D&D (2024) Do you plan to adopt D&D5.5One2024Redux?

[tetrasodium]

why would they, the role is no different than in (dis)allowing anything else

Easy... It's quite simple really.

"DMs are 20% of the audience but lions share of purchases"

It's poor business sense to create a hostile expectation in 80% of your customers for the 20% of customers who represent the lion's share of purchases through marketing PR & community engagement efforts.

 

[Corinnguard]

I just do not understand the suggestions that WotC have been anything but aboveboard about the nature of the OneD&D project. They announced their intentions and methodology right up front, and have consistently stuck to that announcement. It's more like people don't want to or can't accept that WotC really meant what they said.

A leftover grudge over what WoTC tried to do to the OGL 1.0 at the beginning of 2023?

 

[mamba]

Easy... It's quite simple really.

It's poor business sense to create a hostile expectation in 80% of your customers for the 20% of customers who represent the lion's share of purchases through marketing PR & community engagement efforts.

I am not convinced they are creating such a hostile environment, I understand that is your pet peeve however

 

[Micah Sweet]

I can answer this, having been in the business of selling D&D books since 1993. I didn't see the 1e-2e changeover, but I saw the 2e black books, the 3e books, the 3.5 books, the 4e books, the 4e Essentials books, and the 5e books, and now this. Is that enough to weigh in?

I mean, ultimately it IS marketing - but the difference is SMART marketing VS FOOLISH marketing. The big difference as I see it is: EVERY SINGLE previously published book was made obsolete by those "Edition Changes" and went out-of-print until a "compatible" replacement was made, or if it was never made, the book was just discarded. Worthless (until collectors came in many years later). When 3e came out, our 2e books were garbage. Blowout stock. When 3e came out, our 3.0 books were garbage, blowout. When 4e came out, our 3.5 books were garbage, blowout (until the 4e backlash that made them HIGHLY SOUGHT out-of-print collectibles selling on Ebay for BIG BUCKS!). 4E essentials did not harm 4e, because it was compatible (their first attempt at doing so) AND YET, the community wanted to call it "Four-Point-Five" (familiar?). When 5e came out, our 4e books were garbage. Blowout.

Now there are ~20 (I'd have to count them) 5e products IN PRINT that WotC DOES NOT WANT to ruin their chances of selling MORE of. They're happy to let the 3x 2014 core books go OOP for their new books. Replacements they ARE - that's why they have the same name! BUT - they don't want you to think that the other books are not compatible with them! They want you to be able to buy them! AND if you don't buy their new core (for example, because you don't want to buy new Core books, or you're happy with your 5e 2014 books, they want you to buy THE NEXT ADVENTURE in 2025, or whatever they have going forward after the core are out.

It's as simple as that.

That's good enough for me. I really wanted someone to admit it was all about the $$, and didn't actually make the game any better.

Thank you.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You take the easy way out. Which one exactly?

5e Revised is the best compromise.

 

[mamba]

That's good enough for me. I really wanted someone to admit it was all about the $$, and didn't actually make the game any better.

you already knew it was about the $, as do we. As to making the game better, I see basically two options: we get 2024 or we get nothing at all. We would not get an incompatible new edition in 2024. Whether you consider 2024 better or not, expecting anything more is unrealistic.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

That's good enough for me. I really wanted someone to admit it was all about the $$, and didn't actually make the game any better.

Thank you.

I'm not entirely sure if your intention was to "trap" me or something, but yeah - it's about money. But more importantly, it's about not turning a whole pile of books into scrap. (To me, at least! To WotC it's probably both, and to Hasbro, it's just about the money and nothing else at all).

That said, there's no reason that the new Core Books won't make the game better. I am SURE that the designers intend to; I am less sure that they will succeed; but I hold out hope that they will. We will have to see.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm not entirely sure if your intention was to "trap" me or something, but yeah - it's about money. But more importantly, it's about not turning a whole pile of books into scrap. (To me, at least! To WotC it's probably both, and to Hasbro, it's just about the money and nothing else at all).

That said, there's no reason that the new Core Books won't make the game better. I am SURE that the designers intend to I am less sure that they will succeed, but I hold out hope that they will. We will have to see.

The approach theybare taking seems particularly friendly to other business who might have a bunch of, say, Curse if Strahd books lying around.

Out of entirely idle curiosity...how are the 2014 core books moving the past couple years since they announced the new rules?

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm not entirely sure if your intention was to "trap" me or something, but yeah - it's about money. But more importantly, it's about not turning a whole pile of books into scrap. (To me, at least! To WotC it's probably both, and to Hasbro, it's just about the money and nothing else at all).

That said, there's no reason that the new Core Books won't make the game better. I am SURE that the designers intend to I am less sure that they will succeed, but I hold out hope that they will. We will have to see.

The new books may or may not make the game better, by some metrics, for some people. Can't answer that for anyone but me. But the reason they're being released the way they are is about making and/or saving as much money as possible.

Fair enough. They can do what they want.

 

[tetrasodium]

I am not convinced they are creating such a hostile environment, I understand that is your pet peeve however

This thread alone has demonstrated that environment. Sorry I need to get ready for my "authoritarian table" and wait for Alice to expect the option of using 2014 smite mechanics followed by Bob expecting the option of getting my most casual players to majority vote with him to allow stuff from some other edition since Alice simply did it.