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

[Bill Zebub]

So it's not a playtest. It's an absurdly thinly veiled marketing survey.

Maybe.

But that potential lexical misappropriation ranks about 4,327th on my list of Things That Affect Me.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

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.

There is a logical fallacy.

It is not a ploy if they actually want your gut feeling about it.
But I agree, it is not a play test with emphasis on play.

 

[Bill Zebub]

There is a logical fallacy.

It is not a ploy if they actually want your gut feeling about it.
But I agree, it is not a play test with emphasis on play.

Yes.

If they didn’t actually care about feedback, and were just trying to build some hype, then it would be a dishonest ploy. But I’m not cynical enough to believe that.

More likely they are expecting feedback based mostly on gut feel, with maybe some actual play testing. I don’t fault them for using the standard industry term for soliciting feedback.

 

[Thomas Shey]

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. WotC's bottom line is not my concern, so if they make something I don't want to buy, I'm not giving them money for it, and I'm not going to just be fine with them continuing that trend. 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.

Sure. But when you assign malign motives to doing so, I think that's a bridge too far. Its essentially claiming that people who serve the majority purpose are malign by nature, and frankly, I don't know a non-insulting term to characterize that with.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Exactly. Hilariously, you seem to think that applies to me but not to you. Most in this thread cheering the changes can’t seem to separate their preferences from the quality of the design. “I like it therefore it’s good” seems to be the only statement a lot of folks are capable of making.

Of course its hard to come up with a set of criteria that can define "good design" that don't have personal preference in there somewhere. The alternative is to conflated "good" with "popular" and, well, its not hard to find examples that bring that into question.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Of course its hard to come up with a set of criteria that can define "good design" that don't have personal preference in there somewhere. The alternative is to conflated "good" with "popular" and, well, its not hard to find examples that bring that into question.

I think the answer there is if popularity is one of the goals, it should be one of the criteria. If it isn't, it shouldn't be.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I think the answer there is if popularity is one of the goals, it should be one of the criteria. If it isn't, it shouldn't be.

Its an argument, but at that point its more an argument for negative design; i.e. its actually less about how well the thing works than how much it doesn't annoy people.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Its an argument, but at that point its more an argument for negative design; i.e. its actually less about how well the thing works than how much it doesn't annoy people.

It is just about measuring whether it meets its goals. Again it is one criteria among many, and only one if that is one of the goals. I mean if you are setting out to make a pop song, and you don't succeed in appealing to a mass audience, then on that part of your goal you are falling short (doesn't mean every song has to reach a mass audience or every RPG needs to be popular).

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think the answer there is if popularity is one of the goals, it should be one of the criteria. If it isn't, it shouldn't be.

That's where I fall. I wish popularity wasn't one (perhaps the most important, who can say) of WotC's goals.

 

[overgeeked]

That's where I fall. I wish popularity wasn't one (perhaps the most important, who can say) of WotC's goals.

With their stated goal of D&D being a $1 billion+ a year brand, I’d say it’s about the only thing they care about.