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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 6215193" data-attributes="member: 59082">That's basically how I remember it. I think a key part was that he went into bed with one Blume brother, who brought another in for financial reasons, and then the Blume brothers ended up owning a majority of the company, and they in turn brought in the more businessy Lorraine Williams.I think in many ways its an example of why, when a company gets beyond a certain point, there's an inevitable turn in which the cart (profit) starts leading the horse (product). This is why one could argue that hobby industries should never get too big. The most successful companies seem to have a balance where they're still focused on the quality of the product, but they are gently guided by administration. Actually, this works in all institutions. At the small private high school I teach at, there's a tension between teaching faculty and administration. When the faculty run the ship, we get into all kinds of trouble in terms of communication with parents and the community, missing deadlines, etc, whereas when the administration runs the ship we end up more "institutionalized" and lose some of the vibrancy and creativity. Finding a healthy balance is difficult.Just to be clear: I like adventure paths. But I want to see WotC nourish both major approaches to the game: the adventure path/meta-plot on one hand, and the old school/sandbox/module approach on the other. I personally like both, and see a place for both (unlike JM, who has a subtle to not-so-subtle element of "my D&D or its not Real D&D").IIRC, everyone I knew who played AD&D saw it, albeit usually unconsciously, as a toolbox that you could pick and choose from. There was a core game that everyone played, but then every new group established house rules and which rules sub-systems (e.g. encumbrance) each table would use. For whatever reason, this was more difficult with 3E and 4E.There may just be an inevitable cycle of fresh new edition, expansion leading to eventual bloat, then floating for awhile, then decline and gradual rebirth (new edition). I think where a lot of fans gets upset, where nerdrage comes in, is when they don't want to change - they want their preferred (current) edition to last forever, which can happen, but WotC - as a company - must move on. Not only do economics require new editions, but professional game designers want to, well, design - and that means trying to evolve and improve the game through new editions.Again, I'm hoping for both approaches. I really see no reason why WotC wouldn't try to accommodate both, and it seems that they're wanting to do this. But we'll see!</blockquote>

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