D&D General Does D&D (and RPGs in general) Need Edition Resets?

[Minigiant]

sure, you should have a plan. For starters have the base races, classes and subclasses in the first PHB(s), probably modeled after 5e or the revised PF2 (with 2 player core books)

Then add races / classes / subclasses every two to three years to broaden the base. When you have done that two or three times, you probably have everything you will ever need, more becomes detrimental.

At that point the only thing you can still do is revisions, much like 5e 2024 does

You can tweak this a little, it’s not like I thought about this extensively, but that would be my starting point

Adding races, classes and subclasses every 2 years is too slow to many money.

That's what I'm saying.

After the initial PHB with 8+ races 10-13 class, MM, DMG...

you need a minimum of 3 crunch books every 2 years to sustain hype.

D&D's main draw is content and fanbase. Quantity over quality.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I feel like doing basically none of the species or classes new players want, maybe giving them a trickle more after years and then not producing anything else might not lead to innovation or popularity.

The idea that having new content for a product you don't have to buy more than once is a bad thing is wild.

 

[mamba]

you need a minimum of 3 crunch books every 2 years to sustain hype.

I disagree. Also, where are you getting this from, 5e had two crunch books in seven years or so

D&D's main draw is content and fanbase. Quantity over quality.

and yet there are only two crunch books, Xanathar and Tasha

 

[Minigiant]

I disagree. Also, where are you getting this from, 5e had two crunch books in seven years or so


and yet there are only two crunch books, Xanathar and Tasha

And they are restarting with the 2024 version.

I mean which settings are left for 2025? They did all the easy ones.

Either WOTC is going to hit all the 2014-223 setting again or create new ones. And I'm very skeptical of the latter.

 

[Retreater]

And they are restarting with the 2024 version.

I mean which settings are left for 2025? They did all the easy ones.

Either WOTC is going to hit all the 2014-223 setting again or create new ones. And I'm very skeptical of the latter.

Here's some stuff...

Expand beyond the limited scope they gave us with Forgotten Realms (basically only the Sword Coast) and Planescape (basically only Sigil and the Outlands) and Dragonlance (one adventure).
Greyhawk
Nentir Vale

 

[Thomas Shey]

so call it attract new customers, what you cannot do is just sell to the existing base you got in the first two years, that is living in a dream world

A market of 10 to 15 year olds does not really saturate, there are constantly new ones to sell to

You can churn the market (that is to say gain new customers as old ones fade away) but that's not the same as growing the market. It'll allow you to have a long tail, but its not going to allow you to expand your original sales. That's just not going to happen.

 

[Minigiant]

Here's some stuff...

Expand beyond the limited scope they gave us with Forgotten Realms (basically only the Sword Coast) and Planescape (basically only Sigil and the Outlands) and Dragonlance (one adventure).
Greyhawk
Nentir Vale

So like I said starting from the beginning and selling the same settings and subclasses every 10 years.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I think this assumes that D&D is the be all and end all of the hobby. Its still the undisputed king, but design is no longer resting solely on its shoulders. I think we are moving into a time where D&D is going to be the old familiar and less radical TTRPG. Innovation in design will be the realm of the indie. The market at this point exists just like this.

I think its been that way for a long time, honestly. I'm not sure when the last time anyone outside of the more closed version of the D&D ecosystem thought it was the leading edge on, well, much of anything.

 

[nevin]

So after reading all this it's

1. tiny little updates dribbled out every two or three years.

2. lot's of updates or what I call the 3rd edition model.

3. reinvent the wheel every 5 to 10 years.

We still haven't come up with anything that hasn't already been tried.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Here's some stuff...

Expand beyond the limited scope they gave us with Forgotten Realms (basically only the Sword Coast) and Planescape (basically only Sigil and the Outlands) and Dragonlance (one adventure).
Greyhawk
Nentir Vale

While I'd love to see Netir Vale's setting back and the reticence toward doing ANYTHING Greyhawk is now bordering on the tragically comedic, in this setup... what about those are they going to sell aside from DM-facing material? We've been told new player options are bad and wrong, so what are the vast, vast majority of the customer base going to buy to keep the game afloat?