Interesting Tweet

[Crothian]

I suspect what they mean is something like, "We are looking at ways to keep making money off all edition of dnd."

I wonder if this includes Pathfinder?

Remember when they had old edition .pdfs available on RPGNow?

I know, I have copies of most if not all of them. I was a big supporter of that.

 

[scourger]

I would love to see a new iteration of D&D minis with stat cards for multiple editions.

 

[mhensley]

translated: all editions = 4e and Essentials

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Hopefully this means new 3.5, cause I really miss buying D&D books. Pathfinder is ok, but too different for me to want to bother converting it to 3.5. I'll play a game, but dont want to run one.

 

[Wiseblood]

WotC is planning to re-release all printed material....This time after editing.

 

[Mark CMG]

I wasn't aware older editions had died.

The Internet certainly bears out that older editions are alive and well. I think WotC needs to realize that they need only flip the switch (reverse their older edition PDF policy) to become a player again in those markets. I doubt it would take much to get dtrpg/rpgnow to plug them back into the system. I'm sure the coding is all still in place but simply not accessible from the outside. Anyone who purchased even a single older edition product through those storefronts knows that at least the record of those purchases are still in their system.

It's odd to me that they don't simply do so rather than make cryptic tweets like, "We are looking at ways to keep ALL editions of #dnd alive." The editions are alive, WotC just isn't a participant in those lives. I suspect they are looking at ways of boosting DDI membership by incorporating older edition materials through that medium and perhaps considering some limited new release support also, and exclusively, through that medium. Why else be so coy? A possible DDI connection would make more sense for the manner in which they are approaching the subject. While I think this approach is less of a draw for most who are currently the ones keeping older editions alive, I also don't think anyone championing such a move could garner an in-house concensus at WotC unless it includes a DDI component.

Additionally, I doubt we would see anything along the lines of licensing akin to the d20 STL or OGL for people who produce 3rd party products for retro-systems (official older editions or not). By the same token, I doubt anyone would take them up on a licensing deal unless the licensing was completely free of strings and irrevocable. WotC's venture with the GSL seems to indicate that it is unlikely they would do licensing any other way. Regardless, I doubt that a revocable licensing scenario would garner much support, given the risk versus reward. Very few 3rd party players, if any, could hope to see an increase in sales of any real significance under any sort of licensing scenario and the risk of having it pulled out from under you down the line is something no one would be blind to recognizing no matter what Pied Pipers or evangelists emerge to wave the banners.

It may be this is all about mending some fences and that some limited older edition releases (and/or re-releases) through DDI are all we'll really see. I'm not sure how much would be gained but it would at least be an olive branch that might get them more feedback from older edition players as they move forward with their marketing and fine tuning of 5E, street cred they seem to desire as they have been testing the waters with their recent marketing forays. They've gutted their institutional memory from the staff so if they wish to market 5E to older edition players they will need to have some basis for saying they understand what those players want.

 

[Stormonu]

I'm the kind of person who pays more attention to actions, not words. When I see them start supporting older editions, then I'll believe they're serious.

Restoring older edition PDFs would be a good start.

 

[MacMathan]

I hope it means old stuff and new in some sort of ebook format. It eliminates most of wotcs piracy concerns (legit or not) and would see a new market venue via something like amazon.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Heh. I will watch with amusement and little actual hope as usual. If "support" means only DDI access content they might as well not bother.

Machete don't rent TTRPG material.

 

[IronWolf]

To put the originally posted tweet in context here is the question that was asked at San Diego Comic Con:

Wizards_DnD Tweet
Q: How do you feel about older editions of the game?
A: I love every edition. I play every edition to understand what #dnd is at it's core.

Wizards_DnD Tweet
We are looking at ways to keep ALL editions of #dnd alive." #dndsdcc

These tweets were a live tweet stream of a panel and I believe it was Chris Perkins answering the questions - I could be mistaken as I was not at Comic Con.

In either case, in context I am not so sure that says they are bringing back support for the older editions as much as it is saying by playing each edition they have a better feel for what "core" D&D is and seek to keep that feel with current (or possibly) future editions.

Hard to say based of these tweets!