most recent edition of D&D. What doesn't happen though is that non-hobby gamers are introduced, love it, and then start up games for their friends and so on. And that is what has happened.

Nitpick:
While Pathfinder the Adventure Path came out before 4e (in 2007) Pathfinder the RPG came out in 2009, a year after 4e.

 

[Parmandur]

They are not really common knowledge, no. Once we get to this many books in, I don't think saving a couple of letters typed for an acronym with diminishing numbers who can keep track of them all is wise. I mean, if you're getting the responses you want when using them, then cool. But, I suspect different.

Honestly, the acronyms became ridiculous in my book with Tales from the Yawning Portal...

 

[abirdcall]

Nitpick:
While Pathfinder the Adventure Path came out before 4e (in 2007) Pathfinder the RPG came out in 2009, a year after 4e.

Fair, and all the more reason why 4e should have done well.

 

[TerraDave]

Man these acronyms really suck.

People know what the Ravnica book is...not "GMGtR" (one letter difference, massive change in communication). They know what Dragon Heist is, not WDDH. They know Mad Mage is not DotMM (which by the way is only a savings of two letters for far less communication). And even I have no idea what AA is other than Alcoholics Anonymous.

"People" can suck, its true.

 

[gyor]

I just use GGR for Ravnica's book.

 

[MNblockhead]

But how does this fit into the narrative about how 5E is the worst, the books are mediocre, and nobody likes the game...?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Because, once us hoi polloi like it, it is no longer cool or high quality. Luckily there is a very long tail of high-concept TTRPGs for the hipster dogs to chase.