WotC 2020 Was The Best Year Ever For Dungeons & Dragons

[Mistwell]

Let me list things WOTC can do to appeal to the old crowd:

More polearms!

What exactly would be so wrong about more polearm options? I really don't see how "sickle" is more important than "pike."

 

[Kurotowa]

What exactly would be so wrong about more polearm options? I really don't see how "sickle" is more important than "pike."

Polearms are an old, OLD meme. The AD&D 2e PHB had eighteen varieties of polearm in it, covering a wide array of weights, damage types, speed factors, and damage dice. It including compelling iconic options like the glaive-guisarme, the guisarme-volge, the hook fauchard, the lucern hammer, the partisan, the ranseur, and the spetum.

No one used any of them. Swords were cooler, better, and you never found a magic fauchard-fork anyway. But the amount of page space given to a laundry list of polearms in the PHB and supplements like the Arms & Equipment Guide took on legendary status.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Your personal anecdote trumps my personal anecdote?

Nope. I'm saying neither means anything, and that you need some actual facts and data to support your beliefs. Otherwise the anecdote doesn't mean much.

 

[Azzy]

Polearms are an old, OLD meme. The AD&D 2e PHB had eighteen varieties of polearm in it, covering a wide array of weights, damage types, speed factors, and damage dice. It including compelling iconic options like the glaive-guisarme, the guisarme-volge, the hook fauchard, the lucern hammer, the partisan, the ranseur, and the spetum.

No one used any of them. Swords were cooler, better, and you never found a magic fauchard-fork anyway. But the amount of page space given to a laundry list of polearms in the PHB and supplements like the Arms & Equipment Guide took on legendary status.

It's even older than that... The 1e PHB had quite a few polearms (many of which no one used and wouldn't be feasable in a dungeon crawl, anyways). And then the 1e UA happened—now MOAR polearms! And an appendix in the back is a disertation on polearms (with illustrations of each type)!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I wouldn't bet money on that conclusion.

Most of the good ones have been done - under licence by 3PPs if not by WotC itself. Not sure what there is left that isn't of The Forest Oracle standard and doesn't involve topics WotC would prefer to avoid like slavery.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

Nah. Those are stereotypes. As an old time gamer who also designs old school games, all you really need are these (opinions vary of course, and I swear I already listed this. Perhaps in another thread...)

rulings over rules. That means you don’t have a ton of rules the players have to learn. You have guidelines and the framework, but on the fly rulings are made based on those guidelines so as not to slow down gameplay or inadvertently influence players to not try something if they don’t have a skill or the highest skill for it

zero to hero path. Low level characters are only slightly better than commoners, but through cautious play, can achieve great power

not all encounters are assumed to beatable. The world is living, meaning just because the party is level 3, the dragon in the mountains doesn’t suddenly become CR manageable.

yes, save or die is one of them, and about the only one on the list that is right. You shouldn’t keep getting multiple save attempts to resist a Medusa’s gaze. It makes the PCs more cautious and don’t just Zerg through the dungeon. However, true to old school fashion, if there are save or die creatures or traps, there is almost always also something to mitigate that. Scrolls of protection, or stone to flesh, etc can be found by the thorough party.

fast character creation along with niche protection. It’s a team game. One person is the QB, one the RB, etc. not everyone has to be the QB all the time, in all scenarios. Classes shine at different times.

sandbox and players have control. The DM is a referee, not someone who plays favorites. The players have complete control to go wherever they want. Yes, even if it’s a bad choice lol. The story is created a you go, rather than predetermined. That’s why you rarely see old school PCs with extensive backstories. The heroics are created as you play. And why you don’t see many old school players make builds in advance to high levels. It’s all determined based on what’s happening in the game at the time you level up.

Maybe is because I'm old, but I don't find these something old school like, I find these simply "good gaming"

 

[darjr]

Knowing something is popular at GenCon tells them nothing
All those people are gamers. They're already part of the audience
WizCo could film a room like that as well (And they did in GenCon 2012)

It was CR spreading to non gamers and people starting to play DnD because of it. That changed everything and that came later
When CR started doing live shows outside of cons
And the sheer number of people brought in by streaming games is still surprising. Even in 2017 or 2018 it would have been hard to believe

Prior to the infographics released in 2020 would YOU have believed almost half the audience was under 30? That people 45 and up were less than a fifth of the player base?

Those goalposts wheels are squeaking.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Now this sounds like fandom talking about a videogame studio and if this should sell hardcore or casual titles. The 5th Ed has been designed for "casual" players, and they have sold more than ever. Then, why to change it? We can understand the point of view of the "hardcore" players ready for more complex rules but the majority doesn't want this, or at least not yet.

I wonder the impact of the virtual tabletops for online games. Maybe this has helped. Of course with multiplayer videogames you can do a lot of things, but the TTRPGs allows your house rules.

 

[Parmandur]

Most of the good ones have been done - under licence by 3PPs if not by WotC itself. Not sure what there is left that isn't of The Forest Oracle standard and doesn't involve topics WotC would prefer to avoid like slavery.

Desert of Desolation.

 

[Kurotowa]

It's even older than that... The 1e PHB had quite a few polearms (many of which no one used and wouldn't be feasable in a dungeon crawl, anyways). And then the 1e UA happened—now MOAR polearms! And an appendix in the back is a disertation on polearms (with illustrations of each type)!

I figured as much, but I date myself by having a 2e PHB to reference and not a 1e one.