Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
No Second Edition Love?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 3323184" data-attributes="member: 3586"><p>Craze is a much better word than fad in this context; thanks. I was looking for such a word, and just couldn't think of it. (No edition of D&D is released as a "fad"). </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Actually, we didn't see smaller supplements (as such). Mostly new modules and Dragon magazine - Dragon was the only place for new rules material, which is probably one reason it was so popular during that time.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>If it were merely a fad, there wouldn't be so many supplements overloading your senses, as the lifespan would be shorter. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Wizards produce about 2 books a month, which while a lot from an AD&D perspective, isn't really that much (certainly not from a 2E perspective!)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Wizards do get revenue from constantly releasing new material. I wonder if this is a gamer thing (most profits are in the first 2 months) or a phenonomen with everything - I suspect the latter.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>D&D has a big difference from the book market: the D&D core books aren't really consumables. With most book buyers, they get the book, read it, and then put it away and buy another book. With D&D, they get the core game, play it, then play it again, and again, and again...</p><p></p><p>What distinguishes D&D from other games even more is the time investment required. If you play D&D anything like most people, you play it in a campaign that takes 4 hours per session, and many, many sessions! That's quite different to other games, where play is discreet, and not ongoing.</p><p></p><p>The closest we have in the present age is <em>World of Warcraft</em>, and that, of course, derives from D&D. Where WoW is better is the subscription fee, so the makers can keep making money from the game! No such luck with D&D!</p><p></p><p>With a boardgame, you can own several games because to play one doesn't exclude you from playing another on the same day or the next day. (So says the gamer who's bought 15+ boardgames in the past year or so...) Meanwhile, the D&D player has a game, and then wants to return to another D&D game. Although play of Top Secret or Star Frontiers could be possible, the RPG structure works against it, if simply for the effort needed to learn the game (both as a player and especially as a DM).</p><p></p><p>I think it was about 1983 that TSR really lost Gygax as a guiding force, as he was sidelined before he left in 1985... so, Gygax was there during the initial growth period of D&D. We never really got to see him <em>sustaining</em> the game, which needs a different strategy, of course.</p><p></p><p>As an aside, post-1983, I don't see any real classic adventures. The latter Gygaxian efforts (Dungeonland, Isle of the Ape) are a bit too whimsical, IMO. And T1-4 was... disappointing.</p><p></p><p>As Gary noted, <em>Unearthed Arcana</em> was created to build revenue quickly, and it did so. That it also set the pattern for 3e releases is not unnoted: players like new rules material!</p><p></p><p>Cheers!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 3323184, member: 3586"] Craze is a much better word than fad in this context; thanks. I was looking for such a word, and just couldn't think of it. (No edition of D&D is released as a "fad"). Actually, we didn't see smaller supplements (as such). Mostly new modules and Dragon magazine - Dragon was the only place for new rules material, which is probably one reason it was so popular during that time. If it were merely a fad, there wouldn't be so many supplements overloading your senses, as the lifespan would be shorter. :) Wizards produce about 2 books a month, which while a lot from an AD&D perspective, isn't really that much (certainly not from a 2E perspective!) Wizards do get revenue from constantly releasing new material. I wonder if this is a gamer thing (most profits are in the first 2 months) or a phenonomen with everything - I suspect the latter. D&D has a big difference from the book market: the D&D core books aren't really consumables. With most book buyers, they get the book, read it, and then put it away and buy another book. With D&D, they get the core game, play it, then play it again, and again, and again... What distinguishes D&D from other games even more is the time investment required. If you play D&D anything like most people, you play it in a campaign that takes 4 hours per session, and many, many sessions! That's quite different to other games, where play is discreet, and not ongoing. The closest we have in the present age is [i]World of Warcraft[/i], and that, of course, derives from D&D. Where WoW is better is the subscription fee, so the makers can keep making money from the game! No such luck with D&D! With a boardgame, you can own several games because to play one doesn't exclude you from playing another on the same day or the next day. (So says the gamer who's bought 15+ boardgames in the past year or so...) Meanwhile, the D&D player has a game, and then wants to return to another D&D game. Although play of Top Secret or Star Frontiers could be possible, the RPG structure works against it, if simply for the effort needed to learn the game (both as a player and especially as a DM). I think it was about 1983 that TSR really lost Gygax as a guiding force, as he was sidelined before he left in 1985... so, Gygax was there during the initial growth period of D&D. We never really got to see him [i]sustaining[/i] the game, which needs a different strategy, of course. As an aside, post-1983, I don't see any real classic adventures. The latter Gygaxian efforts (Dungeonland, Isle of the Ape) are a bit too whimsical, IMO. And T1-4 was... disappointing. As Gary noted, [i]Unearthed Arcana[/i] was created to build revenue quickly, and it did so. That it also set the pattern for 3e releases is not unnoted: players like new rules material! Cheers! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
No Second Edition Love?
Top