D&D (2024) WotC is right to avoid the word "edition."

[Parmandur]

There was money involved. What can you say?

Sure, in all three cases.

 

[Parmandur]

There was money involved. What can you say?

And actually, I will say after reading Jon Peterson's latest book, which makes both Gygax and Arneson look pretty bad, it does provide the cultural and legal context for why Gygax would feel that Srneson wasn't owed anything even if ideas of his were at the kernel of AD&D (the world of hobby gaming was extremely loose with IP prior to the 80's, and using other people's rules as an uncredited base was common.

 

[Iosue]

And actually, I will say after reading Jon Peterson's latest book, which makes both Gygax and Arneson look pretty bad, it does provide the cultural and legal context for why Gygax would feel that Srneson wasn't owed anything even if ideas of his were at the kernel of AD&D (the world of hobby gaming was extremely loose with IP prior to the 80's, and using other people's rules as an uncredited base was common.

After reading that book, I didn’t fault Arneson for his lawsuits. D&D was created from his idea, and he had a contract. What I did come to understand, more than before, was that as innovative as Arneson (indeed, all the Twin Cities crew) was, his idea would never have become available to the wide world without Gygax.

 

[Parmandur]

After reading that book, I didn’t fault Arneson for his lawsuits. D&D was created from his idea, and he had a contract. What I did come to understand, more than before, was that as innovative as Arneson (indeed, all the Twin Cities crew) was, his idea would never have become available to the wide world without Gygax.

The actions of both sides make a lot more sense after it's all laid out in the book.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

3.5 because the changes could have been released as free errata. Having to buy 3 new core books made a lot people angry, not to mention it made their 3.0 books drop in value instantly. And even though it was backwards compatible, customers still avoided 3.0 product, which caused problems for store owners. In hindsight, 3.5 probably caused more problems then it did good.

Two things:

1. There was a free document with (close to) all changes online for free: the SRD.
We played at least a year with 3.0 + SRD.

2. The changes were not minor. I could dive into it further if you want, but lets just say, in some ways, the change from 3.0 to 3.5 was bigger than the change from 2e (+skills and powers) to 3e.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Oh and another thing.

I don' like One D&D as OD&D sounds wrong somehow.
But Anniversary D&D could get the abbreviation ADnD, which has a nice ring to it.

 

[Jahydin]

Two things:

1. There was a free document with (close to) all changes online for free: the SRD.
We played at least a year with 3.0 + SRD.

2. The changes were not minor. I could dive into it further if you want, but lets just say, in some ways, the change from 3.0 to 3.5 was bigger than the change from 2e (+skills and powers) to 3e.

I agree; I was speaking from the casual consumer's perspective. I know my players couldn't have cared less if I played 3.0 or 3.5, it was the same game to them, haha.

 

[MockingBird]

Two things:

1. There was a free document with (close to) all changes online for free: the SRD.
We played at least a year with 3.0 + SRD.

2. The changes were not minor. I could dive into it further if you want, but lets just say, in some ways, the change from 3.0 to 3.5 was bigger than the change from 2e (+skills and powers) to 3e.

I played 3e when it was fairly new, stopped playing and didn't dabble again until 4e launched. Can you explain what the major differences were in 3.0 and 3.5? I played PF but I don't even know how different it is to 3.5. All I know is the general consensus seems to be it wasnt very compatible.

 

[HammerMan]

Point of order: AD&D was very specifically an entirely new game. To satisfy the entire reason it existed it had to be.

They all were just to one degree or another

 

[HammerMan]

I also don't necessarily agree that the playtest material represents "whole sale changes." Would you care to elaborate?

You have feats being leveled (and no longer optional)
Background features are gone
Backgrounds now GIVE feats
Races are completely diffrent

We have new status and comditions

We have new crit rules (including the hint that something else will replace monster crits)