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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 8982255" data-attributes="member: 7035894">I can't speak for "most people," but I have not had trouble understanding what they are doing: throwing out the old TSR editions model. It makes sense from a branding and planning point of view.And I don't think most players will have trouble with the distinction - just some older players who have grown up with that TSR paradigm. For new players, they want the game to just be "D&D." That makes sense. Grognards like us can debate all day about what makes an edition, but WotC is wise to move past that, in my opinion.Edit: I've mentioned this before, but to understand the special meaning that the word "edition" came to have under TSR, you have to look back at the context of how AD&D was introduced to replace OD&D. Gygax wanted to cut Arneson out of the royalties, so TSR actually went to court to argue that AD&D was an entirely new game. They lost that case in court, but sort of won it in the minds of players, who pretty much universally switched over to AD&D. And bought a TON of new books. This looked like a good business model to Gygax and the Blumes, who were terrible business people. After that, "edition" came to mean a substantial revamping of the core game, such that you would want to replace all your stuff. And this has wreaked havoc with the brand ever since.Edit 2: At the same time, TSR introduced another version of the game in Basic, which also sold a ton, mostly through toy stores (AD&D was primarily sold through book stores). TSR was all about printing different, semi-incompatible versions of the game to get you to buy books. They had a really weird distribution deal with their publisher that encouraged this practice. It ultimately bankrupted the company.</blockquote>

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