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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6556064" data-attributes="member: 996">It's cheaper to produce and it's OSR friendly.&nbsp; 4e was meant to be a lavish edition - on-line tools produced in-house, classes with hundreds of powers each, rapid pace of releases, LRF, encounters program with printed adventures, poster maps, tokens &amp; swag - it was meant to grow the line beyond the bounds of reason, to bring in hordes of new players, and get everyone playing to subscribe to DDI to use the vaporware VTT, and rake in revenue in multiples of the entire estimated size of the RPG industry.&nbsp; When all that didn't work out, it was still a game with a design paradigm that required a lot of development effort to put out anything.&nbsp; And, it was unfamiliar to returning D&amp;D fans who hadn't played since the 20th century - who, coincidentally, about the same time 4e was released, started being attracted to the somewhat overdue OSR come-back of the 80's D&amp;D fad.5e has a less FTE-intensive design philosophy, including re-using barely-modified material from the classic game, that, obviously, feels familiar to the longtime and returning player.&nbsp; So, it both saves design effort, and jumps on the OSR bandwagon - a cheap &amp; easy win-win.&nbsp; It can serve to anchor the line, while resources are put into areas where growth might still be a possibility.&nbsp; All it has to do is stay in print and consolidate the existing fanbase well enough to present a clear brand identity.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6556064, member: 996"] It's cheaper to produce and it's OSR friendly. 4e was meant to be a lavish edition - on-line tools produced in-house, classes with hundreds of powers each, rapid pace of releases, LRF, encounters program with printed adventures, poster maps, tokens & swag - it was meant to grow the line beyond the bounds of reason, to bring in hordes of new players, and get everyone playing to subscribe to DDI to use the vaporware VTT, and rake in revenue in multiples of the entire estimated size of the RPG industry. When all that didn't work out, it was still a game with a design paradigm that required a lot of development effort to put out anything. And, it was unfamiliar to returning D&D fans who hadn't played since the 20th century - who, coincidentally, about the same time 4e was released, started being attracted to the somewhat overdue OSR come-back of the 80's D&D fad. 5e has a less FTE-intensive design philosophy, including re-using barely-modified material from the classic game, that, obviously, feels familiar to the longtime and returning player. So, it both saves design effort, and jumps on the OSR bandwagon - a cheap & easy win-win. It can serve to anchor the line, while resources are put into areas where growth might still be a possibility. All it has to do is stay in print and consolidate the existing fanbase well enough to present a clear brand identity. [/QUOTE]

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