D&D 5E Are you ready for a new edition of D&D?

[Hussar]

We're still getting a lot of play out of 4e. We played through one campaign to 30th level, took 9 months off and now we're working our way through the 4e version of Zeitgeist. When that's done, there are a few 4e ideas i'd like to play around with before I think about 5e. So... in about 3 years I'll probably start a Next game just in time for WotC to start work on 6th.

Funnily enough, if history is any judge, I'll be a year or two before jumping on any new edition. I've always been a year or so behind. Which means if WOTC starts banging out new editions even faster, I'll probably start skipping editions.

 

[fjw70]

Things I am ready for: a new edition of D&D, to rumble, this.

I am not yet ready for some football.

I am ready for a new edition and football.

 

[delericho]

This is a good point to remember. Dragon and Dungeon, under Paizo, were never OGL. Not a single line of it was OGL. Paizo produced nothing but closed content because of a separate licensing deal with WOTC.

Nitpick: there were a couple (actually, I think it literally was two) articles that were opn content - one adapted something from "Arcana Unearthed" to D&D, and I forget what the other was.

Now, I think Eric Mona has been on record as saying they would never do it again, and I think he has a point. If you license yourself to another company you are always hostage to that company. Exactly as we saw - WOTC took back the license and Paizo was left holding the bag.

Yep. I can't imagine Paizo being foolish enough even to consider such an arrangement. If Hasbro decide to cancel D&D entirely, they might pick up the license for the game as a whole, but even that I doubt.

However, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that someone else might pick up a license to support the game. There does appear to be an opportunity there - pick up a 5-year license to produce official adventures for the game, produce excellent work in that time, benefit from the name-recognition of having the D&D logo on your products to generate sales, use those sales to get your own name known, and then branch off and do your own thing. It worked for Paizo, and actually it worked for Bioware, so it might work for someone else as well.

 

[Hussar]

Yeah I could see that. A timed license where everyone know going in that this is not a permanent arrangement. No surprises if the option isn't renewed for whatever reason.

And considering how badly burned wotc had been by various licenses - Atari, movie options, etc- I imagine that they will never again enter into contracts that they can't get out of some time down the road.

 

[billd91]

Yeah I could see that. A timed license where everyone know going in that this is not a permanent arrangement. No surprises if the option isn't renewed for whatever reason.

In all fairness, the Dragon and Dungeon licenses were timed licenses. The trouble was - they were for ongoing periodicals so they probably seemed pretty open-ended. As long as the magazines were doing OK, and there's plenty of evidence they were, there was no expectation of them being not renewed. After all, if your buddy is doing a good job supporting you, why take on more work for yourselves by bringing it back in-house?

If I wanted to do a set of licensed products for WotC (or just about anybody else), it's probably better to think along the DC Adventures model. The license was, I believe, for 4 books. Period. While there were probably some timing language and deadlines involved, the important part was for 4 books to complete the product line and nothing more. There was nothing open-ended about it. Pitch the product, set the terms of the license, get it done, get out. Keep the IP-owner from cutting you off at the knees.

 

[delericho]

In all fairness, the Dragon and Dungeon licenses were timed licenses.

Yep. And, indeed, WotC actually extended the licenses for four months beyond the contracted cut-off point to allow "Savage Tide" to run to completion - something that quite often gets lost in complaints about the 'evils' of WotC pulling the licenses.

The trouble was - they were for ongoing periodicals so they probably seemed pretty open-ended. As long as the magazines were doing OK, and there's plenty of evidence they were, there was no expectation of them being not renewed. After all, if your buddy is doing a good job supporting you, why take on more work for yourselves by bringing it back in-house?

As I posted up-thread, I think it was a huge mistake not to renew those licenses. But, of course, hindsight is 20-20. (I did at the time think it was a mistake also, but for completely different reasons, so I can't claim prophetic knowledge! )

If I wanted to do a set of licensed products for WotC (or just about anybody else), it's probably better to think along the DC Adventures model. The license was, I believe, for 4 books. Period.

Either approach can work. The timed license probably works best for something like a magazine (or other regular offering), while if you're doing support books then a license for X books is probably best.

One key thing, though, is that you'd probably want your license to kick in as close to the start of an edition as possible, and you'd want to get all your products out before the next edition is announced.

 

[Maggan]

The reality of publishing might drive the new edition, but where are you on your personal D&D journey?
Cheers!

I'm wrapping up the Kingmaker campaign for Pathfinder, and I finally think that I have enough grasp of the rules to confidently run another campaign. I have stuff I want to try, adventures that would fit the players well.

But at the same time, I am curious and a little bit excited to see what they do with D&D, and what type of play it enables. My players don't want to play D&D Next, though.

/Maggan

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Yes. I've been waiting for a new edition since about 1983.

 

[an_idol_mind]

I'm not that interested in a new edition, and I highly doubt that I have enough interest to learn yet another rules set unless it offers me a dramatically new play style than what I already have.

That said, I'm not a WotC customer these days, and the only thing that's going to get me back into their fold is a new edition.

(Well, I guess a huge improvement in their modules would help, too, but I'm not counting on WotC to suddenly become great at something they've historically struggled with.)

 

[Mistwell]

(Well, I guess a huge improvement in their modules would help, too, but I'm not counting on WotC to suddenly become great at something they've historically struggled with.)

In my opinion, very recently, we've seen a huge improvement in their modules. For what that is worth. I think it's going to take many more to really become a known thing though.