D&D (2024) Does anyone else think that 1D&D will create a significant divide in the community?

[Bill Zebub]

I would be a terrible businessperson, because art I create is based on what I want to do and what I think is good, not what "the market" is most likely to spend money on.

I'll tell you what: if you ever achieve widespread commercial success with your art, which I hope you do, I promise I won't assume you're just a sell-out chasing the market, even if I personally don't appreciate your art. Nor will I fill the internet with posts claiming you are a non-artist making a money grab. I might make posts about what I think of your art, but I won't go anywhere near your motivations for making it, because I would just be making that up.

We're allowed to discuss products we don't care for, and if that seems to be a trend, we're allowed to discuss that too.

Discussing the products if fine. Great, even.

It's the constant, derogatory, baseless conjecture about the motivations and mindset of the designers that I think is unnecessary and offensive.

 

[overgeeked]

It's the constant, derogatory, baseless conjecture about the motivations and mindset of the designers that I think is unnecessary and offensive.

It’s clear they’re not giving people time to actually playtest these things. That’s not “baseless conjecture.”

 

[Bill Zebub]

It’s clear they’re not giving people time to actually playtest these things. That’s not “baseless conjecture.”

That’s also not a motivation/mindset.

Contrast to: “…because they’ve already made up their minds and they just want us to think they care about our opinion.”

Not only is that baseless conjecture, but it’s undermined by the fact that they already reverted changes between packets 1 & 2.

Or had they already planned that out in advance to create the illusion that they hadn’t made up their minds? “That’s a terrible idea, Jeremy, but let’s put it in packet 3 then roll it back in 4 so they think we are reading the surveys.” How fiendishly clever of them.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Thanks for this confirmation. I was in 8th grade and had only been playing D&D for a few years when 2E was released. I didn't have the same perspective that I did with later edition changes when I was a longtime D&D player, an adult and had an internet connection. 1E-2E was a vastly different world from the WoTC era but as I suspected some divisions have always been with us.

My perspective probably isn't that much more illuminating than your own (I was probably in 7th grade when it came out). I just remember knowing a lot of 1E only groups in middle school and high school. I also remember starting on 1st a few years before the 2E PHB came out.

 

[Bill Zebub]

My perspective probably isn't that much more illuminating than your own (I was probably in 7th grade when it came out). I just remember knowing a lot of 1E only groups in middle school and high school. I also remember starting on 1st a few years before the 2E PHB came out.

My first character, created for my by my friend’s older brother, was a basic/AD&D hybrid: an elf (class and race) with 18/33 strength.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

The playtest packets are a reaction test. Anything that is rejected or controversial in the playtest packets is unlikely to make it in to the final iteration of the rules. We have seen that process already over the last eight years with playtest packets.

 

[Bedrockgames]

My first character, created for my by my friend’s older brother, was a basic/AD&D hybrid: an elf (class and race) with 18/33 strength.

My first character was a robot for Mech Warrior I believe in about 1986, and then I had either an AD&D or Mentzer D&D character----can't recall what version the GM was using for our first D&D campaign. f I recall then GM made all pre-gens and tended to make balanced parties (you there were like a group of 5 characters to select from). Still not sure precisely what system that first game was as we never saw the books, the GM just said he was doing a "Battletech" campaign (everything was on lined paper in his binder too). I

But I started running games myself in 7th grade when the 2E PHB came out. Up to that point I had only been a player and bought RPGs to read. I remember a lot of our first characters had a lot of luck on those rolls. A lot of STR 18, DEX 18, CON 18, WIS 18, INT 18, CHR 17 making their way into the very early games

 

[overgeeked]

The playtest packets are a reaction test. Anything that is rejected or controversial in the playtest packets is unlikely to make it in to the final iteration of the rules. We have seen that process already over the last eight years with playtest packets.

Precisely. They don't expect you to play with these rules nor to test them in any real way. Simply to read and knee-jerk react to them. So it's not a playtest. It's an absurdly thinly veiled marketing survey.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That’s also not a motivation/mindset.

Contrast to: “…because they’ve already made up their minds and they just want us to think they care about our opinion.”

Not only is that baseless conjecture, but it’s undermined by the fact that they already reverted changes between packets 1 & 2.

Or had they already planned that out in advance to create the illusion that they hadn’t made up their minds? “That’s a terrible idea, Jeremy, but let’s put it in packet 3 then roll it back in 4 so they think we are reading the surveys.” How fiendishly clever of them.

As has been mentioned more than once, the information in packet 2 was not affected by reactions to packet 1. All it says is they're undecided on a couple aspects of the new edition.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Precisely. They don't expect you to play with these rules nor to test them in any real way. Simply to read and knee-jerk react to them. So it's not a playtest. It's an absurdly thinly veiled marketing survey.

Which is fine. Just don't call it a playtest.