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

[mamba]

We still haven't come up with anything that hasn't already been tried.

I doubt there is something left that hasn’t been tried and has any chance of success.

We didn’t have a weekly subscription model like a magazine yet, or a daily newspaper style, but I am not expecting them to work either. Same for monster and magic item cards in cereal boxes or whatever, that might work as a promotional gimmick, but that is it

Chances are they will try a digital subscription model with the VTT, but you still will have to buy the adventures individually

 

[payn]

I doubt there is something left that hasn’t been tried and has any chance of success.

We didn’t have a weekly subscription model like a magazine yet, or a daily newspaper style, but I am not expecting them to work either.

Chances are they will try a digital subscription model with the VTT, but you still will have to buy the adventures individually

Im guessing tier subscription starting with free and working its way up (its how our society is now). Like Paizo, there will be a core rule sub, a setting sub, etc..

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'd say 40 to 50% of products I've seen over the years were in GM libraries. some players buy a lot too but I think at least 1/2 of players buy nothing or just a book or two.

This is one of those weird things that varies considerably in my experience; some players will buy anything for a system that provides new player-facing material, some as you say will just buy a couple. I've never actually seen a player who literally buys nothing (though some may only buy the core book) though I know they exist.

 

[mamba]

I'm not sure that actually is true. My observation has been that players are often happy to get new options. GMs are a more mixed bag.

what part is not true, that most books are bought by DMs? That is absolutely true, heck, there is a good chance more DMs than players bought the PHB

 

[Thomas Shey]

5e pretty much disagrees with all of this

I actually have very little sign it does. It expanded dramatically early on because it turned out there was more potential market than was thought, but nothing I've seen suggests that expansion has continued unabated.

 

[nevin]

It just depends on if they can tweak it right to make people want to keep the subs long enough so that it's more profitable than the books. I think a good start there is to let players keep the old stuff they purchase even when they do refreshes or edition changes.

 

[Thomas Shey]

what part is not true, that most books are bought by DMs?

That crunch books are a loser.

 

[nevin]

I actually have very little sign it does. It expanded dramatically early on because it turned out there was more potential market than was thought, but nothing I've seen suggests that expansion has continued unabated.

I think 5e has probably hit market saturation.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I think 5e has probably hit market saturation.

That's been what what limited information one can get from the outside looks like to me too. I think people confuse the fact it tapped a piece of market that was not touched at that time and allowed it to initially grow faster than anything since OD&D/AD&D as somehow meaning there's a bunch of still untapped market that is not shown to be true in any notable way.

 

[mamba]

that possibility died the day Hasbro bought them.

the possibility of a repeat of the Complete X? Good, that was not a good idea anyway