D&D 5E New D&D Player Survey!

[beancounter]

I mean long term the people who are younger now will grow to be the older in 10 years... and some of us old timers will move on (or worse) from gaming... if they don't target youth they lose D&D forever.

Yep, I'm not arguing that they shouldn't. Appealing to the preferences of the majority makes sense.

I'm just saying that if they already have a plan/direction, the survey really isn't necessary.

 

[Aldarc]

That's ... kind of the problem. Sure, you can get something that can sorta do everything ....

But is this the tool that you actually want to use for everything?

Your point could as easily apply to D&D as a game as it could to the Forgotten Realms as a setting.

Yes, it's perfect.

I find it a bit "meh." To me, the Forgotten Realms feels more like a setting where books happen than a setting where play happens. This is also my issue with Dragonlance.

There are other D&D-brand kitchen sinks that I prefer for this latter purpose: e.g., Eberron, Nentir Vale, etc. Greyhawk feels more like a kitchen sink setting meant for play than books as well, so it has more appeal to me than FR or DL, but it also feels like a relic of an older bygone model of what a D&D-brand Kitchen Sink looks like.

 

[Blue]

Don't confuse cause and effect: once the FR was out there, Greenwood ultimate fanfiction pastiche cleaned up for family audiences by Grubb, the genie was out of the bottle. WotC keeps going back because it is popular, not the other way around.

I'm not confusing cause and effect. That's like saying that the popularity of previous editions of D&D have nothing to do with how popular it is compared to a brand new RPG without any brand recognition. D&D is the 800 lb gorilla of RPGs - but so much of that is because it already has an established base and brand.

4e is a great example of people upset about splitting the fanbase - because the size of the fanbase from the previous edition is a nigh-uncatchable lead that has nothing to do with quality of a new edition. PF was a "more true" continuation of the previous edition and it got the fans.

Same with FR - if you have established a large fanbase because you've pushed it more than others, or in many cases to the exclusion of others, any claim that it is the most popular on strictly it's own merits needs to try to normalize measurements based on that push (or lack). It is not an argument that can stand on it's own without that.

 

[Parmandur]

I find it a bit "meh." To me, the Forgotten Realms feels more like a setting where books happen than a setting where play happens. This is also my issue with Dragonlance.

There are other D&D-brand kitchen sinks that I prefer for this latter purpose: e.g., Eberron, Nentir Vale, etc. Greyhawk feels more like a kitchen sink setting meant for play than books as well, so it has more appeal to me than FR or DL, but it also feels like a relic of an older bygone model of what a D&D-brand Kitchen Sink looks like.

My experience with the FR is entirely as game material, never did the fiction. As a bland canvas full of material, it's fantastic. Most of those others are a little too specific in their flavor profile to be as useful.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm not confusing cause and effect. That's like saying that the popularity of previous editions of D&D have nothing to do with how popular it is compared to a brand new RPG without any brand recognition. D&D is the 800 lb gorilla of RPGs - but so much of that is because it already has an established base and brand.

4e is a great example of people upset about splitting the fanbase - because the size of the fanbase from the previous edition is a nigh-uncatchable lead that has nothing to do with quality of a new edition. PF was a "more true" continuation of the previous edition and it got the fans.

Same with FR - if you have established a large fanbase because you've pushed it more than others, or in many cases to the exclusion of others, any claim that it is the most popular on strictly it's own merits needs to try to normalize measurements based on that push (or lack). It is not an argument that can stand on it's own without that.

TSR threw everything at the wall, no half measures, FR is what stuck. Because it works for people's gaming needs.

 

[Lanefan]

How does asking about box sets folks bought back in the 80's appeal to a younger audience? Birthright setting doesn't exactly scream baby zoomer.

Except it might, if they're at all thinking of rebooting it only with a strong Game-of-Thrones clash-of-houses feel behind it.

 

[Blue]

TSR threw everything at the wall, no half measures, FR is what stuck. Because it works for people's gaming needs.

I deny your claim that everything was thrown at the wall equally. Again, look at what settings ... no, sorry, setting, was the only one Wizard's published officially for a significant fraction of 5e's lifespan. Look at the list of settings in the D&D survey and tell me with a straight face that there were no half measures and each was supported similarly in each edition of D&D.

Because if they weren't "thrown at the wall" equally, then that doesn't refute the point I made.

 

[Lanefan]

I deny your claim that everything was thrown at the wall equally. Again, look at what settings ... no, sorry, setting, was the only one Wizard's published officially for a significant fraction of 5e's lifespan. Look at the list of settings in the D&D survey and tell me with a straight face that there were no half measures and each was supported similarly in each edition of D&D.

Because if they weren't "thrown at the wall" equally, then that doesn't refute the point I made.

What TSR failed to notice is that sometime around 1994 the wall they were throwing at fell down.....

 

[Mistwell]

I ran into an error (likely previously discussed here at length) where a question asked how much D&D I have played other than 5th edition in the past 5 years (I answered none), and then asked why I have not played any D&D in the past 12 months. What?

 

[Azzy]

I ran into an error (likely previously discussed here at length) where a question asked how much D&D I have played other than 5th edition in the past 5 years (I answered none), and then asked why I have not played any D&D in the past 12 months. What?

That's strange. I answered the same as you, but didn't receive that error.