D&D 5E Do you want D&D Next to succeed?

[delericho]

My first preference would be for 5e to be my ideal game. If that is the case, I don't really care if it succeeds or fails - I'll have my game, and that will be good.

If 5e doesn't suit me, then I still hope it succeeds. There's no benefit to me if it fails, so why would I want to spoil other people's fun (not to mention wishing for the redundancies of the designers)?

Now, it might be different if 5e didn't suit me but I thought 6e would... but I'm now convinced that if 5e fails then there won't be a 6e, so that's not a factor I'm considering. (Besides, if 5e doesn't suit me, then that will be two editions I've skipped. That being the case, my interest in 6e will be marginal at best.)

 

[Lanefan]

Will you be happy if the game is popular, even if it's not one you'd want to play?

Probably, as long as it's any good.

Will you be willing to give it a try to support the D&D brand that has brought so many people years of fun, even if the rules aren't perfect? (And really, have you ever thought any version of D&D had perfect rules?)

I'll pick up the first round of core books (PH, DMG, MM) to see what they've done with it even if - as was the case with 2e and 4e - I never end up actually playing it.

Do you trust that the game designers are people who love gaming, who want to help others have fun, and who are trying to make a game that best encapsulates what they think the audience wants D&D to be?

The designers themselves, yes. But it remains to be seen what outside instruction and-or interference they're getting from the suits above.

Do you think that the benefits of having Hasbro's infrastructure to help market, distribute, and sell the game outweigh whatever limitations might be passed down from a corporate level?

Probably not, given that we haven't really seen that infrastructure put to use in the past where it could have been.

Will you not begrudge your fellow gamers if they have different tastes than you?

Begrudge? No. But I reserve the right to argue with them until I'm blue in the face.

Speaking of which...
[MENTION=32536]TwinBahamut[/MENTION] - there will be no way to use 5e without houseruling, if only because every time you decide whether you will or won't use a particular module in your game you are in fact making a houserule; and I don't think all the 5e modules are going to be compatible with each other thus just using them all won't be an option.

Lanefan

 

[TrippyHippy]

I'll reserve my decision about whether I personally want to buy or play the game when it comes out, but of course I want it to succeed.

 

[Shadeydm]

Perhaps for the same irrational reasons that so many worked so hard to make 4e fail, and are so delighted that it has?

What on earth would make you say such a thing. Who "worked hard to make 4E fail"? How could anyone make 4E fail beyond the people who designed and marketed it? Are you blaming them?

 

[Shadeydm]

Will you be happy if the game is popular, even if it's not one you'd want to play?

Yes I hope it becomes the best selling edition ever and guarantees a future edition 10+ years down the road from its release.

Will you be willing to give it a try to support the D&D brand that has brought so many people years of fun, even if the rules aren't perfect? (And really, have you ever thought any version of D&D had perfect rules?)

So far I haven't seen anything that would prevent me from at least getting the core books and kicking the tires though I suspect my group is largely enamored of 4E. I never thought any of the rules were perfect but I have always liked 1E best.

Do you trust that the game designers are people who love gaming, who want to help others have fun, and who are trying to make a game that best encapsulates what they think the audience wants D&D to be?

Yes I do believe they want to achieve their stated design goals but it remains to be seen how close they can get.

Do you think that the benefits of having Hasbro's infrastructure to help market, distribute, and sell the game outweigh whatever limitations might be passed down from a corporate level?

I'd call it a wash.

Will you not begrudge your fellow gamers if they have different tastes than you?

Nope, 4E was enough of a radical shift for me that I could never bring myself to run it, I still play it and really have fun doing so so no begrudging here.

I really hope 5E can be the D&D the Linux edition, I can understand why 4E fans were hoping DDN would take 4E and build from there but I am glad they chose a more all inclusive approach in designing the next edition. For die hard 4E edition warriors the good news is just like 3.x warriors got pathfinder so will you have 13th Age.

 

[pemerton]

Will you be happy if the game is popular, even if it's not one you'd want to play?

<snip>

Will you not begrudge your fellow gamers if they have different tastes than you?

It won't bother me one way or another if the game is popular, and I guess it's a good thing if other's are enjoying it, provided it's not objectively horrible in some way. (There are some things which, if widely popular, would make me unhappy - in the RPG world I guess F.A.T.A.L. would be an uncontroversial example.)

Do you trust that the game designers are people who love gaming, who want to help others have fun, and who are trying to make a game that best encapsulates what they think the audience wants D&D to be?

I trust that they love gaming and want to help others have fun. As to the last clause, it depends a bit on how you define "audience" - I personally think they're focusing a bit too much on mechanics and not enough on tropes/themes, but maybe I'm not a core part of the audience!

Do you think that the benefits of having Hasbro's infrastructure to help market, distribute, and sell the game outweigh whatever limitations might be passed down from a corporate level

No idea. But probably not - it seems that Hasbro's need for unrealistic earnings projections may have helped kill 4e, for example.

Will you be willing to give it a try to support the D&D brand

<snip>

Let's stand behind D&D Next. What do you say?

The only RPG I have ever felt that much emotional attachment to is Rolemaster, and even that fondness has waned with what ICE, in its various incarnations over the years, has done with that game.

I am on a reasonable salary and so may buy a copy of the D&Dnext rules to satisfy my curiosity. But I won't play it just to support the brand. My play time is limited and precious. I will play it only if it's a good game for my purposes. (And at this stage I have some doubts about that.)

 

[JeffB]

I dont want it to fail, but Im not too concerned about it or its parent companies health like I have been over the past 35 years. I have a multitude of older and current versions of the game, and there is enough supllemental material for a lifetime of play. The OGL ensures future products, though I would miss the Wotc IP..all the setting and core fluff, as it were.

Before 5e was announced I was excited about the possibility of such, but now that it is a reality, Im not all that jazzed, despite the good things I am hearing. Unaligned, in 4e terms.

 

[Riley]

I want D&D 5e to succeed beyond Hasbro's wildest expectations.

This is not a zero-sum competition, so I don't understand why anyone would feel differently.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I don't give D&D any more or less consideration at this stage. I will try it out of curiosity, but my only requirement for whether I will play and support the game is if I enjoy it. What logo happens to be stamped on the cover isn't a factor for me these days.

 

[Azgulor]

Will you be happy if the game is popular, even if it's not one you'd want to play?

Will you be willing to give it a try to support the D&D brand that has brought so many people years of fun, even if the rules aren't perfect? (And really, have you ever thought any version of D&D had perfect rules?)

Do you trust that the game designers are people who love gaming, who want to help others have fun, and who are trying to make a game that best encapsulates what they think the audience wants D&D to be?

Do you think that the benefits of having Hasbro's infrastructure to help market, distribute, and sell the game outweigh whatever limitations might be passed down from a corporate level?

Will you not begrudge your fellow gamers if they have different tastes than you?


<snip>

Let's stand behind D&D Next. What do you say?

Um, no. D&D Next does not get any kind of pass based on "loyalty to the D&D brand" or anysuch nonsense. This kind of poppycock drives me nuts. The product should be evaluated on its own merits. Specific to your questions:

1. If I'm not playing D&D Next, I'll be indifferent to it. I'll be happy for those who are playing it and liking it, but if I'm not playing it, I'm not going to be happy or sad about it.

2. I'll give D&D Next a fair look. However, between dissatisfaction with 4e, general issues with WotC in recent years, general satisfaction with Pathfinder, and investment in Pathfinder (& 3.x before it) it's got a big hill to climb. Could it be my favorite fantasy RPG of all time? Sure. But the fact that it has D&D in the title doesn't mean jack, nor do the "years of fun" those other editions brought.

3. Sure, why wouldn't I?

4. I think that's far more likely than the "Hasbro is keeping WotC under its thumb and sticking it to the masses" meme that's so popular around here.

5. Sure, to each their own. However, I expect them to reciprocate and not be a$shats when my tastes in games run differently than theirs...


So, enough with the "be loyal to the brand" crap. If D&D Next/5e is a great game, that's good enough for me. If D&D Next/5e sucks, then it deserves its fate. Pretty simple.