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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 5638989" data-attributes="member: 19675">My response to this was touched on upthread in my post about HERO.I can right now go to my shelf and pull down a game- HERO- that allows me to combine all the elements of any and all editions of D&D and run PCs from those editions side by side in a single campaign.It would require a lot of work: doing the HERO "Package Deals" for each race & class; translating Feats, powers & spells, one by one, even from all the little subsystems (like Shadow magic or Incarnum); making sure there are AEDU and Vancian versions of each - but it could be done.The end result would work and be balanced.  It would even feel right...in play.  It would look funny to non-HERO players, though...enough so that the system's visible inner-workings might put people off.And I think a UED&D would have to have a lot in common with HERO in order to pull off that stunt.The thing is, though, it would not be simpler, it would not have faster character generation, NPC/Foe generation would be as complex as it ever was.And I simply don't see a UED&D which satisfies both the Vancians and the AEDUphiles which is as simple or simpler than either design already is.Far less Herculean a task, and far more feasible in a business sense, to use the tools on hand- extant IP, the various editions' rulesets, DDI, D&D's overall brand power- to do what car and soft-drink companies have been doing for years and support various distinct, tailored products under the corporate banner to capture as much of the market as possible.  Each of which can be evolved over time if and when needed.The IP gives you the foot in the door; DDI gives you lower production/distribution costs; the brand gives you marketing power within the hobby and outside of it.Edition cannibalization becomes a non-issue- GM didn't care all that much whether Camaros or Firebirds sold more as long as it was selling competitively versus Mustangs.  Coke and Pepsi are less concerned about a particular beverage in their line- each now in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Coca-Cola_brands" target="_blank">thousands</a>- than overall share of the global drink market.Why chase a dwindling number of grognards?  Why assume the number is dwindling?  Legacy clones seem to be doing all right.  With DDI and name recognition, official D&D products being released in those niches could actually expand those niches.</blockquote>

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