D&D 5E Light release schedule: More harm than good?

[Iosue]

When did that actually happen? Are you talking about Call of Cthulhu? Because it's the only example that springs to mind.

OD&D + Supplements → AD&D → AD&D 2nd Ed.
OD&D LBB → Holmes → Moldvay → Mentzer → Rules Cyclopedia

There were changes. Sometime big changes, like the boost to dragons in 2nd Ed. But no one will ever convince me that these changes over the years are the same as WotC's rebuilding of the game for 3e → 4e → 5e. I used to play with a Mentzer Basic book and a Marsh/Cook expert. You could use the AD&D adventures and even Monster Manual with D&D. You can't use a 3e MM in 4e. Or a character created for 4e in a 2e game.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Because there are lots of options (other games and other hobbies altogether) and the new shiny will wear off very fast.

OK. To me 5e is plenty of fun to play as it is. I'm not really a "new shiny" type though.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[BryonD]

Why in the world would we want to be talking about 5th edition 5 and 10 years from now? Personally five years from now I want to be talking about the development of 6th ed.

One thing I genuinely don't get why people want a product to last that long. I loved odnd. I loved dnd 2.5. I loved 3.5. I liked 4th. I LOVE 5th. I want to play with 5th for a while. But I want something after 5th. And I don't want to wait 10 years for it.

I'm ok with your schedule.
You'll have to ask others why they need 5 and 10 years. (well 10 years, I think I agree with 5, again your schedule)

 

[BryonD]

OK. To me 5e is plenty of fun to play as it is. I'm not really a "new shiny" type though.

Thanks for the reply!

I promise you the core three will get old to you in 25 years or so.

 

[delericho]

When did that actually happen? Are you talking about Call of Cthulhu? Because it's the only example that springs to mind.

Star Wars d6 had three editions that were more or less the same. (I've counted "Second Edition, Revised and Expanded" as the third here.) And Star Wars d20 had both the original and Revised versions which, again, were much the same - Saga wasn't a huge shift either, but was a bit more significant.

Shadowrun 1st, 2nd, and 3rd all used the same engine, with the range of material being expanded each time, but it wasn't until 4th that the really changed the rules.

And almost all the original WoD games had a second edition that was little more than an edit-job on the first.

There have been quite a few games that did new editions without a fundamental rewrite.

 

[chriton227]

Star Wars d6 had three editions that were more or less the same. (I've counted "Second Edition, Revised and Expanded" as the third here.) And Star Wars d20 had both the original and Revised versions which, again, were much the same - Saga wasn't a huge shift either, but was a bit more significant.

Shadowrun 1st, 2nd, and 3rd all used the same engine, with the range of material being expanded each time, but it wasn't until 4th that the really changed the rules.

And almost all the original WoD games had a second edition that was little more than an edit-job on the first.

There have been quite a few games that did new editions without a fundamental rewrite.

GURPS had 4 editions (1st-4th), Hero System had 6 editions (Champions 1st to Hero System 6th), and Savage Worlds had 3 editions (original, Explorer's, and Deluxe), each with relatively little rules drift. Rolemaster also had fairly minor changes between editions, and the latest version in playtest (Rolemaster Unified) has the stated goal of being compatible with all previous editions.

In fact, D&D is one of the few RPGs that come to mind for me that had major rewrites of the core system while maintaining the same name*, the others I can think of are Shadowrun 3rd-5th, Mechwarrior 1st-3rd (4th was rebranded A Time of War), and Gamma World (for the most part stayed at least loosely compatible with the concurrent edition of D&D).

* I really don't count games like the Star Wars RPGs or the Marvel RPGs as "the same game" in this discussion as they have been completely rewritten as the IP licenses have moved from company to company independent of the underlying rules systems, as opposed to Shadowrun where the core game system IP has moved between companies.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I promise you the core three will get old to you in 25 years or so.

It may, but I can still have plenty of fun with AD&D 1e, or BECMI and would gladly play a campaign of either. I still like some of the rules better than 5e in certain areas to be honest. We have played The Fantasy Trip campaigns in the last couple years, Twilight 2000 1e, and Harnmaster 1e as well. Some systems I like better than others, but to me the fun is in the adventure, the players, and the rules just have to not get in the way of that.

 

[BryonD]

It may, but I can still have plenty of fun with AD&D 1e, or BECMI and would gladly play a campaign of either. I still like some of the rules better than 5e in certain areas to be honest. We have played The Fantasy Trip campaigns in the last couple years, Twilight 2000 1e, and Harnmaster 1e as well. Some systems I like better than others, but to me the fun is in the adventure, the players, and the rules just have to not get in the way of that.

A Ha! I got you!
If they expand and improve 5E, you might not need those other games. So THERE!!!!!11!!

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

A Ha! I got you!
If they expand and improve 5E, you might not need those other games. So THERE!!!!!11!!

 

[Hussar]

Why in the world would we want to be talking about 5th edition 5 and 10 years from now? Personally five years from now I want to be talking about the development of 6th ed.

One thing I genuinely don't get why people want a product to last that long. I loved odnd. I loved dnd 2.5. I loved 3.5. I liked 4th. I LOVE 5th. I want to play with 5th for a while. But I want something after 5th. And I don't want to wait 10 years for it.

Thing is, there's a difference between "what I want" and "what's good for the hobby". Ten years means that WOTC doesn't have to sink massive resources into developing a new edition every few years. Say 5e has a 5 year run. That means 6e development starts next year. Late 2016 or early 2017 anyway. After all, it takes two or three years to develop a new edition. Surely we can agree on that.

So, you get two years of focus on the current edition and then split attention for the next three years as the next shiny gets developed, marketed, play tested, etc. That's not a winning business strategy. I mean, even Pathfinder won't likely see a new edition for another two or three years, unless they're going to do most of the development in house and no public play test (which I really don't think they'd do). And Pathfinder has a much larger staff than WOTC does for it's TTRPG division.

If Pathfinder can find enough life in a 3.75 D&D system to keep running things for eight or nine years, I very much hope WOTC can do the same.