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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 5895408" data-attributes="member: 996">D&D reached the height of it's popularity in the early 80s, when it was a veritable fad.So AD&D, 1e.Going back to 1e design would be a huge mistake, though.  The audience is different today, the market is different, the media are different.The goal of 5e is to bring sales up to a level Hasbro will accept as a reason to keep publishing the line.  Clearly, the only way to do that is to 're-unite' the fan base.  The fan-base was 'fractured' with each new ed, most dramatically 4e.  The logical inference is that those who broke off are the ones that need to be brought back, because those who adopted 4e have remained 'loyal' all this time.  That means giving the 3.5 holdouts everything they want (because Pathfinder already is giving them everything they want, except the D&D name-plate), waving vague nostalgia in front of fans of earlier eds (who are at just the age for that to work), and trusting that 4e fans are just habitual early-adopters who will buy, enthuse over, and defend the latest thing, every time (which is a perfectly reasonable assumption).  It has a chance of working, and being a successful product.Another thing that could really help is expanding organized play, and further pushing the OGL. The OGL was very successful in turning competitors - who take some sales away with alternative goods - into partners - who increase demand for your product by producing complementary goods.  The GSL was a dismal failure in that respect, since it amounted to little more than a clumsy attempt to kill the OGL 'golden goose.'  The OGL is still alive, but it's not WotC's golden goose, anymore.  It's Paizos.  WotC has to take it back by building 5e off the OGL the same way they did 3.5, and thus re-establish their position of dominance with other publishers.  Fans hardly come into it.  The key is to convince 3pps that the (safest) way to make money is to make stuff for 5e, not alternatives to 5e.</blockquote>

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