D&D General Styles of D&D Play

[Oofta]

To make more money?

I mean they are already making 3-4 books a year.

Adding 10 extra pages a year could add 50-100% more sales to a book.

Do you know how much a new class that speaks to a new playstyle would sell?

I mean They still printed Strxhaven en after the the initial cool ideas failed and the book became 1 race, 2 feats, a meh adventure, and half done relationship system.


SHOW OF HANDS!

Who here would be a D&D book with a new class and a new subsystem that speaks to a weakly supported playstyle in D&D?

(raises hands)

So ... based on your opinion which is unsupported by any actual data, surveys or feedback from the broader population they could greatly increase sales? Color me not convinced. If there were that much demand for it some 3PP would have stepped in and provided a "Book of Options". 'I mean you could do a survey, not that this site is particularly representative. I've just never seen much demand, make that any demand, for it over the past decade with any of the groups I've played with.

 

[Minigiant]

So ... based on your opinion which is unsupported by any actual data, surveys or feedback from the broader population they could greatly increase sales? Color me not convinced. If there were that much demand for it some 3PP would have stepped in and provided a "Book of Options". 'I mean you could do a survey, not that this site is particularly representative. I've just never seen much demand, make that any demand, for it over the past decade with any of the groups I've played with.

3PP don't have the marketing power to do it.

A5E has a new class compatible with D&D 5e. But everyone who plays doesn't know ENWorld Publishing exist.

But WOTC has double to triple the reach of ENP, KP, DP, or MDCM even for their anemic half baked setting books they pumped out in the past 4 years.

There are probably more people asking for the artificer to be included in the new PHB than 5e player who know who Kobold Press is.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I have a sneaking suspicion that all these folks who keep talking about how 2014 has all the support anyone could want are going to be rather disappointed to learn that the writers of D&D don't agree and are about to give us a big, thick, juicy book of all sorts of mechanics.

But I don't think anyone is saying this. Some are saying D&D had / has all the support they need. But I don't think anyone is saying it provides all the support anyone could need. People are different and have different needs. Even the much more extensive combat rules are not enough some people (and to much for others).

Also, you keep referencing 5e, but this is a general D&D thread - not a a 5e thread.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't see how that isn't exactly what Minigiant said.

Making a 5e clone that does the stuff 5e doesn't do would, precisely, be the potential 5e-killer you say they'd be fearing. And they would be right to fear it. "All the stuff you already know and love, and extra stuff on top" is a pretty good sales pitch.

That's a big part of why I love Level Up. That's basically what it is.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You said you disagreed with the OP. The OP was only describing ways people played D&D. If you disagree with that, you are saying "no, people do not play D&D this way". And that is what is getting the pushback. No one is suggesting that D&D is a brilliant system for doing all those things, only that people do them regardless.

No, the OP said that D&D supported all those different ways to play. That's what's being refuted.

 

[Micah Sweet]

To make more money?

I mean they are already making 3-4 books a year.

Adding 10 extra pages a year could add 50-100% more sales to a book.

Do you know how much a new class that speaks to a new playstyle would sell?

I mean They still printed Strxhaven en after the the initial cool ideas failed and the book became 1 race, 2 feats, a meh adventure, and half done relationship system.


SHOW OF HANDS!

Who here would be a D&D book with a new class and a new subsystem that speaks to a weakly supported playstyle in D&D?

(raises hands)

Not from WotC. Other publishers generally do a better job in those areas, since they have more investment in the product.

 

[Bedrockgames]

No, the OP said that D&D supported all those different ways to play. That's what's being refuted.

My reading of the OP was just that for him, D&D covers all these bases well. I don't think the OP suggesting you couldn't have more focused rules on those areas. But look at what the OP said about character driven adventures:

Character Driven​

Here, the social or role-playing aspects of the game are at the forefront. Players immerse themselves in their characters, prioritizing character development over killing monsters, gaining loot, and leveling up. Many sessions can pass in such games without a sword drawn or a blow struck. Players often devise dramatic arcs for their characters and spend the sessions progressing this arc by interacting with each other and various NPCs.

This matched my experience 100%. I get there are other ways to do character driven RPGs and there could be different tools people might want. But for a lot of people, this is a perfectly serviceable way to manage character driven adventures. It is a game that covers a broad range of play. Maybe not to everyone's taste, but his point is you can use D&D for things other than dungeon crawls or wilderness exploration

 

[Micah Sweet]

So ... based on your opinion which is unsupported by any actual data, surveys or feedback from the broader population they could greatly increase sales? Color me not convinced. If there were that much demand for it some 3PP would have stepped in and provided a "Book of Options". 'I mean you could do a survey, not that this site is particularly representative. I've just never seen much demand, make that any demand, for it over the past decade with any of the groups I've played with.

Many, many 3pps have published a "Book of Options". They're all over the place. A lot of them, in fact, rock (IMO).

 

[Micah Sweet]

My reading of the OP was just that for him, D&D covers all these bases well. I don't think the OP suggesting you couldn't have more focused rules on those areas. But look at what the OP said about character driven adventures:



This matched my experience 100%. I get there are other ways to do character driven RPGs and there could be different tools people might want. But for a lot of people, this is a perfectly serviceable way to manage character driven adventures. It is a game that covers a broad range of play. Maybe not to everyone's taste, but his point is you can use D&D for things other than dungeon crawls or wilderness exploration

But what does the game do to support character-driven play? The OP just provides a description of what it is.

 

[Oofta]

No, the OP said that D&D supported all those different ways to play. That's what's being refuted.

And why this is a never-ending argument. Because the play styles happen all the time which means that they are supported. They just don't have the spelled out gamified total support you want.