D&D General WotC Has Owned D&D Longer Than TSR Did

As Matt Forbeck pointed out on Twitter, WotC has owned D&D for 24 years since it purchased TSR in 1997. TSR created D&D in 1974, 23 years before WotC bought it.

 

[MNblockhead]

There are different kinds of fluff.
D&D fluff used to be like pretty pictures (all those detailed regional books).
Now they are selling us mainly coloring books. Detailed and intricate but waiting to be filled with color.
I have to say, it won me over.

Is this a reference to the new Dyson logo maps⸮

;-)

 

[MNblockhead]

Equally funny how people confuse what they like personally with quality.

Quality is subjective. Perhaps we should ask casual internet discussion group participants to submit their quality-assurance specs when opining on whether they feel a product is of good quality⸮

 

[MNblockhead]

As I said, if you consider 5 card draw and Texas Hold Em the same game (and, in fact, they are both the same game in theory, both being versions of Poker), I can see why you would consider TSR D&D and Hasbro D&D the same game.

I concede. I like Poker and I like D&D. The different flavors are meaningful, but I enjoy them all. If someone invited me for a Poker game and it turned out to be five-card draw, instead of Texas Hold 'Em, I wouldn't feel mislead, I'd just hold my friend who invited me in lower esteem.

 

[Aaron L]

From the other side, as someone who started after Hasbro had bought WotC, looking back at earlier stuff is clearly the same game.

Especially 5E, which is essentially Basic + 3E mixed with a heavy dose of 1E sensibilities. Which is why I love it, and my gaming group of old 1E grognards consider it to be the best edition ever.

 

[darjr]

I do think 5e is the best edition. This from a Moldvey Basic lover.

 

[Aaron L]

I do think 5e is the best edition. This from a Moldvey Basic lover.

Several of my gaming friends even say they couldn't ever play 1E again because of the limitations in character customization. I don't go that far; I could still happily play an occasional 1E campaign, but that may just be because I love 1E Rangers so damn much.

 

[darjr]

I’ve run it just using the free WotC basic rules and very much like basic of old and in an old style.

Ive run it with all the books and DMsGuild and third party stuff available and it was very much like an AD&D game.

I’ve even run a mod or two in a very different high powered almost super hero style.

And they all worked. I love it.

 

[Dire Bare]

It's always weird to me how people confuse popularity and sales with quality.

Sigh.

It's always weird to me how folks like to push the idea that something popular and enjoyed by many folks, just simply can't be quality, all those sheep are missing out on what us few elite know to be real quality . . . .

 

[billd91]

Especially 5E, which is essentially Basic + 3E mixed with a heavy dose of 1E sensibilities. Which is why I love it, and my gaming group of old 1E grognards consider it to be the best edition ever.

Same here. I'd even say that the 1e sensibilities make it even clearer that it is the same game compared to other other editions in the interim. Yeah, it's a somewhat newer generation with some newer controls, but recognizably the same.

 

[Dire Bare]

Considering the fact that 1981 is the year TSR released BX D&D (Moldvay/Cook/Marsh) which is widely regarded as the most elegant version of D&D there ever was, the answer to your question is "NO." [emoji4]

"Widely regarded"? Okay.

I cut my teeth on BECMI, the next slight evolution of B/X D&D, I love the OSR movement harking back to those classic versions of my favorite game . . . but the idea that the slice of this hobby's fandom that holds the oldest versions of the game as the pinnacle of it's design are a majority of fans in any way . . . nah.