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<blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 8190065" data-attributes="member: 59082">Whatever form &quot;6E&quot; actually takes, I do think we can be reasonably certain that it will be a continuation of--and evolution from--5E, but not a break from it as we have seen a few times in the past. Let me explain.I kinda like to look at D&amp;D as having several relatively distinct &quot;sub-species.&quot; OD&amp;D was the &quot;proto-type&quot; which spawned two lines; one, B/X and BECMI, stayed relatively close to the prototype. The second was, of course, AD&amp;D, both 1E and 2E.So from OD&amp;D, you have two &quot;lineages&quot; or sub-species: B/X/BECMI and AD&amp;D. These two lineages came together in the third sub-species: WotC's 3E, which somewhat unexpectedly ended and gave rise to a fourth sub-species: 4E (so in this context, a lot of the ire towards 4E was because many folks wanted to see a continuation of the 3E sub-species, which of course arose as Pathfinder). 4E proved not to be able to survive adequately in its environment, so also ended and, a couple years later, a fifth sub-species arose: 5E.6E will be to 5E what 2E was (roughly) to 1E: a continuation and evolution, but not a new sub-species. IMO, of course.What that actually means, well, that's where the endless speculation can take place. But since my post a few days ago, I have warmed to the possibility that we shall, indeed, see a new &quot;edition&quot; - if buy that we mean a new iteration of the same sub-species. But it is important to recognize the context in which new sub-species arose in the past:B/X and AD&amp;D arose due to the rising popularity of D&amp;D. It was the natural expansion and evolution of the game.3E arose because of two decades of game design that had made the existing sub-species rather anachronistic (one of which, BECMI, had ceased publication 6-7 years before 3E, so was essentially &quot;dead&quot;), and because of a massive publication schedule in the 90s that led to the necessity to wipe the slate clean in an &quot;apocalyptic event.&quot;4E arose because the edition treadmill and rules bloat had led to diminishing sales, and an overall decline--or at least stagnancy--in the popularity of the game.5E arose because the relatively experimental previous sub-species didn't survive well in the D&amp;D eco-system.There is no significant reason for a new sub-species to arise in the foreseeable future: the game is thriving like never before and there's no issue with rules or product bloat. But this doesn't exclude the possibility of a new iteration of the same sub-species to reflect a decade (by 2024) of play, rules options, and to fine-tune, tweak, revise and re-package the sub-species to take those into account. In fact, 2024 would pretty much be the perfect time for such an event.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mercurius, post: 8190065, member: 59082"] Whatever form "6E" actually takes, I do think we can be reasonably certain that it will be a continuation of--and evolution from--5E, but not a break from it as we have seen a few times in the past. Let me explain. I kinda like to look at D&D as having several relatively distinct "sub-species." OD&D was the "proto-type" which spawned two lines; one, B/X and BECMI, stayed relatively close to the prototype. The second was, of course, AD&D, both 1E and 2E. So from OD&D, you have two "lineages" or sub-species: B/X/BECMI and AD&D. These two lineages came together in the third sub-species: WotC's 3E, which somewhat unexpectedly ended and gave rise to a fourth sub-species: 4E (so in this context, a lot of the ire towards 4E was because many folks wanted to see a continuation of the 3E sub-species, which of course arose as Pathfinder). 4E proved not to be able to survive adequately in its environment, so also ended and, a couple years later, a fifth sub-species arose: 5E. 6E will be to 5E what 2E was (roughly) to 1E: a continuation and evolution, but not a new sub-species. IMO, of course. What that actually means, well, that's where the endless speculation can take place. But since my post a few days ago, I have warmed to the possibility that we shall, indeed, see a new "edition" - if buy that we mean a new iteration of the same sub-species. But it is important to recognize the context in which new sub-species arose in the past: B/X and AD&D arose due to the rising popularity of D&D. It was the natural expansion and evolution of the game. 3E arose because of two decades of game design that had made the existing sub-species rather anachronistic (one of which, BECMI, had ceased publication 6-7 years before 3E, so was essentially "dead"), and because of a massive publication schedule in the 90s that led to the necessity to wipe the slate clean in an "apocalyptic event." 4E arose because the edition treadmill and rules bloat had led to diminishing sales, and an overall decline--or at least stagnancy--in the popularity of the game. 5E arose because the relatively experimental previous sub-species didn't survive well in the D&D eco-system. There is no significant reason for a new sub-species to arise in the foreseeable future: the game is thriving like never before and there's no issue with rules or product bloat. But this doesn't exclude the possibility of a new iteration of the same sub-species to reflect a decade (by 2024) of play, rules options, and to fine-tune, tweak, revise and re-package the sub-species to take those into account. In fact, 2024 would pretty much be the perfect time for such an event. [/QUOTE]

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