D&D 5E Sell Out: Hasbro and the Soul of D&D

[Gorg]

Tbh, I'm more worried about it's continued rising prominence- and it being closely associated with a corporate giant- leaving it vulnerable to pressure from the cancel types. We already went through that once in the 80's with that moral panic... (anyone remember Jack Chick?) And in their zeal to produce a product that conforms to all modern orthodoxy (and reduces their exposure to lawsuits, or organized attacks) we'll get a "game" so lacking in substance, lore, genre, or any identity (other than pandering to whichever pressure group is screaming loudest), that it's unrecognizable as D&D.

Not to mention not much fun to play..

Now that I think about it, my answer could have fit just as well in the "If D&D were invented today, what would it look like" thread.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Tbh, I'm more worried about it's continued rising prominence- and it being closely associated with a corporate giant- leaving it vulnerable to pressure from the cancel types. We already went through that once in the 80's with that moral panic... (anyone remember Jack Chick?) And in their zeal to produce a product that conforms to all modern orthodoxy (and reduces their exposure to lawsuits, or organized attacks) we'll get a "game" so lacking in substance, lore, genre, or any identity (other than pandering to whichever pressure group is screaming loudest), that it's unrecognizable as D&D.

Not to mention not much fun to play..

Now that I think about it, my answer could have fit just as well in the "If D&D were invented today, what would it look like" thread.

Even if that happens, so what? All the old stuff is still there. You have the OGL the retro clones and so on.

 

[MoonSong]

Even if that happens, so what? All the old stuff is still there. You have the OGL the retro clones and so on.

And this stuff is self-correcting in the long run. Where is BADD? Where is Chick? Exactly, and D&D is still around.

 

[Zardnaar]

And this stuff is self-correcting in the long run. Where is BADD? Where is Chick? Exactly, and D&D is still around.

Pretty much what WotC is doing is very simple.

It either works or it doesn't.

 

[prabe]

And this stuff is self-correcting in the long run. Where is BADD? Where is Chick? Exactly, and D&D is still around.

Jack Chick is dead, I think. It's been a while since I've had one foisted onto me, but his pamphlets are still available.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Well, honestly, Rodger from the Lethal Weapon movie series sums up my stance on this, a stance that I've basically had since the end of 2e:

"I'm getting too old for this [s...]"

D&D could go completely boobs skyward and it might get a "Oh? That's too bad...huh." out of me. I have FAAAR too much RPG stuff for all manner of D&D and other RPGs that I'll be looooong dead before I can even really explore a quarter of it.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[MoonSong]

Jack Chick is dead, I think. It's been a while since I've had one foisted onto me, but his pamphlets are still available.

That was my point, harsh critics die, grow old, get bored, (mature?), or have a limited attention span to begin with. A given edition of D&D either does well or not, should it go wrong, the worst that could happen is it going dormant until a future point in time when it is revived and sold again.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Wtf is happening?

read every post and feel like I am on space ghost coast to coast

 

[practicalm]

Read the rant a couple of times and I still don't see the point.
Once you buy the books you can do whatever you want.

The game will change. New product may or may not get released. You are not obligated to buy anything you don't want to nor is anyone going to come and take the stuff you bought from you.

There are no game police no matter how many people try to set themselves up as saying this right here is D&D and nothing else is.

Hey if people can make a buck playing the game and filming themselves, more power to them. I find it tedious to watch but their success or failure has nothing on what I do.

As a player, I interview the gamemaster to make sure I will enjoy the game and follow their guidelines
As a gamemaster, I check that the players are willing to follow my guidelines to build a story/game.

Sure it's easier if things are standardized but if you want easy go play a board game with specific rules for everything. Or a CRPG where the designer decided what you are allowed to do in the game.

Every table is a group of artists and the art is usually just for them.
Everything else doesn't matter.

 

[Hussar]

Tbh, I'm more worried about it's continued rising prominence- and it being closely associated with a corporate giant- leaving it vulnerable to pressure from the cancel types. We already went through that once in the 80's with that moral panic... (anyone remember Jack Chick?) And in their zeal to produce a product that conforms to all modern orthodoxy (and reduces their exposure to lawsuits, or organized attacks) we'll get a "game" so lacking in substance, lore, genre, or any identity (other than pandering to whichever pressure group is screaming loudest), that it's unrecognizable as D&D.

Not to mention not much fun to play..

Now that I think about it, my answer could have fit just as well in the "If D&D were invented today, what would it look like" thread.

Huh. 2e was considered one of the most successful editions - certainly one of the longest lived ones, which gave us pretty much all the things we consider classic D&D today - the settings, the lore, (Oh, gawds, the stacks and stacks of lore) the evolution from tabletop wargame to hobby.

The only thing that changed in 2e is they got rid of demons. For a couple of years. Then they brought them back.

Yeah, not seeing what you're seeing here.