D&D (2024) We’ll be merging the One D&D and D&D forums shortly

[MNblockhead]

A real question.

Has anyone ever be confused by Windows Editions?

I startet with win 3.11
Then win 95
Then win 98
Then win 98SE
Then win xp
Then win 7
Win Vista
Then win 8
Then win 10
Then win 11

In between there was
Win NT
And win 2000
A sidegrade for network administrations

Win 3.11 was a graphic DOS shell
Win 95 was new optically, but still a DOS shell
Win 98 was still a DOS shell
Win 98 SE was not a DOS shell anymore (IIRC - nope did not remember correctly... ), but was the new operating system.
Edit: Win ME (last DOS based edition)
Win XP was good.
Win vista was less good.
Win 7 was good.
Win 8 was... less good? Somewhere was a switch to 64 bit.
Win 10 was good.
Win 11 is ok.

Oh I forgot the difference between home and professional editions...

Ok. I am a bit confused... But at the time, most users just upgraded to the current edition. Sometimes identified by number, sometimes by a year and sometimes by a weird name. Just what was fancy at the time.

Always made more sense to me that the Mac OS naming conventions.

 

[Chaosmancer]

You're flatly wrong.

That's exactly what happened to me when I bought D&D for the first time. AD&D 2E had just come out. That wasn't just "not a secret", it was downright advertised - but I wasn't already inside the hobby, I wasn't reading magazines or browsing forums. I went straight into a Games Workshop store (as was the fashion at the time) and bought "AD&D" - and a couple of weeks later when I showed it to a friend he was like "You've bought the wrong edition!" - so I got an early taste of edition warring!

Anyway, this still happens. Absolutely normal people, new to the hobby DO walk into shops and just pick up "D&D". This is absolutely a thing and pretending it isn't shows that you're out-of-touch with how the a significant proportion of people got into this game in 5E, which wasn't through deep knowledge and careful research, but just becoming aware of D&D and going and buying it. The first new-to-5E group I DM'd for had done exactly what you're denying happens! They didn't really understand what they'd bought and through a friend of a friend I was asked to come and DM for them one time to get them started.

So... let's say someone who isn't in the hobby come 2025 walks into a gaming store. They see a book called "Dungeons and Dragons" on the shelf. They've never heard of the game. They buy it, get home and read it.

At what point are they supposed to be confused because the book didn't specify it was Dungeons and Dragons 5.5 edition? At what point is that supposed to have caused them any issue, because the book was called "Dungeons and Dragons" instead of "Dungeons and Dragons 5.5 edition"

It seems odd to both claim that people absolutely will go into buying DnD completely sight unseen, and that they will ALSO be harmed in some manner because they got the newest version of the rules without knowing it. How is that supposed to work?

 

[FrogReaver]

So... let's say someone who isn't in the hobby come 2025 walks into a gaming store. They see a book called "Dungeons and Dragons" on the shelf. They've never heard of the game. They buy it, get home and read it.

At what point are they supposed to be confused because the book didn't specify it was Dungeons and Dragons 5.5 edition? At what point is that supposed to have caused them any issue, because the book was called "Dungeons and Dragons" instead of "Dungeons and Dragons 5.5 edition"

It seems odd to both claim that people absolutely will go into buying DnD completely sight unseen, and that they will ALSO be harmed in some manner because they got the newest version of the rules without knowing it. How is that supposed to work?

1. All this seems to highly depend on how many groups adopt the updated ruleset. Like if everyone is using the new rules great! If it's 50-50 then buying the new rulebook may mean you bought the wrong D&D to be able to play with your friends - and there's a good chance you wouldn't even know to ask the question about whether it's the right version or not as you are new.

2. And on the other side let's say you have someone casually into D&D that occasionally buys some books. If they walk into the same store and see a D&D players handbook or even Revised 5e D&D Player's Handbook - they are going to think I already own that, why even look at it.

At the end of the day it seems better to call it something clearly distinct while marketing it's compatibility with existing 5e products (even if a little rough around the edges in some cases).

 

[Parmandur]

A bit. I once (only once, mind) had to convince a father that the 4e PHB1 that he'd grabbed off our blowout shelf, in spite of being a "good deal" was NOT going to help his kid play D&D (5e) with his friends and that he NEEDED to get the "more expensive" one.

Thinking more on this anecdote...in 2025, in the same situation woth a 2014 clearance book...it really wouldn't be the same sort of issue for the dad and kid.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Thinking more on this anecdote...in 2025, in the same situation woth a 2014 clearance book...it really wouldn't be the same sort of issue for the dad and kid.

Pretty much. I might suggest the 2024 book, but I won't have to insist on it.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

1. All this seems to highly depend on how many groups adopt the updated ruleset. Like if everyone is using the new rules great! If it's 50-50 then buying the new rulebook may mean you bought the wrong D&D to be able to play with your friends - and there's a good chance you wouldn't even know to ask the question about whether it's the right version or not as you are new.

If someone doesn't know what to look for, a little .5 after nothing won't help.

I bet D&D 5e 2nd edition would help them more. And I swear, my AD&D books had it printed all over, and still I would have (and I think I have) bought a few AD&D 1st edition books. Because I really did not know.
A simple google search had helped me find the information that there was an overhaul of the rules in 1978?.

I am very sure people are clever enough to do that now. There are people who claimed here on this board that pushing subclasses back to 3rd level means that WotC thinks new players are stupid. Now how do people think that new players won't find out whochbbook to buy.

And for parents and grandparents? Fritz already told us that for them 3.5, 4, 5 does not make a difference anyway.
Probably calling it 2024 edition will be the best way to show them that this book is up to date.

2. And on the other side let's say you have someone casually into D&D that occasionally buys some books. If they walk into the same store and see a D&D players handbook or even Revised 5e D&D Player's Handbook - they are going to think I already own that, why even look at it.

Why should they look at them close enough at all? Maybe the new art of the book is more catchy than anything they can write on it. And I guess: "revised" will make them look inside too.

At the end of the day it seems better to call it something clearly distinct while marketing it's compatibility with existing 5e products (even if a little rough around the edges in some cases).

Yeah. Make a proposal...

D&D ultimate edition?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

If someone doesn't know what to look for, a little .5 after nothing won't help.

Nor will it hurt; if they don't know what to look for, changes make no difference. But presenting two actually different things under the same label could be confusing for someone who is somewhat in the know, but not perfectly up-to-date. "Why are there two books with the same name? Are they the same? Are they different? They have different covers..."

There's been a trend in video games lately to make the newest sequel in a series have the same name as the original. This never works, and instead gets pretty much universally described with the far-less-engaging "Name (Date)" format. E.g. it's not "DOOM" but rather "DOOM (2016)". I still do not understand why folks try to do this, because there's clearly much more market value in having a strong, distinct name, rather than leaving it up to happenstance what the community at large calls it.

 

[Minigiant]

Around the 15-year mark, 3.X/PF1e had clearly begun showing its age. By the time you hit 20, many had started looking for something new, and 5e offered that.

I would be very much unsurprised if they announce a long-term public playtesting process sometime in 2030 or maybe early 2031, with its own ridiculous buzzword title like "D&D: Resurrected" or whatever. Especially if the revised version of 5e ends up being, as some have argued here, effectively identical apart from rewriting some of the classes and subclasses.

It was the adventure paths Paizo sold that kept me in it. Its the lack of adventure paths in 5E that keeps me out of it.

3.X/PF1e huge back log and Paizo's continued support IMO kept people sticking with it despite it's age and community disgruntleness. You see the same with the oldereditions and OSR.

For the 2024 version to succeed with its age, WOTC's will have to increase content flow and/or increase the visibility of 3PP's content. or this dance will happen again in 2030 or so.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

3.X/PF1e huge back log and Paizo's continued support IMO kept people sticking with it despite it's age and community disgruntleness. You see the same with the oldereditions and OSR.

For the 2024 version to succeed with its age, WOTC's will have to increase content flow and/or increase the visibility of 3PP's content. or this dance will happen again in 2030 or so.

Yeah. I think that while some still appreciate the...shall we say "slow drip" form of content from 5.0, WotC is probably going to need to step things up a bit as folks look for new horizons.

That's another part of why I suspect there won't be a "5.75e" or whatever we feel like calling it. A new edition gives them breathing room, and fosters tons of hype via public marketing playtesting. (Though I will admit, I have been surprised at how much the "OneD&D" playtest has actually listened to people. Both "D&D Next" and the various PF1e public playtests were much more like previews than playtests. If the designers really wanted something, they'd go for it or hold out for a LONG time before yielding to feedback. That hasn't been true of the current playtest, and I respect that.)

Between "this game is 20 years old," playtest-hype, the financial surge from selling new core books, and the design breathing room...yeah, I think there will be a lot of reasons for WotC to seriously consider a new edition starting around 2030 if 5.5e performs about as well as I expect it to, or a bit earlier if it struggles.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

So... let's say someone who isn't in the hobby come 2025 walks into a gaming store. They see a book called "Dungeons and Dragons" on the shelf. They've never heard of the game. They buy it, get home and read it.

At what point are they supposed to be confused because the book didn't specify it was Dungeons and Dragons 5.5 edition? At what point is that supposed to have caused them any issue, because the book was called "Dungeons and Dragons" instead of "Dungeons and Dragons 5.5 edition"

It seems odd to both claim that people absolutely will go into buying DnD completely sight unseen, and that they will ALSO be harmed in some manner because they got the newest version of the rules without knowing it. How is that supposed to work?

That's a separate point from what I was arguing. You seem to agree with my point so...