June 6th

Ed_Laprade · Mar 9, 2008

I think this belongs here in General, but if the Mods think otherwise, feel free to move it.

So, am I the only one who thinks that launching 4E on the anniversary of D-Day is rather tacky?

Steel_Wind · Mar 9, 2008

Let me see June 5- Battle of Piedmont - 1,000+ US dead there. Rather disrespectful to launch it then, right?

June 7 - Battle of Midway ends. 1000's dead. Yeah. Disrespectful to launch a product on that day.

Upshot: "am I the only one who thinks that launching 4E on the anniversary of D-Day is rather tacky?"

Yes. If you are not alone in that assessment - you are in a pretty small group.

History happens. The calendar is rife with events that if someone wants to take offense - they can do so.

We observe Canada Day (our equivalent to the4th of July) on July 1. It's also the anniversary date of the commencement of the Battle of the Somme. A pretty damn grim event in the history of Canada to be celebrating it with fireworks, to be sure. (How grim? I would much rather have been landing at Utah beach on June 6 '1944 than on the fields of the Somme on July 1, 1916, thanks very much. It's not even close).

FalcWP · Mar 9, 2008

Eh. Its a Friday, at the start of the month. Most people will have their paychecks. It doesn't compete with new video game day (Tuesday). And it gives folks the weekend to start looking at the rules. I'd say it makes perfect sense to launch it then, as long as they don't actively tie the launch to D-Day (which would be tacky).

Wik · Mar 9, 2008

Steel_Wind said:
We observe Canada Day (our equivalent to the4th of July) on July 1. It's also the anniversary date of the commencement of the Battle of the Somme. A pretty damn grim event in the history of Canada to be celebrating it with fireworks, to be sure. (How grim? I would much rather have been landing at Utah beach on June 6 '1944 than on the fields of the Somme on July 1, 1916, thanks very much. It's not even close).

Yeah, I second that. I think it's 25K died on Utah beach during the first few hours, and something like 100K for the whole start of the Normandy campaign - whereas over half a million died in the Somme. If my numbers are correct (they probably aren't)

Fun Fact: I was born the day after the Dieppe raid, which is taken as a good sign by my dad. His father was in Dieppe, and my dad said it would have been pretty bad if I was born the same day as that awful august 19 (we still sort of observe Dieppe in my family).

Now, all that said, I think the OP sort of has a point, in that D-Day was this huge undertaking and the LAUNCH of a great victory - one of the most important victories (if not THE most) in modern history. I don't know if the launch WAS a coinkydink. But, I think even if the heads of wotc said "hey, let's sync our launch up with VE day!", it still wouldn't be all that "tacky". *shrug*

AFGNCAAP · Mar 9, 2008

To be honest, it's no less tacky than movie companies releasing horror films or metal bands releasing albums on June 6th, 2006 (never mind that it's D-Day, it's got the whole 6/6/06 thing going...), if it's released on that day with D-Day in mind, and even refer to it as such.

I doubt that's the case, though. It's probably just pure coincedence, like the recent passing of Mr. Gygax on March 4th, or Mark Twain being born & passing on when Haley's comet came around. It makes you think, but that's it.

However, the D-Day element (esp. if it's used as a marketing point) is also assuming that folks would know the date/get the reference. I'm not sure many new players (esp. the younger crowd that is trying to be attracted to the hobby) may get the connection offhand. Unless they're really into WWII FPS or tactical games.

Steel_Wind · Mar 9, 2008

Wik said:
Yeah, I second that. I think it's 25K died on Utah beach during the first few hours,

Utah was significantly lighter in casualties than Omaha. Omaha is where the main ugliness took place. Utah casualties were in the hundreds.

(As for Dieppe? That was just stupidity).

Even still, allied casualties for D-Day across all beaches including airborne drops was about 10,000, combined. That's casualties = killed + wounded in total.

The first day of the Somme, total casualties for the British Army (including Canadians) was about 55,000, with over 25,000 dead on July 1 alone. It remains the single bloodiest day in the history of the British Army.

I don't mean to belittle D-Day. It was massive, it was grim and the guys dropping out of those planes and hitting those beaches did something I don't think I could ever do.

But for all that, there have been worse days than that Day of Days. At least those heroes and their comrades can take solace that their sacrifice and bravery on that day won a war and accomplished something meaningful.

The Somme? Pretty hard to find a silver lining there. And yes, the Battle of the Somme consumed 1.1 million lives. To what end? Not much observable through this lens of history.

Anyways, point is, I don't see a link between the release of a new edition of D&D and a day of an historic battle that would have taken place 64 years previously.

Piratecat · Mar 9, 2008

There's no link, so it shouldn't matter. Is it disrespectful to go to the laundromat on D-Day? To order a sandwich? No, certainly not, as they aren't war related. D&D is no different.

Man in the Funny Hat · Mar 9, 2008

I was born June 7. I am quite certain they timed the release so I could buy it as a birthday gift to myself, since I otherwise tend to forget my birthday entirely. I even used to use the screename "D+1" when I first started posting here and I still forgot. It's just a courtesy to me. Read nothing else into it.