D&D General Does D&D (and RPGs in general) Need Edition Resets?

[Minigiant]

Golden Era is when you get enough era points to get a bonus.

Essentially it is a time when a lot of influential good X's are created.

Usual the first golden age is right after the medium is invented and a bunch of new forms of it is created. The second is when a bunch of new high quality versions are created once people figure it out.

That would be late 2e/early 3e for the first and right now for the second.

 

[MNblockhead]

So you're saying D&D should become a live service game???

Get a Beyond account so you can keep up with the latest patch!

Works for me TBH. Though I do buy physical books of core and favorite books for insurance. I love the convenience and auto-updates in D&D Beyond...so long as I like the game. But I can always go back to the physical books if the digital moves beyond my tastes. I love running Warhammer Fantasy 4e on Foundry, with the ability to update modules. I'm also really looking forward to a Warhammer Fantasy 1e one-shot my friend's son will be running in a couple days from his dad's books from the '80s.

 

[MNblockhead]

Better to go full 3pp and sidestep the corporate monolith altogether, I say. Just play the game you want to play, and let WotC scheme about how they they're going to maximize profit this time.

Or enjoy both.

It doesn't really matter what they do to your table anyway, really.

Exactly.

 

[MNblockhead]

i mean, i'd like to be alive to see a major problem get fixed, personally.

At my age, I buy a different game if I want to play a different game. I'm too old to wait for any one game to change, whether incrementally or by a full reset.

 

[LordEntrails]

I feel like the 3pp market is in better shape now than then and it already has outlived 3e if you do not add Paizo

Given the number of million dollar Kickstarters and other massive 3PP releases, seems reasonable to say 3PP is much stronger for 5E than it was for 3E.

 

[Velderan]

Works for me TBH. Though I do buy physical books of core and favorite books for insurance. I love the convenience and auto-updates in D&D Beyond...so long as I like the game. But I can always go back to the physical books if the digital moves beyond my tastes. I love running Warhammer Fantasy 4e on Foundry, with the ability to update modules. I'm also really looking forward to a Warhammer Fantasy 1e one-shot my friend's son will be running in a couple days from his dad's books from the '80s.

I have subscriptions for PF2e rulebooks and the Lost Omens line of lore books because I enjoy reading the books, but Foundry is a much better value and usefulness for my group since that’s where we run our games anyhow and the errata ends up there. I think digital is just making the slow incremental change concept easier to manage.

On the theme of the thread, the PF2e Remaster books cleaned up some of the rules, improved a few classes, removed some stuff that just didn’t need to be in the game anymore, and so far hasn’t caused an issue for me running a pre-master AP with classes that haven’t been adjusted yet alongside classes that have. If WotC can pull off the same thing for their 2024 books, that will be a good thing for D&D in the long run.

 

[Zardnaar]

Golden Era is when you get enough era points to get a bonus.

Essentially it is a time when a lot of influential good X's are created.

Usual the first golden age is right after the medium is invented and a bunch of new forms of it is created. The second is when a bunch of new high quality versions are created once people figure it out.

That would be late 2e/early 3e for the first and right now for the second.

Golden age in D&D context was roughly 81-83, silver age was 3.0.

Your personal GA may vary of course.

 

[Parmandur]

Golden age in D&D context was roughly 81-83, silver age was 3.0.

Your personal GA may vary of course.

You can make a case for the 70s, the early 80s, or the latter Teens/20s.

The Aughts, it seems to me, might be the second worst decade for D&D, after the 90's, in terms of commercial and cultural impact.

 

[Remathilis]

You can make a case for the 70s, the early 80s, or the latter Teens/20s.

The Aughts, it seems to me, might be the second worst decade for D&D, after the 90's, in terms of commercial and cultural impact.

My take is that its a bit like the Star Trek curse: it skips editions.

Original D&D was a modest hit. AD&D 1e (and Basic) was the first major success. 2e saw fortunes decline due to TSR mismanagement and bloat, 3e was a hit off the back of OGL, 4e was a commercial failure, and 5e has exceeded all expectations.

 

[Lanefan]

You can make a case for the 70s, the early 80s, or the latter Teens/20s.

Yep - the two golden ages for D&D were about 1979-84, and about 2016-present.

The Aughts, it seems to me, might be the second worst decade for D&D, after the 90's, in terms of commercial and cultural impact.

The 90s were a wasteland. The 00s started strong enough - 3e did provide a kickstart the game sorely needed - then faded as the decade went on, 4e notwithstanding.