Rodrigo Istalindir said:
Times change. In 1999, the RPG community was a lot more fragmented. I think a lot of people had gotten out of the hobby, TSR was on the rocks, and there was a pervasive feeling of pessimism over the future of the RPGs.
Now, there are a lot more ways for RPGs to congregate and bitch and moan and pimp and what have you. A lot of people rediscovered a hobby that they loved. And there is a general consensus that 3rd Ed. sparked a renaissance in the RPG world.
When you are at the bottom looking up, the possibility of any change looks attractive. When you feel like you're in the best of all possible worlds, change is scary.
Nevertheless, a lot of comments in this very thread sound a lot like what people were spreading in newsgroups and mailing lists back then: 'I'll never, ever change to 3e!', 'WotC will face a serious drop in sales', etc. pp.
Roleplayers tend to see the end of the world coming whenever a change is announced. As an ex-publisher I'm of the firm oppinion that any change that brings new blood into the hobby is good. It doesn't matter what the old geezers are telling you: overhaul the game to make it palatable to the teens, whatever it takes. If something like HeroQuest is the way to do it, go this way! If you can sell an extremly simple Barbie RPG to the girls of the world, do it!
The industry leaders are the ones who can attract new folks to the hobby. And new folks in the hobby is good news. Look at it this way:
Hasbro sells 4e to 10 Million people, worldwide.
Two years later, 10% of those people still play D&d4e.
Two years later 10% of those people are looking for other RPGs.
And 1% of those people buy a game from [insert your favourite publisher here].
This means 1.000 additional sales from your favourite other publisher! I think baiting a second or third tier publisher with 1.000 additional sales will turn her into a drooling fanboy of 4e.
My numbers may be off as they are based on my experiences here in Germany, but the idea remains the same: we should wish Hasbro all the best with their new edition, wether it suits our fancy or not, because they are the people responsible for keeping our hobby alive.
Huldvoll
Jan van Leyden