D&D 5E D&D Next name?

[Black Knight Irios]

I say call it OD&D. O as in optional. Didn't they promise us lot's of options/modules for the new edition. And the best part: it's completely optional to buy and play the new edition. How could anyone hate such a well named product.

 

[GX.Sigma]

My expectation would be for it to be called simply "Dungeons & Dragons" on the cover, possibly with a small note that it's the fifth edition hidden away somewhere. However, inside the covers it will no doubt state clearly that it is the fifth edition, probably as part of the Foreword and/or a "History of D&D" sidebar.

Regardless of what WotC try to have us call it, I intend to continue referring to is as 5e. I suspect I won't be alone.

Literally this.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I say call it OD&D. O as in optional. Didn't they promise us lot's of options/modules for the new edition. And the best part: it's completely optional to buy and play the new edition. How could anyone hate such a well named product.

Some people clearly manage to.

 

[Argyle King]

I'd be happy if they just stopped calling it "Next." Something about that just really rubs me the wrong way.

 

[GX.Sigma]

I'd be happy if they just stopped calling it "Next." Something about that just really rubs me the wrong way.

Codenames are supposed to sound unappealing. Seriously:

The problem with codenames, or any name for that matter, is that they grow on you. Things that sound utterly ridiculous when you first hear them sound okay by the six or seven hundredth time. Thus, to ensure that R&D wouldn't get too attached to our codenames, we came up with a rule that said codenames had to be so silly that we would never actually name products after them. That way, everyone involved would know from day one that the name was going to change.

 

[SkidAce]

Hello sarcasm, my old friend,

I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping in,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Dungeons & Dragons: Electric Boogaloo

 

[jonesy]

Dungeons & Dragons: Electric Boogaloo

What is that, by the way? I've always wondered. Is it like a kazoo with more oomph?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

(Honestly? Its a kind of dance.)

 

[innerdude]

The problem with codenames, or any name for that matter, is that they grow on you. Things that sound utterly ridiculous when you first hear them sound okay by the six or seven hundredth time. Thus, to ensure that R&D wouldn't get too attached to our codenames, we came up with a rule that said codenames had to be so silly that we would never actually name products after them. That way, everyone involved would know from day one that the name was going to change.

Having worked in marketing in the past . . . absolutely this. You go through a six-month product dev cycle with some random name attached to a product, then come release time, everyone starts to ask, "Well, what do we ACTUALLY call it?" I'd say 70 percent of the time, the working name or some derivative of it became the actual product name.

So in this vein, "D&D Next" needs to die a hideous, violent, cinerary death.

Personally, I think as far as the core rules go, they should go the Coca-Cola route:

• D&D 1e becomes "D&D Classic"
• D&D 5e is released as simply "D&D"
• D&D 4e becomes "D&D Heroes and Tactics"

2e and 3e go the way of the dodo, since 2e is just slightly modified 1e, and 3e is OGL, and WotC would do just as well to cede that space to Pathfinder anyway.