D&D 5E Can D&D Next Unite Fans of Different Editions? I think there is some hope now.

[Iosue]

This is an interesting idea! I have been wondering how it will work with only some of the various editions coming on board to DDN. But why dont they just cut to chase, avoid getting bogged in the modularized mechanics of DDN and just write modules and material for the main editions they already have?

Because then you get the many-buckets problem that got TSR in trouble (among other things). If you make an adventure for 4e, you've pretty much limited the market for that adventure to 4e players. On the other hand, let's assume you have 5e. And you have some 4e players playing 5e and some 3e players playing it. You release the adventure for 5e and you get that combined group, plus with some conversion notes you get some of the 4e players and 3e players. 5e creates one singular bucket to catch the moneys.

This thread I started a while back suggests how they might be executing such a plan.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Is it going to unite everyone? Unlikely. At this point a number of people are stubbornly set in their ways and anything less than catering to their exact needs won't be enough for them to switch to D&D Next.

Will it be interesting enough to have a large number of people try it out? Likely.

A lot of people are just looking for an excuse to be able to play with their friends. The 3e/4e split caused a lot of rifts in groups. I know that I haven't really spoken to at least 5 or 6 of my friends since 4e came out because what we had in common was D&D. I switched to 4e and they hated it. So, we don't talk anymore.

What I'm hoping for is that Next is interesting enough that I can call these people up and say "I know you didn't like 4e, but Next is very different from 4e and might be something you're interested in. Do you want to try playing again?"

It doesn't have to be perfect. We want to play with each other more than we care what game we are playing. But the hatred some of my friends have for 4e is so strong that it overwhelmed even their desire to play with their friends. If it met at least a minimum standard, it's likely a number of them would switch to have a game in common.

I also think a number of people who quit playing when 3e came out might be able to be brought back in by a more old school experience, which Next provides.

 

[billd91]

We all have a skewed perspective. We care enough about RPGs to post on a message board about them. We're fanatics.

I think there is a quiet majority of roleplayers who want to play D&D, but don't want to put a lot of effort into it. They enjoy playing their characters, and some tactical combat, and some character building, but only so long as it isn't cumbersome. These players still have various tastes, from the super simple to fairly complex. From high fantasy to gritty realism. They just aren't invested in it the way we are.

And I think D&D Next is being built for these players.

I think you make some good points with this. The D&D Next I'm seeing so far in the playtest docs is definitely less complex than either 3e/4e - at least it seems so to me. And I find that I appreciate some of the simplifications it makes.

 

[D'karr]

I know that I haven't really spoken to at least 5 or 6 of my friends since 4e came out because what we had in common was D&D. I switched to 4e and they hated it. So, we don't talk anymore.

If I stopped talking to "friends" of mine because of game choices I don't think I would have considered them friends to begin with. Really remote acquaintances would seem more likely, and if game choices created that type of a rift then I think that I wouldn't want to be playing any game with them anyway.

I play with my friends because they are my friends, I could hang out with them doing mostly anything, even playing a game I did not entirely enjoy. The purpose of getting together at that point is being with my friends, the game itself is much-less important.

 

[Wicht]

I wish WotC all success, but if they do not have an Open system, my enthusiasm will be very limited. And unless they offer me something I can't get from Pathfinder, I really have no reason to change systems.

Ideally, I would like flexibility such as I can mix and match between all the various companies I support so that I can buy a book from one and interchange it and mix it with a book or adventure from another for that particular genre. The d20 system, being OGL, allows this for my fantasy games, and I like having a core system I can master and then use as I will. In point of fact, most of the games I really enjoy or want to play, at this point of my gaming career do that: FATE and the BRP do that, allowing different companies to utilize the same engine, albeit in different worlds.

Now if WotC decided to resupport the OGL, I would most definitely buy their new books and give them a look-through, but if they don't I probably will wait to find them cheap and used.

 

[tuxgeo]

< snip >
Whatever flaws you can attribute to 4e, it knew what it wanted to do and it executed the **** out of it. Maybe you didn't like where it went, but it's hard to dispute it went there with gusto.

I have yet to see that from 5e, but it's never too late to start.

Agreed. It's unlikely that 5e will ever have a single, clear, unified vision of where it wants to go in the same sense that 4e did. (The crowdsourcing will take care of that if nothing else does.) The developers are referring backward to previous editions for compatibility, not forward in new directions.

I think the best we can hope for is commonality: new players who start with 5e will be able to play along with fans of former editions, provided the older fans are willing to play 5e with them; and groups of players of competing older editions will be able to compromise on 5e if they want to play together.

The "new adventures" point is another good one. Sales will be better if all D&D players can use the material.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

If I stopped talking to "friends" of mine because of game choices I don't think I would have considered them friends to begin with. Really remote acquaintances would seem more likely, and if game choices created that type of a rift then I think that I wouldn't want to be playing any game with them anyway.

Well, I've invited them to stuff. We haven't completely stopped talking. But I have quite a few friends. Most of them I made from gaming. I used to run Living Greyhawk events in our city and there were about 30 regulars who showed up to play, all of whom I considered friends because we'd get together to play D&D 3 times a week for 4-5 hours and periodically for non-D&D stuff.

A number of them have just started new groups playing 3.5e and became close friends with their new groups. I only have so much time to spend with friends and so do they. So, we drifted apart when we weren't seeing each other weekly for gaming.

I play with my friends because they are my friends, I could hang out with them doing mostly anything, even playing a game I did not entirely enjoy. The purpose of getting together at that point is being with my friends, the game itself is much-less important.

Not for us. I got together to play D&D and became friends with the people I was playing with. My friends have come and gone but my interest in D&D has remained constant. I am still friends with precisely ONE of the 13 people in my original D&D group from 20 years ago and the 20 or so people who joined and played in my group at one time or another.

My current group is made up of almost entirely people who joined it 3 years ago after my last group fell apart when one of my players got married and decided he didn't have time to play anymore and took his wife with him(they were both members of our group), we didn't have enough people to play anymore so we took a break. One of our members got frustrated at the lack of playing so he immediately went out and joined the Pathfinder Society. He's since decided that he hates 4e and wouldn't come back even if we asked him to.

All of us got together for one D&D Next playtest, for old times, but convincing everyone to show up was like pulling teeth because everyone was too busy with their own lives to make time for it. When our DM asked us to show up for a third session to continue the playtest half the group complained they weren't sure they could make time for a another game and they'd have to get back to us. When we didn't hear from them in a month, despite repeated e-mails, our DM gave up.

I haven't talked to most of that group since that playtest about a year ago. Our DM has since become obsessed with Pathfinder Society and every time I talk to him all he does is try to convince me to start coming weekly to the Pathfinder Society games. He gave me a Pathfinder novel for Christmas despite my repeated statements that I'm not a fan of Pathfinder. I even showed up to one game just because he wouldn't stop bothering me but it wasn't all that much fun, so I decided not to go back.

If I attempt to tell him about new playtests or how excited I am to see D&D Next eventually come out, he just changes the topic back to Pathfinder and the cool things you can do with it. I've realized that all we do is talk past each other so I don't really talk to him anymore. I'd like to talk to him but it appears that we have nothing to talk about when we don't have a D&D edition in common.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I think it will unify those willing to be united.

 

[DEFCON 1]

It'll be a game that will have versions of it similar enough other D&D games that players of those games might be willing to give it a try and/or pick it up for purchase. Will people "switch"? I don't think anyone cares or expects players to stop playing their other games. That's never been the point. But if D&DN has enough of a commonality to what they like... players will be more willing to participate in games that crop up, rather than just automatically say "No way" like 4E did for a lot of people.

No one needs to stop playing one version of D&D in order to try and enjoy another version of D&D. By the same token... you aren't betraying your current version of D&D if you do try and and enjoy another version of D&D. No one cares. If the game is good and the game works for you and there's a campaign that is starting that uses D&DN... then you should play it if you want to. Simple as that. There are no "sides" here.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

No one needs to stop playing one version of D&D in order to try and enjoy another version of D&D.

Although I agree with the sentiment. I find most people just don't have the time to play 2 different versions of D&D.

I acquired Numenera recently and I realized that if I was ever going to play it, I'd need to cancel my D&D group. A large number of our group still wanted to play so now we are planning on doing D&D Next every second week and Numenera during the opposite weeks. However, how long we keep this up before we just give up one or the other is anyone's guess.