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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Ben Riggs' "What the Heck Happened with 4th Edition?" seminar at Gen Con 2023
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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9228991" data-attributes="member: 7026594"><p>Yes, Book of 9 Swords was a really memorable example, with three new martial classes and a shedload of powers/maneuvers making them badass, but late 3.5 had a lot of experimentation. In addition to stuff like ToM, MoI, and UA, the Swift action got added in the Miniatures Handbook, and the Immediate Action in the Expanded Psionics Handbook, before both got codified/adopted into the main line in PH2.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes. If we've learned anything from books like Game Wizards and Slaying the Dragon it's that D&D publication has ALWAYS been about profit and growth as well as about publishing an enjoyable game. The designers have ALWAYS been motivated by money.</p><p></p><p>The D&D & AD&D split was arguably the edition most accurately describable as a "cash grab" as it was literally designed in significant part to cut Dave Arneson out of royalties and credit. Gary threw lots of rules he barely or didn't even use into AD&D almost exclusively for the purpose of making it more distinct from D&D. And explicitly told the B/X design team to experiment and make it more distinct from AD&D. To this day (and for at least the 12+ years since I first encountered and played with Frank Mentzer and Tim Kask at conventions) the surviving original TSR folks will tell you that as far as they're concerned OD&D and AD&D are one game.</p><p></p><p>Probably the height of romanticism in D&D publishing WAS Peter Adkison's determination to acquire and save D&D and TSR from being stripped for parts by TSR's various creditors. But he still had to make a business case for it to his board, especially acquiring it before it went under and all the existing staff scattered, rather than buying the components cheaper after dissolution.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 9228991, member: 7026594"] Yes, Book of 9 Swords was a really memorable example, with three new martial classes and a shedload of powers/maneuvers making them badass, but late 3.5 had a lot of experimentation. In addition to stuff like ToM, MoI, and UA, the Swift action got added in the Miniatures Handbook, and the Immediate Action in the Expanded Psionics Handbook, before both got codified/adopted into the main line in PH2. Yes. If we've learned anything from books like Game Wizards and Slaying the Dragon it's that D&D publication has ALWAYS been about profit and growth as well as about publishing an enjoyable game. The designers have ALWAYS been motivated by money. The D&D & AD&D split was arguably the edition most accurately describable as a "cash grab" as it was literally designed in significant part to cut Dave Arneson out of royalties and credit. Gary threw lots of rules he barely or didn't even use into AD&D almost exclusively for the purpose of making it more distinct from D&D. And explicitly told the B/X design team to experiment and make it more distinct from AD&D. To this day (and for at least the 12+ years since I first encountered and played with Frank Mentzer and Tim Kask at conventions) the surviving original TSR folks will tell you that as far as they're concerned OD&D and AD&D are one game. Probably the height of romanticism in D&D publishing WAS Peter Adkison's determination to acquire and save D&D and TSR from being stripped for parts by TSR's various creditors. But he still had to make a business case for it to his board, especially acquiring it before it went under and all the existing staff scattered, rather than buying the components cheaper after dissolution. [/QUOTE]
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Ben Riggs' "What the Heck Happened with 4th Edition?" seminar at Gen Con 2023
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