Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Deset Gled" data-source="post: 8997629" data-attributes="member: 7808">Yes.Whether or not WotC calls it and edition, a revision, an update, or a smerp is just marketing.&nbsp; But from a completely functional standpoint, the purpose of naming an edition is communication.&nbsp; People (players, DMs, distributors, content creators, etc) need to be able to communicate clearly and succinctly what set of rules they are using.When a new group is formed, someone has to ask the question &quot;What game are we playing?&quot;&nbsp; To that question, an answer of &quot;D&amp;D 5E&quot; is different than &quot;1D&amp;D&quot; or whatever you want to call it.&nbsp; Your answer communicates the baseline of how races, spells, classes, etc will work at your table.&nbsp; This also applies to writers: is this RPG book compatible with 5E, 1D&amp;D, D20, OSRIC, 4E, or is it system independent?&nbsp; You will sell to different markets based on how you answer that question.&nbsp; It applies to how FLGS will organize their stock.&nbsp; Or even the simple case of a rando walking up to a table at a convention and asking about what the group is playing.&nbsp; Obviously, further communication will grant more information; optional books can be added or removed, houserules can be modified.&nbsp; But naming the edition is the foundation that the conversation is based on, just as much as naming the game itself (e.g. D&amp;D vs. Castles and Crusades, or Call of Cthulhu, etc).Eventually, the community will come to a consensus of what to call 1D&amp;D to differentiate it from base 5E, and what comes next.&nbsp; WotC can say that's not an &quot;edition&quot;, but functionally that's what it will be.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Deset Gled, post: 8997629, member: 7808"] Yes. Whether or not WotC calls it and edition, a revision, an update, or a smerp is just marketing. But from a completely functional standpoint, the purpose of naming an edition is communication. People (players, DMs, distributors, content creators, etc) need to be able to communicate clearly and succinctly what set of rules they are using. When a new group is formed, someone has to ask the question "What game are we playing?" To that question, an answer of "D&D 5E" is different than "1D&D" or whatever you want to call it. Your answer communicates the baseline of how races, spells, classes, etc will work at your table. This also applies to writers: is this RPG book compatible with 5E, 1D&D, D20, OSRIC, 4E, or is it system independent? You will sell to different markets based on how you answer that question. It applies to how FLGS will organize their stock. Or even the simple case of a rando walking up to a table at a convention and asking about what the group is playing. Obviously, further communication will grant more information; optional books can be added or removed, houserules can be modified. But naming the edition is the foundation that the conversation is based on, just as much as naming the game itself (e.g. D&D vs. Castles and Crusades, or Call of Cthulhu, etc). Eventually, the community will come to a consensus of what to call 1D&D to differentiate it from base 5E, and what comes next. WotC can say that's not an "edition", but functionally that's what it will be. [/QUOTE]

Verification